cloth.with pegs

Getting Ready Santa's House

2011-12-13T16:49:00.000+08:00

I missed building models the most ... gosh, model kits nowadays are not cheap and time-consuming. I need a quick fix and also a cheaper alternative, for a Christmas diorama. Here's a site I always run to for fun & print at home paper craft ... Canon Creative Park

Amongst their Christmas Special Collection gallery, I downloaded this Santa Claus's House, printed it and was already working on it soon enough. One thing though, I printed this in half the size it was supposed to be so, everything worked out smaller than it should.

Above is an image from their site of the completed model. Since I am still working on it, I'll share some tips and post up the final product eventually (in 'due' time too). To save printing, you can just save the pdf file of the assembling instruction manual, maybe into your computer or iPad or something you can keep referring to each step of the way.

One of the things I discovered while assembling this is that, it always helps when you score along the fold lines, so you can get a clean corner. I score all necessary score lines before cutting out the pieces, because individually, the pieces are much harder to navigate around without running the risk of tearing the pieces up while scoring. I just use a ruler and the tip of a mechanical pencil, as long as it runs smoothly.

Another tip, try to use quick dry glue that can hold, because you sure do not want your diorama falling apart before Xmas. I use my all-trusty All Purpose UHU adhesive. Towards the end of the assembling instruction, you'll be assembling smaller loose pieces of finishing touches, like the furniture or decorations. Here are some of the furniture I completed.

Here are some close up of my half-scaled model. There are some tips in the instructions on how to curl the spiral cord on the 'telephone/computer' or the 'fax paper'.

So, head on over for some quick Xmas decoration ideas here.

Birthday Special: World Architecture & Habitat Day

2011-10-05T19:08:00.002+08:00

This year's first Monday of October for World Architecture Day & World Habitat Day, coincided with my birthday. Combining both my loves, architecture & crafting (with recycling), I did my part in contributing to the public installation of 'Cardboard City' at The Spring shopping mall. Essentially, it highlighted that basic shelter is every human's right. Min's entry on the project here.

Earlier in the week, I collected plastic soymilk bottles (drank by my colleagues) and asked my friend Alvin from Just Light, to help me wired it up for the installation.

The glowing soymilk bottles against the patchwork of recycled cardboard boxes, with the shopping cart thrown in for the 'hobo' look. The cart happened out of necessity when Sasha, our institute's admin lady, carted architecture books from her car. PAMSC, the local chapter for architect's institute, hosted this installation and for the launch, they invited the city mayor with architecture books to be donated to the city council library.

Min coordinated some of his students to build the 'Cardboard City' after closing hours and through to 6am. The lights were installed by Alvin's guys the next morning in time for the launching. Since this was meant to be a work in progress, Joseph and I build a cardboard chair to add to the installation.

We cut up the cardboards into strips of 45x15cm, 30x15cm & 15x15cm pieces. We then stacked them up like puzzle pieces. (Cecilia took the photos of me slaving away)

I love the sides of the chair which exposes the corrugated sections of the cardboard pieces.

Here we are, testing the strength of the chair.

Sit on it like a 'taukey' or a 'Thinker'.

Irene helped me transport it to the 'Cardboard City' installation and Sasha's now sitting on it like a 'taukeynio' (ladyboss), next to the high table Melvin & I constructed.

The installation will be there until this Friday, 7 Oct 2011. Do drop in and have a look this week. Also, ask for a pen/marker from Sasha and show your support.

I Finally Spat It Out

2011-09-17T01:52:00.000+08:00

I spent today's public holiday at home tidying up my crafting stash and found more stuff I need to decide what to to with them. I stumble on some of my unfinished steampunk ensemble; i.e. the one sided spats (as mentioned in this blog entry). So I decided to push myself to complete these spats...

... just to realised that I lost the pattern (pfft!), so I decided to start from scratch.

I pinned 2 pieces of fabric to fit my ankle & traced on 1 side only. Then, I cut up the outline for the spats.

I retraced the high spats pattern for a lower pair, this time. The vertical lines are where the fabric overlaps, for the button or other fasteners. So the same pattern can be used for all 3 pieces on each side of the spats.

I traced the pattern on the denim fabric I have from previous projects (without seam allowance).

I only cut the pieces with seam allowance along the vertical joints, because I was going to use bias tape for the edges.

