Elastic button bracelet

A simple quick project. Takes about 30 minutes to finish.

Inspiration for these are the bags of buttons I bought at beading.my. Did not know what I wanted to do with them but I am such a sucker for buttons. Plus they were very cheap!!!

Materials needed

 Buttons and elastic cord

I used oval shaped 8 x 10mm buttons for this project. By using different sized buttons (or even combination of sizes/colours) makes unique different bracelets.

First,cut the thread about three time the size of the finished bracelet (i.e size of your wrist). 

Thread in the elastic cord into the first button hole

Then thread it into the 2nd hole. Add more and more buttons, you can add buttons at random (as I did) or you can plan ahead and add buttons to make specific pattern.

After getting the length you want, thread in both elastic ends into the 1st button

Tie both ends together with a reef knot. Make a few knots to secure it. 

You can add glue to the knots to make it more secure

Cut off the excess thread

walla.... your own funky bracelet

Variation....by  using different sized buttons at regular intervals... a cluster of buttons ends up looking  like beads

Make and Do

It is nearly a year since my last post.
Have I been crafting all that time? Oh yes, of course.

I have not been sewing as much as my boy (now 2 1/2 years) demands my full attention and company. Plus he gets hyper-excited when he hears the noise from the sewing machine. However, I have been up to other stuff i.e. learning wire jewelry, dabbling in stringing up beads and charms and lately making again fabric flowers (this time using an idiot proof flower loom and mini knit set).

I have decided to revive this blog to document stuff I will be making especially simple home crafts for kids. This is for the benefit of my niece who has turned 6 recently and also my friends' children who may be interested in making their own stuffs.

Many parents ask where I get my stuff or where I learned all these crafty things and I must say, I have an encouraging and inspiring mom. She let me use her sewing machine to make Barbie dresses, wallets and bags when I was younger. She even took me to Mun Loong (a famous fabric shop in Jalan TAR) in the 80s and let me choose the fabric I wanted to make my own vest (that was the rage at that time). I also used to tag along to the sewing supplies shop and always I get to buy some beads, buttons, ribbons etc to use in my 'projects'.

And she also bought us (well, the book was supposed to be shared with my older brother) a set of kids' encyclopedia which INCLUDES a volume called 'Make & Do'. That was my primary reference and also my inspiration and it became the most USED book in the whole collection

I have no idea where the book is now. I guess it may be still in the old house. But I have decided to re-live my childhood 'crafty' experiments here so others can also enjoy them.

Hopefully, I can write one post per week. *Fingers crossed*

Making A Simple Bag from A Pair of Jeans

I have always been fascinated by handbag made from jeans. Not just the material denim but a pair of jeans. I was given one when mom went for a trip to Bandung about a decade ago. I dreamt of making one but the thought of cutting up my favorite jeans always stops me. Anyway, recently I bought a pair at a jumble sale just for this purpose.

Constructing the bag was very easy. It may as well be the easiest bag I have ever made.

 

I cut the jeans as shown above. The outer seams are used to make the bag handles.  I used the cut jeans itself as a template for cutting the lining (I used striped cotton for this). I added a zipped pocket inside  but I decided to use the existing pockets of the jeans as the bag's pocket/compartments. As for the main body of the bag it is made just by sewing straight accross the crotch area. In my haste to complete the bag I forgot to take step by step photos (anyway, it was an experiment so I didn't know how it would turn out) but I promise I will do so for the next  Jean's Bag I make.

My small shopping handbag

 

I have been thinking of making this bag for a long time. It is a fairly simple bag to make with a single compartment with a zippered pocket on one side. The outer material is heavy cotton I bought from Fabric  Buffet and the inner is cheap polycotton I got from Nagoya. Strap was made also from black heavy cotton and this was embellished with various sized button and a letter L was sewn on it (L is for Lynn, in case you're wondering).

 

The finished bag is 20cm(length) x 22cm (height) and the base is about 10cm wide. It is just nice for me to put my compact camera, my handphone and my wallet: suitable to a quick dash to the supermarket.

 

Scrub Hats

Scrub hats are fashion accessories in the dull world of operating theatre. OT attires are generally dull grey or blue which is usually drab looking. For the OT fashionistas the only different thing will be the caps. Caps are needed to keep the hair in check - preventing stands dropping into the sterile wound hence is needed to minimise OT infection or contamination.


Recently I got the idea of making my own scrub hats after seeing so many of the anesthetic team wearing their own hats instead of the usual disposable ones. Apparently, they buy these online from eBay and usually ends up getting them from the USA or the UK. Getting inspiration from McDreamy and A Gifted Man, I searched for nice looking patterns online; ended up purchasing a set of patterns of various hats. However, I had to tweak the patterns to my liking.

A GIFTED MAN - with his red scrub hat.

After spending so much on patterns and fabric I decided to sell the hats to my friends - mainly to cover the costs of my sewing hobby and addiction to fabric.Currently, I have 2 patterns that I make regularly i.e. female all elasticated hats and male tieback version.

FEMALE ELASTICATED CAPS

MALE TIE BACK CAPS

Latest hats ordered by my friends

Latest perfected male hat with a colleague as a model (hat was given as token of appreciation)

These caps can also be used in any setting where sterility and cleanliness is needed.

If anyone is interested, they can see my FB album for the fabric choices
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150677329618430.412582.520963429&type=3

Folded Wristlet- vintage prints

Bought this material in Petaling Street about a year ago. It is old (I think it has been in the shop at least past 20 years) cotton with nice simple prints. I finally decided to make this folded wristlet.

It can fit a phone, wallet and a few other stuff. I call it folded wristlet because when I made this the zipper was at the center and when I fold the bag in two walla... I get a wristlet

Boxy pencil cases

I love simple sewing tutorials. So when I saw this simple boxy pencil case tutorial I simply must try it. Furthermore, it is quite a fast project. I managed to complete each pencil case in less than an hour. Ideal stuff to do when I just have to sew and only have the baby's naptime to do it.

The first one I made was the green pencil case. This I followed exactly the measurements mentioned in the tutorial. The 2nd one was the blue one, I made it wider so I can fill it with more stuff. Both I used striped cotton for the outside fabric and flowery cotton for the inside and the side tabs. I used pink zippers not by choice but that was the only colour that I have in hand. As usual, no project wouldn't be complete without embellishments and these I completed with pointed flowers (also another tutorial discovered on tipnut)

The best part about this case is that there is almost no exposed edges either inside or out. My usually ugly stitching is hidden between the two fabric. So it looks sort of 'professional'. Yeayyy!!!


Inside : no exposed stitches or edges

Embellishment: 6 petal pointed flower