Pink Pouch from Zarina!

I received this so very cute pouch from a good stitching friend, Zarina, when I met up with her and her hubby for breakfast a few weeks back, during one of her trips to KL.

I just love the fabric, inside out! 

And, the fact that it is PINK makes it even more adorable! LOL!

Thanks, Ina!

You just gave me an idea what to make as gifts!

It does not look too difficult to make. 

Maybe I can get them done in a jiffy...if I can find time to try making it, that is.... *grin*

A pouch and biscornu for Diane

After completing the bag and pouch for Diane, I decided to do something extra for Diane in colours to match both the items, or rather, in colours that I know are her favourite - brown, blue and green. I decided to make her a biscornu and a pouch using Em, which lately, I have neglected to use as I have been so busy with work and making bags.

A very simple biscornu and pouch, but I hope that Diane will find both items useful and handy to use.

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.

Diane’s bags completed!

Yipppeeee! I completed both bags on Saturday morning! I put in the buttons at about 9.00am! I am so happy and relief! Now I can pack them up together with Diane’s goodie bag from the NNC 3rd Anniversary celebration and wait until I could find a time to go to the post office!

However, Diane, you might have to wait for at least another week before I could get to the post office as I will be travelling again this week. Patience, my dear, patience! *wink*

So, do you want to see how both bags look like? Here they are......

I think they are both lovely, don’t you agree? I did not design it, and so I can praise it. LOL! *wink*

Here's a close-up of the small clutch.

I had followed the pattern that Diane sent me almost to a T! I did make some very slight modification, but it was just because I thought it would look better.

Like I said in my earlier posting, the fabrics that Diane sent for the bags aren’t colours that I usually work with and so, it was quite a challenge to put them together to make sure that they turn out okay. I must say that I am quite pleased with the results. I think the colour combination is really nice! Diane made all the right choices in choosing her fabrics! I just made them work better together! *wink*

The big bag was fun to make! I learnt quite a few new techniques, and I was also introduced to this awesome Pellon Fusible Fleece which I find so amazing and a breeze to use! I must get more! If only they are made available here in Malaysia...*sigh*

I also love using the Sewline pink pencil lead that Diane sent me, and the square rulers Diane sent as part of the payment for the bag is really awesome! I love it! Thanks again, Diane!

Although the two bags are not part of a set but the fact that they were made using the same colour combination fabrics, they look like they were designed to be together, and they look great together!

The small bag or pouch was supposed to have some decorative stitches, but I decided to quilt it the same way that I had quilted the big bag so that they look like a part of each other and a set.

I think I had made the right decision. *wink*

The pattern calls for the three sides to be machine sewn together like an envelope, but I had hand sewn them together instead, both on the outside and on the inside as I thought that had I machine sewn the sides together, at least a 1/4in would have to be sewn in as allowance from each side. That would have made the bag smaller and bulkier, thus the reaon why I decided to hand sewn them together.

As I had hand sewn the sides on the inside and the outside, I think the bag should be able to handle the normal wear and tear. It also looks neater.

I love the pockets on the front of the big bag, and Diane had asked that I put another pocket on the other side even though the pattern only calls for a pocket on only one side. This method of doing the pocket is something new to me, and I might use it for future bags that I make.

I also like the way that the pattern calls for the inside pocket to also be made from 4 pieces of 5”x5” charm squares. I decided to quilt the pockets the same way as I did the front of the bag so that they complement each other. And, of course, you can’t miss my Aznique product tag. LOL! *wink*

I had used an overdyed threads for the quilting in two colours. The front is an over dye in browns, while the inside is an over dye in blue. Though the colours are different, but they do look good together as I had picked up the colours from all the fabrics used for both bags. I don’t know if you can actually see the subtle change in colours of the over dyed threads in the photo, but, I am quite pleased with the results.

Diane had sent me 3 pairs of buttons of different designs and had asked that I pick a pair that best suits the bags. You can see from the photos that the buttons don’t match in terms of designs, although they almost do match in colour. That is because, instead of 2 pockets as called for in the original pattern, Diane had asked that I make a pocket on each side of the bag, and so, I suddenly realised that I am going to be short of a button.

I wasn’t sure if Diane would want me to go out and buy a totally different button in matching sets to make the 3 buttons, but, as I did not have time to ask Diane when I sat down to finish off thge bag, I hope that Diane doesn’t mind that the buttons don’t match in design.

