Voila: Long Silk Scarf for Springtime

Hi! How are you?! I'm sitting in my 'blogging' cafe today, catching up on a bunch of emails and different work projects... for the Internet is broken at my place. SO SAD! The router died and we're all waiting for the next option. Fingers crossed!

I have kept this scarf in my blog drafts section for a little while, and would love your thoughts... it's SUPER long right? Maybe a little too long for people under 5 foot, but I LOVE this floaty silk fabric! I'd sewn it up a little while ago, and haven't decided if it's for me or for a customer... so it's in the Little Studio with my girlfriends right now

The fabric is from my favourite Dongmen Lu Fabric Market, and the last two metres from the roll, so it was cheaper than other fabrics, maybe 100RMB, around 18 dollars? So while not super cheap compared to other scarf fabric, it's so luxurious! I love it!

As usual, it's my loopy scarf pattern... you sew the ends together and then hem the edges, very simple. The underside of the leopard print silk isn't too ugly... but I don't think this style is for everyone. I love loop scarves for looser looks or wrapped up warmer looks. And you'll never loose it while on the scooter! For some reason riding bikes with a scarf flying off has become a fear of mine... strange! Having a forever loopy scarf prevents losing it!

Guess what? Tomorrow, I've been asked by the lovely girls at Craft'd Shanghai to host a sewing workshop... to teach a simple gathered skirt with a zip. So excited to meet the blossoming seamstresses of Shanghai!

Making: Knots for New Years

Xin Nian Kuai Le! It's now the year of the monkey, and I've never felt so overjoyed by the lunar calendar, for I really feel the momentum swinging with this monkey year! Absolutely love being here in China and experiencing the traditions and overall positive vibes. However astonishingly, there were NO fireworks... no loud noises... no crackers! The government decided they were to be banned this year and everyone complied. Outside of Shanghai I believe people still celebrated with a traditional bang (the noise scares away the evil spirits!), but happy new year nonetheless!

But after seeing a bunch of the gigantic knots around the city, I wanted to try my own little knots ... and over the new year weekend, I tied a few different knots, and found a gigantic pool of internet knotting resources!

So many knots, colour codes but with some Chinese instructions.

A big pinterest feed of knots!

A Panchang Knot, this is one I tried!

Chinese Good Luck Knot, tried this one too!

Chinese Flower Knot, didn't try this yet.

Another Panchang Knot, this was clear to follow.

The mystic knot, however this looks the same as the Panchang knot, and this felt slower to make but it's nice as well.

A knot necklace, I love this one! It's the celtic looking one here in the photos!

And here's an entire bunch of animated knots, a youtube channel on knotting because why KNOT!

Here are some from around town!

So while I was off on this knot tangent, I totally missed that today is Lantern Day at my son's school... they all made lovely lanterns at school of course, but last Friday was bring your own DIY lantern... gah! I should have been googling lanterns, not knots!

Hope you're well and happy Monkey Year! Do you know your animal sign? Does it mean anything to you? I've also learnt today that many Chinese people love the western horoscopes too... so it definitely all means something here in Shanghai!

Making: Toy Bag & Play Mat for Duplo

A few days before Christmas I had a quick idea, my son was getting a few Duplo boxes for Christmas (we found a special deal on Taobao on the famous 11.11 sales) and as I suddenly realised he’ll need some extra storage for the colourful blocks, I remembered the lovely playmat I’d seen on pinterest five years ago (or around then) that you could easily build and sift through the blocks, but then once finished you can draw it all up and hang it on the back of the door or somewhere out of the way for next time.

I googled up a few photos and tutorials, but for these first attempts, I followed the very straightforward Fabric Mill idea. It was great and used up some fabric I had in the stash leftover from birthdays through the year and other bunting adventures… the smaller ones are for smaller children who also got their first batch of Duplo this Christmas, so a useful bag for them for the next year.

The one I made Felix is bigger, around a metre wide at least… and now that I’ve sewn it up, next time I’ll put the drawstrings on both sides… kinda like the Swoop Storage bags I later found… (you can sew your own, or just buy them from this small business!) as that distributes the drawstring gathers a little better and less likely for the bag to be too heavy. As right now, with the amount of Duplo Felix has (about 4 boxes of the stuff over the last 2 years) is just ok, but it’ll get too heavy if we have more.

What storage ideas do you have for Duplo or Lego? I love something that can serve two purposes, like a playmat and a bag. I’m really happy with how neat this was to sew, it was a bit of time getting the circle flat and neat and matching the two fabrics up… but the stitching part was super quick and very easy to put together.

