Yellow Dove Sofa Cover

Time flies. It's November and I've not been sewing much. Well, the reason was we have shifted house and did a lot of packings, unpacking, throwing away unused items and cleaning, fixing, etc etc in the whole month of October.

I can't believe we have 53 cartons of items! That exclude the plastic toyogo boxes of clothes, breakable items, potted plants, sewing machines etc. Thank God we had planned well and the move was executed smoothly. I'm blessed and so touched that my parents came over to help us with the move.

Anyway, the only thing I've sewn in October was a new sofa cover. There is this sofa set that my mother in law gave us. The original cover were quite coarse against the skin and I didn't like the dark color.  So, I had this insane idea to sew a new cover myself. Yah, what was I thinking. Here was I  cutting up the fabric in the midst of packing with carton boxes piling all around me. But I just can't bear to hold the sewing till the move.

Anyway, I didn't get to finish them before the move. Only managed to finish the 3 bottom seat cushion covers since they are basic rectangles. The fabric is a mustard yellow corduroy that I got from Spotlight.  For the measurement I took the original cover and measure off them to get the estimates.

The top of the sofa was a bit of challenge since it is not a strict rectangle but more of the slope on the front.  So I trace out the existing one and make a template. The only paper template that I made.  You can see my template below if you are interested to try this. I've use the space inside the template to note down all the measurements for the 3 sofa covers.  So I only need to keep this template that also contain the measurement instruction! The sofa set consist of 2 smaller ones and 1 big one so you will see 2 measurements.

click to see.

Did you notice that the Dove print for the 2 smaller sofa set below actually match across? I'm so pleased with this. This is due to the precise cutting layout you see below.  The twill fabric with yellow dove print is also from Spotlight. From afar, my girl commented that it looks like yellow spectacles. Oh well. I fell in love with the cheery color and print but you know what, the grain was off for this print! If you intend to buy this same fabric, just be careful. Since I'm more concerned that the print down look off align, I just ignore the fabric grain and just cut along the print so that it will still looks straight.  I also use bigger seam allowance so that it will cover the off grain print.

The cutting layout draft for the Dove print. I label each piece by A, B, C, D so it's easier to plan and draw. Basically this will help me to visualize the amount of fabric that I need. It's important to draw this especially if you have directional print. Since my fabric is off grain, in the end I needed more so back to the store the next day!

Here's my girl enjoying herself on the new sofa cover. Please ignore the steel shelvings below. There are still some unpacking to do so I taking a break to sew here. Hopefully I can hit the sewing room for some clothes sewing soon.

Baby Baby

One of my church friends recently gave birth to a baby girl. I thought it will be nice to sew something for her baby since she knows how much I love to sew.  And baby clothes are so cute.

Before I move on, if you are my friend Hazeline, and if you are reading this..please come back again when you receive your gift this Sunday okay? Don't want to spoilt the surprise here : )



Okay, where were we? Yes, the baby dress.

The pattern is from a Japanese sewing book that I got from ages. I made a dress, a romper and a cute bow headband. The size of the dress is for 6-9M.  I'm very happy with the whole assemble. 

I love the peter pan collar on this dress. Its one of the reason why I chose this pattern. Don't you think it looks sweet?

For the first time, I tried the snaps on this dress. Not very perfect and but I'm still happy with the result. I thought the snap will make it easier to dress the baby.

Now, let's see the full dress shall we? The fabric is very soft floral print cotton from Spotlight.

What's a baby dress without the cute diaper cover? I originally wanted to make one but it didn't turn out well so I change it to a shorts with elastic leg opening.

I use a lace elastic and sew it around the leg opening after I've turned in the seams. It looks so sweet and pretty.

I also sew a tiny ribbon bow in front for added sweetness.

And finally, I use the lace elastic and made a pretty headband for the baby since it is so soft. I hope it'll fit eventually since I made it slightly bigger. I sew a piece of white fabric to hide the elastic edges.