Above is when the vertical joints are done with double top stitch seam, looking kind of warped; and below is when the front flap is closed.

So, I did one continual length of bias tape for the edge...

... found out that I didn't have enough of the same bias tape for the other side of the denim spats, because I had used them before. Determined to finish a pair of spats, I used some more left over fabric from the steampunk costuming of The General's outfit. I hacked off the sleeves off some pinstripe jacket we bought from a thrift store, back then. I opened up the side stitching and spread it out to cut up some more spats pieces.

After the process went the same like what I did with the denim pair, I added embellishments & buttons. This time I used a brand new roll of cotton bias tape, and had just the right amount to go around both sides of this pair of pinstripe spats.

I added the brass studs on the corners and made 3 buttonholes.

Adding these brass buttons for denims, by puncturing through the pin from behind ...

... and after I have inserted all the pins, I moved on ...

... to hammering it into the button.

It's actually quite easy, but I still need to do it slowly by aligning it top to bottom, or else you'll just end up with skewed pins ...

There! All done!

I'm kind of happy with this pair, but I think I might modify the pattern a bit more ... next time.

Meanwhile, this pair works well with flats ...

... and heels too.

Tribal Princess

2011-09-14T22:48:00.001+08:00

I enjoy doing costumes and what more to help a friend. Irene was to make her own hair accessories for her tribal belly dance costume. And, I quickly jumped at the chance to help put this together.

Irene showed me some pictures of how her hair piece was supposed to look like. And with those crafting stuff she bought, we were soon on the way ...

There were basically a lot of synthetic braided hair that came in a spool; in black & in brown. We cut them up to varying length of approximately 16" long. We tied the braids along a comb headband.

At first, we just opened up the braids to have the loose ends, like long flowing waves. Later we figured that the black was too black, and the brown was too brown; meaning it looked very (ironically) unnatural.

So, we opened up the whole length of the braids and mixed up the strands and re-braided them. Notice the ones on the left against the ones on the right. It looked better with the blend. We finished the braids with beads & shells.

The other embellishments, like shells, colored cords & feathers, were added later along the top of the braids.

You would noticed that the comb hairband was worn horizontally along the back, and not on top of her head, like hair extensions.

We continued adding braids and embellishments to cover the whole headband (left to right).

Here, finished and tested out on Irene's hair. We did a quick hair bun & wrapped the rest the feathers around it, too. Other versions we saw included flowers too.

Back Then When

2011-09-04T13:37:00.001+08:00

Dug out a skeleton from my closet of non-sewing past ... check out the cute little tote I made with the braided handles.

And the bottom of the tote bag, with a straw board base, lined from inside. There is a very embarrassing how-to back story for this bag which I made when I was in my early 20s.

The unglamorous funny part next ... ;P

See the straw board base, with some dried up masking tape ...

I used masking tape to stick the braided handle made from strings used for plumb line at construction site. And ends held together by staplers. Instead of stitching, I used UHU glue. Gosh, those were the days.

Felt Collar with Ruffle Bouquet

2011-09-01T20:38:00.000+08:00

Over these couple of days, I been experimenting a lot with felt, seeing that I'm piling up so much of felt in my stash. After browsing online for ideas, I decided to try my own version of a felt collar in deep cyan, lined with champagne colored tulle. I made a matching felt flower brooch to hold the felt collar in place.

I cut 2 pieces of about 1m length of felt, in tapered width of 15cm at the widest, to 11cm at the narrowest.

After stitching both the 15cm wide ends together in zig-zag stitch, I trimmed off the extra fabric (well, I did not exactly measure before cutting up the pieces).

I sewed on a 2m length grosgrain ribbon to middle of the felt, lengthwise.

After that, I stretched the felt fabric to get some ruffly edges. I found it easier to stretch when pulled along the bias.

It can get quite thin and almost see-through, so be careful not to overstretch. So I completed one side, and here it is, compared to the 'un-stretched' side. I repeated the same for all sides.

I added the tulle on the reverse side.

Now, for the garnishing ... I did the 'ruffled bouquet' with randomly trimmed petals along the edge.

With the clouded edges, the bouquet appeared to have more petals.

I wrapped the felt collar around the neck, with the ruffled tulle inside. I turned the felt edges down to expose more of the tulle and pinned the felt brooch to hold the end of the collar in place.