The Vera Bradley fabric I’d got from my very small fabric shop (it usually doesn’t have much on offer, it’s like the bargain cotton bin at Spotlight - if you’re Australian you’ll know) but the green and pink colour combo was intersting to me, but I had no idea how to sew with it… my sewing teacher declared it for quilting and not good for garment sewing… so I’m happy I’ve used it here… I love the khaki green with it.

Duplo is our preferred building block right now, as Felix is 3 years old and very happy using this size block, but I know eventually it’ll be Lego and that stuff is small.

What are you sewing at the moment? I tried a green velvet dress last week, that just went so wonky everywhere... Wrong pattern I think! Will try a skirt next!

Voila: A Quick Scarf for Late Autumn

Hi there! This week I've started wearing my winter-y scarves again... it's dropped a whole 10 degrees (celcius!) during the day in the last fortnight... and I'm so not ready for winter yet! Three of our holidays this year has been back to the homeland hemisphere, and the most recent one in October really threw out my weather gauge. Ha Ha. *sigh*

So I pulled out this scarf loop I made for one of our little pop up markets in September, and now it's officially mine!

It's almost a metre wide, and the width of the fabric long... sewn in the long edge, but I leave space each side to turn it... then right sides together - stitch - pull through your hole and then slipstitch closed with the little Veronica Darling tag sandwiched in. My friend Michell suggests everything I make needs a tag, as people prefer it... making it all a little more polished I suppose!

What are you making for winter? I'm super stuck, but have a few things to finish off ... I think with some of my stretch woolies I can do a Nettie dress. I just feel like 'where is the time' to plan, because it's super cold already! Last year the real cold chill didn't come to Shanghai 'til December, so I wasn't prepared for an early onslaught of it!

Gotta get my thinking cap on quickly, or I'll end up at Uniqlo!

Making: All the Fabric Wrapped Buckets Ever

It's Market Day this weekend! Also see my Birthday present!!! David Lynch floating above the world print! Squee!

Have you made anything for a market before? I know lots of lovely creative types who attend the regular handmade markets in Australia... lots of lovely friends with great handmade wares! But I've never really sold my things beyond my etsy shop - now closed - or to friends directly! Until now! I'm involved in this:

The lovely Shanghai Bloggers Society are just the best for networking and Line, the co-founder, has been checking in on me... and we're hosting a dinner together tonight for Bon.App and she mentioned that the Spotlight Festival is looking for vendors, and as I've been making lots of rope bowls lately, I just kept going this last week! A little more hardcore and thanks to She Sews A Lot from Perth/Instagram who suggested trying with fabric wrapped around the rope... I've sewn up most of these with my fabric scraps from this year's creations. I feel very light and free sewing up stashed scraps!

The children who visit all try the bowls on as hats... and call them buckets! I also love Chooktopia's buckets for succulents, and maybe some of my taller ones will be plant holders too?

I am excited to set up a stall, but more excited because my good friends will join me... and one of the reasons I'm going to the festival... to share the stall and use the day as a bit of an experiment. I love handmade things but do Shanghai regular shopping punters? I want to write up about my friend Rosa's Karobi designs soon... but here's her red sweater that I wore to death in springtime.

So YAY, a little bit of sewing for selling! And now... I've added some pinky scraps (I've sewn about 4 more since these photos) but what other colours would work? More plain yellow ones? I'm not sure.

Here's my original post about the Rope Bowls - and links to tutorials on the web on how to DIY. It's rope and a steady zig zag stitch on your machine! Very relaxing!

Making: A Million Rope Bowls

Maybe not a million rope bowls, but I have definitely made 20 of these things! It might have been pinterest or a google search that revealed the rope bowl to me, but after I found the tutorial on Pair & A Spare DIY blog, I stored it away on a pinboard as a maybe project. I'm not sure about you, but I like sewing the most... and then I don't mind craft but would probably prefer knitting or crochet over learning a new craft or fiddling around with dinky craft things.

I am definitely not a Martha Stewart type, and perhaps not a huge interior decorator even... and it's actually been a great break from our 'things' being here in China... as I'm learning what I do and don't like in a home... I totally like a few personal touches and photographs and plants... I love these indoor plants we have here in Shanghai. But looking around our apartment, it's not really that decorated. Maybe I'll get the urge when we move back home again... but I'm enjoying the minimalist approach for now.

BUT!

When you find a quick tutorial like the Rope Bowl one, and then a few weeks later when you're looking for something to make a 'fishing rod' for your two year old at the fabric/haberdashery markets of Shanghai... you stumble upon rope supply HEAVEN. YOU HAVE TO BUY THE ROPE. You just have to!

