Skort !

Made this one about a fortnight back, the photoshoot got delayed as Adithi didn't feel like wearing it for any of the recent outings, she is so picky and choosy about how she gets dressed up these days !

My parents are in town and we are in Genting Highlands, an hours getaway from KL , good respite from hot weather, though it wasn't as foggy as it was the last time when we came along with our Inlaws , which was about a month back, yeah twice in a months time .... In laws left and parents arrived , so we had to repeat all the outings we did with previous batch, no complaints on this outing though, as there is something for everyone in genting, dad and daughter happy with their video game station as I a typing this post :)

The skirt was made out of remaining fabric left from the Shirt Style Dress I had made for 'S'. These days I plan to add a shorts underneath Adithi's skirts as her skirt length preference is getting shorter by the day, talk about influence of cosmopolitan KL. In order to cover her modesty while she is jumping around in short skirts, I wanted to add shorts, this was a trial for that ( this skirt is infact long enoug to be worn as plain skirt ) 

I asked her to show the short underneath the, for which she said no way! And here is her reaction! Will update the shorts pic may be after doing the laundry ;)

She likes the 'skort' , so mission accomplished... 

My parents will be leaving next week and from then I plan to give life to the promise of self-love by sewing some outfits for self, stay tuned ...

Plan to post this skirt onto the Skirt Week over here

Shirt style dress as parting gift

Remember , the Girl 'S' for whom I had made the Drawing Book Holder. Her family is leaving KL next week and it was time I made a dress for her. She chose the design from one of my Japanese Sewing Magazines, then I went shopping for fabric with her mom.

The fabric is Cotton Satin (the dark blue one) and cotton (floral print)

The design didn't have sleeves and since 'S' wanted sleeves i added puff sleeves. Belt was last minute addition. Oh yes , I love making those fabric covered buttons, using kits i got from Daiso, I love Daiso!

I love the main fabric and plan to buy more of it and make dress for Adithi and skirt for self.

Now I have a custom order, dress for Mehendi function of bride to be and I am excited to be working on it , first time will be working on size US14 , so I can learn about body shapes and sewing tricks for that size. Any tips from sewing experts on sewing for plus sizes, cause so far I have mostly sewn petite size outfits.

Since I am posting from Blogger app on ipad, it somehow doesn't allow me to place the pics, so as of now the dress pics are at the bottom of the post,will login later to rearrange them, till then bear with me

Wardrobe Revamp - watch out

I have been sewing for many years now, dreamt of revamping my wardrobe many times and it has remained a dream ... Well not anymore, it will soon be reality.

Why this sudden enlightenment ... Adithi's friend refused to believe I am fashion designer, until Adithi showed her dresses, so what does that mean that I don't look like a fashion designer , rather don't dress like one!

So what do I dress up like normally, let me be honest ...
Start off the day with night suit , oh yes such an awesome start, actually I take early bath even before I send Adithi to school, and dress up in pyjamas! Pack her off to school, finish all my household chores, even sew around in the same set of pyjamas or dhoti pants.

So when do I change to something presentable, when I go to pick Adithi from school, so what do I wear, legging with kurta mostly or else free culture jeggings with usual suspect tops (3 interesting tops is all I have, shame on me) i am not counting store bought ones ...of late I have been wearing Capri length leggings with tops.

I can't believe I haven't sewn much for self, no impressive skirt! , no dresses! Most of my sewing had been for m loved ones and custom order or for etsy shop recently. now i realize that one does need to love themselves as well. hmmm ... Here I am living in multicultural hot pot city of KL like age old lady hmm so I promise myself to have an impressive wardrobe by the end of 3 months. Time to show some love for self!

Plan to sew these as they just came up in my mind, decided to jot it down

Indo-western tops (3)
Western style tops (3)
Midi length skirts (3)
Maxi dresses (2)
LBD (1)
LWD (1)
midi length dresses (3)

One common pre-requisite for all the outfits when i sit down to design them would be - They should be comfortable to wear and be modest! Is it too ambitious, well time will tell ...

