Cosmo bag with Corduroy and many more

I’m recovering from a cough and fever this week, just in time to finish another Cosmo Bag. This bag is made with dark blue corduroy. I love the contrast against the pink handles. I’ve used my new labels for the first time on this bag. Here’s one on one of the side pockets.

My coughs is a relapse from my first bout about two weeks ago. It must be the weather. I was getting better then I had a case of food poisoning and I guess the vomiting might have aggravated the throat. It got infected and I had a mild fever to go along with that.  I saw the doctor last Wednesday and took some antibiotics and on my way to recovery :)

Here are a few things that I’ve not updated since the last post. I’m blessed to have families and friends who support my small enterprise. Here’s a bucket bag commissioned by my aunt. 

Here’s a couple of pillows commissioned by a friend who loves cats. These pillows have been long overdue. Though her request was simple, I didn’t want to just make pillows and pillow covers for her and inspiration took a while in coming. I got idea from Spotlight, Singapore catalogue and added ricracs and buttons for embellishements. Once in a while, working on a plain canvas and having the freedom to decorate it, is refreshing :) Thank you for the opportunity to harness my creativity :) That is also a blessing of its own.

I also made a few more chalk cloth party banners. Loving this.

Another overdue project: A pair of tea towels for another dear friend and a staunch supporter. I managed to present this to her over a lunch date which she generously footed the bill. On top of that, she even has a little token for my Arwen, a lipgloss for my diva little girl.

A twill tape to hang the tea towels.

Just before I got ill, I managed to bind off a simple knitted bodice for Arwen made from a yarn Azrai bought from Spotlight, Singapore in his recent trip there. I stumbled into applied i-cord finishing for the edges in youtube and wanted to try it myself. I thought it was a great idea and love the finishing too. I extended the applied i-cord into straps for the bodice. I’ve paired the bodice with Tanya Whelan’s fabric which I won from Zura Lovemelot’s giveaway a few years ago. It’s half a yard and just enough to make the skirt for this number.

I made the back narrower than the front. I saw this in one of my summer knit pattern books and it’s called racer back. A great idea to keep the straps from falling/slipping over the shoulder. I hate that.
Notice the M&M or Smarties necklace Arwen is modeling? It’s one of our finds in GM Klang. We went there to to check the place out.

White party shoes to make up the look. It’s like ballerina slippers doesn’t it and Arwen with her hair up like that does look like a little ballerina :)

I received my labels from Insang Pari. All 1000 wonderful pieces of them. I made them half fold with printing on both sides and seams on the top so it’s considered top fold? Head on over to Insang Pari if you’re interested to make your labels too.

A wonderful gift from a fabric lover to another :) Thank you Dr. Zeti :) I wonder what I can turn this into...

Last weekend, there was a get together at a friend’s shop in Alam Damai. We get to meet the gentlemen in our so-called ladies only group. The get-together was fun as usual with lots of laughter and food. The icing on the cake was the little souvenir; a pretty stork shaped scissors. Thank you Azmir and Azmin :) Thank you Nani and the gang for being a wonderful host for the gathering. Thank you for all the ladies for your friendship and your sharing of knowledge. You’ve enriched my life with your friendship and kept my sanity in check.

A Resized Cosmo Bag and A Key Keeper Coin Purse

This is hot from the oven. Or should I say, hot from the sewing machine. I can’t believe I’m working on a snail pace. This bag took me 3 days to complete! Fact #1: Smaller bags are tedious to make. No wonder Amy Butler made this bag as big as she can. This resized version is about 30% reduction from the original size. My original bag is hanging on clothes line so can’t put them side by side. Visually, it looks a lot smaller, although mathematically it’s correct (measurement wise). It looks cute though but for the time being, I’m much more comfortable with the original version. This bag is for a friend. I’m working on the second one, before I can start on my hari raya clothes sewing. In the background you can see the magazine box organizers where I keep all my patterns. This table is next to the window. I wanted to take a quick photo so instead of moving them away, I used them as part of the props.

This is a Key Keeper Coin Purse, one of the designs in the Amy Butler’s book. It looks cute but going back to Fact #1, the tedious level just made this something I will not pursue in the near future.

I edited the picture with some artistic effect called ‘fresco’ in my Photoshop Elements 9.0 to make it interesting. It was rather flat.

 This is another view of the purse. Oh, I almost forgot. It’s already the 4th day of fasting month (Ramadhan) and I would like to wish all my Muslim friends a blessed Ramadhan. Selamat menjalankan ibadah puasa. Semoga semua amalan kita diterima dan diberkatiNya selalu.

Handbag Organizer ver 1.0 with Amy Butler’s Lotus Pond in Ivory

 Today, my girlfriends and I are going to celebrate Siti Hajjar Abdul Kader’s birthday. She’s the owner of Smokin’ Salma in Solaris Dutamas. She’s very much into handbags and everytime we go out on a girls’ date, she never wears the same handbag (unlike me, I’d go out with a diaper bag even when Arwen is not with me). I’ve seen hear wearing Cartier, Channel, Bottega and Dior. I’m sure she has more designer handbag in her collection. So, for her birthday, I made her a handbag organizer to make it convenient for her to change handbags.

I used my precious stash of Amy Butler’s Lotus Pond in Ivory and mixed it with green and grey linen. I’ve used this combination before for my lumbar pillows at home and liked it very much. It does look luxurious and can match the posh handbags in Hajjar’s collection. 

All the panels are lined with light interface and it could actually stand on it’s own. I’m very pleased with the result. It has in total of 13 pockets inside and outside. 

On the front outer panel; 4 pen/lipstick/mascara slot, one slim pocket. 

