Thursday, April 22, 2010

A set in black

They are finally completed – the bags for Idah!

I had actually completed the two bags that my hubby’s cousin, Idah, wanted me to make for her almost more than a month ago. But, while in Mecca doing her umrah, Idah smsed me asking me if I could make her a matching sejadah (praying mat).

I had set out to do it about midway while doing the bags for Diane but I had to stop when I ran out of the black cottons. I had to wait for a Friday when I could go out during my long lunch hour break to buy the cottons, and I was only able to do it two Fridays ago.

So, two Saturdays ago, after coming back from Aiman’s usual Saturday classes, I set out to work on the sejadah, and worked on it through Sunday, 11th April 2010. I thought I could finish it by that weekend, but, as I had brought back work home, I spent Sunday evening going through my piles of letters. On Monday and Tuesday, 12th and 13th April, I slept very early after a very stressful day at work. On Wednesady, I had to bring back work home again.

I was in Penang on Thursday and Friday.

It was only on Saturday, 17th April, while watching the AF concert, that I could finally find time to pick up the sejadah again to work on it, and I finally completed it on Sunday morning.

So, here is the full set – a big bag for putting in the praying garments (telekung), a matching pouch and the sejadah.


The big bag is smaller than the sample bag I had made earlier as Idah preferred it to be 2”smaller than the one I showed her.


As for the pouch, I got the idea from Idah’s very own pouch that she had bought at one of the departmental stores. She had wanted a similar one but in matching fabrics to the big bag.


I am afraid the photo did not do justice to the time and effort put into making all the little pockets, but there are pockets to put in 4 pens/pencils, a plce to put in a small a foldable shopping bag, a small note book and other little gadgets which we ladies tend to carry in our handbags! LOL

It was quite a challenge doing up this little pouch as it had many pockets.

It might be small, but I had to spend many more hours making it compared to the time I had spent making the big bag. It had a lot more details and quite a lot of time was spent making sure that everything matched up and looked the way it should.

It took a lot of planning before the actual work of sewing it could be done, but I have learnt some new things on making this kind of pouch. I’ll probably be making a similar one for Zai who had asked that I make a pouch for her and a craft bag. That’s my next project! *wink*

As for the sejadah, it was quite easy to make as it was like making a baby quilt. I had fun doing the embroidery to indicate the top of the sejadah.



I like the effects of the embroidery as it gave the sejadah a sweet touch to it. I just hope that Idah’s likes it as I think that even with the sweet touch of embroidery, the sejadah still matched the bag which Idah wanted them to have a corporate look. The embroidery wasn’t too overpowering.

Here's the whole set with the sejadah all nicely folded to show off the Aznique label. *wink*


I hope to hand deliver the set to Idah this weekend. I just hope that Idah will like what she sees.

4 comments:

Janet C said...

They are beautiful! Love the black/white fabric. :)

Za said...

Thanks, Janet!

Emily said...

N.I.C.E. colors!

Za said...

Hi Emily! Thanks! eerr.....does N.I.C.E. means anything else other than NICE? *wink*