Luckily Diane had sent 2 pairs of buttons in almost similar colour though different designs. I think had Diane not sent 2 pairs of almost similar colour, I would have gone out to buy 2 new pairs.

What do you think, Diane? Shall I go out and buy 2 pairs that match or, is what you see acceptable to you already? Let me know, okay, as I can still unpick and repack everything up before I make my trip to the post office next week.

(I eventually got an email from Diane telling me that she does not mind having the buttons different on both bags. Thanks, Diane!)

I had fun doing both the bags and I must thank Diane for giving me the opportunity to learn something new from making the bags. I hope that Diane likes what she sees here.

Would you like to send me more patterns and fabrics to make more bags for you, Diane? LOL! *wink*

A special request

I had a special request from my hubby's cousin to make her a bag. She saw the praying mat bag I made for my mum at my blog, and wanted me to make her a bag that she could put in a praying mat, the praying attire (telekung) and a make-up cum purse cum handphone bag.

I feel very honoured that she thinks that my bags are nice enough for her to want me to make her one. I am excited, but, at the same time, anxious and nervous! LOL!

I am excited because this is a special request from my hubby’s side of the family as most of the bag requests so far only comes from the immediate side of my family, and they are mostly requests from my nieces, mum, sisters, and SILs, or rather, I make bags mostly for them. They are my biggest fans! LOL! *wink* I have also made many bags for my stitching friends.

I am anxious and nervous because I am afraid that she might have expectations that I might not be able to fulfil, me being only an amateur at making bags with special requests. BUT, excited I still am, and I just hope that I will be able to fulfil all her requests. *smile*

Anyway, my hubby’s cousin, Idah, requested for a bag in black, a colour that I don’t usually work with, but, definitely it does not mean that I can’t work with black. Being architecturally trained, I tend to love bright colours more, and the only other black bag I have made was for my sister, Lin, who is a lawyer, and only dresses in black and white when she was still working as a lawyer. I made her that bag for her to be able to take it to work. I made a grey messenger bag for my hubby about more than a year ago.

Idah’s other request was for it to be in linen. She also wanted a long leather handle that can be slung over her shoulders, and maybe have some of the trimmings to be in leather. She also made a request for a make-up bag cum purse cum hand phone pouch to match the main bag.

I made two proposals for her, one which is almost similar to the praying mat bag, and another one is more like a tote, like the normal bags that I have always been making, but, this time with zippers. This will be the first time that I will be making it using zippers made this way.

Unfortunately, I had to tell her that I have never worked with leather before except to sew the handles on, which I think I did not do such a good job of, and I am definitely not yet confident to work with leather anymore than to fix the handle, what more the trimmings. I have never worked with linen either.

I feel bad that I couldn’t fulfil that part of the requests from her, but, rather than attempt it and do a lousy job of it, I would rather work with something I am more familiar and confident with and do a good job of it. Then maybe, she will recommend me to her many other friends, cousins, etc. LOL! *wink*

Idah has chosen the tote bag option and she asked if I could make a paper mock-up of the bag before I actually get down to sewing the bag because she wants to be able to have a feel for the size of the bag.

I asked a few stitching friends how do I go about doing it as I was afraid that the paper mock up might not look nice and do justice to the design, because I am quite confident that the bag which I will be making will look nice with the choice of fabrics that she had already chosen.

A few friends suggested that I make an actual bag but using a different fabric from the one that she had chosen as they said that I can always sell off the `sample bag’ once she has made her comments. That way she could have a feel for the size of the bag, and it would also give me an opportunity to try out this zipper method that I have never tried before without getting too stressed out over it if it did not turn out okay.

So, about 2 weeks ago, I sat down to cut out the fabrics to size with the intention to start work on it immediately. Unfortunately, however, I was down with the flu for about a week, and did not touch my sewing machine at all until during this Chinese New Year holidays.

I worked on it all day, well, almost all day Sunday, 14th February. Yup! We didn’t go out for any Valentine’s Day celebration this year as my hubby and I, together with our son had already gone out all day on Saturday, taking my mum, brother and niece out to lunch, we did some shopping and went over to my brother’s place so that my son can play with his cousin Miki.

We came home quite late that Saturday, and so decided to spend the Sunday at home doing our chores and taking care of the home, which I think has been neglected due to our never-ending stress at work! LOL!

Opps! I am digressing again! LOL! *grin*

Anyway, I finally completed the bag at about midnight that Sunday (I had to stop several times to do the household chores, see to my son’s needs etc. You know all those boring routine stuff that you have to do when at home, right? LOL!)

