Blog: 2016

Hey… that’s not a sewing project!

This wool is for the Outfit-Along which I’ve impulsively decided to take part in. If you’ve not heard of it, this event runs for the months of June and July, and to take part you have to knit one garment and sew one garment to make up a whole outfit. I’m going to be making the official OAL patterns - the Zinone knitted lace top and the Hollyburn skirt - but you don’t have to go with those as long as you make a whole outfit.

I haven’t knitted anything proper in about a year - the last serious knitting project I made was a baby blanket for my niece last June. I’ve been musing about picking up my knitting needles again as I don’t want to lose the skill, so when the OAL popped up on my blog feed the other day, the timing was perfect. Plus, I already mentioned that I have another Hollyburn skirt on my sewing plans. There was no way I couldn’t sign up!

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It’s the bear-bear Renfrew! My cosy new t-shirt with bears on!

This was so much fun to make! Especially after making my fern print Mimi which took forever and involved fabric that didn’t behave. This t-shirt was planned as my first foray into working with knits, but completely by accident (because I wasn’t pay attention), the fern Mimi took that crown. This t-shirt was an absolute breeze compared to that. The fabric is a fairly thick jersey - almost maybe sweatshirt material - and it did exactly what I told it to. Heavenly! And it took hardly any time at all to make, which I really appreciated as I had to go to work on the weekend I made it so I didn’t have many spare hours.

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I know, know - I said a couple of posts ago that my Tilly spree was over as I had ordered some new patterns. But I’d forgotten for how long it takes for post to get to me here in Singapore. And while I was waiting I wasn’t very well going to sew nothing, was I?

After my first Mimi blouse came out stiffer than I’d hoped, I wanted to try it out in a fabric with good drape. So I picked up this cute rayon with a monochrome fern print. I love wearing rayon - it performs well in a humid climate like Singapore because it is breathable, and yet doesn’t crease with wear like other breathable fabrics such as linen or cotton. From a wardrobe perspective, rayon’s a real winner.

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I went fabric shopping today, and bought a silly amount of fabric.

It was brilliant.

This is my first serious fabric “haul” - and I sure hope there are many more to come, because this was exhilarating! It was also exhausting. Fabric is so heavy. Who knew fabric was so heavy?

I think I’ve mentioned the fabric market at People’s Park Food Centre before. It’s a shopping centre down in Chinatown. The ground floor is a hawker centre (an open-air food court) which is ideal for a quick lunch to get your energy up before you start on your circuit of the fabric shops on the first floor. And you’d better make sure you’ve got energy, because there are many, many fabric shops. And there’s so much variety! And it’s so affordable! When we one day move away from Singapore, I think this will be one of the places I miss the most. I’ll have to take some pictures next time I’m down there - I’ll have to be sneaky though, as a lot of them don’t allow photography.

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Yet another Tilly and the Buttons piece… I made this Bettine dress! With chilli print fabric! Because spicy food is my favourite food!

Making this dress felt a lot like cheating. It has extremely simple construction as it is targeted at absolute beginners. I think I’m in the “advanced beginner” camp by now, so this was a doddle to put together! I made the version without pockets (not a fan of how they look) and omitted the cuff tab, which meant I was left with very few pattern pieces and very few seams. And no darts! It was a very quick make, to the point that it seems like I barely did anything to the fabric for it to turn into a dress.

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My palm print Megan dress is finished!

The fabric is by Sevenberry and I’m in love with it. It’s light, but has some structure. It holds a crease when you want it to, but doesn’t crease through wear. It’s great!

I really like this dress. I put most of it together very quickly without much thought, which was rewarding after how long my first Megan took me. But when I was about to put the sleeves on my husband commented that it actually looked really good without sleeves. So I thought I’d have a go at making bias tape and using it as a facing. It took me a whole day to figure it out, but I got there in the end - one new dress, two new skills. And he was right! The Megan is brilliant without sleeves.

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Look, it’s my first blouse! I made the Mimi blouse from Love at First Stitch.

I made no alterations to this one as I made it immediately after making my alteration-ridden Megan dress (the one with the six bodice muslins) and I just wanted to get my teeth stuck straight into the sewing. I think the finished piece fits me alright - but then it’s a loose fitting garment with no darts or anything, so there wasn’t much risk there.

I bought the fabric at the People’s Park Food Centre in Chinatown, which is amazing by the way. Fabric stores as far as the eye can see - and cheap too!

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Firstly, a brief announcement: my blog has a new name! Cotton on Cotton is now Cotton Noodle. I changed it because wanted something that wasn’t so close to the name of an established brand. Picking a name is hard, and it’s even harder the second time around as you have something to compare it to. The new name quietly alludes to the fact that the blog was born in Singapore. Or maybe I was just hungry.

Anyway, back on topic… Here’s my work-in-progress:

After putting all that effort into fitting the Megan pattern, I’ve kicked off another version. This fabric is a Sevenberry cotton that I managed to find in the chaos of Singapore’s Mustafa Centre. I like that the palm print is quite busy, while the monochrome stops it from being loud. This is going to be another work dress so I want it to be relatively subdued.

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