Sewing for the Super Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan Victims

As a Filipino, each one of us is looking for better ways to help our countrymen, the victims of the recent super typhoon Yolanda / Haiyan. There are those who volunteer to re-pack goods for the relief operations, some give money to buy food, and some also donated their used clothing for the victims. Every little ounce of kindness, every little thing that in a way may help the victims right now is a big help. 

Being a sewing addict, I came up with the idea of taking advantage of what I can do to help by sewing basic clothing for the kids. My initial plan is to buy cheaper fabrics in Tabora St. in Divisoria this weekend to start this up.

Every little help counts :-) If anyone is interested to help me in this project (by donating fabrics/sewing materials, or by helping me sew the clothes), kindly let me know by posting a comment in this post..FYI,  the clothes will be sent to Tacloban.

We, the Filipinos are very grateful for all the help that has been extended for our country.

Maraming salamat po.. 

Cleaning Your Sewing Machine

Learn how to clean your sewing machine to keep it in top shape: 

Fabric Roses

I used  felt fabrics in the  previous versions of DIY roses that I made for mama and for lola both on mother's day.  I realized the same pattern and style that I used for those felt roses can also be used to make roses using other types of fabrics.  

This is a work in progress. I will be using wires for the stem for these fabric roses. Will post the other pictures soon. 

Dress for the birthday girl

My friend's baby turned 1 early this month and I thought it would be amazing to sew a dress as a gift for her birthday. Inspired by the solar dress pattern, I made her this dress:

I used the pink polka-dots fabric that I bought months ago. I adjusted the length of the dress since the pattern I used was for a 2-3 year old toddler. I added a white bias tape at the bottom part as well as a fabric lace on the top part.

Sorry about the messy background, I was too excited to take a picture of the dress.. lol!

Understanding Sewing Patterns

If you're serious about learning how to sew, and then maybe trying to sew your own clothes is one of your goals.

When I started out learning how to sew, I just looked for free patterns online and just trace it on my fabric without fully understanding what those markings and information on the pattern mean. It is very important to understand the basics of sewing pattern and to help you on that, here's a video tutorial on understanding sewing patterns from FashionSewingBlogTV.

Tutorial: Choosing Fabrics

One of the very first things to do when you decide to pursue a hobby in sewing is buying some fabrics to work on. Deciding which type of fabric to buy is very difficult especially for beginners. To help you on that, here's a video tutorial on choosing fabrics for beginners from FashionSewingBlogTV:

Shopping for a Sewing Machine

I was a bit disappointed lately because I can't resume doing my sewing projects. My pink sewing machine, I think, gave up on me :-(

I looked online where to buy inexpensive but heavy duty sewing machines, and I came across a blog about where to buy sewing machines in Manila. Surplus sewing machines are sold at the New Port Shopping Center in Manila.

How to Get There

Pattern Weight

Cutting fabrics based on a sewing pattern is very challenging for me. To add to that, the process of putting sewing pins, I think, really wastes my time. I was looking for pattern weight ideas and I came across  the tutorial and free pattern from Sachiko. 

Pattern for the pattern weight.The instruction is simply to sew A to B, 

B to C, and C to D. 

Fabric Shopping

Today, I was supposed to sew some cable organizers but I end up going to Divisoria to buy some fabrics.  

I have been to Divisoria several times to buy fabrics for my sewing projects. Unfortunately, I always get disappointed because in the first place I dont know what type of fabric to buy and I really dont know anything about fabrics. So I buy whichever I thought has nice prints in it not knowing that there are specific fabric that is suited for each clothing type. I did my research at http://www.fabric.com. This awesome website has a list of fashion and apparel fabrics and they have short descriptions for each type. After scanning through the list, I prepared my own list of fabric types to look for: 

My list of fabric types

Donut Pin Cushion

I love sweets but I can't have too much of it because of health reasons. A very sweet friend made me this one since I can't eat the real thing:

Donut pin cushion

Pink Neck Pillow

I sew one because I needed one. :P

Yesterday, I had a neck injury while taking a bath. 

I went to the ER to get immediate medical attention since the area on the right side is really very painful. I was given Ibuprofen as pain reliever and muscle relaxant to be taken 3x a day for 3 days. 

Cake Slice

I love sweets, and I made one for my SO for our monthsary  <3

Cake slice made from felt fabric

External Drive Pouch

My sister asked me if I have an extra pouch that she could use for her external drive. I didn't have any. Fortunately, I have extra felt fabric that I could use to make one.

External Drive Pouch

Red Roses for Mama

Here's a sample rosebud

June 7th is my mother's death anniversary. I always make it a point to go home every year at this date to visit her grave.

For this year, I prepared special flowers for her death anniversary. I made her some red roses out of felt fabric.

Mother's Day Flowers

I went to home to celebrate mother's day with my grandmother. Of course, I got her some flowers. 

Here's a sample of the first one I made:

first sample

Iron Man Pouch

My boyfriend loves Iron Man and he loves everything related to Iron Man, so I made him this pouch: 

Iron Man Phone Pouch

Baby Shoes

Toms-inspired baby shoes

I love wearing Toms.. In fact, I got them in 3 colors (gray, brown, and cyan)! 

I was looking for a sewing pattern when I came across a Toms-inspired baby shoes pattern. I made one for my friend's baby. I used the extra fabric from the previous pajama project I made.

This one is for a 6-month to 1-year old baby. I included a hot pink ribbon on it since I made this one for a baby girl.

Pajamas!

I love pajamas.. They're so comfortable and I prefer wearing one during the rainy months. 

I learned sewing because of a school project in which we were required to make a pajama using the sewing machine. The very first one I made was also in blue.

The very first sewing project I made after I bought a new pink sewing machine were some pairs of pajamas. 

My First Sewing Machine

Look what I bought earlier this year?! Tadaaa! A pink sewing machine!

My Passion: Sewing

Since I was a kid, I learned to love sewing (either by hand or by using a machine). I learned how to use a manual sewing machine when I was 11. Actually I was forced to learn how to use it for a school project. I used my grandmother's very reliable singer sewing machine which looks like the image on the left.