My Top is Done

This top was made to participate in Made by Rae’s Spring Top week which  i have been blogging about for the last couple of weeks. I finally made it using Rae’s tutorial which i blogged about here.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury i present to you my first attempt at making a top

I really liked how it turned out, certainly not bad for a first try.

The tutorial was really easy to follow and i think the top  would have come out better had  i chosen a different fabric for the chest band and the straps.  It was really tricky handling the black material it was some sort of a soft satin fabric.  I had trouble fixing the straps and the chestband to the actual colored fabric.  Its the only fabric i had in my stash that matched. The most important thing that it fits and its wearable, i cant wait to show it off

I am definetly going to use Rae’s tutorial again but next time i am sticking to plain old cotton.

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Top Update

The top i’m making for spring top week is a sleeveless top just perfect for the summer. I blogged about the tutorial i am going to be using to make it read it here

All the pieces are cut and i have started making the top, slow i know but steady i will get there eventually hopefully before Friday!

I actually hope to get it done by tomorrow, its so exciting doing something different and something i actually could wear! (hoping i’m sewing it right lol)

Doing this kind of work really makes me appreciate tailors, so much work goes into garment construction. If you think about it  it’s really amazing how pieces of fabric, with some thread and needle is what a outfit is made of.

The secret behind a good fitting is of course the cutting, if the fabric is wrongly cut, guess what?! it wont fit.

I really hope that my top will fit….anyhow will keep you updated, i know you dont want to miss the outcome

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Tomorrow is the start of

Spring top week which is hosted by Rae.

It starts tomorrow and ends on Friday the 1st of May.  You can read my past posts here. This is what my button —-> on the right is all about.

And guess what?

I have not started sewing my top yet yeah well i blame the charity fair for that lol Anyway i plan on doing so today and this is my first top i plan on making only 1 this year but hopefully by next year i plan on making more.

On Friday Rae blogged about a tutorial which was posted on Sew Mama Sew.

I simply loved the top so i might as well use  her tutorial to make mine. Yes its sleeveless which is great for our hot weather.

I have chosen this fabric

I fell in love with the colors and pattern of this kitenge fabric. Now for thoes of you who are wondering what is kitenge i got this from Wikipedia

Kitenge or chitenge is an African garment similar to sarong, often worn by women wrapped around the chest or waist, over the head as a headscarf, or as a baby sling. They are also sometimes worn by men around the waist in hot weather. Kitenges (plural vitenge in Swahili; zitenge in Tonga) serve as an inexpensive, informal piece of clothing that, often decorated with a huge variety of colors, patterns.

I plan on starting this tonight once the girls are in bed so wish me luck

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My experience at the fair

As you all know yesterday was the Bank Muscat Charity Fair which i have been on about since last month, it finally happened yesterday and i had a blast!

We were told to be there by 4pm to set up our tables before people start arriving at 5pm. I was given a table at the end of a line leading to no where lol next to a lady selling lots of scarves and another offering her services to help you set up buffet for invitations she provides the cultery and arranges the buffet, you have  to provide the food. She ended up being my first customer

Anyway so i was placed next to nothing related to bags or accessories they were all on the other side of the football field lol so i start setting up the table and noticed that i was sort of unprepared for this i had no idea how i was going to arrange my organisers …. anyway i looked around other tables and saw that some ladies had brought with them colourful table clothes as opposed to the white ones provided (point taken for next time).

This is how i ended up arranging the table

The football field was filled with tables and there were lots of women setting up thier tables. Unfortunately i wasnt able to go around and have a look at what was on sale for obvious reasons (lesson learnt here defintely going to have someone with me next time, so i can browse lol).

By 5 the place started to fill up and i made my first sale!! was really estactic and thought this is going to be a breeze lol well i have to be honest i did get lots of compliments saying that this was different, original, practial and creative but 6 RO was very expensive!!  i was so not expecting that but anyhow everyone is entitled to thier opinions.