They are the most relaxing things to make as once you start the zig zag stitching bit (the hardest bit is forming the coil to begin with, I've tried different ways, and the centre cross - as you can see in the messy black one - is the most secure for me, but you can hand stitch maybe?) ... as once you get on a bit of a roll, it's just the whirl of the machine and then when you lift the base to form the walls of the bowl, you actually feel like you're making a pottery bowl... around and around... whirrrrrr. Oh, so calming!

I'll write up a blog post soon about the market's back streets (because there are even more bargains behind the actual market!) but there was just all kinds of cords and ropes to buy and really cheap! I would love to try dying (maybe Shibori!) and finding more different looks. These ones here I sent home with Mum as presents for her and my sister in law, so I won't show you all of them but these are the larger ones. I've since experimented with coloured threads and with flecks of threads through the white stitching.

At the moment, I'm storing toys in the larger ones, little coins & things on my desk and elastics on my sewing desk for the smaller ones. Of course they'll look gorgeous with all your knitting yarn in them, because they do look cute with lots of colourful toys! I want to work out how to sew handles with the rope, because when I tried a handle (like a basket) it all kind of went floppy. Anyways, I really enjoy these as a lovely sewing project between garment sewing!

OH and I clicked through the Pair & a Spare tutorial, and the concept is by Melbourne maker Gemma Patford (she also runs workshops!)! Hi Gemma, and thanks! (And I won't link to the rope bowl tutorial on the Martha Stewart website, because it's all glued together. Which could be fine too... but sewing feels like the calming pottery wheel... ahhhhh.)

Voila: The Manado Dress by Couture Nomad

Since I’ve started my Sewing School with the Couture Nomad group in Shanghai, I’ve been sewing almost everyday and making at least 1 creation a week… a dress, a t shirt, a bow tie (yes really) and getting back into the swing of blogging & reading blogs big time. AMAZING as always. 

It’s so fun and I’m feeling really body positive most of the time, and loving slowly growing my wardrobe with handmade things! But one of the BEST things about going to Sewing School and hanging with a small group of sewing enthusiasts is the GOSS and if you know me IRL, I LOVE talking because I just love stories! I’ve learnt so many things about Shanghai and where to buy fabrics… and because of my new French & Spanish speaking sewing friends, I’m getting a different perpspective on sewing and fashion, and culture and language. Just love it.

AND, who in a million years would think I’d sew something that wasn’t a fitted bodice dress and/or leggings and actually think it wasn’t half bad. At first glance the Manado Dress looked ok, certainly lovely for the tall, shapely shouldered woman, but not for me… but I had some cheapie fabric to use and it was about time I try some techniques on me… AND it was actually the next step in my Sewing School... they call them ateliars!

The pattern is either front piece and two back pieces but I opted for the front & back piece all as one piece, which meant I had to do the facing differently. It’s high-ish necked, with thin shoulders, and it’s very nicely shaped… however my problem lay completely with the fabric & interfacing choice… which I’ll get to.

It was a very simple pattern to follow, I adjusted down a half size from the Medium, but after fitting, I think I’ll cut a M next time and just adjust the waist/hips in the future… for this dress turned out ok, but a little snug on the bewbs. I traced the whole thing, onto the loveliest paper that Teacher Catherine had (I’ll have to buy my own roll soon!) and felt very swish using the rulers and being NEAT. I made the facings to include the neck hole and armholes and they scooped nicely around … or so I thought.

Cutting the cotton was just ok, it moved a little as I was using the dining table, to try and be profesh (instead of the floor) but it shifted as I adjusted the fabric & pieces and the facings were out a little then… and my DAGGY choice of interfacing wasn’t stable enough… it ironed ok initially and stuck to the fabric, but my iron also loved it toooooooo much and it got a little burnt… eep. 

This will forever be my lesson here in China, I reckon… not having a clue about the materials (either online or in the store) until I test it all out… the interfacing glued better than previous thicker stuff I bought but it’s not for clothing I reckon… Teacher Muriel thinks maybe embroidery or something. It’s just so hard to know … face to face at the market, I can’t ask because my Chinese isn’t up to it… and then online my translator through Chrome just doesn’t give enough detail. And you know when you buy online from eBay or whatever, we use Taobao here in Shanghai (everyone does in China) and the embedded pictures have all the details of the product? Like jpgs of explanations? Well Chrome can’t translate the text in the pictures, right? So I might just slow down my local online purchasing until I get a little more acquainted… and find the good stuff! Teacher Muriel suggested I try the big Haberdashery on Renmin Lu, and told me a stall to find better interfacing material then. 

