Wednesday, February 20, 2013

V-Day Giveaway project



Whether you know it or not, this flying squirrel has organized two giveaways since it squeaked her first hello to the world and she is wishing more to come. People would wonder why. Most probably, the squirrel is constantly curious to check if there is a *real* world behind the LCD, otherwise she is hoping to spread the love of sewing to the cyber space. Anyway, both the last two giveaways happened in February. So the squirrel thought that the next one has to happen in February again. No wonder that she thought, because it's easier for her tiny brain to remember when to do. What I suggested to this creature was that she could throw a giveaway on Valentine's Day so that only few people would notice its meaningless reason.

And yet, nothing has happened. It is almost a week after Valentine's Day today. Has she announced anything yet? Neh.
The squirrel seems to have deserted but I don't find her anywhere. She ran away without writing!

I am sorry. I'm writing this for a Valentine's Day giveaway on behalf of that irresponsible blogging creature. I hope you don't mind, thought it is obviously too belated for decent people. I hope you don't mind. I hope you don't mind. I can repeat it until you fall fast asleep.

click to enlarge

The prize of this small giveaway is a small sewing gadget. It is a magnetic pin carrying case which is very useful both indoor and outdoor. There are a few of this type of needle carriers, but as far as I know, this is the best with the right size, shape, needle visibility and magnetic power for the purpose. Naomi recommended this one at the workshop and I agree with her completely. It is very handy not only when attending sewing classes but also when keeping expensive/special needles intact in the drawer. If you are one of those who think that magnetic pin caddies are awfully useful, you would agree with me that this small case has much potential. I love it.


***please read***
If there is anyone who is interested in winning the prize, please leave your comment below. I am going to close the comment box at noon on 27th(JST=UTC+9) February (Wed) and will pick one winner by random drawing if there are more than one comment on this post. Anybody in any area on our planet can be involved in the draw. Please do not forget to fill in your e-mail address (which will not be disclosed to the public), because those comments without any valid e-mail address will not be included in the draw. Note that I will not accept those comments from squirrels/mice either.
***

Happy sewing to you all!


Much love,
yosxoxo



P.S. I've changed an expression in this post to avoid misunderstanding. I wish that no one felt too uncomfortable with my writing.





 
 ======================
27th February 2013
Thank you all for the comments on the giveaway post!
I'm happy to announce that the random generator chose 6 among the numbers from 1 to 36, and therefore the winner is Sofie who left 6th comment on the post. Congratulations, Sofie!
Thank you every one of you for visiting my blog, I wish you a wonderful day.

Love,
yoshimi
 ======================

Monday, February 11, 2013

Clam Shell Accessories Case



 Chigu (you might remember her because of this post) has a lot of fashionable rings and she's wearing them beautifully every time I see her. I made a Clam Shell Accessories Case for her as a surprise gift. It is a small container which is made of plastic plates covered with pretty silk fabrics with quilt padding inside. I used a ready-to-go kit (links are at the end of this post), and it was a happy quick project which took only half a day to finish.

 The thing is, when I'm out with her, I often witness that she is stunned, pauses, turns, and then rushes back for looking for her rings that she must have left in the powder room. Or in the airplane. Or anywhere on her path. Most people don't want to wet their costume rings and would take them off when washing hands, do they. Very fortunately, we never saw her actually losing her rings, so far, but I think we have to say that we've been just lucky. I made this thing because she once said that it wouldn't be happening if she had a small accessory case, which is enough easy to manipulate with simple actions, in the bag to keep her rings only while those rings are off duty in the powder room. I utterly agreed with her about the safety device. We can't trust pockets on keeping jewellery because they are the most similar term to black holes, according to my dictionaries.


Thus it was, I made it for her and her rings. I hope it serves her as a small and portable safe box for awhile.


love,
yoshimi


Chigu promptly sent me a photo of the gift with her rings.
She's making me smile!



 =====
Pattern: Clover Clam Shell Accessories Case, size Small
Tutorial video for Clam Shell Accessories Case
Fabric: sky blue silk Shantung with embroidery (baby blue another silk Shantung for interior), quilting padding sheet, and chain strap

*I sent her a self-winding reel key chain along with the case so that she can anchor it to the bag with a huge flexibility.
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Monday, February 4, 2013

soft placket cardigan


It's been long since the last post.

The other day, I thought that I had to stop moaning. Moaning here about my strange fabrics and agonizing sewing in the way I usually did in the past. So, I decided to wait for something fun happening to me. If I could find topics that was fun to talk as well as fun to read, I didn't have to laugh at myself in public any more. As I am not interested in being useful, it seemed the only way to survive in this world improve my blog some months ago.

And then?

After some period, I found that my humble and positive motivation about better blog posts simply ruined my blog life, instead of giving lovely results. The more I tried to find something purely fun, the more I found I had nothing to say.

What is more, as time went by, I even forgot how to start a casual blog post. Is the first line supposed to be "Hello dear,"? Or is it "Oh dear,"? I don't remember anything. Devastating.

...

Okay.

So.


I refashioned a sweater and made it into a cardigan.
(Let's pretend to forget the fact I don't know how to start like honest people, shall we?)

I had one retailed simple bottleneck sweater for some years.
It had nice color, and nice texture too.
The thing is, I never got which side was front to be. In other words, no matter which side I tired, it looked awkward as if it was put back as front. More confusingly, it had care labels on both sides, one on each side. As if the manufacturer wanted to block anybody from knowing the rightous right side seam.

Besides, I loved the fabric. Actually, because I was too bewitched by the fabric, I wore it quite often with feeling depressed by the shape. I almost concluded that I was not sober when I bought it. Until some days ago.

Ahhh!

This Ahhh! instantly reminded me why this sweater was two sizes too large.

Yoshimi, you purchased it from John Smedley two or three years ago, because it was heavily discounted at the clearance sale. And you got it for the next winter. With the exact purpose for r e f a s h i o n i n g. Why do you put it on and moan about the shape?


"Better late than never,"
my slow neuronal system transplanted from squid whispered.
I should agree.


Hope you're having a good time!
yoshimixoxo


=====
soft placket cardigan
Refashioned, by using the pattern "lady's basic T-shirt from pumila paper patterns.
An old and over-sized pullover was totally disassembled and cut for a new cardigan.  A set of plackets was adopted in contrasting ecru wool jersey without interfacing with raw edges. Inspired by a cardigan dress from CARVEN that had similar plackets.
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P.S. Thank you, Carolyn and d.s.storey, for sending me lovely blog awards, it was very kind of you! I promise I'll prepare a post for them when I am ready. To d.s.storey, could it be possible for you to give a link to your blog post, please? I'd be happy if I can visit it and know what I am supposed to do for the award. Thank you again!