Tutorial: Multipurpose Pouch

I have received quite a number of enquiries and orders for this multipurpose pouch which I have done for the craft fair. I thought some of you might be interested in the making of it.. so I gathered some photos I took while making it and compiled it into a.. tutorial.. actually I would not want to call it a tutorial because I feel that it is not very well documented. Nevertheless it shows the process of making and it is not very difficult, so hopefully by looking at the photos you will get the idea how it can be done and maybe can try sewing one by yourself :)

So this is it, the finished product. The sewing pattern is inspired by a stationery pouch by Xiao Bai, a super talented handmade artist from Taiwan, she's my idol in sewing pouches!

First of course you pick the fabrics that you like and will go well with each other.

Then, cut the fabric! The white colour stuff is called.. stabilizer/fleece/interfacing.. I am still not very sure about the name >.< but anyway it is super important and I use it in all my handmade projects. It comes in different thickness and one adhesive side which can be ironed on to your fabric. This wonderful product will raise the finished quality level of your work to look very crisp and professional. Can be found in Spotlight!

Here are the measurements for different components inside the pouch. For the smaller cuts of fabrics you can just cut the fleece same size as the fabric. For the card holder we actually need 3 pieces of fabrics and 2 pieces of fleece, all of the same size. 

Pen/pencil holder, you do not need a fleece for this because you will need to sew them into folds later and it will be very difficult to work with if the whole thing is too thick.

 Iron the fleece onto the fabric. Immediately the fabric will look very smooth and crisp.

 Other things you might need to add in the details in the finishing product..

 Fix the button and you can leave this outer fabric aside first.

Making the middle pocket. On the left is the cover, right side is the bottom pocket. The cover will protect the things from dropping out from the pocket in case you hold the pouch upside down.

 Finished piece of card holder.

Finished piece of pen holder. Basically for all these small pockets you just need to sew 3/4 round of it and turn it inside out.

Fix everything in place and place the outer fabric on top (wrong side facing you) then sew around it. I will usually sew 1cm away from the edge of the fabric. Leave a small opening and turn the whole piece inside out. Later you can use mattress stitch to close the opening.. and.. it's done!

I love making this because it only requires very basic sewing techniques. You just need to cut to the right size and place everything at the right position. I hope this can give you the idea of how the pouch is being made and perhaps inspire some of you to try sewing it yourself :) I know my instructions given here are not very clear, because I did not intend to do a tutorial on this while I was documenting the process. If you have any questions can email me and let me know :)

Happy Submission Day in School

I think one of the coolest thing to be in a design school is that you really get to know a lot of cool and talented people. You get inspired by people around you all the time and everything in life seems so interesting!

Yesterday was our submission day for pattern design class.. it was the first time I get to see my print being printed in such a.. erm.. long dimension.. lol.. it was a very happy submission day because seeing your own works getting printed in large scale and hang in school lobby is a huge satisfaction to everyone of us :) Good Job everyone!

 Laying out all the prints.

My fav pattern design among all, by Mary Bernadette I really love her illustration style to the max!

 Haha, this is my design.. titled Aviary.. I'm really happy with the colours ^^

 By our vis comm senior Yang Ge, love the illustration and texture!

 Professor Ina looks pleased :)

 Help in setting up!

Lastly, a shot of me admiring my own print.. haha!

Have a nice weekend!

Helloooooooooo!

I am finally back! Ok, actually I didn't go anywhere but just extremely busy with almost everything.. and OMG what happened to February???? It is over even before I notice it!! I guess it's a good thing to be busy but I really really wish time could slow down a bit for me.. It's quite ironic isn't it? We want time to slow down but we also want to be happy, but we know that time pass by really quickly when you are happy.. so.. (I do not have a conclusion here..)

Anyway.. I have gotten a new sewing machine for Vday! Definitely an upgrade from my humble Brother which I bought on impulse 5 years ago. This time round it's picked exactly according to what I really need and I am sooooo happy with its performance!!

 A good sewing machine can really save a lot of time and enhance productivity. If you are serious about sewing, this is a good investment!

So many awesome footings for specific sewing jobs.. seriously.. I didn't know the existence of more than half of them and the uncle who taught me how to use this machine was kind of surprised that I did a lot of sewing work by just 1 footing (I didn't even know there's footing for sewing zips! and it was such a headache to sew using the normal footing :/) and some even by hand.. that's why it is normal for me to sew something for 5-6 hours :x

I am getting addicted to the sound of this sewing machine.. lol.