On the back outer panel; 2 slim pockets to fit handphone, handsfree set, notebook.

On both side panels: side pockets with elastic opening to keep sanitary gel bottle, keys, sunglasses

On the inside: 4 bellow pockets and a large compartment to keep purse, small organizer.

This handbag organizer measures approximately 8” (W) x 6”(H) x 3”(D). I think this should do to fit average medium size handbags. 

This isn’t my original design. As usual, I googled and viewed several handbag organizers in the web and put all the features that I like together to make this. Oh, and by the way, it’s reversible too so you can have two different looks from the same bag. Me and my never ending fascination to anything and everything reversible.

I have to go sort out my sewing room right now and find a bag to keep this present for Hajjar and give it to her later. I’m so looking forward for a fun girls’ day out today :)

Not The Normal Notebook Cover

The green board has been generous to a friend of mine and she got herself a new toy (she wouldn’t call it a ‘toy’ but I would :)). It’s a Sony Viao pocket notebook, P series in this gorgeous orange. Isn’t it cute? She asked me to make a cover for it and so I did but it’s no ordinary notebook cover. 

 I saw something similar to what I’ve made on the net but it was made out of felt and a no sew cover. I searched some more and found that it’s an Amy Butler’s Laptop cover design. All the more appropriate, using the Amy Butler’s design as my inspiration on Amy Butler’s Geisha Fans in Clay fabric.

The lining material is corduroy in khaki. I thought the soft texture of corduroy would protect the cute pocket notebook from scratches. But it’s also reversible! I have a thing about things reversible hahahah! Enjoy the pictures below:

I’ve also sandwiched batting between the two fabric for added protection. Here’s my mark: 

To my friend, I hope the green board is ever generous to you. Thank you for letting me go wild with my craft. I hope you like it and more importantly I hope it fits. (I got the dimensions out of the product specification on Sony website) Otherwise, how the h**l am I going to find another Viao P series notebook owner to sell this to?!!!

My first Amy Butler Bag-Cosmo Bag

I’ve been working on this book for the last three days and completed it early this morning. It’s my new Cosmo Bag from my Amy Butler book. The main exterior is cotton denim as I want it to be hardwearing (lasak). I used Erin McMorris, Floral Swirl for the second exterior fabric for the trimmings. 

The interior is a scrappy combination of matching fabric. I modified one of the pockets so I get one zippered pocket and two big pockets on the inside. The bag is really big. I can actually put my little girl inside! While I was so engrossed in putting the bag together I totally forgot to attach my favorite item for a big bag, a Key ring strap!!!! Good thing I couldn’t kick myself, otherwise I would have. You know how things can disappear in big bags like this, especially car keys.

Inside view

I used a combination of light weight and medium weight fusible interfacing as I don’t have enough of one type of interface for the whole bag. When I started preparing for the bag, Arwen was down with fever after her vaccination shot so I wasn’t able to move around to get my supplies. After all, there’s no hard and fast rule for crafting, is there? I didn’t put any interface on the exterior panel as the fabric is thicker than the normal cotton. For anybody who’s attempting this bag in the future, my advice is, the lightweight fusible interfacing is sufficient to add body to the bag and easy to handle. I don’t quite know if it’s the equivalent of Pellon ShapeFlex SF101 as stated in the book. I think any thicker, it will make edge/top stitching a nightmare. 

The construction of the bag wasn’t as intimidating as it appears in the book. Maybe because there’s few pictures and a lot of words describing in length the steps to take. I’m more of a visual person, I like pictures. 

One of my labels (yes, I have two on the bag) goes at the bottom right hand corner of the exterior panel. The bag uses a one and a half inch covered button closure. I had the button done at Karysma, Bangi. Can’t wait to use the bag and show it off to my girlfriends.

By the way, I just realized that my blog is one year old on December 21st. After a year, I made great friends among fellow crafters, I have 129 and more followers (some of them just read my blog when I share it in my Facebook but don’t follow officially) and this is my 150th blog post. Wow!!! How cool is that?!!! 

Just in case I don’t make another entry before the year ends, so long 2010. You’ve been good to me. I hope 2011 brings more blessings and good fortune to everybody. 

Happy New Year 2011!!!!

Amy Butler’s 12 Easy Ways to 26 Wonderful Bags

Alhamdulillah! The Law of Perpectual Transmutation and the Law of Psychological Reciprocity is in action. I’ve been giving free consultation to my "business associate" and in his recent trip to the States, he brought me back this BOOK!!!! I’ve been eyeing this book and in fact it’s in my Amazon.com wishlist. But getting this book is very special because it’s autographed by the designer herself, AMY BUTLER! I’m over the moon three times!!! These are some of the bags in the book which is going to be in my ’To Make’ list.  

Handphone Pouch

A handphone pouch to fit Nokia E72 made from Amy Butler’s Star Paisley in Apricot lined with green linen. It measures approximately 6” x 4”. 1” bigger both width and length-wise to my earlier version of the handphone pouch seen here. I’ve always enjoyed making one of these beauties. One of my favorite quick projects.

For durability, I’ve used lightweight interfacing for both the outer and inner fabric as well as the straps. I love the feel of fabric fused with interfacing.

Thanks Fazila. I hope you like it :)

The final series of the lumbar covers

This is the final update on my new lumbar cushion covers with Amy Butler’s Lotus Pond in Ivory. The other entries are here and here. Now my sofa has a fresh look. It’s true that you can’t force creativity. I was dragging this project after the first two covers. Took me some time to finish the third cover. When the mood set it last night, I finished the final two covers (the left and right most covers in the picture above) in less than an hour. 

Now, on to the next project...