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 :)

change of heart...

ok... maybe its not change of heart...
I've just been "greeniefied" and "re-imagined", something that has been there in my mind for ages, but i intend to finally just do it.
its reducing want thus reducing waste and utilize better what i have in hand...
i suppose i have mentioned it in previous post, but i guess ill say it again...
i am finding pleasure on not merely having new shiny thing, but knowing the new & shining thing was something i already have in hand, re purposed or in some was "responsible"...
makes me feel good about making things, finding it to take creativity to a new level...

besides i already have a lot of stuff... i dont need to add more, but make the best out of what i have... yes. im pretty sure, thats the best thing to do.

while driving for the last 2 days (my personal brainstorming time) i thought about

• how to utilize water in my (dream) house,
• getting a hybrid car
• designing recycled material lamps & furniture
• working on my balcony garden
• taking apart mom's old clothes & making them new
• wearing dad's old ties as belts & scarves (ok, i HAVE been doing this, but just not so much lately; this is just a reminder to do it more often)
  
• whether to donate or garage sale my old clothes
• how to store the materials for re purposing crafts
  
• wallpapering a wall with old phone books using rice flour paste,...

well, im happy with my thoughts. its a good day & a good purpose :)
*note at 3:16pm... might just keep adding as the day progresses...

hanging garden of nala. pt 2.

so...
after a week...
the celery died...
i added some lemmongrass stalks i found at the grocery store, their roots are coming in. i plan to buy some compost, potting soil & pots and move them to the pots in a week or so. i also plan to pot and move some of my mom's pandan bushes and heliconias up to the balcony.... im still on the search of the perfect mini bamboos... thinking of being sneaky and cut a branch or two from the neighbours hahaha...
im going to convince bf to help carry some taller plants for the balcony over the weekend...
i hope mom wouldnt mind...

in other crafts:
i hope i finish my shrug/scarf office project today or tomorrow...

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...

hanging garden of nala. pt 1.

at every event/concert i work for i get IDs (of course), the credit card ones made pretty planters like i mentioned on an older post, but that about the paper ones that comes with a plastic holder/pouch? these IDs go into my scrapbooks, but then i left with a stack of plastic pouches...
so i tried to see if they would make hanging planters or vases for my windows...
i put some hanging plants from mom's garden, cilantro & green onion that still has roots (these came from kitchen)... i add water, a drop of plant food, and hang...
im wondering what other plants i can grow in my room.
ill update again on the

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...