Handmade Creations Updated!

Handmade Creations Updated!!

Latest completed items available...

Click HERE for more...

Whooppee!!!!

I ni tak reti nak berniaga... kalau suruh promote diri pun, tak reti... apa lagi nak promote hasil kerja kan...

But nevertheless, I still managed to sell several of my 'hasil kerja tangan', and I tell you, the feeling when I got the payment was MARVELOUS!!!! Made me even more motivated to continue doing this...

Before this, paling-paling dapat duit pun bila let go pre-loved items at charity/garage sales... but honestly the feeling's different between selling things that you simply own, to selling stuff that you made from scratch, with all the accompanying stress, headache, bodyache, etc etc...

Funnily enough, my 2nd batch tak sempat nak promote, dah ada yg berkenan almost all of the pieces... so now I still have some from the 1st batch, and plan to do more after this... drop by Handmade Creations to check out what's available...

Wish me luck in maintaining the pace!

Handmade Creations

Yeay, yeay... I'm pleased to announce that I've created a separate blog for the things I've produced for sale (for the moment, tudung la yg banyak ye :p)

Say hello to:-

Handmade Creations

and feel free to drop by often & to spread the word ye!

Besides the items I've put up at the moment, I've also got a few more almost completed (awaiting the finishing touches je) which I'll display soon... hurry, hurry! I'm dying to make more, so as soon as my current stock is gone, I can get to work making more! :)

In the future nak blajar buat benda lain gak (bags, smocked dresses etc), plus several things JV-ed with my mom will also materialize, so insya-Allah hasil kerja tu pun will end up on the new blog...

Up for Grabs!!!

I finally did it!!!

Went a little crazy some time back when buying fabric... I finally managed to turn most of the pieces into tudungs over the last weekend. The finished products?

I actually managed to complete 11 pieces, but 3 I wanted for myself, so no longer in the pic la hehehe... out of the above, 2 have already found their new home with someone at work, so the following are still up for grabs if anyone's interested:

This one tinggal satu je... face size M (if you wear Munaw M, muat la...) length also M (slightly lepas bawah dada, about 38cm from below the chin to the end), RM 30 (without postage & handling). Yang ni murah skit cos the quality of the fabric is not the same as the rest...

These 2 are face size M/L (cos the fabric's very smooth and stretchy... the ones I made for myself pun ended up a bit loose, so can fit both sizes), and length M... RM 55 (without p&h).

These 3 are size M/L (face) and L in length (falls down almost to waist level, about 40-42cm from below the chin to the end). Each is RM 60, not inclusive of p & h.

All awnings are made using Thai/Shantung silk unless otherwise specified, and with 2" bakrum (bab yg keras tu...)

Sorry for the picture quality... kena figure out where best to take photos next time...

The material for the body (except for the 1st tudung) is very cool and drapey... just the right weight for it to fall nicely once worn...

If anyone's interested, write to na_mohammed@yahoo.com yaaaaa.... we'll work out the details later...

Since I still haven't found the inspiration for a separate blog for this, in the meantime, anything available will be put here... feel free to let others know about this :)

I've got several pieces of fabric lagi (ye, I pegi kedai and borong kain lagi!! Tak hengat dunia tul once dah nampak kain cantik...) currently in the process of transformation, so more will come after this... watch this space!!

My Productive Weekend

A shopping spree at Jakel on Friday gave us the opportunity to work on more tudungs... yeay! I reined in my shopping demons (mainly only cos I've spent so much this month :p), but Kak R really let loose! Hehehe... she's got lots of people in mind to make tudungs for, and she's already got some orders to fulfill as well, so she went a little crazy when buying material... I took 3 pieces of printed jerseys plus 1 of plain white cotton jersey to make Amani's tudung sekolah... yang lain tu tahan tak amik for now cos I've also ordered some fabric from the forum resellers hehehe...

We spent the weekend at my parents', cos with Hariz's viral fever we couldn't go back to any of the other kampungs (it's infectious to kiddies 3 and below, so had to hold off from visiting our newborn niece till yesterday). I really let loose on the fabrics from Friday night... apa lagi kan, dah ada mesin canggih yang I boleh pau :) ... that night I only managed to cut the white cotton jersey into 3 pieces (2 for Amani and 1 for my mom), and couldn't finish putting the awnings on the bodies cos Amani was already cranky and wanted me to go upstairs with her to bed... pepaham aje la kan, konon nak teman dia sampai dia lelap... last-last mamanye pun lelap sekali! Hehehe...

Picked up where I left off on Saturday, and basically cut all the fabrics out and connected them except for the last piece of fabric yang baru sempat potong je but belum cantum with the awning... Sunday morning my mom went to her regular shop untuk jahit tepi, and we continued till petang... it's more of a joint effort, cos I cut everything and piece them together (including the finishing around the face), and my mom does the finishing around the edges with the twin needle. I tried, believe me, but I guess the machine doesn't want to cooperate with me that much on the edging... so after numerous unpickings, fabric getting stuck in the machine and 'beautiful, flowery language' from my mouth, I left that part of the job to my mom :p

By the time we left for home yesterday evening, the 3 cotton tudungs are done, plus 2 printed ones (mine la, Mama buatkan I punya dulu heheh). The other 3 are with my mom for the finishing touches, and I just have to put the last 2 awnings together with the bodies so that my mom can send them for jahit tepi the next time she has her smocking project to work on...

Hajat di hati nak buat the last 2 sambil jaga Amani, tapi kesian pulak anak dara tu nanti bising satu rumah bunyi mesin... tunggu petang skit once she wakes up from her nap la jawabnya...