I hope she will love them when she receive it. Here's for your new baby Hazel! Congrats on being a new mama...I know it's tough in the beginning (and for the rest of her life) but believe me, it is rewarding : )

Making a Terrarium

Sorry for the delays in posting the tutorial on Terrarium. I was busy sewing lately..Here's the step by step guide on how to make a mini terrarium at home.  Was trying to have some photo but it's very messy with soil and all, so sorry folks, you gotta use your imagination here!

Supplies to get ready

1) small potted plants that are suitable for growing with little sunlight ($3-$4 for one pot of 4 stalks)

2) moist soil -can ask nursery for the suitable one for terrarium ($3 for a big pack)

3) little charcoal (break them into small pieces)

4) pretty bottles ($2 each from Daiso)

5) coloured pebbles ($2 a bottle at Daiso)

6) coloured sands (got mine from a shop at City Square Mall at 4 for $10) - optional

7) small decoration pieces (4 for $2) - optional #

# My friend recently went Bangkok and got these for only $0.10 a piece!

 Instruction

1) Sand -You can skip this steps but I feel that the coloured sands make it more special. 

- Pour your choice of coloured sands into the bottle. Go slow to let the sand just flow along the sides of the bottle. I use a slender spoon with a long handle to help me put in the sand.

- Lay a few layers if you like but try not to make it higher than 1/5 of the bottle.

- To save on the sand used, you can try to fill up the sands around the circumference of the bottle and let the centre but hollow.

2) Small Pebbles

- drop some pebbles into the middle of the glass where you have earlier left it hollow from the coloured sands.

- The pebbles should be a thin layer to help with the drainage of the water in the bottle.

3) Charcoal

- Add a little crushed charcoals on top of the pebbles. The charcoal is required only if you intend to cover the bottle. If you are making an open terrarium, can skip this step. The charcoal basically remove the moldy smell in the bottle.

4) Moist soil

- Covered all up with the soil. Pack the soil so that it is compact with no air inbetween.  The soil and the coloured sands/pebbles should come up to 1/3 of the bottle.

- I use this coffee stirrer that has its ends bent to help me pack the soil. My friend use lighter to heat the area to make it bend. So clever of her!

5) Insert the plant

- Depending how big your bottle, you can put 1, 2 or more plants into the bottle. Make sure that you don't injure the roots when you transfer the plant from the pot to your bottle.

- Use a disposable chopstick to dig a hole in the middle of the soil big enough for you to insert the roots of the plant.

- If you have 2 plants, put them together and insert together. Press the soil over the roots using the stirrer.

6) Coloured sands/pebbles

- Now the fun part, cover the soil with the coloured sands. You can just put 1 to 2 thin layers.

- Covered the top with coloured pebbles. I use 3 packs of coloured pebbles in one mix to create this pretty combi. Just a thin layer will do.

- Put in your decoration and you are done.

7) Lastly, just put a table spoon of water into it and cover the bottle. That's it. You are all done.

Some sources to get your supplies

• Most nursery carry the moist soil and plants. Your plants need to be small and young shoots in order for it to look pretty in the bottle. I got mine from a nursery in Ang Mo Kio. But my friends also found them at Tampines and even Ikea.  It's about $3 to $4.50 per bottle. Far East at Thomson is more expensive at $5.80 per pot.
• Coloured sands should be available in craft shops. I got mine from a little shop at City Square Mall at 4 packs for $10. You can choose from a variety of colours. The sands are very fine. You can also get them from Daiso but they are less fine.
• Coloured pebbles can also be purchase at nursery. But I got the most supplies from Daiso. It's only $2 per pack and there are so many colours and sizes options.
• Bottle. So many places. I got mine from Daiso at $2, Ikea and those I got at home. If you intend to give a gift, the Daiso's bottle with cap looks very presentable. But not all Daiso carry them so it will be good to check first. I saw them at illuma, Bukit Panjang and Rivervale Mall.

So, now go and buy your supplies and make it. It is very addictive and so easy that my 7 year old made 7 in not time.