SAKUMA SHIKI DROPS COMMEMORATIVE TIN

I blogged about the Sakuma Shiki Drops in March and look what I saw in my neighbourhood store! The commemorative tie-in with Studio Ghibli's 'Grave of the Fireflies' (Hotaru no Haka) design! More expensive but the movie is one of my faves, I just gotta collect it... I still have a tin of candy from my last purchase so not opening this for now.

If you haven't watched the movie, and am in the mood for a poignant historical film, check this one out. Produced in 1988, it is based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Akiyuki Nosaka about 2 siblings who struggles to survive near the end WWII in Japan.

NEW BUSINESS CARDS!

For my beading & vintage costume jewellery blog shop! Previously I had cheap self-printed kinds on cardstock because of a last minute bazaar to make do, but finally! I thought customers will be more likely to keep a nicely printed card rather than toss them = less wasteful =)


It's dual use where the back is plain so I can either write a thank-you note, or use it as a necklace card. Matt laminated, stiff card and unlimited colours for offset printing(!!), 300 pieces for only S$30 (abt US$23)! What a deal. I printed it locally and the printer was near my home (I printed my Lemon Shortbread biz cards there too and was very satisfied tho they are a very new company - at that time their studio seemed halfway renovated).

I wish my designing skills could be better & cuter, looking at the Etsy Packaging pool on Flickr, those packagings really make me drool! I would love to know what you guys think, and if there are any spots I can improve on? There is a cropping problem on the back tho (my image was placed too low digitally and overcropped =P)

YELLOW CROC FRIEND ACEO

New ACEO that I had left uncoloured for a few days while I was busy sewing. Finished this while watching 'COPS' (lol yes the one that goes 'bad boys bad boys whatcha gonna do') and 'The Practice' again. It is available at my Etsy shop here: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=12468825

MAKING FORMAL DRESS PART 3

SEWING LINING TO FABRIC... CONT'D:

So here I have attached the lining to the fabric on the inner sides. There is only one method to do this because there is no way you can join all seams on one side: you have to sew halfway while joining the seams, then flip it around and finish the other half from the other side. If you are worried about the seams not matching up when fixing the 2-halves, you can take the less stressful method of leaving a gap like what I did in the photo.

The gaps can be easily concealed with handstitching! Just hide your knots well. 

ATTACHING INVISIBLE ZIP:

I don't have an invisible zipper foot for my domestic sewing machine (which is really essential) so what I did was to sew as close to the zipper tooth as possible. Then I handstitch it by holding the zipper teeth outwards with my thumb and do secure stitching to my center back (with the specialised zipper foot it is designed in a way that the zipper teeth are flipped out when you are sewing, making zippers an easy task). Very time consuming with handstitches but no choice for me!

*Tip 5* Make sure your seams align when the zipper is closed!  I have a waist seam so that was important to make sure they are not uneven when zipped. It looks unprofessional if the lines don't match. Also the top seam you might just get one up and down if you're not careful. Just be patient and use pins or tacking and test it out before sewing it.

Next I understitch the facing piece, note it doesn't go all the way around the straps because the machine can't do it. It's better than nothing though, and after that I steam everything nice and flat.

ATTACHING ZIP TO LINING:

The quick way is to use a machine, but I prefer handstitching with invisible stitches to save me the stress of trying to align the seams. 

*Tip 6* I iron out the seam first then use a single white thread and stitched it on the zip a little to the side so the zipper won't catch the lining and rip it. The bottom of the lining piece is sewn first with machine then I just steam the seams open.

*Tip 7* Optional: I use a 'little worm' (not sure what it's called in English) as a buffer for the zipper so the stitches don't wear out when you pull down the zip.

HEMMING:

I use invisible stitches to hem. Double fold, iron then handstitch. My slits were originally on the side (it was an A-line skirt then I altered it into a straight skirt to make it look more stylish) but I shifted it into the center back so I didn't manage to leave a seam to fold in, but I stitched it anyhow. Won't fray because I'm using the selvedge for the center back. And I added another 'little worm' at the top of the slit too. 

I used machine for the lining's hem.

RIBBON:

Made with 3 pieces of  scrap cloth, the bow is made with a rectangular piece, the tail with 2 pieces and the 'knot' is from a small rectangular piece. Not hard to assemble, after that it's sewn onto the waist band of the dress!

Done! I just need to iron this and it's ready =D Now I'm gonna make my 2nd dress. Hope I didn't bore you to death!!

MAKING FORMAL DRESS PART 2

So I'm almost done with my white tea-dress, the fitting is not perfect but I'm still gonna wear it anyway after spending  2 full days sewing it! Here's a very brief outline of what I did:

PAPER PATTERNS:

Drafting and cutting out of paper patterns. Very important to make sure all your seams align before cutting the cloth, so you don't have to handle the excess cloth when sewing. It is the darnest occurance when somehow the measurements don't match after minusing here and adding there. The most impt part of the draft to me is the hip line. Because you can't walk if you don't leave extra ease around your hips.

I draw out my facings, linings and original fabric pieces separately. I don't use a tracing wheel because it becomes inaccurate when the paper shifts around while tracing (esp on my flimsy tissue paper!). I do it in pencil. After doublechecking that the total circumferences of bust, waist, hip and side seams tally in measurements, then do I cut it out.
FABRIC CUTTING: 

Cut fabric time! This photo below shows the lining pieces. Steam your fabric & lining fabric before cutting them to make way for shrinkage. I'm using silk so not supposed to have water contact but it was crumpled from folding so I just let out a wee bit of steam. 

*Tip 1* To mark the dart points, I use a pin, poke thru fabric and use a tailors chalk to dot the dart point instead of using tracing wheel. It's very accurate that way. Snip the edges to indicate your allowances and you can use a ruler and chalk to draw your darts on the fabric. 

*Tip 2* You may notice the lining becomes very tight when worn although you use the same measurements as your original fabric patterns. To avoid that problem I include a pleat in my lining (this time I used 2 pleats since there are 2 back pieces because my zipper is at the center back). Yea! That way your dress will be all comfy.

INTERFACINGS:

I also cut interfacing which is the same paper pattern as the facings, and iron them onto the facings immediately so the fabric won't stretch so much from my rough handling lol

SEWING:

Ok so I assemble the pieces: darts and seams that are easily sewn. Then you come to the part of...

SEWING LINING TO FABRIC:

Here the dress is in shape, I want to attach the armholes of the lining to the silk fabric from the outside first. Of course if you have other sequences, it's perfectly fine too!

*Tip 3* For sewing curves, the more curvy the seam, the more snips you have to make on the inner seams so the cloth will stay flat when you flip it out. Else there will be a tension of the thread and cloth and your fabric will pucker badly. Don't want that, so I snip really generously like 8 snips per curve lol. See? My armholes don't pucker any more. 

*Tip 4* After steaming seams flat I sew an understitch (that is, securing the seams towards the facing-lining piece) to make the seams fold backwards better. It really makes a difference and your seams will be as neat as... origami =P ! I'm hooked on that method, or usually a topstitch to flatten stuff but this dress I don't want stitches seen on the front so understitch it is.

To be continued.. need to sleep now it's like 4am =P