With the collar turned up at the back, it exposed the black grosgrain ribbon with the contrasting stitching.

This collar can be worn with the tulle on the outside, too. And with the felt collar flipped outward, the tulle is almost sandwiched in between the felt, ...

... leaving more of the felt exposed. I styled it with the ends hanging out.

The 2 ways of wearing it ... or more, I guess, depending on how you style it.

Ruffled Pink in Hair

2011-08-31T22:41:00.001+08:00

I never really did ruffles before, but remember that Gette and I tried out some felt bouquets 3 years ago, so I decided to try it out again with some pink felt I had from my stash.

Decided that adding some champagne colored tulle to the felt will soften the bright hot pink.

Based on a 6.5cm diameter circle template, I cut out about 8 pieces of circular felt pieces.

And 8 more pieces of the tulle, by using the felts as template by sandwiching the tulle in between.

Matching all 8 circular felt to one circular tulle each ...

... by lining the inside with tulle ...

... and fold it in half and half again.

I did a stitch at the tip to hold the fold ...

... and added more felt ruffles.

View from the topside.

After stringing all 8 together, it became a bouquet.

On the reverse side, I glued the base tips of all the ruffles to a felt piece. From here on, you can either attach ruffles to a hairclip ...

... or pin it into your hair with hairpins; from the top of the hairbun, or wear it below a low hairbun.

Alternative Wallets

2011-08-27T19:39:00.002+08:00

I was at Bloom Bazaar this morning. This is one of the first, if not, few craft & second-hand goods bazaar in Kuching. At least I hope it will grow into a fair eventually. I didn't have enough materials to set up a stall but I still went to check out the bazaar. I bought a vinyl-coated canvas wallet similar to the Mighty Wallet®.

Let's talk a bit more about my worn-out Mighty Wallet®, which now looked like this ...

Since it is made of microfiber Tyvek® material, it had gone a bit 'furry' with use, but still tough & without tear. (I have more new ones stashed for the future, muahaha ... )
I'm going to make a comparison between the Mighty Wallet® & the vinyl-coated canvas wallet. Here's my Mighty Wallet®, outside & inside.

And here's the vinyl-coated canvas wallet, outside & inside.

Mighty Wallet® has 2 large pockets for cash & receipts, 2 card pockets on the inside and 2 quick-access card pockets between both later mentioned pockets (accessible when wallet is closed). While the vinyl-coated canvas has only 1 large pocket, it also has 2 card pockets on the inside and 2 quick-access card pockets, accessed just like the Mighty Wallet®.

The 2 large pockets of the Mighty Wallet® ...

... and the only large pocket of the vinyl-coated canvas wallet.

Here's a comparison between the thickness of both without contents.

I figured that this is mainly because of the material choice. And the canvas wallet has a thicker edge (noticeable at the side quick-access pockets) because of the folds.

Nonetheless, I kinda like the canvas wallet too. There were some with very interesting prints too. And not to mention, so much cheaper. An original Mighty Wallet® is available USD15 online, while I bought the vinyl-coated canvas wallet from the Bazaar at MYR25 (~USD8).

Spring Frame Pouch

2011-08-21T11:28:00.003+08:00

Digging through my pile of crafting stock, I found that leftover microfiber fabric from my Couch Makeover project, some felt and spring frames I bought from Daiso. So, I decided to put it all together for a pouch. I was supposed to make pouches/containers for all the small loose items on my desk anyways.

I measured onto the microfiber fabric and cut it with some seam allowance on all sides. I allowed the bottom of the pouch to be wider, so I can sew up the bottom corners allowing the pouch for a thicker base. The pouch opening is measured to size of the spring frame. In this case it is a 12cm(L) frame, and so, I allowed 11.5cm(W) for the rim of the pouch.

I sewed on 2 strips of brown felt as casings* on each sides of the pouch, to insert the spring frame.

(*Casings are created as tunnels through which elastics or in this case, spring frame, is threaded.)

The spring frame was quite easy to insert if the space allowance within the casing was adequate. I used a pair of pliers to pressed in all the loose metal corners & flaps, in case they get caught within the casing.

