whites. the dresses...

here are the white dresses


the first dress i made a few months ago. a sunny dress in embroidered white cotton in floral motif with a corset tie back. doubles as a skirt...

A tunic in the same sort of fabric as above (except in paisley motif) using a pattern from burdastyle, not quite sure the pattern name, but extended it so it works as a dress as well...



white button up dress in striped weave, using a shirt pattern (also from burdastyle), and adjusted it to make it a dress...

Green Dress In Time For Bali! Yay!

tomorrow i will go to bali...
and because the producer that will be there gave me a pretty satin jumput/tie-dye/tritik fabric from when she was in sumatera, i decided that it will be nice to be able to wear that fabric at the nights we get to hang out (i cant wear it to work because its to dressy)...
so i made a dress. i used a pattern from burdastyle.com, the azalea...
yes i HATE sewing satin. the tye dye wasnt so bad, but the satin black lining is evil! i cant get satin to cut right and sew right at all! and because i have this fear of zippers, i gave the front a slit and ties with thin velvet ribbon

but its made, done, and wearable...

Reversible Jacket #2...

Ok, so tonight i plan to make a reversible jacket. part 2...
i based it on a shirt pattern found on burdastyle.com ... the emily shirt...
it is then altered to make the curved front shape and added a hood...

Sewing White Cotton

Its been a while since i posted, mostly because the wi-fi in my room died because the dogs chewed the cables to the router... (ok, i'll be honest and admit that im not sure if i wrote all that technical stuff right, but the thingie in next to the big clunky pc said "router")...
anyway, the time i've been gone, i spent my time sewing white garments(tops/dresses)...
i wanted more loose cotton tops, and i picked white cotton because the boyfriend likes to see me wear white...

on the done list:

• tie neck top in swiss dot cotton (emily shirt variation)
• pin tucked oversized top in thin rainbow pinstriped gauze (based on anda pattern)
• shirt dress in texture striped cotton (emily shirt variation)
• indian embroidered tunic/caftan (ellinor variation)
• loose kangaroo pocketed top with tie neck in jaquard & plain cotton (again, emily shirt variation)

on the recycled & done list (using emily shirt as the basic pattern):

• took the "maximum psychobilly" mens shirt and made it into a sleveless tailored shirt
• took the front panel of this weird top aunt gave me and made it into a sleeves shirt with flared bottom back...

on the to do list:

• twill sheath dress (using the mila pattern)
• eyelet fabric (no idea yet, but its pretty)

yes yes, i love burdastyle.com! im sure you can tell :)

doodled bag...

so while watching random tv shows last night i took out my gold marker and started doodling on a knock off elle computer bag i found at a local market (at Rp. 50.000,- its very cheap, but i'll never wear it an pretend its real, bad bad bad).... so i had fun doodling... and used up all the gold in the pen... heeheeeheee... yes i was inspired by the pretty prada fairy bags...

ps: no i dont support fakes. i got the bag as a joke, and as a cheap canvas. i would not paint on a real branded bag, but i love to torture the hell out of a fake...

gift giving...

so tomorrow is dad's birthday... and i promised an designing art student cousin (who's birthday WAS in april) a notebook, which i kept forgetting to send (he's in australia)...

therefore this post is about gifts! yay!

i suppose i should start with the older project. i designed a cover for my cousin. no actually i designed the cover for me, using some clip art i have (that i vectored & tweaked & organized into a neat lil pattern), but put in his initials. printed the design onto green paper and glued those on to a cardboard; i lined the inside part of the cover with old Japanese newspaper. cut up stacks of paper for the inside and organized it, so it has:

1. plain white paper
2. vellum
3. lined paper
4. graph paper
5. green paper
6. black paper
7. small envelope for random stuff
   

took the whole stack to Subur (a local copyshop) and had them wire bind it. i also sewed a little slip cover to keep it neat, then pinned the birdie from previous post onto it.

then i worked on making "packaging" for dad's gifts. he's getting golf flash disk, new golf shoes, & a golf trip to bali in august. yes, he loves golf that much. its the only thing that gets him out of the house... so i took the hiphiphippo pattern i made for miss hippocooks, took out the hippos, and added golfers & golf balls (plus the 18th hole, also a reference to the 18th as dad's birth date)... print on A3 paper with an ink jet printer and tadaaaa: a card, an envelopes & wrapping paper. yay!

that cap...

i said i will post my circular hat in the morning so here it is...

here is the cap to wear whenever i have to borrow brother's helmet. the bf rides the moto, so sometimes i do need to wear a helmet. im still waiting for the day the bf takes me on a scooter(vespa or that white yamaha to match the white gath helmet) to monas on a saturday and we have a picnic near the infamously expensive laser lit fountain...

pics: the unfinished knit, the cap finished, the cap under the helmet (yay! helmet stays in place now!)...

birdie birdie...

there was a wedding out of town this weekend, a big drum'n'bass event, and a day of taking mom shopping... so there was really no time to sew or make any big projects, even if my hand were reaaally itching...

but i did have time to make a little stuffed birdie out of left over fabric from my reversible jacket, using the pattern i found on spool sewing... i used the fabric from the head of the sarung, and used the smaller pieces of scraps for stuffing. no waste here... i believe i will make a few for galang (my second cousin's lil boy) and immy (my best friends' baby girl). hopefully its good teething toy...

