Baby touchy pillow

My gf told me that her baby love labels, ribbons and frills. Actually all kids love 'em. I have no idea why, but they will touch and nibble and bite/suck them. So since they love labels, why not give them 10 labels to bite/suck/chew on? haha! So here's my latest project, a Baby Touchy Pillow with 10 ribbon/labels to play with!

Baby Touchy Pillow for K :)

What you need :
Cloth 1: as big as your current pillow, add in 0.5 cm all around as extra for your sewing later.
Cloth 2: same width, but slightly shorter (about 90%) of the cloth 1
Cloth 3: same width, but slightly shorter (about 40%) of the cloth 1
Some ribbons (forgot to take pics hehe)

Top Pic: Fold and Iron on of the sides of the cloth 2 and cloth 3
Bottom pic: Sew and secure

Top Pic: Arrange cloth 1 , right side up

Bottom Pic: Arrange cloth 2, wrong side up just like the pic

Top pic: Then arrange cloth 3, overlapping with cloth 2.

Bottom pic: Both sewn sides should overlap each other. (refer to pic)

Top pic: Sew around to secure. Cut the fabric and ensure that the fabric is straight.

Bottom Pic: over turn the fabric

Pic: Sew around to secure the pillow and to hide the extra inner fabric ( if you turn your fabric after you have sewn this step, you will know what I mean ;) )

And this is the final output with the organic bean husk pillow in it.

Oh... someone's gonna have fun touching and licking the ribbons.... *lol*

Pictorial: Hand Towel

Backdated post. Did this in December 2011 but didn't have the chance to post it up.

Most of the time after my boys washed their hands in the toilet they'll ask "Mami, where is the towel? I wanna wipe my hands!" So tired of bringing the towels for them, I thought why not just leave it there. But then the towel kept going missing and dropping on the floor, so I made up my mind to make a hand towel that can be clipped somewhere near and can be removed to wash easily.

Here's a pictorial (picture tutorial) on how to sew this. I think I don't need to describe in detail about the steps since this is a fairly easy sewing project. (if you have any questions, you are welcome to ask me ^^ )

Pic 1: what you need for this hand towel  (oppss forgot to take pic of the towel itself, fold the towel into half and cut them into 2 pcs)

Pic 2: How to lay fabric and batting for the handle

Pic 3: Sew a U shape (leave one side opened) and turn it over

Pic 4: Sew around the sewn side . You handle is ready :)

Pic 5: How to lay the fabric and the batting.

Pic 6: Attach the towel to the towel holder

Pic 7: back picture of the towel and the towel holder. (sew both sides of the towel)

Pic 8: Arranging the towel and towel holder with the towel handle.

Pic 9: Sew around (but leave the towel area to be opened)
Pic 10: Turn it over (inside out)
Pic 11: Sew and secure the towel folding area
Pic 12: Done. Add button hole

I have chosen a whale pin as button cos it matches with my whale fabric.

How cute ^.^!

Here's the hand towel especially for my kids. 

It's a very simple sewing project. You don't even need to have a sewing machine to sew this. :D

Dorothy's Bag

Oppsss! My bad! I've totally forgotten about my sweet neighbour's birthday which falls on the 5th Feb. Every year I will be away for cny (cos its so near to cny), family trip and I will prepare a pressie for her before I leave. This year however, I've thought about it a few months ahead and even bought the materials to make a bag for her. And silly me, I totally forgotten about it when it came. Blame it on my design projects, Spring cleaning for CNY and also beginning of sch for my lil kiddo. I was running around like a headless chicken. Finally, I managed to finish my design and when I sat in my sewing room the other day, I saw the material and I went "OMG!!!! I'm so screwed!" Quickly, I took out the materials and zapped out a bag just for her. Although I have not been sewing like for weeks, I managed to sew this in within 2 hours and still got the time to prepare dinner for my family. *lol*

I know that she prefers natural colour like these (also because the year before I gave her a black bag already) and the material (linen) is just so perfect. By the way, the material is from Fabric Fanatics (little brown houses) and the bottom linen is also from her shop.

I bought the handle from SSB (Supplies Surprise bazaar) last year and finally I've used it up (yay!). By the way, they are having another bazaar to sell handmade supplies again this 3rd of March 2012. Go and have a look lah. Cos the vendors actually import and bring in stuff from all over the place and some stuff you can never find in the sewing shops too.

Okay, back to the bag. Besides this bag, I've also added a little surprise for her.

A lil coin purse attached ^_^

When I gave it to her, she was surprised. Cos it was almost a week after her birthday and when she opened it she asked "Sasha did you make this?" and she hugged me a few times , thanking me.

The expression on her face is priceless. And that's all that matters.

Tutorial: Baby BiB

Ah... you must be wondering why I am sewing so many baby stuff lately. First the baby wipes and now a bib. That's because my gf has a baby girl that we adore and I just like to make girlie stuff/baby stuff for her :D

So here's the bib that I'll be showing you guys how to sew today. It's abit complicated I can say, so just follow closely.

It is made using waterproof PUL and has a pocket in front, just in case the food drops down. Especially when they are feeding themselves.

From top left to right: This is how I prepare my template. I used an existing bib and drew a mould around it.
No need of you to worry about the template, you can download it here, there are 2 pages:
For the pockets and also the back piece.

Top picture: for the pockets. Cut according to the template. Seam allowance added.

Bottom picture: match both the pieces , right side facing each other. Pin them.

Top Picture: Sew them together using sewing machine.
Bottom picture: Cut V shapes around the bending areas for easy folding later. (NOTE: Be extra careful not to accidentally cut your stitching)

Top picture: Sew a line according to the curve on the smaller piece

Bottom picture: open up the cloth and use your finger to press on the sewing between the 2 pcs of fabric.

