Fully-lined zipped makeup bag, spare tights or pencil case

Getting all professional now. This is the last project for today I swear. So this is a brush case or makeup case made from remnant. 

Also perfect size for spare tights.

For commuting you cannot have a deep makeup bag - it’s v irritating because everything falls to the bottom. Therefore you need a long shallow one to find things easily. Washable. Light. Took about two hours because the zip is a bugger and I had to rip it out twice due to inaccuracy and crudeness. My fault. This case also can be for carrying spare pair of tights, perfect size for it. For when you get a ladder or need a quick change or if there’s an event and you need smartening up. 

#fixingshit #dressmaking #imakemyownclothes #sewing #sewcialists #customized #customizacao #DIY #homemade #vintage #sundayvibes #weekendproject #fashtag #wiwt #whatsinmybag #makeup #makeupjunkie #wakeupandmakeup #blendthatshit #makeupartist

How to Replace Broken Buckle on Leather Belt

Finished view of belt.

Next dastardly mini task. This is a vintage belt with fine leather marquetry in scallop shape navy and white c. Late 1960s or early 1970s anybody? 

As you can see it is missing a buckle because it has rusted or disintegrated away or whatever. Reason for fixing this belt is that it’s leather and handmade in the first place. If I start unpicking old plastic/vinyl, it will just crack. 

You are probably thinking to yourself, why don't I just throw it away. I can't just throw it away because we are already living in a throw away culture, and I was brought up to always fix or repair or mend something at least once. If it cannot be mended then you have to throw it away.

1/ The first step is to unpick the entire area concerned to open up the buckle holding capsule.

2/ Buy a belt buckle that fits with the width of the belt. Yes you might actually have to spend money. But it won't be the cost of a new leather belt. I promise you this.

3/ Sew it on using the original holes to make it easier and not to impale yourself.

4/ Glue and clamp to make the new joint flat.

5/ Wa-lah! All done. 

1960s empire line Jackie Onassis Audrey Hepburn Wedding Dress

“It was 20 years ago today...” I wore my homemade wedding dress to London’s Westminster registry office. Hey yes thanks for asking, I did do my own makeup, of course! I was always mad about makeup. This 1960s Jackie Onassis Audrey Hepburn style dress took me 40 hours or so I wrote in my time sheet as I was so meticulous and thorough (THEN). The neckline was completely hand-embroidered with beads bought in #JohorBahru my home town with my mum. The fabric is ivory duchess satin and the polyester lining were from Singapore’s Chinatown. It is of course fully-lined, including the sleeves and to the full length of the hem, none of this cheating stuff. The most fun was handmaking the pretty bow which is perfectly shaped. I was size 12 then and I’m size 6 now, see photo of the back being clipped/clamped. How things have changed, right? #whatwouldguccido?#fixingshit #dressmaking #imakemyownclothes #sewing #sewcialists #customized #customizacao #DIY #homemade #vintage #sundayvibes#weekendproject #weddingdress #1960s #jackieonassis #fashtag #wiwt #whatimwearing

Vintage 1960s style FRANCOISE Dress with French Darts

After about 600 years I finally finished making this #Francoise #dress from #Ikea curtain fabric. So called because of the #French #darts. Oui. Not the championships but one continuous dart from hip to bust each side. 

#whatwouldguccido? #fixingshit #dressmaking #imakemyownclothes #sewing #sewcialists #customized #customizacao #DIY #homemade #vintage #sundayvibes #weekendproject #francoisedress #peterpancollar #fashtag

My First Pair of Ballet Shoes

Every now and then I am so thankful that my mother was one of those mums who never threw anything away. Sometimes I am amazed with the things that she comes up with, like this pair of ballet shoes. It is all I have left of my ballethood as a child. I only did it for a term. After that we had to call it quits as my parents said it was too expensive, with the uniforms and the shows and so on. They said they were already paying for my piano lessons and I showed no aptitude at dance. I was really crushed and I still remember that day, that very last day when I did ballet. They are soft leather both inside and out and in a very pale pink. There was a pair of ribbons per shoe and we learned how to tie them properly.

Heartbroken, I hung on to the shoes which my mother also did, as a souvenir of that time. I remember weeping into them. 41 years passed. When you are born and raised in an ugly, post-industrial working-class mess of a city called Johor Bahru, (which is like saying you are from Hull) there is a certain hopelessness and ennui in realising any whim, fancy or artistic dreams or to enjoy a culture of sophistication. At least there was one school of ballet and a public library at the time, which gave me a glimpse of that other world, the one that I should be in.