oh, on the wedding trip i almost finished my circular knit (done whilst talking to aunts over ginger tea & cigarettes) which is going to be a cap to make my favorite helmet (in my brothers collection) fit me. ill do the finishing in the morning & post it then. i also started on a new "watching tv project", taking old tshirts and making the hook rug i talked about on the previous post...

so much i want 2 do... no time 4 me...

there is so much i want to do, yet, the time doesnt seem to be cooperating...

there's this pile of fabric in my room(i counted around 23 different kinds), that i have to reduce to half the size before im allowed to buy anymore fabric... yesterday a dear friend just gave me 2 pieces of traditional fabrics from the trip she took around indonesia, so thats 2 more to figure out what to do with...

not to mention the box of decent sized fabric scraps that begs to be used (instead of trashing)...

i just try to keep the ideas listed in a journal, so when i have free time i can go ahead and do something i wrote down instead of sitting wondering what i can do...

so heres some excerpts from the lists...

sewing:

• black silky kerchief edged kaftan
• black cotton bias cut halter
• reversible fitted jacked using a reversible jaquard in green/grey with contrast bias binding
  
• reversible long jacket using red fabric with pillow embroidery and light batik pekalongan

fabric scraps:

• hobo bag
• quilt (using old wornd down bali blankets as batting)
  
• sewing machine cover
• old tshirt hook rug
• stuffed toys for family & friends who has kids ;)
• box pillows (buy the filling from lokal walking merchants that pass by our house every so often. give back to community. feel good, look good)
  

"recycling" older garments(yes, inspired by the show i've go nothing to wear):

• mom's yellow embroidered jacket (smaller! more fitted! so cute!)
• an oversized shift; begging for pockets, belt or darts
• that paisley top that looks like pajamas; fixed the arms, but the body is still all wrong. what to do what to do...
  

other ideas:

• a light, bright lampshade for my work room (saranwrap over wire? cut out vellum?)
  
• recycling my ID cards into a cute hanging planter inspired by the credit card planter found here (i wont cut my IDs, instead just tape 5 together and use a clear tape so i can still see the colourful IDs; the loops from the ID will be the hangers)
  
• grafittied/doodled cheap bags (actually i've made 2 of these, and one is carried around as a computer bag by a Cosmopolitan Indonesia stylist; but i still want a white one hand doodled)

not to mention ideas how to make my balcony more green. its a big balcony, about the size of my room. currently it has a few pots with adeniums, and an old satelite dish as a vine plant planter. i want to add lemongrass, aloe, small pringodani bamboos, those tiny oranges plants...

so no more shopping for me. just use what i have :)

ok. maybe buy some plants. just a few. then again i can "steal" from mom & granmas' garden...

more than just batik. pt. 1

here in Jakarta, i have noticed (more like blatantly pushed in my face) a trend that women are embracing: batik tops.

dont get me wrong, i love batik. in the past i have studied (mostly from granma) batik, collected books on it (well, mostly handed down from my granma again), and even used elements from it in my design (most notable the audition graphics for KDI 5). i am also saving some cash on Iwan Tirta's book on batik.
im very glad an indonesian traditional fabric is getting recognition and being worn daily now, instead only at weddings or other formal events... but its a trend that's overwhelmed by "sameness"; a-line babydoll & wrap javanese batik tops everyone is wearing. from my mother, great aunts, and younger cousins. its a bit too much.

besides, there are all kinds of fabrics in indonesia: batik prada from bali (with bold gold prints on bold solid background), silk ikat fabrics from sulawesi, jumputan/tritik (a type of tie-dye treatment), songket, batak tribe's ulos, not to mention their variants and all other types of weaves & dies that i cant recall at the moment...

to avoid drowning in this sea of batik motifs, and yet still feel "indonesian culture"-fied... i decided i should take one of the other fabrics and make a simple top; nice enough to wear to family events, and comfortable enough to wear out. last week i found the answer while rummaging through my mother's traditional fabric closet: a brand new green sarung samarinda, with white contrast weaving and gold threads. in 3 hours i finished the top, and wore it to my family gathering last sunday.

yay for variety!
next is the purple jumputan cotton. i think it will turn into a dress. yes.
plus im hoping my friend will have luck finding some bright ikat sarungs in makassar today :)
the one i have is too precious(sentimental value) to cut up...

First Post Eva!

hi hi... ooh, first post, what pressure...

just to get this started, i am an art director/graphic designer by profession, and a weekend/night crafter... my name is nala, but i also go by other names miz orange, miz o, nalski, and nalce(nala-cewe, indonesian for nala-girl).im sure people come up with other names for me as well...

in case you are curious Saraswati is a Hindu goddess, and the name of the street im living on (since 1990, till at least for the next year)... do check Saraswati on Wikipedia...

i intend to keep this as my "crafting" and "artsy" blog of things i've done... i have a separate blog for personal rants and that kind of emotional stuff... and a different blog for professional portfolio... and i can be found on facebook, friendster & myspace, although i admit i dont check the last two often at all...

now that i've typed that i guess i should move some of my sewing posts here...
oh well... maybe later today... or when my dear brother finally set up the wifi for my room...