Surah Yasin Covers

Alin requested a set of Surah Yasin covers for her khenduri activities. She also requested the color ,...green. An opportunity for me go shopping,...yeah. I came across these 2 beautiful material. Bought myself a meter each, went home and start to work on them and I came out with these.

This first choice of material is velvet piece embroidered with flowy leaves and floral motif. I then decorated it with velvet ribbon with a tassle at the end. This will act as a marking tool, for the pages.

It took quite a while for me to figure out how to do this considering the thickness of the material. Honestly, I would like to avoid unnecessary bumps at the corners and foldings, so I decided to use a thinner material for the lining inside.

This is the second material. Pleasant combination of green and mustard stripes.

I hope I can get some ready for Alin. She need 30 pieces for a khenduri, she planned at the end of January. InsyaAllah.

Ayu

On the last week of December, Alia's friend,... Ayu came for a visit. She was carrying an interesting looking handbag. Caught my attention,... must make one,... but with a Brown Garden twist. After much thought, research and some sketches I came out with this design,.... thus I name it Ayu.

A big spacious bag measuring :
L 18" x H 10 1/2" x W 5"

Ayu can be worn over the arm


or

over the shoulder.


The leather trimmings and hardwares are very interesting and creatively used in the whole ensemble.
It was quite a job but I was happy with the results

I really enjoy the making of Ayu and I want to share it with you.

First I work on some sketches and figure out the best proportion in terms of length, width and height.


After I was satisfy with the proportion, I prepare the paper patterns


















I was still in the mood of patchwork, so I decided to use all my remnants from the previous projects. No rules here, both warm and cold colors are patched together but I am still careful with the balance and distribution of colors.

I prepared the patchwork first. There's 3 different combination of colors.









Here I am tracing the patterns onto the leather.













Cutting was done with a sharp knife, along the traced markings.









All cut leather trimmings are prepared for stitching.
Ends of strap to be skived to avoid lumps and difficulties when sewing.










Straps are stitched with my faithful old machine. (Love it so much)



All required straps edges are stiched.
All together there are 33 straps long and short
The sling strap is the longest - 62" long.

A big piece of leather for the base.














Here I'm inking the raw edges for better finishing.











Preparing the leather trimmings and the hardwares for stitching.









.
Strap holders are riveted in position.

















Straps sewn in position

Both sides of the bag are not the same. It was a bit messy sewing and unpicking, but I had fun. This color combination is for Alia.










Sewing the sides of the bag together.







.







Riveting the side strap in position











There are parts the can not fit on the machine, so these are to be sewn by hand.






Handles strap are done. Here I'm fixing it to the strap holder and buckle.














Ayu bag for Alia. Alia's color combination have a little dash of red.













This Ayu is the warmest,...with lots of red all over













This one is mine. This the first Ayu bag. It has all my favourite swatches.

Here I present all three Ayu that I have completed.
All three are similar but they are not the same.

Thanks Ayu.

Bag and Box

Last week I was away in Kampung Sri Batu, K.L. conducting a bag and box making class for Kemas. It was really an experience. The workshop is fully equipped with sewing necessities and this make my job easier and fun.
Altogether there are 14 students, and they are teachers themselves in their respective craft skill. With their knowledge in sewing, I managed to get them finish their project in the time given.

Here the ladies are preparing the material for the bags. I provided upholstery canvas for the bag and polyester-cotton heavy drill for the lining. I taught them pattern making and cutting, hopefully they can use it to create their design.

Sewing the pieces together.

I let them experiment with the tools to get the ideal result. The bags are halve-way done. At this point everybody was eager to see the finish product.

I let them trace and cut their own leather trimmings. This way, they experienced working with leather. Sewing here are done by hand, the machine did not produce nice stitching. Adjustments need to be done to the machine in order to sew leather.

Here the ladies are standing proud by their bags. All 14 totes are finished on time. I was extremely happy and captivated with the outcome.

The 3rd day was box making day. I taught them to measure, cut, constuct and clad. The process was quite messy and we were running out of time. All the ladies manage to finish their boxes but they still need to practice the process again in order to get the best result.



A contented teacher with her delightful students.

Draw-string

Finally!! I got it done.

This my new handbag, to replace Fav that I have been carrying everywhere.
Draw-string is one design that I've been wanting to do. Very happy with this one but little adjustments to be made.

Here, I used beige leather for the base, side strap, shoulder strap,draw-string and binding.


I'm not to excited with the color and Jasmine said it look sad and dull. Well,...... this my prototype, with new adjustments and fantastic material (already in mind) I'm sure it's going to be good.

Many draw-string design that I can imagine, but I'll stick with this one for a while. I'll just play with colors and proportion.


Bag is 17" L x 12" H x 5" W.
Quite spacious.
Shoulder strap drop 11".