The Falling Star

Taobao hauls: Pincushion

noreply@blogger.com (YUN ZHEN!) — Sun, 27 Oct 2013 17:06:00 +0000

It's the A level period and I should be studying. But mmmm haha everybody needs a break in a while. And I've recently discovered the joys of Taobao shopping.

Taobao shopping contains a bit of tedious admin as while the stuff from Taobao is mostly relatively cheap, shipping is not. And I use an external spree service to ship for what must probably be cheaper (I don't know for sure but I believe my mother when she says so). 65daigou is super efficient and also very easy to use their service. Taobao shopping was a bit of uncharted territory initially but since my family's first batch of haul arrived safely in Singapore, I think it works. Haha.

One of the things I decided to buy was a pincushion because I felt sad always sticking my pins into... sponge. We all had the same box of pins with a piece of sponge affixed onto the cover when we first learnt sewing in Secondary 1 but I've decided to move on. :)

I bought two pincushions... because I couldn't decide and it wasn't expensive enough to stop me. Hehe. Here's the link to the Taobao shop I bought from and the total cost including postage within China (excluding shipping to Singapore) was only S$4.04 for two! Also, I had to buy two if not the relatively much more expensive postage within China wouldn't make sense as it would be higher than the price of the pincushion itself. *excuses*

I took around 15 mins to stab all my pins into the pincushion into colour coded sections which was also mildly therapeutic and considering the insane stress A levels bring... very much needed too haha. So far I've no complaints with the pincushion although I haven't used it a lot.

I think shopping on Taobao for sewing stuff is great because everything is obviously so much cheaper than whatever is available here in Singapore. Even with "branded" items like with Clover products, which would obviously be marked up, there seems to be a price difference with Singapore too maybe due to import costs (hah applying my econs knowledge here)

But one of the greatest obstacles to overcome with shopping on Taobao other than navigating one million shops selling very similar items would be to search for the product you want... in Chinese. Thankfully my Chinese is passable haha and although I'm really not familiar with what some items are called in Chinese, I got by with some guesswork and Google Translate.

Here are some helpful keywords if you're trying to shop on Taobao too:

pincushion: 插针包 or 插针器 or 插针球 or 针扎

Shopping Spree! :)

noreply@blogger.com (YUN ZHEN!) — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 04:39:00 +0000

Exams are overrrrr! Because I had nobody to celebrate it with, I had to do celebrate with myself instead! :) Haha ah well.

I've been itching to start on a new sewing project after the last backpack, but didn't have any materials so I decided to head down to Chinatown to get some :D

It was my first time going to Chinatown to get stuff instead of being a fake-tourist because I only found out about the hidden textile businesses there recently. And woah did it not disappoint at all (after searching around for close to two hours -_-). The shop keepers are all very friendly and the cloth is cheaper than spotlight haha (which is the whole point.)

Originally I had intended to get some cloth to sew a zippered pouch but I ended up just picking the patterns I liked and buying 1 metre of each. And forgot about getting those zips. The next time I go, I need a better strategy haha. All of them were about $5 - $6 per metre which is quite reasonable I would say. The quality is also very nice actually I would make pillow cases with this cloth but I don't think I got enough for that :( All of them are from Japan I believe. One of the shopkeepers told me cloth from China is cheaper but the quality is not as good and I personally think the designs are not as nice too.

There was a lot of floral-designs there, and not as much of the cutesy designs (like the elephant one). I think I like the elephant one best haha. And the heart shaped one is pretty cute. But still not sure what to do with them haha I'm scouring pinterest for hours just looking for possible projects now. Sigh.

Drawstring Backpack

noreply@blogger.com (YUN ZHEN!) — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 17:45:00 +0000

So it's the June holidays, I should be studying for Common Tests 2 coming up immediately after the holidays. But to give myself a break, decided to commence upon the biggest sewing project ever in my life (the next biggest one was probably the apron we did in Secondary 1 Home Economics class 5 years ago :O which the teacher walked us through so it's not that big after all)

Got inspired to really try a sewing project after watching the Great British Sewing Bee (a lovely and very refreshing reality show) on Youtube though the thought of sewing my own things have always been on the back of my mind since I was a child.

