Bag Upgrade + new fabrics

Salam all..

Woww..its been months since I last blogged. Of course undergraduate life is much busier than foundation. I'm currently on my semester break with only a week a left. So far I spent my holidays sewing, watching The Nanny, a couple of days at the Sharples with my family and of course a bit of baking. So much overdue stuff to blog about including my fabric shopping spree at the Supplies Surprise Bazaar 9, how I spent my birthday with my girl Nisaa, my new album addiction, stashing up my sewing supplies and showing off some sewing that I've done lately.

But, first of all, Demi by Demi Lovato. Love it! Her albums just get better and better. My favourite track would be number 11 - Never Been Hurt. As always, her albums has an infinite number of high notes so its difficult to sing along though.

Moving on, back in April I went to check out the 9th Supplies Surprise Bazaar held at the Bfree studio in Sunway. I've always wanted to go but never really knew how to get there. With the help of beau, it wasn't that hard to find. I bought a couple half yards of yummy cotton and a bit of PU leather then I bought more stash at Fabrics Fanatics in Summit the next day. Sum them all up, I spent over RM100 that weekend on fabric stash only. Awesome.

I think I should hit pause on fabric shopping for a while and use up what I have before purchasing more. On that note, I gave myself a bag upgrade from denim to PU leather :DD I actually need a new pencil case more than a new bag, but I just thought the purple leather looks better as a bag. I think I'm quite right about it.

The brown strap was recycled from an old converse bag that belonged to a friend. The bag wore out and she was ready to throw it away. I didn't let her do that. Instead I pieced it apart and took whatever I can use again. Now I have myself a new handbag/sling bag. Excited :DD

I also made another creation out of my PU stash. I call it the two-way clutch. They're already selling in retail and slowly entering the less expensive accessory world. Notice the snap buttons attached to it, the function is to switch the clutch colours. I made this one in red and cream. Basicly, the clutch is red on one side and cream on the other, so the colours are switchable simply by using the snap buttons. I'm not very good at literal explanation, hopefully the pictures help.

This is my first try at this, so the stitching is rather messy. I'm thinking of making them in cotton, one side plain and the other with a flashy print. I don't have a button snap set, so I had to visit my favourite sewing store, Karysma to insert the snaps. While I was there, I thought why not buy some zips in advance, two of each colour.

Don't they just look wonderful? Heee..

Anyways, that's all for this post. I did manage to complete one custom order from my Mak Long, already posted at Just aYan's.

Until next time...

Wassalam

 

Macaroon Love

Salam everyone!! :D

It has been just over two months since I last blogged, which was right before the semester began. I'm currently on my mid-sem break so I only have around 8 days at home. And I've used up 4 and a half days for movies and baking and going out with my family. I have a whole list of things I need to sew for myself,

1. New pencil case. My pencil case right now is 7 years young and its very dirty. It makes all my new stationery dirty too.

2. New wallet. I've been using my black and red Milk Teddy small wallet for many years too, some parts are ripping, plus I really want to start using a long wallet and keep my cash nice and flat with no creases. :)

3. Laptop sleeve. I've sewn 2 laptop sleeves, for my mum and older brother, but haven't been able to sew any for myself. Like I've said before, when you're busy sewing things for others there's no time to sew things for yourself.

But, see..the thing is..I always make lists of things I'd like to sew, or bake, or buy or just simply a plan of what tasks to complete during a holiday. I barely ever complete them. My focus period lasts just as long as a block of ice in a hot pan. When something gets boring, I move on to something else and tell myself I'll get back to it later. In the end, I'm still left with a full list with each task half done. -_-' I really need to sort out my time.

Well anyway, yadayadayada... Macaroons! I baked them on Sunday. This is my fifth time. The first 2 times I baked these sugary stuff, which was last year, I failed terribly. Mixture turned out too runny. So then I bought this book at The Big Bad Wolf Bookfair (it was so cheap!) but only 2 weeks ago on my lil' bruv's birthday, I had a chance to actually use the recipes in the book.

My 3rd time baking macaroons, I had mixed in too much sugar, it was so silly~ But the fourth time, it worked awesome! Though I did change the recipe a little, I figured maybe because the humidity here in Malaysia is different to where the author of the book lives. Malaysia is so much hotter, plus my house don't have those fancy air-conds, just fans. So, instead of using large egg whites, I used smaller ones. And as I was making chocolate macarons, I reduced the cocoa powder to only 1 tbsp. The recipe makes about 20 macaroons. So if you're from Malaysia, and you're using the recipe in this book, still your mix is too runny, try doing what I did, okay! :D

This is my fifth time baking macaroons, I decided to make vanilla flavour. I think they turned out alright, though I didn't tap the trays hard enough so the feet of the macaroons didn't form very well. But still taste as good :)

That's all for tonight's post, I hope I get some sewing done before the end of the week

Much love, aYan

xoxo

A sweet little fabric shop

Salam all..

Currently listening to a song beau suggested to me, Wanted by Hunter Hayes. Love it.