However, today as an adult, fortunately I have the benefit of hindsight which is that I am super-proud, excited and happy to have grown up in a city of such vileness because I now realise I have escaped. Johor Bahru made me who I am, it is my identity and my self-worth.

"I made my living writing about the beauty of ugliness." - Jack Kerouac

• Thanks for reading this blog post! If you like South-east Asian and vintage arts and cultures, you will love my award-winning novel Cry of the Flying Rhino set in Malaysia and Borneo in the 1990s. It is dark, macabre and thrilling, it has received a handful of five-star reviews already. And of course, it is stylish like you and I. 
• Paperback US Amazon
• Paperback UK Amazon  
• Kindle eBook  US  
• Kindle eBook 
• Amazon author’s page 
• Goodreads author’s page 

1950 Lined Military Cape Jacket Original Vintage Pattern Mandarin Collar

• I was inspired by the city of Hong Kong which was both vintage and high tech at the same time. This is a military cape style jacket with mandarin collar was started after I returned from there launching my first book, Cry of the Flying Rhino. I enjoyed the visuals of an eclectic world made famous by the 2000 Wong Kar Wai movie In the Mood for Love set in 1962. The mandarin collar of this cape is supposedly a nod to that movie however it is 1950s or a softer and semi-structured version of the traditional high and hard collar of the 1960s. This is a still from the movie, showing the mandarin collar.

  

  High semi-structured collar

• Hong Kong was an eye-opening experience for me. I had never before had the opportunity to visit somewhere not just for a holiday or vacation, but in order to pick up my literary prize and to launch my book. As it was such an auspicious occasion, I took the lead and decided to make from scratch a formal short cape in a military or auspicious colour. 

  

  Exhibition of vintage cheongsams - this is from the 1930s

  

  Bustling and exciting all the time, new and old world collide

  
  

  

  Bamboo scaffolding on modern skyscrapers- again new and old

  
  

  

  Old Hong Kong - colourful vibe of a vintage coffee shop, strong colours, red is always present

  

  Exhibition of different mandarin collars on vintage cheongsams

  
  
• I used a pattern I bought on eBay last autumn/fall something like 3.50£ - I forgot already. The pattern is an original 1950s vintage pattern and it only comes in small medium or large. I went for small.
• The fabric is a heavyweight military red wool and it is also from eBay and it cost only 6.50 for 1.6m. I never use the metreage requirement on the packet because it is quite wasteful and you end up with a lot of leftovers. So I usually recalculate fabric requirements. The lining cost about 3.50. There were only three "reds" to choose from in the linings section. I went to a sewing and fabric shop in Tooting, so not exactly very much choice. One was too brown. One was too orange and one was pink. Naturally I had to go for 1.6m of the orangey one as you can see. The horsehair interfacing was from eBay and it was pricey at 6.50 so I got only a metre as that is the minimum you have to get.
• Once I returned from Hong Kong I proceeded to cut out the pattern and in typical frugal style I have cut out with the pattern very close together.
• When you make a fully-lined jacket, I forgot you have to make the same thing 4 times. The jacket outer, the lining, the facing and the interfacing. That is why it takes so long and 80% of that no one will ever see even. Except maybe your drycleaners.

Keeping pieces close together

Assembling facing, horsehair interfacing

Preparing to make bound buttonhole

Starting this new project tonight. #1950 #vintage #swingjacket. Inspired by #hongkong. Pattern I got long ago from eBay. I'm starting with the black. Then the red! Cutting in my usual frugal style, thereby only creating #headache for myself. #frugality #1950s #patterncutting #sewing #clothes #thinkingtime

A post shared by Satsuma World (@ivyngeow) on Nov 27, 2017 at 1:48pm PST

The cuff is based on this double fold turn up as per Maggie Cheung's coat in the film:

Double turn up 50s/60s cuff

One #cuff done but #ohdear! Looks like a #fatherchristmas costume. 🙀all that trouble to look like #Santa. #doublecuff with #turnup #sewing #dressmaking #imakemyownclothes #patterncutting #sew #sewcialists #frugalliving #vintagepattern 

View of bound buttonhole

Close up of fabric covered button

View of lining

View of back - finished

• Thanks for reading this blog post! If you like South-east Asian and vintage arts and cultures, you will love my award-winning novel Cry of the Flying Rhino set in Malaysia and Borneo in the 1990s. It is dark, macabre and thrilling, it has received a handful of five-star reviews already. And of course, it is stylish like you and I. 
• Paperback US Amazon
• Paperback UK Amazon  
• Kindle eBook  US  
• Kindle eBook 
• Amazon author’s page 
• Goodreads author’s page