And here is the `sample’ bag........

As this is the first time that I am making the zipper this way, it was quite tough doing it.

It looked pretty easy, but trying to get it to align on both sides was tough, while trying to fit in the lining of the bag at the same time. I need to find an easier way to do it, but I like how it turned out. I just hope that Idah likes it too.

I have another way to put in the zipper like the way I had learnt at Epal, but it probably won’t be as nice as this one. I guess something that takes more effort to do will surely give better results. What I need to do now is to find a better and easier way to do it.

I kind of like this flowery black and white insert fabric to this bag, though this was not the fabric that Idah chose.

The one that she had chosen is the one on the furthest left in this photo below, which I think will also look really lovely once it is turned into a bag.

There is actually a pocket to the front of the bag, but, because it is all black, it is not that obvious. Maybe that should be good if you want to put something on the outside without it being too obvious.

As for the purse cum make-up bag cum hand phone pouch, I managed to complete the bag at 5.00pm today (took leave to give my MIL a break from baby-sitting Aiman).

It looks more like a handbag than just a purse to put in a hand phone and makeup. I actually designed it to be that way because I thought that maybe Idah might be able to use it to double it up as a handbag without having to transfer her personal belongings to another handbag should she find herself needing to attend a function that requires her to be dressed formally in black or white.

It wasn’t the easiest bag to make though, and I think it has to do with the thick interfacing that I had used for the inside of the bag. The front of the bag is quilted, and I had enjoyed doing the quilting as it gave the bag the body, and made the bag look really nice, if you don’t mind my saying so myself! LOL! *wink*

Should Idah find this bag suitable and to her liking, and I have to make this bag for the second time, I will be using a thinner interfacing for the inside so that it will be easier to work with.

The tough part was the curves on the sides as the thick interfacing was really tough to work with.

I broke 2 needles before I could finally finish the bag! LOL! I almost gave up working on it last night and wanted to just toss it aside and start designing a different purse this morning. But, after a good night sleep last night, I woke up feeling refreshed and determined to complete it.

I told myself that after completing it and it did not turn out nice, I will design a different bag. But now, after having completed it, I think it did not look too bad. *grin* I just need to make a few changes to it to make it easier to work with it though.

The inside of the bag is quite roomy, with 3 compartments.

It could definitely fit in a hand phone, a few make-up items and a medium size purse.

Putting the handbag together with the main bag, they do match and look like they have been destined to be together right from the start! LOL! *wink*

Anyway, now that both ‘sample bags’ are done, I hope to find some time to meet up with Idah to show her the bag in person. I just hope that she likes it.

Getting acquainted with Em

It’s exactly 3 weeks today that I first brought back home Em to play with, and I am having so much fun!

I have thus far attended 3 classes on getting acquainted with her, and together, we have churned out many projects! Just take a look at the many things that I have made so far!

These are two tissue holders made in-the-hoop, as they call it where everything was stitched while the fabric is still in the hoop like what you see in the next photo.

The turquoise flower is made of organza in 3 separate pieces and then stitched together. It is supposed to be a brooch, but, I think it’s going on my bags instead. I have already started making 4 more sets in colours to match the bag I intend to make.

At my second class I went on the Saturday before the Bee, I learnt how to make these two lovely pouches, or, Epal calls them pencil cases, out of jeans fabric. I intend to keep the flat one for myself as a sample.

The other pouch with Aiman’s name on it was, of course, is meant for Aiman to take to school, but he took one look at it, said it’s nice, and in the same breath, said that he is NOT going to take it to school!

I don’t know whether I should be mad, upset or amused! LOL!

I guess the teddy bear thingy is too mushy for a boy of 9-years old! LOL! Maybe I will keep this one and use it as my sewing pouch instead and make him another one, this time in his favourite characters – robots!

Having learnt how to make the pencil case just a week before the Bee, I just knew what I wanted to make for Margaret as a birthday gift, albeit very late! LOL! Her birthday was in August!

I actually made something else, but decided not to send it in August as I thought I’d wait until I get Em and see if I can make something using Em, something I have never done before.

So, when I learnt how to make the pencil case a week before the Bee, I just knew that this would be just nice for Margaret.

I thought that it would be something she could use to put it all her sewing and cross stitch things. I made sort of a matching pincushion though my hubby commented that “that’s matching?” LOL!

Okay! Okay! So it didn’t match, but, heck, it compliments the pencil case/pouch, right? *wink*

I am making more of these to give away, so watch this blog to see what more I will be churning out of Em!