Decided to start off with something which is in vogue now, high low hemline,plan to make a hi low skirt, something similar to one in pic below

Dress fit muslin for new pattern

Making this dress for one of my fav little girl 'S' for whom I had made drawing book holder earlier.

Just tried the dress on her, it fits her to the T except for sleeve hem circumference, which is very minor, so on the whole, I am glad the first pattern draft fits her and now sewing in actual fabric will be lot more easier and stress free.

Making a muslin fit is not my cup of tea and I make it only for saree blouses, and guess what I hate sewing saree blouses, as alteration in them means you are doomed, well almost! I mostly get away with direct fashion fabric even with new patterns I draft, but with in laws in town, I wouldn't have e time for much alterations, nor the mindset to do alterations with my high stress levels, so decided to play it safe and made a muslin, it paid off and made my job lot easier.

Now will I make muslin fit in future, I will surely give it a try if it is the first dress I am sewing for the concerned person and I don't have any fit dress of theirs for template. For totally new and varied pattern that I draft also I would like to have muslin fit,I remember doing lot of muslin fits before I got the cowl neck part of Adithi's dress from Navarathri collection 2010, before I got the right drape, so it has been saree blouse or cowl neck for which I had made muslin fit, not necessarily in using cloth though!

I use whatever leftover fabric I have, like for this dress, i used left over lining and for neck patch I used the drawing book holder leftover fabric. Good way to destash odd color / length leftover fabrics of low price.


Now I need to make one of this dress type for my little ' rock star' here is the snap of her all set before her first stage performance at school about a couple of weeks back.

Happy Ugadi

Dear Readers,

Wish you all a Happy Ugadi.

I can't believe its already in the evening 6:30 pm here, just felt like getting up at 5 AM. God how many hours have i spent in the kitchen today ... the max by far, that i had ever done , hmm all credit goes to the zing that i got from realizing that this would be the first ever Ugadi, where my darling daughter will be relishing Ugadi Delicacies made by ÿours Truly" Yup ... Me ! Hmm guess who is living it up, new found roles and joys and woes as well, of being in a nuclear set up away from extended family ... She loved the Ambode i made, one dish passed out of 5 dishes, no worries, there is always next time isn't it and Adthi doesn't like sweets so the other 3 sweet dishes i made, doesn't even count for her ! My own Kitchen and my own rules, bring it on baby!

No festival is complete without handmade dress for darling daughter. Made this outfit in a hurry yesterday in under 3 hours, almost 50 mins of which was spent on embroidery.

Did you notice the caption "Puzzle Expert", yes Adithi Loves Puzzles and is very Good at it! It has her favourite indoor pastime ! one of the puzzles solved by her, which has been framed, the option to buy a frame along with puzzle, here in KL is truly worth it, i can recollect how many puzzles (500+ pieces) she would have solved, spent hours on it, only to be dismantled after a week of display and put back in the box, not fair , isn't it... not any more, she can frame the puzzles she completes and savour them in future!

Since embroidery too much time, decided to keep the design simple and apt for summer, A-line tunic top with tie-up spaghetti straps. A teeny weeny box pleat at back neckline to give more ease while playing. The top is fully lined and is made of 100% cotton, perfect for the sultry summer days here in KL

Happy Ugadi once again and wish you all a healthy, happy and prosperous year ahead!

A bermuda for Adithi has been in WIP for over a month now , need to wrap it up and then make a dress for the Girl 'S', about whom i had mentioned in my Drawing book holder post. A custom order request has also come, nothing is finalized yet, so more sewing coming up...

BTW, hold id\t, who was blowing their trumpet of days of free rule and ruling the kitchen, stop dreaming, in-laws would be here in town next week for a month long stay, get back to planet earth and get sewing! Now you didn't read this, got it !