However.. I am actually more addicted to knitting recently. Ever since I received my knitting kit from Mochimochi Land I can't stop knitting those tiny mochimochis.. it's highly addictive and now my mum is the latest addict.. lol.. don't try if you do not have time.. coz it will get you hooked..

It all started after I packed my room and saw the amount of yarn I have.. pretty colours ^^ and my awesome friend borrowed the Mochimochi knitting books which you will be able to find in NLB, I have been knitting for the past 3 days..

If you are interested in knitting these I would suggest buying the kit from Mochimochi Land, so that you do not need to make extra trips to find the right yarn and it is so hard to get the right yarn in Singapore :(

Oh well, time to focus on school work!

THANK YOU!!!!!!

Finally have the time to have a short write up about the awesome craft fair organized by the Handmade Movement Singapore. It was really really awesome!!!!!! No doubt at first we were all quite demoralized by the heavy rain and I kept checking my phone on the weather report.. it says the rain will not stop the whole day and there's even thunderstorm in the afternoon :/ However, the worries were all gone when we reached fort canning. Everyone was busy putting up things, setting up the venue nicely to ensure the event will still be as good as it promised! Sure enough.. the rain did not become a big problem, instead it added more colors to the event!

Frankly speaking, this is our first time attending a craft fair AS A VENDOR, not sure what to expect but just hope to bring out our best and hopefully people can remember us :) and indeed, everyone was very warm and friendly. I made friends with other vendors, exchange name cards, share experience... talk to the customers.. even the simple gesture of someone taking away my name card makes me smile.. these are all something very very precious to me and I will never forget the experience and continue to work hard to bring out even more special handmades :)

Here are some photos at our booth.. booth 22~ so lucky.. 22 is my favourite number.. haha ^^

 If you still want some lovely macarons, support Yiling at
 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ohhellosummer/136416379851710?fref=ts

A big big THANK YOU from Yiling and I to all those who came down and supported us.. this is a lovely experience we all shared and hope there will be more to come in the future :)

THANK YOU!!

Help someone a day, and you will be happier and happier all the way ^^

Handmade Movement is operated as a non-profit initiative. They are non-profit because they believe that crafting should be about more than just making money (although money is still an important consideration in supporting small indie businesses). Above all, crafting is about passion, love and community.

Like most things however, putting Handmade Movement together requires a rather hefty sum of money which the organizers (Aisah and Michelle) do not have on their own. Handmade Movement is currently 30% funded by Noise Singapore, but still have a way to go before they are able to comfortably cover all costs and have enough to roll over to fund the next fair after 19 January 2013.

This is a community project, and so you, our community, is needed, to help to make this a reality, the way it should be. 

I am really very touched by the amount of time and effort the organizers are putting in to make this possible. This is a very very meaningful event to all the craft lovers in Singapore! I hope if you can, if you love craft, if you support us and like what we do, please help a little :) Because it is the support of you makes us feel more worthwhile to continue what we like to do!

TO FIND OUT MORE OR DONATE GO TO: http://indiegogo.com/hmsg

Even if you can’t make a monetary contribution, do share our campaign with anyone and everyone you know.

Your help is greatly appreciated! Have a nice day ^^

December

December is my school holiday.. my original plan was to finish making all the items which friends have ordered from me.. but but but.. I didn't expect to travel so much >.< as a result.. I.. did not really make anything up to now :(.. another main reason is that I do not have a sewing machine with me.. so I have been trying to learn some knitting from my mum and grandma.. and Gosh!!! Knitting is so much more difficult than sewing (to me).. I cannot understand it >.< but I will still try to learn..

This is what I have been trying to do.. if you have a lot of time and you dunno what to do.. learning knitting! This would take me 3 days to make -.- and I've also made a lot of knitted hearts as free gifts for the Handmade Movement Singapore at my booth.. heehee ^^

If you are interested to learn how to make this cup cozy.. I found the pattern for this at
http://www.simplynotable.com/2011/pick-a-pocket-cozies/
I personally did not follow the pattern (because I dunno how to read knitting patterns -.-) so I just show my mum the design and she automatically knows how to make it.. anyway this is a brilliant design for a tea person like me.. the small pocket is really useful. I always bring a Starbucks tumbler with me to class and my small tea bag always got lost in my huge backpack.. now they can stay happily tgt :) and I no longer need to dig for 15min in my bag trying to find my tea bag >.<

Christmas 2012

Christmas feels much more like Christmas during winter.. this might sound weird to some people because Christmas is always during winter to them. But there's no winter in Singapore so this is the first time I'm spending my Christmas in a very cold place for at least the past 7-10 years.. with all the thick winter wear, gloves, scarf, "smoke" coming out from every breath u make.. haha.. I'm really very excited!!