101 Things

I first found the "101 Things I Learned in Architecture School" by Matthew Frederick one of the most inspirational mini-textbook around. Especially after working for so long, one tends to get jaded by the whole paper-work aspect of architecture and lose track of the beauty of architecture. Going back to school (this time tutoring), is a refreshing change. And browsing through this book filled with 'things I learned', I realised that these are still very eminent it is in my architectural practice these days ... brought back fond memories of school and prized assignment & achievements.

And now, Matthew Frederick collaborated with other professionals to come up with a series of 101 Things I Learned.

Today, I added 101 Things I Learn in Fashion School to my collection, although I was never properly schooled in that aspect, but if it's anything like the first one I have, I am sure I will enjoy it ... ;)

Pegs and Something Pink

And the dinner is finally a wrapped! A great big pat on the back for Grace Yong for pulling this together. Although not everyone was there, but in attendance where near to 1,000 alumni ranging from graduating year of 1949 to 2010!

It is REALLY something pink! Just look at the photo from a dear friend and an amazing photographer, Andy Kho.

In the end I just didn't continue working on the 'doily' and I had to come up with a quick solution last minute. I bought some leather straps in pink while out with Gette, 2 days before the reunion dinner.
So, I twisted it into the Breast Cancer Awareness ribbon like at the back of the dinner ticket ... and voila, "Pegs and Something Pink" clipped to my knitwear.
Here's another wonderful picture by Andy, with Wendy. I did end up wearing a cheongsam top in pink underneath my knit. I do think this is a subtler approach than the doily on the head. ;)

Something Pink

There will be a reunion dinner for my school in July, and the theme is Something Pink. Although I am just gonna go in a Breast Cancer Awareness Pink Ribbon pin, I've decided to experiment with something pink, anyways...

Found these wonderful lace trimmings and thought I would test something out on it. I wanted to do a headpiece with some tulle and attached it to a headband. But at the moment, I got something that looks like a doily. I loved it anyways. I loved that it looked vintage.

Here's what I did, I stringed some beads together with the lace, intending for it to cluster together at the end and form a 'centre'.

And I continued for another 10 pearl beads...

At this point, I cut off the extra lace trimming and looped it back to join with 1st bead, and tied it together. And I also stitched the ends of the lace trimming together.

There we go, after the ends had been joined.

Since I thought it looked too constricted, I cut the lace up at the nooks to further define the 'petals'.

I tried to enhance it sideways, so it doesn't look so rounded, by adding extra petals to 2 sides, on opposite ends.

And stitched it on...

Guess that's progress until now, until I decide to work on it some more ... ;)

On The Run On My Own

If you had noticed in my previous blog entries about preparations for 'going away', you can now piece it together with my long hiatus ...

My jeans bag and I were inseparable. Everywhere I went, I got a lot of nods for the upcycled bag ... and it's quite a conversation starter. Gave the hat to Charlotte who is a real gem! Brought some other Borneo crafts for friends too.Trace my adventures here ... ;)

London - Paris - Nice - Marseille & Aix-en Provence - Montpellier, Sète, Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert & Avignon - Figueras, Barcelona & Terrassa - London, Birmingham, Warwick, Penkridge & Cotswold

Covered & Heading Somewhere

After the previous jeans bag project, I was already packing up my sewing corner, until I stumble upon a sewing magazine and got distracted. Browsing through the magazine, I was fascinated with the idea of having my own hand-made hat to travel with, plus it had quite easy and straight-forward instructions. So I unraveled my sewing gears and was on my way to a new hat.
I ransacked around for fabric and decided on the leftover from my 'obi-belt' project and also loose scraps of denims that I had saved. There was only 1 pattern cut-out, to be reproduced in 6 panels for the insides and 6 again for the outside. Since this was supposed to be a reversible hat, both sides had to be neatly constructed. Well, I tried my best. It was so easy, I completed it in less than 1 hour.
Tried another photo of the hat with uplighting from my bedside table lamp, for a better illustration of the fabric on the inside.
There, the collapsible (easy for packing) and reversible hat. I tried it outdoors.
The pattern came from the Spring Edition 2009 vol.30 of Cotton Friend (Japanese sewing/craft magazine)

Travelling with my craft

I've always found it rather difficult to fit everything in my travelling slingbag. Being rather disorganised, I am always digging for things in my bag like it was a lucky draw. What I really need is a bag with lotsa pockets inside; different sized pockets for different items, and better still, if they all had zippers, for when I need to seal them up. Gette even suggested bear traps, I guess the zippers comes close.

Started out planning the inside layout of the pockets, which was the primary driving reason for this bag, anyways.
Not quite the genius with sewing pockets, so I slapped 2 layers of fabric together and divided up the spaces by sewing it through according to the length of the zippers, like so ...I was going to use fabrics I had saved up from previous projects but I finally decided on using a really old pair of jeans I dug out from de-cluttering my wardrobe. I was on the roll, and forgot about documenting the process, so no how-to pictures. But, it's just lining up the interior of a jeans bag, just like that project I did 2 years back, with an inside full of pockets with zippers.

Recycling that old pair of jeans, proved ideal, because of those pockets it already has on the outside. With full intentions of filling up my travel with lotsa sketches, I stuck in my new red Moleskine sketchbook, into one of the pockets on the outside.
Here's a peek into the inside ... space for books, and water bottle (and umbrella)!!! Now, I'm 99% ready to go away, next month! ;)If you noticed the belt ... yes, those are recycled from the de-cluttering project too. They were supposed to be an alternative strap for one of my sling bags, which now ended up as a decorative trim, while holding up the shape/brim of the bag.