When I shop for designer fabrics, I prefer doing it online cuz most textile stores in Malaysia don't have those divine imported cotton prints. Well, last weekend I decided to pay a visit to a lovely little fabric store in Subang. Have you heard of Fabric Fanatics? I first started browsing fabrics there online at www.fabricfanatics.com.my . But since I was in Subang last week, I thought why not go see the physical shop itself. I had things I needed to buy there anyway, might as well save myself the shipping costs.

Credits to lvbeii.blogspot.com for pic

Such a dainty little shop ain't it? :D Its a small store, but looking at all those rolled yards of gorgeous fabrics arranged together so beautifully on the racks, so heavenly to look at. I didn't have much cash on me at the time, since I was only expecting to buy what I need. 

So that was my eye candy for the day. If you love fabrics of all types, textures and colours, you'll love this shop. Fabric Fanatics at The Summit USJ.

That's all really, just wanted to give out some handmade love <3 p="p">

xoxo

 

Stuck on ideas

Salam all..

I was recently working on my third project for my 20-day challenge thing, and how stupid was I to overestimate the capabilities of my old-school sewing machine. AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!

Now that it has completely destroyed my third project to the point of unrecoverable, all I can do is try to get my machine running as normal as possible again and move on to the next idea. Hopefully, something not too thick that my machine can't handle. Which is the problem exactly. Every time I run thick layers through the machine, it skips stitches. I can't think of anything right now that is not too thick. So I'm stuck. I guess its back to pinterest for idea hunting and back to sketching again. Sigh.

Best I can do now is actually get 20 projects done in the remaining days I have left. Rushing a sewing project is no fun, not to mention it might also get destroyyyed in the process. Okay, off to find my inspiration now.

Much love
xoxo

 

Driving + 1st day of sewing challenge

Salam everyone..

Yesterday I had my second driving lesson. My instructor let me drive the car home from the driving school, let me tell you that I've never drove a car outside of the school ever and I am sooo awkward on the road. Of course it was only my second lesson so the instructor had to give step-by-step instructions of what to do next, when to press the clutch, when to change the gear, when to slow down, when to go faster. I have no idea how I'm going to pass the JPJ test. I could ask my Abang to teach me but he's so busy with his job and his daytime naps. I guess I'll just have to steal his car keys and go out myself.

No, not really. I wouldn't.

Moving on. Confession. In the previous post, I said I wanted to do a 20-day sewing challenge which I meant to start yesterday. But, I had a driving lesson yesterday and since I was so tired after my first lesson I knew I was gonna be worn out when I got home. Therefore, I decided to make the project 1 day in advanced.

Here it is, my first project for my sewing challenge which I posted on my showcase blog, Just aYan's, last night. I realised that many of the things I've sewn have very complicated designs with multiple compartments here and there, which some people may like. But that would mean it requires a lot more fancy fabric and more bag hardware, thus leading to a more expensive price. Then again, if I was to make the simplest bag with no extra compartments out of solid colour fabric it would look too plain. So for this bag, I decided to go with minimalism. It is a simple tote with just a little bit of print for prettiness and colour blocking to lose the 'too plain' look. And it costs so much less! Thank you colour blocking!! :DD

If you'd like to see the details of this bag, here it is 

http://justayans.blogspot.com/2013/01/simple-book-tote-made-with-kensington.html

That's all today, off to work on my next sewing project.

xoxo

 

20-day Sewing Challenge

Salam everyone..

This is my first post of the year, yes I know its late. heh. Based on last year's opening post, I've established that I suck at 'first post of the year' and I ended up posting a bunch of scrap pages and a template freebie. I thought this year, I'll just skip the 1st January and go straight to this year's ramblings. Nevertheless, I hope everyone had a good start to 2013. As for me, bored out of my mind, I'll just imitate last year and start with a scrap page.

That's my little teddy, my loyal companion. As innocent as he seems just sitting there on my bed, he has listened to multiple private conversations in this room, yet he's the most awesome secret keeper ever. Aha! :)

Anyways, Najah's gone back to boarding school which means I have the room to myself. As much as I love her company, she needs to go back to school and I need to sew more. At the rate I'm sewing right now, I won't be able to achieve my goal of turning at least 50% of those designer fabrics my sister bought me into lovely handmades BEFORE going back to Uni. Hence, I decided to give myself a challenge.

Despite having 3 more driving classes to go, for the next 20 days my sewing machine will be in full speed. Hopefully, I'm able to complete 1 sewing project per day. By the end of it, I'll have myself 20 more posts at my Just aYan's showcase blog and I'm pretty sure it would hit my sewing goal for this holiday. Or maybe exceed. Yeaayy!

That's about all the yadayadayada I can do for now. I'm still hunting for inspiration and ideas to add to my 20 day sewing challenge. Maybe I'll share some soon :)

Much love, aYan
xoxo

 

Aliya craft's Giveaway

Salam..

I haven't taken part in a giveaway for a while now. So thought I might since the prize is so tempting. I've said this before, I'll say it again. When you're busy sewing things for other people, you kind of lose time to sew things for yourself, that is why I love handmade giveaways. And usually they're very generous too. :DD
Hmm..anyways, this giveaway is hosted by Aliya's Craft. Starts on the 12th December and ends on the 31st. If you want to win this lovely red, well-made wristlet clutch, go visit Aliya's Craft to find the details of how to join. Good luck!