Top Picture: Fold the fabric according to the sewing at the bottom piece
Bottom Picture: This is what you will get when you fold according to the line you have sewn just now.

Sew it up with sewing machine and this is what you will get for the pocket.

Place the bigger piece and the pocket together and pin them up just like the picture.

Then put the flannel / bottom layer on top just like the picture.
(sorry about the crumpiness of the flannel. Gosh! I was sewing this on new year's eve and was rushing out to a party. So I didn't iron it. So shy now :P)

Sew around it but remember to leave an opening for you to turn your fabric over. Also make V cuttings around the sides. These V cuttings will make bending/curves looks neater when you fold them to the right sides.

Turn the fabric over. Noticed that the opening is still opened? Fold some fabric into the hole and sew it up with sewing machine or even hand sew it.

Sew around it. And add velcro Or button.

And you're done!

Happy Sewing!

Tutorial: Baby Wipes

Made from Elmo printed flannel which I had asked my friend to buy for my from Australia long time ago and also Bamboo fleece, left over from my previous project.

Oh ... this is my first tutorial in Sewing Monster and this can be classified as the basic for sewing since it only involves sewing straight lines. Anyone can do it!

What you need is :

a piece of paper (cut to the size that you want your wipes to be . e.g 6 in x 6 in)

flannel (printed or non printed) (you can find some flannel via the shop here)

bamboo Fleece or  Bamboo Velour (you can find it from here)

Sewing pins

If you do not have bamboo fleece, you can also use flannel for both sides. I like using bamboo fleece cos it can keep more moisture and its good when you're wiping your baby's face. Plus also it's more gentle especially when your baby is down with runny nose (touch wood!) and you gotto wipe her/his nose more often and normal hanky will make it red and skin starting to peel.

Okay so here are the steps. Actually it is very fast but since I gotto take pic and I was in a rush so my pics are very blur :( .

For every wipe you need one piece of flannel and one piece of Bamboo fleece.

Pin both the pieces of cloth with the right side facing out. Make sure you pin all the corners. Flannels and bamboo fleece can distort a bit while sewing.

Then sew around the cloth like this.

Once you're done sewing the sides. You can sew the edging using your sewing machine.

And you're done.

If your sewing machine has only the basic stitches, you can also bring it to the sewing shop and ask the shop to help you sew the edging. Since I am giving these away to my friend, I have asked the shop to do a fine edging for the wipes.

Limited edition baby wipes that you cannot buy anywhere cos I made them myself ^_^

Happy Sewing!

Washable Pads

I know.. I know.. what a "thing" to sew after a long hiatus. Of all thing! Washable Pad! Just like many people I too was like "WHAT??? WHY???People created disposable for a reason- Convenience! why make your life so damn difficult?" But ever since I got my first panty liner as s gift from my customer (I designed her pamphlet) it just make me wanna explore more. Then my other customer was having some sale, so I thought hey, why not? Biz PR right? So I bought 2pcs and then tried it on. To my surprise, I love it. And I noticed a few changes in my body too after using it (read about the benefits here). So after that I bought more and then been using ever since. But I have never thought of sewing it myself. Cos I thought it's rather hard to find the materials unless I were to buy it online from USA.

So the other day I dropped by Supplies Surprise Bazaar (you will be able to find many things from all over the world!) , and I met this lady selling PUL (waterproof fabric)

and also the Bamboo Fleece (70% bamboo and 30% Organic cotton) 

Super soft!

So I got home and started to google for templates. Too many of them, just gotto slowly look one by one. And I thought better test it first, just in case I sew it wrongly. So I tried sewing a panty liner. Using the PUL and also just flannel and snap button.

But since the flannel and the PUL is very thin, the snap button came off easily.

So after that I decided to try and sew a bigger pad and this time I'll add some fabric at the area where I will place the snap button. Googled for some 11" pad and then began to sew. Seriously, it is very easy to sew!

Added some fabric at the side for the snap button placement.

Noticed a mistake : The middle bamboo fleece should be rectangle but I cut it curved according to the pad pattern.

So this is what it looks like when I turn it over and sew the ends.

Voila!

*LOL* You must be thinking "is she sewing a cloth diaper or pad?" The pattern is so cute and actually they use it for baby cloth diaper but what the heck! I'm not gonna flash it and show everyone "Hey! look I have got an ellie pad!" right?

My neighbour came over and asked me what have I been busy with and I passed her this

I said "Guess what it is".
She said "It's a foldable BAG? ermmm blouse? "
I said " Open it up"
And she was like "PAD?????????????????????????"
I said "yeah!"
and she said "err.....nice"

That will always be the same expression for non CP user and I don't blame them. Cos I was once like that too. But what I can say is " if you try it, you will like it. Once you see the difference in your body, you will love it".

And the price for sewing it yourself, is really very affordable. You can sew like 15? pcs of pad with one yard or PUL and also Fleece. And the left over can be used as baby wipes and its really absorbent compared to the normal hanky.

If you wanna get some of the materials and try and sew them yourself, Sylvia will be at Crafty Bazaar and also Bettr Weekend (2 bazaars at the same time in Jaya One) this Dec17 with her lot of imported fabrics, fleece and also PULS. :)

I am back!

Oh yes! After a very long hiatus, I am finally back.

Thank you all for supporting me all these while. I am very grateful to have fans like you guys.

There will be some changes in Sewing Monster. I won't be sewing for sale but will be sewing for FUN and maybe even add in a few tutorials or give away patterns and even promote sewing/craft shops.

So thanks again for dropping by and BRB! Will be back with my first post soon :)