On the otherside of the casing, it should come through just nice, without too much of the spring frame exposed. I assumed gathers are still acceptable on the spring frame is the casing is too long, but it might allow gaps at the opening and it is not good for keeping things that might fall through.

With the pin provided in the pack, I inserted it through both the metal hinges.

I used the pliers to fold the metal flap that encased the pin into the hinges.

Quick and simple. A pouch I now used to my little stamp pad & the loose alphabet rubber stamps.

Veil for a Little Girl

2011-08-02T14:32:00.004+08:00

This is another quick project for a friend who approached me to help with her niece's veil for her First Holy Communion. It was basically putting 2 existing items together; a recycled flower girls headband, and about 1m x 1m of soft white tulle.

The tulle was folded almost in half with one extending longer by 60cm. Here's a close-up of the completed pleating at the fold. Next, I sewed on the tulle to the headband, under the little rose ribbons, along the pleat stitching.

The extra pleat gave a fuller front to the veil. Final touches included trimming the veil ends with tapered & longer middle, & rounded corners at the sides.

Goodbye ... Hello!

2011-04-23T13:03:00.012+08:00

I said goodbye to my 17" Compaq laptop & my backup harddisk (along with 5 years of my digital life), when my Loewe laptop bag was stolen from my car last Tuesday 12 April 2011 ... :'( sadness to the max!

It's a fresh start now, with my 15" MacBook Pro ... :) ... time to build new memories & projects!

I made a new jacket for my new appendage in an auspicious color ... RED!

What started out as conventional Chanel-like squares, quickly turned into a roadmap ... when I ran rampage with the stitches on the sewing machine. It's mainly red felt on the outside & black felt on the inside. So to strengthen both felt, I stitched both together with pattern in black thread.
I used black grosgrain ribbons for the edge trims.
To contrast the red, I used black felt on the outside & line with black jersey internally, for the flap ... with red stitches.
And with closing flap attached, I sewed the buttons on ... and there! we are packed & ready to go for a new adventure together!

Memories from Hanoi & Halong Bay

2010-11-20T23:49:00.009+08:00

It's been almost a month since I came back from the Hanoi trip with Gette & Maggie. Making the fresh spring rolls from the rice paper I brought back from Hanoi recently, got me reminiscing about my trip. It was a fun weekend away, getting stuffed and inspired, with lots of sharing and laughs ... (not to mention, braving the honking street traffic)

Thinking back, I can summerise our trip in two main words; eat & sketch. And of course, we did breath in some Vietnamese culture with some sight-seeing and heritage trails, mainly navigated by me based on reliable travel guide books & phone applications. For photos, they are HERE ... and below, a brief tour of my memories from Hanoi & Halong Bay on my trusty Moleskine sketchbook, which I use only for travels. Enjoy ;)

Heart You Long Time

2010-11-12T20:24:00.003+08:00

Audrey & Fred had been dating for 10 years! Finally, they tied the knot last Tuesday ... Congratulations to the two greatest people I know ;)

Previously, I blogged about the pink veil I made for her hen's night here. Now, here's the gorgeous bride wearing it with a pink tutu which I made later. (photo by Jessie Wong Yii Ling)

What's In Your Bag?

2010-11-12T20:08:00.003+08:00

Finally, after much procrastinating, I submitted my entry for "What's in your bag?" competition @ Kinokuniya Singapore and Malaysia.

Had lotsa fun with friends putting the shoot together. Thanks, Lili, WanHow & Celine ;)

This is my entry ...

Recognise some of the hand-crafted goodness there??

Rubber Stamping Fun

2010-11-05T23:34:00.006+08:00

Recently, I was toying with the thought of getting some rubber stamps made for Cloth.withPegs. I even thought about carving it out of erasers or some cork-based material, like this guy from my recent Hanoi trip. (Maggie & Gette got some traditionally hand-carved stamps made for friends.)

Until, I finally found these plug-in system alphabet set ... like Lego! and therefore, that means FUN!

I was having so much fun fitting the alphabets around and stamping it on everything. I even thought about stamping it onto ribbons for labels.
Soon, I need to get a second set of each size I got earlier because each alphabet comes in a piece only. A second set would allow more possibilities. ;) FUN stamped in capital letters!

Travel Wallet by BOOKED!

