iPad Case by BOOKED!

This gorgeous leather bound embossed encyclopedia was a lucky find from the local secondhand bookstore. Information in it was kind of out-dated, and it was an 'orphaned' volume.

Since the process was too tedious for me to post it here, I would just show you the end product. I was hyped enough to continually worked on it without too long of a break, so I actually completed it in one day.

Travel Pouch by BOOKED!

I'm proud to announced my new line! I have this fascination with old books, and in particular ... covers of old books. I acquired some interesting old hardcover books. So I am going to 'recover' them for new casings and other purposes.

I will take requests and orders for different custom-made Booked!s. Meanwhile, I will show you that all will be individually handmade, by my first Booked! travel pouch.

This one is for sale, refer to item on my Etsy shop here. (Contents are for display only)

Flower Power : Rose

I only know that roses have lots of petals. And, based on that I made small petals and stringed them together for this last 'flower' I had to help make.

Each petals with 2 rounded corners were approximately of 9x15cm of pink felt. I repeated for ... erm, I don't remember how many times, but a lot of times. To string them together, I laid them to overlap at the last slit opening.

And, stringed them together with grosgrain ribbon. I didn't managed to get it in pink at the last minute, so I just used cream color.
Now, when I first put it on (before I spread out the petals until my chin), I thought it looked really funny, so I took a photo to show you. And, after all the petals were slowly spread downwards towards my chin ... I still look ridiculous ... and another funny picture to show you.
The leaf was simple. A piece of green felt cut to shape, with 2 bands on the reverse side, and fitted onto the fingers and wrist.

For the others, which I did not document the process, I will just post the pictures of the children wearing it ... when the photos are ready. I am quite sure, they will look better than me modelling it. ;)

Animal Farm : Chicken

Do the chicken dance!!! I was in a hurry and therefore, I didn't manage to document the steps properly ... and so ... I can only describe it now.

Crown : I glued to pieces of red felt together by applying glue to the shape of the top of the crown. Then, I cut it to shape, sewed around the top and stuffed it with small pieces of left over felt. For the headband, I cut 2 small slits, 1 on each piece of the crown, for the headband to slide through. Later, with another piece of elliptical red felt cut out, I stitched shut the crown.

Beak : Randomly, I folded cardboard to this shape and just finished it with yellow felt. Dotted in the 'nostrils' with black marker, and opened 2 small holes to string the elastic band through.

Flower Power : Hibiscus

I literally just made a big red flower, as directly translated from the chinese name for Hibiscus 'ta hung hua' (big red flower). So, I did not make the stigma any hibiscus should have ... lazy & in a rush.

Since all the pieces of red felt we bought were already cut into sizes of approximately 1'x1', I just rounded of 2 corners and added wires offset from those edges, by sewing it in place.

With the 6 slits (for the grosgrain ribbon) I cut across the opposite edge, I stitched 2 slits together lightly to hold the fold, forming sets of 3...
... like so. The previous steps were repeated for the other 4 petals and all 4 were stringed through with red grosgrain ribbon.
Thus, the reverse side and the right side up.

Animal Farm : Goat

From the previous post on jasmine flower, this one shall be on an animal ... a goat. I initially made a pair of horns from brown cardboard with some paint-shading on it. But, apparently these props for kids have to be hardy enough, as kids can be quite destructive. So not surprisingly, the cardboard horns did not survive the 1st rehearsal.

Therefore, I made another one from felt, and am quite sure this will pass the durability test. I also added ears to the second version, thinking that it compliments the horns better. The model with the felt horns is Celine Ling, one of the teachers at WuJiaoJi.

I traced the pattern of the previous flattened cardboard horn (previously of a random sketched pattern) onto 2 pieces of light brown felt . I cut around the traced pattern with some seam allowance and overlaid it over another piece of felt and roughly cut out another 2 pieces. With 4 pieces, I handstitched 2 pieces of brown felt cutouts together, leaving the bottom of the horn-cutouts open. And, repeat for the other 2 pieces of brown felt cutouts.

I trimmed off the excess seam allowance, and flipped the horn 'right-side' out.

Used a chopstick to push the horn to it's shape. With all the bits & pieces left over from crafting the other props, I cut them into smaller pieces and stuffed them into the horn to hold it's shape.
Then, sealing it all in with a round piece, with 2 slits for slipping it into the headband. I glued the horn in place and also handsewn them, to further ensure durability. Repeat, for the other horn.
The ears! I just cut out 2 squares, and folded 2 opposite corners toward another corner. Glued them down like so.
And then, proceed to glue them onto the headband, just under the horn on each side, and also, stitched them in place. To give the horn some shape, I glued the inner fold slightly and stuck it downwards, so the ears will not be pointing upwards, but sideways. Gave it a few tugs here and there to give it some shape too.Done! A view from under the headband ... and the overall view.

Flower Power : Jasmine

Got busily crafty lately for a cause. Friends at WuJiaoJi asked if I would help them with costumes for their children's play. WuJiaoJi (directly translated at 5 Foot-Way) is also known as Talents and Performing Arts Group is a local cultural group that promotes and educate on mainly chinese cultural heritage. They also teaches young children to perform.

So there'll be a series of crafting posts on 'costumes' for their children's play, starting with flowers.
With so many varieties of jasmines, I decided to go with one with delicate petals, because if we stick to those with 5 petals, it would look bulky and not as delicate. So, we bought lots of white felt and cut out the petals pretty much to 1 random pattern I cut out. With one as a template, we produced a lot more until the flower looks full. On the template, note that I cut 2 slits the width of the grosgrain ribbon I am going to string the petals all together with.
After all the petals are stringed together, I hand stitched the sides of the petals together so the flower will hold it's shape, without the petals falling forward or backwards.
When it's done, it can be easily stored with all the petals folded together. When you put it on, tie the ribbon at the chin ... and slowly fan out the petals towards the sides, and down to cover the ribbon at the chin ... like so ...
Happy flower!

Don't Be A Chicken! It's Just Hen's Nite!

Yes, it's another pink-colored project! This were the ingredients Belinda and I put together from the craft store this morning at Kenyalang Park. The hairband was from the jewellery and accessories store.

This went back 4 years ago (2006), when I made a veil for my sister's hen's night. She married the guy with the bib which I made too. Sarah's her best friend/bridesmaid.
And now, it's Belinda's sister's turn to get hitched. So we are throwing her a hen's night. I started working on the veil, when I got home with the materials. Cut 2 pieces of 30"x30" pink tulle and lay them parallel with 2" distance from the edges. This will define the layers of the veil from the back

.

Then from the middle, I pleated the tulle in by strips of 1" and used pins to hold them in place when I sewed them down. I did 2lines of backstitching at the distance of double the headband thickness (you'll see why later).
And I repeated the same on the other half. When you refer to the picture below, you'll see that the tulle are folded over the headband where the 2 lines of backstitching will meet up. I'll use this as a guide to secure the tulle onto the headband.
Garnish. Belinda selected wonderful colored (fake) gemstones. I lined them out first before deciding on the best composition, and then sewing them onto the tulle. After that, I returned the tulle, with the gemstones all sewn on, to the headband. Folded it over and hand-stitched the tulle to the headband following the backstitching.
And ... voila! Everything secured in place without glue! So that parts can be recycled for other purposes/projects, if need to, eventually.
Are you ready, Audrey? ;)