Cut up all the pieces yesterday and today made this cuddly lamb for the #ladyboss. It’s not perfect, not exactly aligned to the centreline at the back, not symmetrical but who is.

#toymaking #fixingshit #dressmaking #imakemyownclothes #sewing #sewcialists #customized #customizacao #DIY #homemade #vintage #sundayvibes #weekendproject

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 

Child's 1950s vintage pleated skirt from IKEA remnant in ONE HOUR

I bought only 30cm of this fabric in IKEA for £1.80 because I wasn't sure what I would make out of it. I also bought black and white striped material, more later.

It is quicker to make this skirt than to go round IKEA's maze.

I started box pleating randomly to make a child's skirt as I had decided I was not going to make any home furnishings with it. It is too small. I cut the striped fabric such that the black was the outside of the waistband and the white was the inside. I also cut interfacing of the correct width to a stripe.

Pleating from one end first.

Pleating the other end

the black and white striped fabric I also got in IKEA

Sewing the pleats once pinned, plus interfacing

Ironing the waistband inside and out.

Now sewing the staystitch on the outside to press down the white side of the waistband.

Draw on the button hole

Stitch rectangle around the buttonhole and cut it

I don't have a fabric pen. They cost a ridiculous £7.80, so I used a colour pencil instead.

Hand finish the buttonhole

I have used pink thread and a red velvet button, no reason, just for a bit of contrast and for fun. I didn't want it to match the skirt.

Wa-lah!

Hem the skirt

How to Make a Shark Pencil Case FREE PATTERN template

"Oh the shark has... pearly teeth, dear... and he shows them... pearly white!" so goes Bobby Darin. This song is from an opening scene from my novel Heart of Glass. It is the inspiration behind this cute shark pencil case.

 Level of competence - Intermediate and up. But don't be put off. The whole thing is really good for your brain as you have to think from inside out all the time before you actually invert the damned thing.

Holy schmoke! He's got cigars!

I made this for my 9 year old son during the '16 going on '17 Christmas New Year school holiday break. But equally this case could be a makeup bag or washbag for yourself or a friend. It is surprisingly roomy. I love stationery and all things to do with organising, being a writer myself. It is the key to a calm and composed state of mind. Stationery is everything to me before I write and after as I am a vintage person with a strong sense of doing things the old way, rather than typing everything up. In fact I do write my blogs by hand but realise that no one in the world can see it. Therefore the typing is the unromantic but necessary part of my process. It annoys me when people spell stationery as stationary (as in, not moving) because it is the exact opposite. Stationery is not stationary, it is the arm of the creative process, and will always be moving.

You will need:
2 fat quarters
a 6 inch industrial zip (pearly teeth, dear)
2 buttons around 1" diameter
Sewing machine, thread, scissors, pins, you know, basically the works.

NOTE: the pattern here is to scale already. Make sure you print each at A4 size. Allow for 1 cm seam allowance, not included in the pattern.

My son likes Escher, so I used an Escher cube geometric design fat quarter which he chose, and a Japanese net design that he also chose. It was a nice thing to do with him. He is very good at cutting and pinning. I did the machining but everything else, like inverting and joining up, he could do well.

1. Cut out all the templates and pin them to the fabric right sides together, and cut allowing 1 cm allowance in addition to the paper templates.

2. Make the tail and fins first. Right side (RS) to right side, sew. Snip the notches and invert the shapes. Stay stitch.

3. Fitting the zip. I hate doing this by machine, so I handsewed it. Pin two of the body RS together, sandwich the top fin between them. Places the bottom of the curved edge of the in 1 and 5/8 inch down from the longer straight edge of the body. Stitch the pinned seam.

4. Join the remaining body today, but leave out the fin.

5. Place top edge of one joined body RS together with the zip, positing it centrally along the zip. Stitch into place. Snip notches and turn RS out. Iron at this point if you wish and if you are a perfectionist (like me). Otherwise you can just carry on but it won't be neat and flat.

6. Repeat and pin the other joined body to other side of the zip. Stitch. Zips are tricky. Just make sure they are lined up and perfectly level. Otherwise you will have a headache later on and you have to unpick. We don't like unpicking, right?

7. Place one lining piece RS together with one joined body piece. Sew to the zip along the same seam. Create a sandwich of body, zip, lining. Repeat with the other lining piece and the other joined outer body. 

8. Pin RS side fins together with one joined body piece. At the bottom of the curved edge put each side fin 1 and 1/4 inches down from the zip.

9. Place the two joined body section RS together. Now the fins are sandwiched. Sew and close the tail end. 

10. Stitch the lining pieces RS together leaving a 2 inch gap on one seam.

11. Using this gap, invert the pencil case, pushing the lining to the inside. 

12. Sew the buttons on. In my case, I sprayed them antique gold (they are fabric covered buttons but they were white and I don't have black spray or black buttons). Anyway the boss said it looks fine.

13. Now fill it with goodies and admire your work of teeth-gnashing art. Impress fellow users at the British library or a cafe of your choice where you are working!