Sunday, February 14, 2010

Q&A : Wrap Pants

(from Comments of Wrap Pants entry)

Dear Scott,
I have also added a simpler pattern to the wrap pants under the post "Another Wrap Pants".

For bigger waistline, add from the middle outwards, i.e. red markings. A good guide would be to take the measurements from your current pair of wrap pants. 73cm is half of the waistline of my current pair which is 146cm. Therefore, if the waistline of your current pair is 180cm, then extend 73cm to 90cm.
As for length, just extend the length of the pants legs, as indicated in blue. If you ended up overestimating the length, you can just hem it higher.
You should also try lengthening the 'waistband' piece, i.e. instead of 27cm, try 35cm or even 40cm. You could always just fold them over, if it's too much.

Have fun and would love to see how it turn out.

Cheers, Pegs ;)

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

CrafteRafter

CrafteRafter is made up of three friends who want to do something that's different from their day jobs. Everyone bring different skills to the table - creativity, business sense, and sewing-fu. And everyone agrees that there are too many things in the world going to waste when it can be given a new lease of life. CrafteRafter combines saving the world with saving time and space in your life. And the cheerleader too, if we really have to. Each item is handcrafted and unique. This is how people typically describe things that are not spat off the end of a factory production line looking exactly like the last item and the next. Call it "character" or "wabi-sabi". Call it "handmade".
My task was simple ... make labels ... handmade labels.

The first batch of labels, were printed on polka dot ribbons. They were funky and I loved them 97%. That 3% was because, the transfer didn't quite stay on the 'dots'.

And since there had been a lot of questions about how these labels were made and requests for how-tos from friends, I am going to share this simple skill on this post. I have been doing this kind of transfers since college days, but I can't recall where I learnt it from.

Note that the mirrored photocopy for the transfer must be from a carbon photocopier (not laser copier). This will be stating the obvious, but in case you didn't know, it is mirrored so that when transfered, it will be 'correct'.

For this purpose, I cut them up in strips for transferring onto the ribbons.
The medium for activating the transfer can be either turpentine, thinner or even nail polish remover. (btw, I clumsily slammed the car door on my right thumbnail last October) Facing the transfer downwards, I pressed the cotton pad previously soaked with thinner on the reverse side.

Tip: Do not drenched the cotton pad in thinner. Somehow, it works better when the cotton pad is lightly soaked. Test it out on spare fabric first.
Hold the transfer paper firmly in place so that the transfered image/text is as sharp as it should be. Slowly remove the transfer paper after.
When I completed printing onto the whole strip of ribbon, I cut them up into label sizes.
Glue was applied at the end of the label strips to prevent fraying and left to dry.
So, this was how our CrafteRafter labels were made. At this moment, there is only the 'Bagget'. Check it out!

By the way, this method works for other material surfaces too. Have fun testing it out!

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Couch Make-over

The couch at home is in dire need of a new outfit. The one it came in 5-6 years ago is looking dowdy and blotchy from food stains. So last December, we went fabric hunting and ended up choosing this patterned micro-fibre fabric. Some commented that the patterns looked like chrysanthemum flowers. Bought 10meters of it (60" width).

Spread it all out on the floor (biggest workspace ever) and started measuring away from the existing cushions.
Recorded the measurements, in the only way I know how to. Categorised & coded the pieces. And started sewing. It was pretty straight forward I must say, for most of the pieces. Panel with zipper, and the rest of the panels. I was so glad that the fabric didn't stretch too much. So it pretty much held its measurements.

Voila, the 1st new cushion cover ...
... and another one of the same measurements.
Next day, 3 more of the same measurements.
Over the next couple of days, some more ... and finally ... finished!!!
Mmmm ... I love 'swimming' on the finished couch ... smooth micro-fibre surface .... bliss!