Crafterday: The (sweat)shop

On my day off, Peggy brought her sewing machine to my place and we got some work done on the baggets and on the shop. Yes, we have a shop, as those of you on Facebook would have learned by now. But we’ll get to that later.

The first order of business that Pegs wanted to try is making our labels. She devised a method of using reverse-printed then photocopied text to transfer on ribbons with the help of thinner. Since we didn’t have enough, she ended up using my nail polish remover.

After several trials and errors, she concluded that she may need to use plain ribbon next time because the transfer won’t stick to the pattern.

But she managed to get a few labels out before it was time to sew!

Since she had an electric sewing machine that does more than one stitch, I got her to sew the pockets down with a zigzag stitch. We made about five baggets before calling it a day.

Here’s the material we worked with that day. I have to add that we have plenty of material in the design on the far left!

The label says CrafteRafter.blogspot.com but the blog’s not ready yet. Meanwhile, you can join us on our Facebook page.

Note to event organisers

Dear Event Organisers of the government, private, NPO and NGO persuasion,

Thank you for keeping the events at a minimum since the crazy sleepless two weeks that was the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting. I’m glad you realised that the YBs are probably as tired of the endless days and nights of writing and delivering speeches and debates, as we of the press are of listening and cobbling it into something of consumable quality for our readers.

The early days and late nights of the office was part and parcel of our job description and nothing we can complain about in earnest.

So it’s somewhat startling to come to work and realise you actually get to go home that day while there is still daylight. Or realise that you can actually sleep in a little longer or do morning chores that are usually impossible before heading off to your sole function in the afternoon.

It’s nice to be able to chat and go out for drinks with colleagues, or go eat a nice lunch without having to shove everything down your throat quickly and risk indigestion. It’s also nice to finally have time to sort out my claims, or cart the pile of old newspapers out, or whittle the crap I haven’t gotten around to moving off my desk.

In the few occasions when I had to stay back to finish something, it’s also nice to be treated to this view from my office window:

I appreciate little moments that result from things like this, like my colleague agreeing that this view should be documented and opening the window for me while I haul out the camera.

I don’t expect it to last. Eventually everyone will come back from their holidays and people will be organising things again.

But in the meantime, there’s nothing wrong in living for the moment.

Full of love,
Me.

Crafterday: Custom Denim Bagget

I took a custom order for a purse organiser that’s a little manlier for Project Snip-Snip. This actually set the ball rolling for a new name. “Purse organiser” is a mouthful. Functional, but a mouthful. It didn’t occur to me that some men might like it as well. And we also must agree that some girls don’t like crazy ass prints.

I eventually arrived at “Bagget”. I was thinking “baggage” and “pocket” and “small baggage” and trying to combine the three.

I was out of denim but Peggy had leftovers from a previous project which had enough leftovers for several other project, including this one!

It fell just a teeny bit short of my 20″x8″ excluding allowance so I cut a piece off the other end and patch in the missing corner.

The wavy stitching was an after thought. I originally sew it flat but my stitch ran crooked… which made me think why not do it on purpose? After all, I’m using a contrasting thread. I like the result – a decorative detail in one corner.

The denim was thick enough not to need interfacing on the inside, so what I did was press the hems for the outer layer around a template I have specially for this purpose, ironed on the interfacing for the inner layer (recycled t-shirt material) and sew both sides together.

Here’s a look of the wavy stitch detail on the right side and the smooth black t-shirt fabric that will become the lining.

After sewing down both ends, I measured out pockets according to order specification. If I’m making custom orders, you can give me the measurements of up to four items to ensure the best fit for your essentials.

And then I sew it all down. I knotted the ends my hand rather than using the machine. The bigger the thread, the messier it’s gonna look when I “lock” the ends.

And we’re done! Here’s how it looks from the detailed end.

The new owner sent me a photo of how it looks inside his messenger bag.

Indeed the one lesson I learn from this is that the guys also have trouble keeping their things in place. I will look out for more rugged material so I can make neutral-looking baggets available for anyone who doesn’t like flower prints or patterns.

So that’s an extra RM50 in the Snip-snip fund!

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