2010-10-14T18:16:00.005+08:00

Finished another BOOKED! Travel Wallet from my stock of second-hand books, Eclectic Third Reader

Size (gross): 14.6cm(w) x 22.3cm(h) x 2.6cm(t)

This one is for sale, refer to item on my Etsy shop here. (Contents are for display only)

Update : SOLD!

Travel Wallet by BOOKED!

2010-10-10T13:48:00.005+08:00

Finished another BOOKED! Travel Wallet with similar layout as the first one, and I thought I would illustrate it better with a video.

This one is for sale, refer to item on my Etsy shop here. (Contents are for display only)

Update : SOLD!

Birthday Breakfast

2010-10-03T11:18:00.004+08:00

Caramelised pear on pancakes with maple syrup.

Yes, I made this and it's edible!

BOOKED! : Line Up - Part 1

2010-10-01T18:11:00.006+08:00

This is the line-up from yesterday's haul. If anything catches your eye to be BOOKED! to your specifications, let's talk about it in detail through email.

Art, Culture and Environment

Size (gross): 19.3cm(w) x 24.1cm(h) x 2.6cm(t)

Senior Nurse

Size (gross): 14.5cm(w) x 19.4cm(h) x 2cm(t)
Encyclopedia Athl-Bete

Size (gross): 14.5cm(w) x 21.7cm(h) x 3cm(t)

Eclectic Third Reader

Size (gross): 14..6cm(w) x 22.3cm(h) x 2.6cm(t)

iPad Case by BOOKED!

2010-09-29T13:38:00.005+08:00

This gorgeous leather bound embossed encyclopedia was a lucky find from the local secondhand bookstore. Information in it was kind of out-dated, and it was an 'orphaned' volume.

Since the process was too tedious for me to post it here, I would just show you the end product. I was hyped enough to continually worked on it without too long of a break, so I actually completed it in one day.
Solid frame lined with balsa wood all round, and internally lined with red felt. I ensured that all the buttons were accessible too.iPad inserted.The casing with front cover closed.

Close-up at the openings and balsa wood lining.

I swore that I would continue to work on another cover, more suitable for travel. This is purely for the aesthetic of it because the leather bound embossed cover is too small for other utilities.

Travel Pouch by BOOKED!

2010-09-27T08:30:00.003+08:00

I'm proud to announced my new line! I have this fascination with old books, and in particular ... covers of old books. I acquired some interesting old hardcover books. So I am going to 'recover' them for new casings and other purposes.

I will take requests and orders for different custom-made Booked!s. Meanwhile, I will show you that all will be individually handmade, by my first Booked! travel pouch.

This one is for sale, refer to item on my Etsy shop here. (Contents are for display only)

Carefully, I gutted out the pages, still bound. (Note the black leather bound book? ... ooo, loved the embossed pattern on the cover)

I am using "Jack-in-the-Box Planet" storybook cover. The inside of the cover after the pages had been gutted out.
I glued in the zipper with 2 tabs, around the 3 sides of the cover (sparing the spine).
Stuck the zipper in place ... around the corner ...
... and the sides.
Cut the extra length, unzipped the zipper...
... and glued the other tape of the zipper to the opposite side of the bookcover.
When opened ... and when zipped...
Using the bound pages, I traced it onto a cyan-colored felt, for the lining...
... and cut.
Now, for the pockets, I realised that since passports are presented at immigration counters without jackets, I would just make a pocket for it, instead of a sleeve.
I roughly sketched out all the dimensions of the pockets I need, and proceeded to prepare the pieces.

After I cut out all the pieces I need, in the same colored felt as the lining, I laid them all out and checked the thickness and spacing. (decided to reduce the card pockets to 6 instead of the original 7)

Since the pockets are the same color as the lining, I stitched the pockets in using bright pink threads. This forms a nice outline and definition for each pocket.
Sewed the card pockets on... and then, the pocket for passport ... and finally the pockets for different currencies and boarding passes.

Now, securing the pockets unto the bookcover. I started with gluing down the mid-portion of the lining into the book spine.

With the middle properly lined, I glued down both sides.

Pressed the felt lining down and smoothed out all the edges, making sure there are no loose edges.
The official first Booked! travel pouch ... camouflaged as something most travelers will carry with them to occupy their waiting time.
And, unzipping the sides to reveal the pockets inside ...
So, now ... anything that needed to be Booked!, write me your requests and email, at the comments column.

