A Special Gift for A Special Friend

Recently I connected with someone who shared almost similar interest and childhood likes with me. It was amazing and almost unexpected to find someone like this halfway across the other side of the world. The most interesting thing is we share almost similar initials "PW".
And so I have decided to make something to commemorate this special friendship and a belated birthday ... the gift is on the way to the new owner ... from one PW to another PW.

Current Issue : Face Mask with Bling

Made another face mask ... flashier ... ;P
I added a little bit of sequins on the fabric. Here's a close-up on the details ... check out the original post with full tutorial, here.

Current Issue : Face Mask

The lastest fashion accessory : The Face Mask. It's hitting the streets and jet-setters alike ...

It is definitely not fun in these times of H1N1, with confirmed cases hitting our shores in Sarawak. I have made some fancy mask cover to protect my surgical mask that had been distributed. Below is a set of very basic instruction if you want to make your own.

I took out a surgical mask for dimensions, to ensure it fits. I used some leftover fabrics that I have been saving.

These were my mask dimensions; 17.5cm x 17cm , with 2cm seam allowance. I also marked out the folds. Cut out the fabric as marked and continued marking the middle folds before ironing it down.Here, folds ironed in place, as marked. And a detail shot. Folds of 1cm (underside) and 2cm (overside).
I sewed a straight stitch along both sides to hold the folds in place, before hemming it inwards. Now, I took out a recycled rubber band (that I have been saving up too), measured the length according to the bands on the surgical mask and cut out 2 strips.I sewed it into the top seam allowance and the bottom seam allowance (on the same side). Cut of excess and repeat for the other side. After with, I hemmed the top seam allowance inwards to cover over the band, and repeat for the bottom seam allowance.Done. Placed it over my face (above the nose) and pulled the bottom bit downwards to achieve maximum coverage. It can be stretched all the way down to my neck. For extra precaution, wear the surgical mask underneath this mask.Honestly, its not only for your own protection, but it is also considered polite to wear this if you are having flu/cold. For more info about facemasks & respirators, read here.

Beijing

Just wanna share some pictures from my recent trip to Beijing. One of the highlights from this trip was the National Theatre of China in Beijing, design by French architect Paul Andreu.

(oooo, those costumes and miniature set design models!!!)
some more photos here:

19th May 2009
arrived in Beijing Terminal 2
dimsum breakfast
Tiananmen Square
Beijing Opera House
Forbidden City
Pu Er Tea outlet
check-in to Taly Plaza Hotel
dinner

20th May 2009
BIAD
Planning Exhibition Hall
Peking Duck lunch
Opposite House (hotel) by Kengo Kuma
The Village (shopping centre)
(eat McD mapo pork burger!)

21st May 2009
Temple of Heaven
SOHO Jianwai
SOHO Shangdu
CCTV
Linked Hybrid
798
Tenggili Tala dinner

22nd May 2009
Summer Palace
Hotel 61 Cote Cour
Hotel Kapok
WangFuJing
Szechuan dinner
JiuBaJie (Bar Street)

23rd May 2009
Great Wall
Commune at the Great Wall
lunch near Olympic park
jade outlet
Qianmen Jianguo Hotel/Liyuan Theatre
Qianmen Jie

24th May 2009
rickshaw ride in Hutong
Water Cube (Olympic Aquatic Centre)
Bird's Nest (Olympic Stadium)
acrobatic performance
dinner
nite scene of Water Cube & Bird's Nest
(supper near hotel)

25th May 2009
and a couple of pics from our last day there at the airport

Juice-y Couture Handbag

With all this over-rated hype over fancy schmancy over-pricey Juicy Couture accessories, I'll show you my very own ... JUICE-Y Couture Handbag Spring/Summer 2008!This is a crafting project I did back in March 2008. And since then there were requests for tutorials but I have not gotten around making another one, so I am going to illustrate and explain.

In my case, I used 4 identically sized carton boxes. For a wider bag, you can opt for 5 or more, and for a narrower bag, you can use 3 or even 2 cartons. Open up the seal at the top carefully by hand and remove the plastic cap (if any).Prepare 3 Types, as illustrated:
Type 1 : End - 3 sided with 1" flap and punched holes along one side;
Type 2 : Intermediate - 2 sided with 1" flap and punched holes along both; and
Type 3 : End - 3 sided, no extra flaps and only punched holes along one side.

Cut of the the top part, leaving about 1" from the crease line. At the side flaps, measure and mark a stretch of approximately 20mm spaced points. At the marked points, use the hole puncher and make a hole.(Tips: For evenly spaced openings and uniformity, use a separate cardboard strip and punch the holes evenly along it. Then overlay the strip on all the flaps and traced the holes onto it with marker.)

Fold the top flaps inwards.Here, we'll 'stitch' it all together. Using backstitch, I stringed up the carton boxes with 1 pair of orange and 1 pair of yellow shoelaces to string. You can choose your own color to match the graphics on the carton boxes. Start from the 2nd hole from the top.

1 ...2 ...3 ...As for the rings for the strap, they were a total of 4 aluminum can tabs. Close-up like so ...Here's another look!

Mysterious

Borneo Boy asked me to make him a mask for our PAMSC BTS Gala Dinner.

What are the chances one would get to pressed aluminum foil up on the face of the president of an architect's association at a charity auction dinner with lots of who's-who?

Sure! Why not ...

At the Habitat for Humanity charity dinner, I traced and contoured the profile of CW's face with an aluminum foil & marker pen that I brought from home. Forgot to get someone to take a photo of me doing it in the middle of the dinner. But this is the photo of the aluminum foil (after) on the the dining table; and after I applied on the strips of masking tape.To hold CW's mask in place, I tied in the transparent rubber band I used for beading, on both sides of the mask. And here's the both of us. CW sprayed finished the mask with white and added the tear himself after I handed him the mask. That's some DIY effort there!Now, either my nose is not in the middle of my face, or the mask is not centered.