Okay honestly, I wanted to make a drawstring backpack only so that I could use it for camps when we all troop off to shower and I always dump all my clean clothes in a supermarket plasticbag that is of course functional but also looks very auntie. That aside, I probably spent about a week googling "sew drawstring backpack" and not finding a tutorial for the backpack I had in mind, another two weeks starting from scratch and coming up with it myself and figuring out everything in my head, one night sketching everything out on a piece of paper before everything floated out of my brain and figuring out measurements, another month carrying that precious piece of paper around in school but not starting on anything at home, 2 hours bugging my sister while she was practicing her rifle drills to be my non-existent-bag model so I could refine the measurements better, and the whole of next day from noon to 10 pm putting everything together SUCCESSFULLY. And so I'm here now to show it off.

I was basically trying to make an enlarged version of this drawstring pouch we did in Home Economics back then. Patterns I found on the internet had the drawstring right at the top of the bag which wasn't what I was looking for so I dug up the handwritten instructions for this bag from my teacher and then re-envisioned the whole thing. The original pouch we did had no lining, so I had to figure out how to incorporate that in too.

And this was the handwritten instructions for myself. But I've since re-written and re-drawn everything in case I want to make it again in the future.

And so here is my brilliant masterpiece (if I allow myself to say so). I really love love love the lion pattern on the cloth, which I bought many many years back, I don't even remember when. At that time I bought it wanting to sew a hand carry bag which I eventually didn't, but I have to thank my good taste from back then. Things have a way of working out, huh? It's like I've been planning for this project for years by buying the cloth so many years back haha.

Didn't think to untwist the straps before sewing them to the bottom so now they are a bit twisty and it annoys my perfectionist self but I'll have to learn to let it go because nobody can tell unless they know anyway haha.

This is the inside of the bag. While sewing it halfway, I decided to add a patch pocket. It wasn't in my original plans but by the time I got to the lining, I gained enough confidence from the successful completion of the rest of the backpack to dare to wing it halfway. Sounds like a big fuss for a patch pocket, but it is for a beginner like me. :P But it probably is going to come in useful, I can probably dump my toiletries in there when I go shower in camps as per my original plans.

Here's how it looks when I turn it inside out. It turned out smaller than I visualized due to my bad visual proportioning but it still works and I can still stuff all my stuff inside.

So that's all for my first big sewing adventure in around five years. I'm itching to make more stuff. But I trying not to be too ambitious by going into unknown territory for the time being.

References and resources:

How To Make A Drawstring Backpack by Liz Stanley

DIY Drawstring Tutorial by Prudent Baby

Lined Drawstring Bag Tutorial by Ashley Connelly

Easy Strap Tutorial from Made By Rae

Moving out of a transient phase

noreply@blogger.com (YUN ZHEN!) — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 17:16:00 +0000

Not sure what to use this place for anymore actually.

Junior College swept me up in a whirlwind, I thought it was you know a transient place, a temporary phase, but I realise that was one of the biggest assumptions I made. After JC there is university which promises to be more densely packed with excitement and stress and after that, the working world.

I thought I was going on a hiatus but I think this is going to be a permanent hiatus. So I've decided to just use this blog as a place to record my crafty adventures instead, sewing, crocheting, jewellery, anything.

Recently I've been exploring all these areas of handmade goodness, it's been in me all along, I just never actively pursued it.

And really it's so so so convenient and amazing how the internet allows you to learn all these things when you don't have a grandma to teach you or find lessons rather expensive and inconvenient. Though I still think it would be much cooler if I had a grandma to teach me all these.

Anchor Your Dreams

noreply@blogger.com (YUN ZHEN!) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 00:30:00 +0000

This is for irreplaceable people.

This stands for a lot of things.

Don't forget the dreams you once had.

Don't forget to dream.

Let your dreams be your anchor, the reason why you're still going on.

And don't forget that dreaming brought us to unreachable dreams.

Thanks for these four years.

Catch a Falling Star earrings VII

noreply@blogger.com (YUN ZHEN!) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 04:47:00 +0000

Hi there!

So it has been a while... I wanted to post this some time ago but as usual, there were too many things, it sort of got postponed till today. Which just so happens to be the first day of holidays! hehe.

So anyway I covered all these stars with glitter for the Year 4's class NDP costume thing some time back. And I had a few extras so I converted them to er... haha this thing. Excuse the inadequate jargon.

I eventually attached them to half of a pair of earrings because, yeah, I think you should not be foreign to my perpetual laziness.

Hehe Bye Bye.

Catch a Falling Star earrings VI

noreply@blogger.com (YUN ZHEN!) — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 13:29:00 +0000

Hi.

Haha I made this quite a while ago, during the holidays actually.

