finished & published! -burdastyle book-

a couple days ago I received an exciting package in the mail.

it was from Burdastyle.

there enclosed my coat & the newly published book.

so happy and excited to see the finished product!!!

 here are a few of my favorites from the book that other book contributors made.

 blouse alternation by Novita.

 dress variations from Jen and Natasha.

 kids size from Oliver + S.

bag alternation by Layla.

 and,,, here is my coat!

 I was also a bit sad that for the most of the members' creations,

there was no detailed photos or write-ups...

I'm sure they(we) spent a lot of time and did a great hard work.

so, seeing only a tiny photo in the book was a bit, errrr, disappointing.
(well, "unfortunate" might be more of an appropriate word! actually) 

at the same time, I know if they were to talk about every single person's work, 

the book would have been five times thicker, if not more.

 so, that is understandable... 

anyhow, here are a couple more photos of my coat!

sadly enough, it is not going to fit me this winter

after having had to wait for a year and a half to get my coat back...

my huge belly is peeking out and saying hello to the world out there :I

hehe

it will be awesome if other members also post more photos of their own version,

and how-to on making the variation!

lil baby sling

a few weeks ago, I purchased this book from Oliver + S.

 it was a little gift to myself for,,, erm,,, nothing!

i like treating myself, sometime too much :I

but when I took it to my hand at Powell's,

I decided I HAD TO have it.

it is full of cute little things you can make for your little one,

which are also great gifts!

yes, I had to have it!

the very first thing I wanted to make my daughter was this bear carrier.

 since she had been playing with her big carrier so much lately

(in addition to her current obsession -breast feeding her bears),

I though it would be sweet to make one in 'her size'.

 fabric used is all scrap from my stash.

it was a quick over-night project,

and she was already playing with it next morning!

I am sure you'll be a great mama!

little Miss's second halloween

Halloween is here!

every store front and many houses are decorated with scary things and spider webs.

wow, it's that time of the year again!!

this year, I couldn't get much creative on little Miss's costume...

I was debating between a little lamb or Little My.

I grew up in Japan, and there was a kids TV series called, The Moomins.

I remember watching it as a kid.

it is a comic/illustrated story from Sweden/Finland,

and it's about these hippo-like trolls, called Moomins.   

 

(pic)

Little My is one of the characters in the Moomins.

(pic)

she has a bad temper, but is determined and quite loyal.

I thought it would be cute if my little one and myself got dress up as her together,

but wondered if anyone over here knew who she was...

so, this year I whipped up a little lamb costume!

the patterns were based on a bonnet and playsuit in this book I got from Powell's Books(a must-go-store when you come to PDX!)

I even made her a pair of leggings as well!

(sorry, no photo of them :I)

she looks cute in it and I even manage to get some picture with our goats!

but I still can let the Little My idea...

hmmm,,, maybe next year!

kids clothes inspiration

I have these books checked out from my friend Tiffany's craft/sewing library.

above all, this one is my favorite!

Carefree Clothes for Girls by Junko Okawa

the dresses in the book are absolutely adorable 

and I love the nostalgic styling!

oh how much I love the Japanese kids clothes books!

and I wish I could be in those dresses!!

all the pattern are in size 4~7, which my daughter has still a few more years to grow into.

but I may copy some/all patterns anyway, so I have them for later.

another great thing about this book is it is all in English.

so if you're Japanese sewing book lover, but intimidated by Japanese sewing instructions,

this might be a good one to start with :)

(not to mention that most of Japanese sewing instructions come with some diagrams and easy to figure out!)

burdastyle book -shipped- & sewing wishlist

I just went to a FedEx office, and dropped off my coat for the BurdaStyle book project.

it's finally done and over!  yay :)!!

it got really hot here a few days right before the deadline, 

and I was so not feeling sewing a winter coat in the heat!

also I decided to give bounded button wholes a try in a last minute,

so I had to take a couple seams a part.

well, I had to do it, and I DID it!!

I find it still hard having a deadline and keeping my motivation up for it.

all the same as when I was a student.

anyhow, now fun time for sewing starts!

here is a list of the few things I want to make.

1) scalloped/or not shorts 

(image via Vivat Veritas)

maybe use Tonia or the shorts pattern from BurdaStyle Magazine as a base.

these shorts Natty made look awesome too!

2) tie skirt

from BurdaStyle Magazine

3) airy blouses

I LOVE this peasant blouse!

and oh look!

this version of Alexander blouse posted today on BurdaStyle.

woooo  LOVE!

