Peplum Raya

I've been good this year. I started my baju raya project in the midst of Ramadhan. Unlike last year and the year before last, I would have just started the kid's and my baju raya 2 days before Aidilfitri. The night before raya I would still be struggling to finish the clothes until wee morning. This year I am a bit relaxed as I am  more determined and I would say more organised. True what people say, it comes with being wiser (older!). 

I planned a simple traditional Malay kurung for myself and both girls. After watching videos on YouTube to get inspired, I bumped into an interesting and simple peplum video. Watdayaknow! It's actually very simple to sew peplum and to excite me more, I just had to use a stretchy material to omit the zippers. Simple!

I already had a jersey interlock I bought last year. First trial, I was in love. First thought, it would look lovely on the kids. And because I was determined and organised, I managed to sew for 2 nieces and a cousin. Whoa!

I also managed to amend old projects. It just takes a little effort to make things nicer. I wished I knew this earlier. Hah!

My first peplum, old long skirt project, all 7 skirts done and a trip to LSN for some advise and consolation. (It comes with purchase of accessories too!) 

The printed Italian cotton (just coincidentally designed by Emanuel Ungaro) and jersey interlock for the peplum top.

A matching purple fabric and design on the first day of Raya for my 2 lovelies. 

Long sleeve  and 'longer' peplum and a mermaid skirt.

A matching design - pinkish fabric on the 2nd day of Raya.

Capped sleeve and 'shorter' peplum with a double-tiered-gathered-hem skirt.

My niece Dina with my 2 year old Tia.

The finished skirts and peplum top.

My cousin Farah Ayna all the way in Penang.

Looking really sweet.

I like to smile

I have an attitude that I have to knock off when it comes to sewing. I get discouraged easily. There will be a point where I get all excited about sewing, start to sew and cut and sew and finally couldn't wait for the pieces to finish, I rush it out and make mistakes and get discouraged. Never mind getting discouraged, it had to come with a total halt and hibernation phase. The worst since started sewing, I don't really buy cloths. It just don't seem worth buying something I can sew. It makes me more thrifty, at the same time shirtless. Hah! The first is OK. The 2nd is quite depressing. No sewing and no more cloths. My husband don't believe me when I say I have no more cloths to wear. Men just don't get it I guess. Hehe. I've got to rant more. It does good to the soul.

Have a good day and puasa dear readers!

Rollypop's Chef uniform

My sister started her baking passion-turn-business a few years ago. She had gone from home business to a bakery store based just recently.  Quite an achievement. Sharing below her very creative creation.

 The Despicable Me minions

 Banana split - it's a real cake. No real banana involved

 Princess

Upin & Ipin 

So every baker needs a chef uniform right? Hmm..here's me doing a muslin so that it would fit. The actual uniform will be black BUT to this date it has not fit in perfectly yet. I have sewn with the actual fabric but because also this is my first time sewing a plus size top, its a bit of a challenge. By the way, the plus size button top kurung I sewn for mom which I destroyed does not count. Ngeehh.. Everything on the body fits perfectly fine. I just have to amend the armhole now. The remnants is not big enough for me to cut a new arm so was disappointed when the fabric store had all the colors under the sun of this material except black. How can that be?  This means this project will have to be put aside until I have the arm sorted out.

Every sister needs an Apron

 My sister shared this in her cake making page in FB.

This is what she said.

"This apron was designed by my sister , Nana Ghazali..quite creative she is ... She bought a pair of culottes (had to google how to spell that), cut it into 4 ..the upper front part, which was really nice, became a part of an apron for Aspara Rusli and I got the backside bit .... Cool eh? The kembang part at the bottom became part of dresses for her two daughters ..... She does all sorts of cool things like baby blankets, reusable cloth diapers etc .... baby slings, too!"

Lovely!

Bright Aidifiltri

This happened in September 2012. The whole Saad Clan planned to wear orange. So as always I was still busy sewing the night before our trip to Penang. I was happy with the fit and outcome....but the inside workmanship really need to be improved.

 My 4 year old looking pretty in this color. Never bought anything orange for the girls before. Peachy orange  is just nice.

My 1 year old posing diligently. That's me behind her in my masterpiece. A batik kembang payung sarong and a mid length kaftan just because it is the easiest to make. It's already becoming my uniform for Raya, just in different colours. I love the batik. The texture and finishing is actually really nice. Closer look you will see a 2 mm lines sewn diagonally. My sister bought this for me from Medan. She has a friend who makes a living selling these. Lovely!

Flower girl dresses

I sew this dresses for my friend in January. It was for her sister's wedding. After I had Tia, sewing projects were almost non existence. So I'm kinda thankful I had this excuse to sew. The material was provided by my friend, lovely embroidered cotton and the band is a 'baju melayu' limp fabric. The skirt is double layer box pleated with zippers at the back. I loved how it came out.

Below are the girls walking (berarak) with the bride and bridegroom (not in picture). One of the dress looks just a bit too tight. Well, measurement is very important. If given the right measurement it would have turned out better than good. :P But it's all right I guess. Most importantly my friend loved them all. Thank you, Jasmin and Ju.

OK ...in between my last post in July until today, I have successfully sewn a few things. So many things going on in between like having a baby on the 26th June, taking care of a toddler at the sametime, being in confinement for 30 days (hmm 30 days was all I could bear), Hari Raya Aidilfitri, back to work yadda yadda...

Just some pictures which I have...I didn't take any photos of the cushion cover which I sew for hubby's aunt. It was a joint effort with MIL. It turned out really well. Hmm now regret not taking it.

I also altered a kurung modern for my SIL and sew the kain silang for her. Definitely worth a whole post on it. Let's see if I can manage that in between a whole lot of other things.

I also made 2 curtains for the house. At the moment sadly it is still in the hugh plastic bag waiting for Mr Hubby to buy the railing, 3 months ago!! Homaigod, can someone just buy the railing for me to get this over and done with??

Owh did I mentioned I want to join the marathon, go swimming with the kids more often and cook more often.

This was intented to be a normal traditional baju kurung. But due to the smart mama here, the neck hole was too big hence the conversion to a modern top kurung. Added ruffles around the neck and a 1/4" string to tie a ribbon. I added the elastic around the wrist too so that it 'fits' the whole modern top concept. Mind you it was a day before Raya! When panic strikes, people do wonders...

This little 2 month old last August cutie pie on the other hand wears the cutest smile wearing moi handmade tiered dress.

My 3 y.o daughter and her 4 y.o cousin had a joint ballerina and princess (cake) birthday party last September. The last minute no sew (knotted) tutu was done an hour before the party starts. Their faces on that day wearing it was priceless.....happy little ballerinas....

Sewing make people happy...I love it!