The colour of each star is actually different. ;) Er haha stating the obvious. I don't know what to write.

The selling price of this is $7.

If you're interested, the usual, leave a comment of contact me personally if you know me ;) Any questions, same.

Catch a Falling Star earrings V

noreply@blogger.com (YUN ZHEN!) — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 08:01:00 +0000

Happy Belated Birthday, Yi Yun.

Thanks for always brightening up my day, most of the time.

shiny star

noreply@blogger.com (YUN ZHEN!) — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 05:02:00 +0000

Hi there :) Haha. Remember this? (There was a link there. Click on it!) Haha of course you don't! Because it was one and a half years ago.

haha actually this is what it really looked like! But actually I have no idea where they went already somehow I cannot find them :x !!!! And ever since then I've been very lazy to do it again haha.

It looks quite pretty right haha. (paiseh) Anyway haha have you ever noticed the star in the star? Actually I never did until a friend pointed it out to me... Yeah so actually... okay nevermind you don't have to know.

Yeah anyway I had a batch of these, but uncompleted and they also have been collecting dust since one and a half years ago. Haha I don't know what to do with them anymore. Bye Bye.

Catch a Falling Star bracelet II

noreply@blogger.com (YUN ZHEN!) — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 08:33:00 +0000

The pictures all look the same right! But no! Actually they are all very different.

Hello! haha. I promised you (which is generally nobody) I would be productive right! In fact I've been so productive I'm a bit surprised at myself too ;D There's more coming up, sitting in my drawer, once I get to it.

Anyway June is a very dangerous period because seems like all the Important People are having birthdays in June but actually there aren't a lot of them either way.

Guess who this is for! haha. No need to guess I always say it anyway.

┏┓┏┓┏┓╋╋╋╋╋╋┏━┓┏━┓╋╋╋╋┏┓
┃┃┃┃┃┃╋╋╋╋╋╋┗┓┗┛┏┛╋╋╋╋┃┃
┃┃┃┃┃┣━━┳━┓╋╋┗┓┏┛┏┳━┓╋┃┃
┃┗┛┗┛┃┃━┫┏┓┓╋┏┛┗┓┣┫┏┓┓┗┛
┗┓┏┓┏┫┃━┫┃┃┃┏┛┏┓┗┫┃┃┃┃┏┓
╋┗┛┗┛┗━━┻┛┗┛┗━┛┗━┻┻┛┗┛┗┛

Haha your name so big I bet you're very happy. Happy Belated Birthday. You're the oldest among the 5 of us now! Start acting a bit more mature okay. I'll give you when school reopens okay haha.

Because everybody's a star.

ヽ(ｏ`皿′ｏ)ﾉ raaaawwwrrrr!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (YUN ZHEN!) — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 16:57:00 +0000

hello! haha it has been quite an unproductive year so far right ;)

Hindered by a lack of time, camera, and backdrops, I am here to give a little shoutout to the world and no, I'm not dead yet :( It's just... been unproductive. Haha I'll be back soon ;) Very soon. ;)

Er haha.

Catch a Falling Star necklace VII

noreply@blogger.com (YUN ZHEN!) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 08:51:00 +0000

Please click for nicer, bigger, clearer photo.

Hi there!~ I really like using this squiggly line thing recently~~~~

It's been a long while since my last update and since I've done something new (more like 3 months) and this is for Rei :) who requested purple! Er hi Rei, the purple is a bit off here, actually it's not really like a purple-purple but more like a pink-purple thing in real life but not a magenta-purple thing though. Okay some people call it orchid purple. Actually it's different colours under different lights -_-

Okay so anyway as usual, the chain is 35 cm long :D And the clasp is a bit clumsy but you get used to it (personal experience). $4.50

I don't know. It's getting rather awkward rambling about nothing here.

Okay so anyway my normal compact camera I used spoilt and introduces lines across all my images so fumbling with a dslr with in appropriate lens... was well, fumbling, and the white balance is off and such. But ah well~

That's all for now.

Sold to Rei. Thanks :D

Heart Without a Home necklace

noreply@blogger.com (YUN ZHEN!) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 15:07:00 +0000

New Layout! Cleaner :)

Don't really like the song :/ but this is in fact a heart without a home :/ :/

Actually I made this a very very long time ago about when my productivity meter hit its peak. But I have realised my productivity is very limited by backgrounds to take photos against.