Alden looks fabulous in it too :)

well actually before I give it a go on another project,

I probably should organize my sewing room(aka closet) first.

since I started on the coat as soon as we moved in to the house,

my sewing space is still such a mess!!

burdastyle book -work in progress-

a little sneak preview of what I am working on for the Burdastyle book project.

these are the fabric I am using for the coat.

I did not get what I was imagining for my variation,

which was really disappointing and frustrating...

but it seems like a lot of the people who are participating in the project didn't get what they wanted to use for their projects either...

and I'm sure those kinds of compromises are expected and needed for a project like this.

now, I'm over it, and feel better about what I got.

I worked on the pattern modification and muslin a little bit.

even though I probably should work with muslin first before starting with any kind of project,

I never have.

but for this project, I was a little too scared to just give it a go and start cutting/sewing the fabric,

and I am little more careful...

although this hot weather is not really helping my motivation to be up for the winter clothes sewing,

I will be starting on the actual fabric soon as there is only half of the time left!

work, work, work!!

life in transition + little announcement

my life is still somewhat crazy and unsettled.

well, not there just yet.

we moved into a new place two weekends ago,

and had been painting the room and bathroom for the entire first week!

the walls and sealing were cracking and peeling, which was original old paint.

took us a while to get ready to paint and actual painting part was an experience,too,

because we used all natural/non-toxic paint, called lime paint.

anyhow, it's all done and finally we moved our stuff to the room,

and slept on our own bed first time for the past THREE months!

{{crazy}}

still need some organizing and more furnitures(which my husband will be making soon, I hope!),

but it feels really good, and relieved to settling in!

I have to introduce this unique household/members to you guys,

but I will save it for another post for sometime this week ;)

before I say goodbye for the day, I have a little but exciting announcement to make!

many of you who are also a member of Burdastyle community might already know about this book project.

I am super excited about the book and to be a part of it!

there will be 60 different artists/seamstresses/designers making a variation of the five different patterns(blouse, skirt, dress, coat, and accessory) that are included in the book.

I will be making a coat!

is any of you also participating?? what are you going to make??

would love to know who is participating!

OLIVIA the pig

we checked out this book yesterday from a local library,

and I just can't get over how cute OLIVIA is!

now I am thinking of ordering some of the books for little L :)

animal house

do you like animals?

do you like wallpapers?

if you do, this is a very fun book to own!

Animal House by Kathrene Ledner

well, even if you don't, just take a look.

they are so darn cute!!

it's well worth checking out!!!

here are some of my favourites from the book.

actually, all of them are pretty AWESOME :)

I love wallpapers!

if I ever own a place,

(and if I had lots of money)

some rooms will be wallpapered, for sure :)

Burda Mode Magazine 07/2009

I had been really excited about this news for ages!

I got an offer to be featured in Burda Mode Magazine two or so months ago.
so, I sent an e-mail back with original photos and such.

I almost forgot about it until recently.
and, I got a bit nervous because I had not heard from them since then.
I thought it might have been a scam!

I guess it takes a while editing to publish things.
well, I knew that,,,
but couldn't stop thinking of bad scenarios.


anyhow, it was all real!
and I received an e-mail with the PDF file of where I was featured :)

of course, it is all in German,
which I don't even understand a single word... :(
so, I went online and used a free translator thing.
but it didn't quite make sense...

does anyone out there understand German?
and could you please translate it for me :)??

japan finds

I am back home from our trip to Japan.

It took me a while to recover from jetlag, and it was especially hard with a baby...

She kept waking up so many times in the middle of a night,

and sometimes she was up for a few hours...
Now she is pretty much back on her normal schedule,

and I am trying to get back on sewing and crafting!

There were so many neat cute stuff in Japan.

I wanted to bring back a lot of stuff, but my small laggage had reached its max.

These are a few things I brought back home with me.

Cute Stamp Set

I love these!

I already used them when I wrote to my firends.

Masking Tapes

Cute masking tapes were 'in' in Japan.

I found them pretty much everywhere I went.

I bought a few to use them for decolating gifts.

naniIRO Fabric

I went to a fabric store.

I had no intention to buy any fabric there.

Well, more like I had to try not to buy any fabric

because there was little room in my laggage for anything.

But, I needed this fabric!

This is one of naniIRO collections.

I am thinking to make myself a summer dress :)

Sewing Magazine

Found this in a book store.

There are so many cute clothes in the magazine.

I have to make some things with the patterns.