the seamstress in me

A few weeks back, I got caught up with a hand-sewing project. I’ve had this black and white paisley-ish fabric, which I bought from Daiso in Singapore, and leftover black fabric. I’ve been thinking for sometime already of something that would put them into good use, until one day I was struck with this idea of making my own apron.

Just a bit of background, Daiso is one of my favorite stores in SG. This Japanese store carries anything and everything — tableware, gardening tools, underwear, office and craft supplies, essential oils and oil burners, denture holders, plastic containers of all sizes, fake eyelashes and nail polish. You name it, they most probably have it. The best part is, everything is sold for S$2 each!

What I loved most in Daiso are the cut fabrics. They’re not big pieces of fabrics; they range from about 25 to 90cm. Some are of the gauzy, translucent type (sorry, I’m not good with fabric names), while there are thick ones like denim. Just good enough to make cute little totes, table napkins or small curtains.

Ahh, curtains. That’s what got me started with this whole hand-sewing thing. You see, the room we used to rent in SG had one window. When we moved in, it had some kind of white printed vinyl curtain on it that did little on blocking light from outside. We put up with it because we didn’t want to spend money buying window coverings. And so when I found the cut fabrics in Daiso, I decided to buy a few so I can make curtains. No fancy swags or whatever. I just sewed the top part to make that “hem” where the curtain pole can be inserted, plus edging on the bottom. Then voila! Our window was decked out in super cheap but cute curtains.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, I began scouring the Internet for doable apron designs. After going through many links to find a nice design with detailed instructions, I finally settled with the retro apron style from Crafty Gal. It wasn’t the typical straightforward kind of apron because it required a separate “bib” and pleated “skirt” and a long sash to join them together. Since I didn’t have a sewing machine, I went on to hand-sew everything. Yes folks, I sewed every inch by hand. It took me about a week to finish because I used two fabrics back to back and the joined thickness made it harder to stitch at a faster pace. For some time my thumb and middle finger were calloused.

me in my new apron

a closer look

Here’s one more handmade project that I’m so proud of — the ring pillow we used in our wedding. It’s made of jute fabric, which was also pain to sew because it’s quite thick. Anyway, it turned out pretty and it was one of my little personalized touches to our special day. (In case you’re wondering where the rings were supposed to go, the plan was to tie the rings on a ribbon around the flowers. But our ring bearer was our then one-year old godson, so for safety, the rings were brought and kept by our best man. Our cute ring bearer still marched with the pillow in tow.)

our handmade ring pillow

Thinking back, I was already pretty good with sewing and crafty activities when I was younger. In 4th grade we had a dog stuffed toy project for home economics class. Mine turned out to be a cute puppy, whereas some classmates had a cross between a rabbit and a log with ears and feet. Hehehe. I also did well in crocheting in high school. I’d like to think that someday, I’ll be that mom who would make her kids costumes for school or Halloween. Or maybe just curtains or pillowcases for their room. But I guess the wisest thing for now is to buy myself a sewing machine!

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