I liked how this necklace turned out and I am never making another one. It takes on its own spirit and you can't control it at all! :(

Catch a Falling Star keychain IV

noreply@blogger.com (YUN ZHEN!) — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 05:09:00 +0000

Poor neglected blog ): Here's a keychain to revive this place. Actually I made this some time ago, a long time ago, many moons ago. Okay about the same time as this hairband. I was in this phase where I would rather pick interesting, contrasting colour combinations, rather than complimenting ones. I guess peachy-orange goes quite well with cyan-blue. :)

This was made with the person who complained that I made too many earrings and too little keychains in mind.

As usual, I don't think you should take chances with paper stars, don't squash them, soak them in tea, er burn them, no they are definitely not fire-resistant.

In the midst of trying to decide on a reasonable price, through past keychains, I've realised I never sold keychains before.

And therefore I shall decide on a price now. How does $3 sound? I thought that was a reasonable price since this keychain only had two measly stars ):

Here's a kao-ani for you :)

Catch a Falling Star earrings IV

noreply@blogger.com (YUN ZHEN!) — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 12:03:00 +0000

My productivity in this area of life has been quite high recently.

Triple earrings! How exciting! Purple, Cyan-blue, Yellow! They are all colours that go together in their own vibrant way.

Dangly length (from bottom of earring hook to bottom of star) is about 3cm otherwise known as a bit more than one inch.

Happy Birthday Letitia Chen, this one's for you.

Because You're My Star hairband

noreply@blogger.com (YUN ZHEN!) — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 09:20:00 +0000

hehe hello it's been a long time! This is a hairband! Heh a bit unexpected hmm?

I originally intended to make this another necklace but then when I was making the star many moons ago, I stopped halfway I don't know why and never continued.

It's been there, half-done on my bedside drawer ever since and I didn't know how to carry on.

Until recently, I looked at it and looked at it and looked at it and thought hey it would look quite nice on a hairband right?

Yes, right.

It started out more engineered towards some sort of sea-based colour theme and the original idea was something along the lines of a starfish... But i still think the green/blue colours are quite nice (:

Hehe I think hairbands are quite fun. Perhaps more on the way? (Oh but some people have been complaining I make too many earrings and too little keychains)

~~The hairband is about 35 cm long. The star is about 4.5 cm long at it's maximum length. About.~~

~~$8.00~~

~~Leave a comment if interested or find me in real life (:~~

Because You're My Star necklace/keychain

noreply@blogger.com (YUN ZHEN!) — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 13:48:00 +0000

I was very productive today! (: Other than completing Claire's birthday present. I finished this too (: It was quite fun and very mind-numbing to make this (: Just weaved the wire where I liked and then added beads where I liked. I personally like the outcome very much (:

It works as a keychain too. But I'm sure it would get squashed. I would never dare try.

$8.50, 35 cm long chain.

Sold to Lidia. (: Might make something similar again some time soon. OR not ):

Take Me Home Bracelet

noreply@blogger.com (YUN ZHEN!) — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 10:29:00 +0000

I haven't been here in such a long time! I've also ignored my drawer full of beads and wires and pliers and charms, all because of an evil called school! ):

But do not worry, I am back, with something to account for my absence!

This is actually Claire's very very very belated birthday present. But then there was the great evil of school and I never got round to completing it. But today was a very productive day (: This wasn't the only thing I completed. Claire wanted many many bicycles. I suppose three is more than enough! (: Yes?

I want to make presents for many many people okay! But then ahem, there is always the great evil called school.

Music to my Ears earrings I

noreply@blogger.com (YUN ZHEN!) — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 13:50:00 +0000

It's a new pair of earrings! This was more or less an experiment that I think went quite well and the original intention was it was as a birthday gift for Xiaohan! With the success of my experiment, my intention now is to still have it as a birthday gift for Xiaohan! Xiaohan, are you not glad? (Even if it's pretty belated!)

I wanted to make double quavers at first, but then I got kind of lazy and so here is a singly, meagre quaver for you, Xiaohan. Instead of studying for history and social studies and chem and chinese like I should, I made this for you! :D :D :D :D :D

Om Nom Nom Nom earrings I

noreply@blogger.com (YUN ZHEN!) — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 12:58:00 +0000

I think it looks fairly pretty ;D

I actually made this the night I posted the necklace... then I got carried away with camp and homework and forgot about this poor thing.

I was deciding whether to make it such that one earring had a biscuit and one had an ice cream but I rarely see asymmetrical earrings so I don't think it would have been a good choice...