The fabric feels shiny cotton, and may be polyester blend… it was 18 RMB a metre, which is $3.75 Australian // $US 2.9 // And almost 2 pounds UK. So cheap, and while it’s pretty… it also looks pretty cheap! Oh well, sewing school is all about learning stuff...

Have a  look at the insides, not so gorgeous at all....

SO after I attached the facings to the neckline, you sew the side seams, and then you turn the facings through the armholes, and sew right sides together all the way up on the front and back piece… until you can’t sew without bunching… then you flip inside and topstitch the lot… and because of my shitty interfacing and my shitty cut of the facings, it was bunchy and didn’t match… at that point I gave up sewing, and waited until I could talk it through with Teacher Muriel… that’s what’s also so great with the Sewing School… I can show and point and winged and cringe face to face… rather than bin the whole thing. So, I changed the shoulder seams, making them shorter and they kinda fitted… but still, not super polished or flat but #learningshit is like that, right? I’ll cut better shaped facings next time and be better-er with the choosing of interfacing and ironing it and sewing it. YEP?!

AND, lastly the Manado Dress comes with a belt... I once had an addiction to making belts when I first started sewing all the time! Because the dress isn't fitted, I thought I'd deffo wear the belt so went ahead to make it... The red fabric is a refashioned pillowcase I bought from a shop front near my Chinese Class (for less than 20 cents … 5RMB), because I couldn’t be bothered riding over to the fabric shop … lucky the red matched! 

But can you see... I'm thinking, why did I make this freaking belt. I don't think it's my style right now. 

Still, it’s a nice frock, and because it's so light it will probably be good for the hot days that are coming here in Shanghai. I was really excited at the thought of summer, but now people are telling me it's so hot you can't do anything... so I'm really worried I'm not prepared. EEP

Couture Nomad have their own drafted patterns for the sewing school, and if you’re an indie pattern junkie looking for different shapes & different styles that aren’t in the blog world so much, they’re available on the pdf to buy as well… but yes a few are in French! 

Talk soon!

Voila: Playful Pom Poms

This week, a little boy was born in Shanghai and his parents are new friends of ours. So I made some pom poms to decorate his room. And to play with later.

In Shanghai, there are quite a few knitting haberdasheries in certain areas. There's a shop near my house, but there are several around the Tianzifang area (more on that another time) as well. But I bought this wool from the nearby shop, and had to muddle my way around what I wanted to make and buy because the two lovely shopkeepers didn't speak English so I spoke my basic Chinese and used my translator app for the words I forgot or couldn't say. Luckily they had pom poms in the shop so I could point a lot. 

As you can imagine these were quite straightforward to make, but using the pom pom plastic thingie mum bought me from the shops was MUCH harder. I had to go the old fashioned traditional pom pom way and use 2 pieces of cardboard shaped like a 'C' (have a look at the Mindful Mumma's Post for more) to make it thicker. Sorry mum! They look good and fun!

I've been thinking a lot about my blog design and feel very stuck with where to go with it next.

For ages, I've just used the simple template in blogger and tweaked a bit of code, and added widgets etc. But now I'm kinda of tired of doing it myself! I'm about to transfer to veronicadarling.com too - VERY exciting since I've had the domain for ages! I feel like the move to Shanghai has prompted me to think of a lot of things... writing, blogging & photography again. Online design is just so TRICKY. But I wonder...

Do you have any tips for transferring over to your own domain? What about making up a new fresh template for your blog?

Let me know your experiences with it!

xoxo

Voila: A Boy's Bag

I made a bag, and it's made of vintage tea towels. Tea towels from the old lovely op shops of my past.

My idea was to bring a few tea towels to Shanghai so I could piece them together in a lovely way for cushion covers for our couch. I still have them cut up, but I just couldn't figure out the 'lovely way' for them to be sewn up. There was a gorgeous market stall at the Rose Street Market in Fitzroy that made lots of things from vintage tea towels, so I've always wanted to try it. I'm just a patchwork type sewing person.

BUT, I gave it a go with the scraps, and made the kangaroo the focus/beginning of whatever this is called. A spiral of scraps, into a patchwork? I'm not sure, I googled scraps and patchwork till the internet broke, and I just settled on whatever I found, and I've since lost the page. (The internet breaks a LOT in China!) You sew onto stiffer backing fabric, the kangaroo bit, then you sew the first scrap (right sides together), then press with the iron, then sew the next scrap, then press. until you kind of get a spiral... It'll work a lot better with a bigger piece ... so maybe they'll make good cushion covers this way. I'm not sure.

We gave it to a little boy we've met here in Shanghai, for his birthday, he's 3! Children seem to like bags!

x