It's been almost a month since I came back from the Hanoi trip with Gette & Maggie. Making the fresh spring rolls from the rice paper I brought back from Hanoi recently, got me reminiscing about my trip. It was a fun weekend away, getting stuffed and inspired, with lots of sharing and laughs ... (not to mention, braving the honking street traffic)
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
Heart You Long Time
Audrey & Fred had been dating for 10 years! Finally, they tied the knot last Tuesday ... Congratulations to the two greatest people I know ;)
Previously, I blogged about the pink veil I made for her hen's night here. Now, here's the gorgeous bride wearing it with a pink tutu which I made later. (photo by Jessie Wong Yii Ling)
What's In Your Bag?
Finally, after much procrastinating, I submitted my entry for "What's in your bag?" competition @ Kinokuniya Singapore and Malaysia.
Had lotsa fun with friends putting the shoot together. Thanks, Lili, WanHow & Celine ;)
This is my entry ...
Recognise some of the hand-crafted goodness there??
Friday, November 5, 2010
Rubber Stamping Fun
Recently, I was toying with the thought of getting some rubber stamps made for Cloth.withPegs. I even thought about carving it out of erasers or some cork-based material, like this guy from my recent Hanoi trip. (Maggie & Gette got some traditionally hand-carved stamps made for friends.)
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Travel Wallet by BOOKED!
Finished another BOOKED! Travel Wallet from my stock of second-hand books, Eclectic Third Reader
Size (gross): 14.6cm(w) x 22.3cm(h) x 2.6cm(t)
This one is for sale, refer to item on my Etsy shop here. (Contents are for display only)
Update : SOLD!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Travel Wallet by BOOKED!
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Friday, October 1, 2010
BOOKED! : Line Up - Part 1
This is the line-up from yesterday's haul. If anything catches your eye to be BOOKED! to your specifications, let's talk about it in detail through email.
Art, Culture and Environment
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
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.
Monday, September 27, 2010
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.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
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.
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.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
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.
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!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
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.
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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? ;)

Sunday, August 8, 2010
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 ... ;)
Saturday, August 7, 2010
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.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
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 ... ;)
Friday, June 25, 2010
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 ... ;)
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.
London - Paris - Nice - Marseille & Aix-en Provence - Montpellier, Sète, Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert & Avignon - Figueras, Barcelona & Terrassa - London, Birmingham, Warwick, Penkridge & Cotswold
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