I'm selling this ;D Don't you love it when I sell things? It's going at $4. Leave a comment if you're interested.

Om Nom Nom Nom necklace I

noreply@blogger.com (YUN ZHEN!) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 07:41:00 +0000

Hello! I haven't been here in a while! I have been busy with school, if you will believe me. I know you will! So it's the school holidays already! They pretty much only start tomorrow since it's only the weekend. But I promised myself I would finish a necklace this month! I thought I would take the whole week in procrastinating, but no! I took two days!

Anyway, I've been thinking about this design/concept (if it can even be called so) for the past three months and I've finally got down to making it!

I think it looks fairly pretty.

It has four acrylic beads, did you spot them! And that is cake, ice cream and biscuit if you can't tell.

"Omygosh, the biscuit looks so delicious!" was what a certain friend of mine said when I was buying it and so I bought it.

Anyway, the chain is actually black, I buy all the metal things in black when I can! The chain itself is 60 cm long but it has an extension which adds a nifty 7 cm to it! It's for you to hook the lobster claw onto actually. So the total length of this necklace is actually about 68 cm (the lobster claw is actually 1 cm long)!

Seeing that I didn't sell the last two necklaces, I am selling this one. This one is going at $7. The cake, ice cream and biscuit charms are actually not as cheap as I would like them to be. Therefore the price.

Sold to Yuan Wei who was so sweet to buy something for his immersion programme buddy. (:

Available for remake ;)

Comment if interested or if you know me personally, you can talk to me directly ;D Or you can just comment and tell me how pretty this is! I wouldn't mind!

My Heart Will Go On necklace II

noreply@blogger.com (YUN ZHEN!) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 12:29:00 +0000

This is the other pendant I bought! Pretty pretty pretty!

I can't decide which one is nicer :X

But is it not awesomely pretty?

My Heart Will Go On necklace

noreply@blogger.com (YUN ZHEN!) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 11:50:00 +0000

Every night in my dreams
I see you. I feel you.
That is how I know you go on.

Far across the distance
And spaces between us
You have come to show you go on.

Near, far, wherever you are
I believe that the heart does go on
Once more you open the door
And you're here in my heart
And my heart will go on and on

I bought a lovely heart-shaped pendant at Chinatown recently, two actually. They are made of some sort of sandstone, and the other one is a bronzy colour :D

If you're interested, I bought it at 223-225 South Bridge Road, but it's quite hard to navigate Chinatown at all ;D

And when hung on a long chain, it looks lovely by its own. :D :D :D

Love can touch us one time
And last for a lifetime
And never go till we're one

Love was when I loved you
One true time I hold to
In my life we'll always go on

Near, far, wherever you are
I believe that the heart does go on
Once more you open the door
And you're here in my heart
And my heart will go on and on

There is some love that will not go away

You're here, there's nothing I fear,
And I know that my heart will go on
We'll stay forever this way
You are safe in my heart
And my heart will go on and on

The shopkeeper was really nice and amiable and easygoing. There was more than one shopkeeper actually. I believe it's set up by a group of sisters.

It's one of those magical places where you can spend hours in.

I spent half an hour there I think, and I would spend more, if I wasn't in a rush to go home.

I had a hard time deciding whether to buy the pendant or not, but I'm glad I did.

They have a lot of other lovely things too! Besides sandstone heart-shaped pendants.

And, and, and.

I will go back and buy more stuff back and make more beautiful things!

Okay, I'll admit, I just needed text to fill up this space because of a very beautiful song this necklace perfectly encaptures.

Sneak Peak ;)

noreply@blogger.com (YUN ZHEN!) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 07:29:00 +0000

Haven't updated much. Haven't the time to make new stuff, so here's a sneak peek for you, my new experiment! Okay lah, actually I started on this during the holidays but ever since school started, I haven't touched it yet.

Nice bokeh, no?

My ultimate goal for these very shiny stars (okay lah, you can tell they are very shiny stars what!) are earrings! Yay! Although they also totally work as necklaces and other stuff.

I was going to do a bit more this weekend... But I got distracted by... Neopets.

Wish Upon a Star

noreply@blogger.com (YUN ZHEN!) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 12:51:00 +0000

Well, I'm not a fan of Christmas and I don't actually commemorate the New Year. But for the sake of it, here.

I hope you had a Merry Enough Christmas.

And I wish you all the best in the upcoming year :D

---

I hope you never lose sight of your childhood dreams.