All in all, not bad la jugak kan? Very productive weekend, no? In total now I've got 5 pieces to call my own, plus the ones made for Amani and Mama, and I'm getting a total rush from doing all the work and seeing the final product! It felt good to do some work and to see the actual result in front of me, as opposed to some (most?) of the work that I do on a daily basis that takes up so much time but yet has no (or minimal) visible outcome...

Is that an indication of my inclination towards work? Am I, if not a salaried employee, more predisposed to go into something that produces a clear product as opposed to providing services? Definitely something to ponder on... my career path is not yet fully defined as yet... we'll see how that goes...




The only shortcoming was... I had to concentrate on the sewing, so Hubby and my brother spent a lot of time with the kids... I missed out on that... not fun at all... so payah la skit if I nak buat part-time business that'll take away my time with the kiddies... so how?

Finished!

I finally finished the tudung I started at Yela's class (I had to unpick all the finishings cos the tudung was too tight hehehe...), and downloaded the tudung-making technique to my mom. She, being the experienced seamstress, of course found it a lot easier than I did :p

So while she started on a new one, I finished up my 1st tudung and continued with my second (the piece that I shared with Kak R.) The 3rd one (the same material my mom worked on) will have to wait till I get the awning from Yela.

Once the pieces dah dijahit tepi, then we can finish both tudungs... yeay!

Tengah dengki ni sebenarnya... Kak R dah siap semua, turned all the pieces she bought into tudungs and our office mates dah siap bertanya nak tempah dah... hehehe... akak sorang tu memang rajin, and dah terrer menjahit... aku yang beriya nak gi belajar, tak siap-siap lagi hasilnya! At least now mine is finally finished! Hooray!

Dapat la merasa guna my mom's new machine last night... daaannnggg teringin nak satu jugak!! It's pricey, but then again, I've spent cumulatively more on my bag collection hehehe... tapi savings dah kurang la... pinjam aje la dulu for now kot hehehe...

Now that I've started, I do find the whole sewing experience quite appealing, and want to continue with other projects like my own baju... but how am I gonna juggle the little time I have left at home between my darlings and the sewing??? Adoi laaaa... dah la skarang ni asyik dok keluar ofis after 8 je... penat badan and kepala...

Weekend Expedition

Today my friend & I went on an expedition...

What did we do? We went for a 'tudung'-making class hehehe...

What brought around this whole interest in sewing?

My mom's always been a good dressmaker... sepanjang zaman sekolah, none of my baju kurungs were ever store-bought... all made by my mom! So siap boleh nak customize kain lipat belah mana, nak poket, poket belah mana, besar mana... hehehe... she usually works with cotton la, but I guess as a working mom, that's good enough rite?

Now that she's retired, she's been spending a lot of her time learning to sew new things... so besides all her kelas mengaji etc, she's been taking up quilt-making classes, smocking classes, and the fruits of her labor happen to benefit my little kiddies hehehe... so Amani has a lovely new smocked dress finishing soon, and she's already got a nice new flowery single-sized quilt for her bed... Adik punye the blue one katanya :p With her intensified interest in sewing, she even invested in a new portable sewing machine ok?!?! The kind that can do some simple embroidery as well, since her current machine is still in good condition...

In my case, it's not that I'm not interested in sewing, but I don't want it to be a 'hangat-hangat tahi ayam' kinda venture... I toyed with the idea of making kids' clothes, but the motivation wasn't strong enough............................................................

Until I discovered DIY tudungs, that is!

Apparently there's a whole bunch of ladies out there who do it, and their work is gorgeous! What drew me to them was the fact that they were also producing tudungs in printed fabrics, which I love! I am still loyal to Munawwarah, but the fact that they don't really produce many printed tudungs makes it difficult for me, cos I've got plenty of plain-colored clothes for work and I don't really want to wear the normal square tudungs anymore (yea, yea... Munawwarah has spoiled me in terms of tudung-wearing hehehe... give me a simple, pull-on tudung anytime bebbeh!)

So anyway, I started off by browsing some sites of other tudung makers (initial link courtesy of Mrs Noba, who had Mektwain on her blog list), and saw the gorgeous fabrics for sale... that led me to some other sites with info on those offering classes for newbies, and I immediately wanted in! I mentioned it to Kak R, who was interested and decided to join me for the class. So, after emailing back & forth with Yela (who has lovely fabrics for sale too), our date was confirmed. All this, within the past 1 week tau!

This morning, our darling hubbies dropped us of at Yela's house, and we began our crash course in tudung-making. Now I understand better why the good-quality ones are so expensive! Torture ok nak buat! Yela siap tanya lagi, lepas ni nak buat lagi ke, nak beli aje? Heheheh... well, that depends la kan? The more I practice, the better I get at it, hopefully the more motivated I am to continue, betul tak? ;)

By the time we left, mine was almost done, Kak R's pun lebih kurang, so we just have to do the finishing touches at home. Since we shared fabrics, we got material for 2 tudungs each, plus bought a few other pieces to try lagi at home...

Kalau bersemangat, I'll put the results up here hehehe... if I tak pakai dulu la...








What's next? Dah bersemangat dah ni... try buat another tudung with Kak R's fabric, continue with the other fabrics... Dressmaking la pulak! At least buat baju kurung sendiri, kan? Mula la gatal nak beli mesin sendiri (even though it'll probably be severely underutilized for some time first hehehe....) Mama, nak pinjam mesin jahit........:p

Wowweee... a new experiment!! :)