Flower Power : Rose

2010-09-26T18:32:00.003+08:00

I only know that roses have lots of petals. And, based on that I made small petals and stringed them together for this last 'flower' I had to help make.

Each petals with 2 rounded corners were approximately of 9x15cm of pink felt. I repeated for ... erm, I don't remember how many times, but a lot of times. To string them together, I laid them to overlap at the last slit opening.

And, stringed them together with grosgrain ribbon. I didn't managed to get it in pink at the last minute, so I just used cream color.
Now, when I first put it on (before I spread out the petals until my chin), I thought it looked really funny, so I took a photo to show you. And, after all the petals were slowly spread downwards towards my chin ... I still look ridiculous ... and another funny picture to show you.
The leaf was simple. A piece of green felt cut to shape, with 2 bands on the reverse side, and fitted onto the fingers and wrist.

For the others, which I did not document the process, I will just post the pictures of the children wearing it ... when the photos are ready. I am quite sure, they will look better than me modelling it. ;)

Animal Farm : Chicken

2010-09-26T18:13:00.005+08:00

Do the chicken dance!!! I was in a hurry and therefore, I didn't manage to document the steps properly ... and so ... I can only describe it now.

Crown : I glued to pieces of red felt together by applying glue to the shape of the top of the crown. Then, I cut it to shape, sewed around the top and stuffed it with small pieces of left over felt. For the headband, I cut 2 small slits, 1 on each piece of the crown, for the headband to slide through. Later, with another piece of elliptical red felt cut out, I stitched shut the crown.

Beak : Randomly, I folded cardboard to this shape and just finished it with yellow felt. Dotted in the 'nostrils' with black marker, and opened 2 small holes to string the elastic band through.

Flower Power : Hibiscus

2010-09-26T18:00:00.003+08:00

I literally just made a big red flower, as directly translated from the chinese name for Hibiscus 'ta hung hua' (big red flower). So, I did not make the stigma any hibiscus should have ... lazy & in a rush.

Since all the pieces of red felt we bought were already cut into sizes of approximately 1'x1', I just rounded of 2 corners and added wires offset from those edges, by sewing it in place.

With the 6 slits (for the grosgrain ribbon) I cut across the opposite edge, I stitched 2 slits together lightly to hold the fold, forming sets of 3...
... like so. The previous steps were repeated for the other 4 petals and all 4 were stringed through with red grosgrain ribbon.
Thus, the reverse side and the right side up.

Animal Farm : Goat

2010-09-23T19:20:00.005+08:00

From the previous post on jasmine flower, this one shall be on an animal ... a goat. I initially made a pair of horns from brown cardboard with some paint-shading on it. But, apparently these props for kids have to be hardy enough, as kids can be quite destructive. So not surprisingly, the cardboard horns did not survive the 1st rehearsal.

Therefore, I made another one from felt, and am quite sure this will pass the durability test. I also added ears to the second version, thinking that it compliments the horns better. The model with the felt horns is Celine Ling, one of the teachers at WuJiaoJi.

I traced the pattern of the previous flattened cardboard horn (previously of a random sketched pattern) onto 2 pieces of light brown felt . I cut around the traced pattern with some seam allowance and overlaid it over another piece of felt and roughly cut out another 2 pieces. With 4 pieces, I handstitched 2 pieces of brown felt cutouts together, leaving the bottom of the horn-cutouts open. And, repeat for the other 2 pieces of brown felt cutouts.

I trimmed off the excess seam allowance, and flipped the horn 'right-side' out.

Used a chopstick to push the horn to it's shape. With all the bits & pieces left over from crafting the other props, I cut them into smaller pieces and stuffed them into the horn to hold it's shape.
Then, sealing it all in with a round piece, with 2 slits for slipping it into the headband. I glued the horn in place and also handsewn them, to further ensure durability. Repeat, for the other horn.
The ears! I just cut out 2 squares, and folded 2 opposite corners toward another corner. Glued them down like so.
And then, proceed to glue them onto the headband, just under the horn on each side, and also, stitched them in place. To give the horn some shape, I glued the inner fold slightly and stuck it downwards, so the ears will not be pointing upwards, but sideways. Gave it a few tugs here and there to give it some shape too.Done! A view from under the headband ... and the overall view.