Having said that i am pleased to say that i sold exactly half of the purse organisers, have a couple of customised orders and some business card holder orders too, which is great

So a big thanks to all thoes who stopped by and bought organisers. I met lovely ladies who follow my blog and told me that they enjoy reading it thank you ladies you know who you are I also got to meet Mei Suwaid from Mei and Nihad Mohammed from Dollz which are two very talented Omani ladies.  A couple of old friends of mine Sara and Mariam stopped by which was really nice, when we were younger we used to always hang out. It was so good seeing them after such a long time naturally they bought organisers

A special thanks to my husband and my mother for giving me support and looking after the kids while i took care of business

Overall it was a wonderful experience,  got to meet loads of people. I thank Bank Muscat for making it happen and i look forward to participating in simliar events in the future.

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Bank Muscat Charity Fair

I got back from the Fair about an hour ago and my feet are aching (from all the standing) and my cheecks from all the smiling. I had so much fun and met lots of wonderful people.

It was so funny ladies would come upto to me and know all about me, or call my name! and these thoughts go through my mind (in italics)

hmmm do i know her?

she looks familiar, but i cant recall how i know her … i cant seem to remember her first sign of aging forgetfulness

and then they would ask about the girls Hadeel and Dania so then these thoughts go through my mind

ohh maybe they know my husband

or my mum (she constantly talks about her grandkids)

then finally they give my brain a rest and say i know you through you blog!! and saw your pics on facebook.

oooh my blog lol who knew lol….. i just didnt realise that so many people actually read my blog so thank you all for your support it was lovely meeting you all.

I am heading off to bed now and will defintely update you guys on how it went after a good night sleep

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All Set

The fair is tomorrow yay and i am all set for it.

I noticed that Bank Muscat has done a great job adveritising the event, sending mass sms and when i went to draw some money at thier Muscat city centre branch i noticed the atm machine each had a flyer!

So as you can imagine i am really excited about tomorrow i hope it all goes well. My whole family is coming to support me (my husband, my girls, my niece, my mother, my sister in laws) I am really blessed alhamdulilah

I didnt manage to make 100 as planned i only managed to make 50 organisers. I will have a list were customers can register themselves to be on the mailing list to be updatedof new  products and another list to place an order.

So i look forward to seeing you there,please stop by and say hello when you see me although i know you have no idea what i look like i will be easy to find, as i will be the only lady selling organisers!

See you soon

Mayya aka Mamati

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Getting ready

So being me i always make a list of everything. Therefore, it should come as no surprise when i made a list for the things i would need at the Bank Muscat Charity Fair which is only 4 days away.

Check list

- Table cloth         done        provided by organisers

- Camera       needs to be charged       

- Organisers   WIP only 2o more to do *yay*

- 2 Bags for display          done    all ready and packed

- Business cards               done      printed ( more about this)

- Business card holder    done    (see below)

For the business cards i dont have a logo designed yet  thats happening soon. So for the fair i am going to be using calling cards designed by Cameron Blazer of Cottage Industrialist.  Cameron is actually offering these cards for free you can download the pdf here. They are however not for commercial use and i did need to get her permission to use them.

Now i had the cards all i needed was a cute business card holder to store them in :) and here is what i made with this tutorial by Erin from Schlosser Designs

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Purse/Handbag Organiser

I just realised that i didnt blog about my handbag/purse organisers in detail so here it is

Ladies

Does this following scenario sound familiar?

Your phone is ringing, you dip your hand into your bag hoping to find it but as usual its right at the bottom under all your things and by the time you get to it you missed the call!!!

Are you always rumaging through your bag trying to find your pen?

Ladies we have all been in fustrating situations and its time to put an end to it and get your bag organised with a purse organiser.

The organiser arranges all of your items into pockets and stands around your bag so that everything is in place and accessible. Plus it makes chaning bags a breeze roll up it up and put it in your other bag and you are done.

Two models are currently available:

Model 1 (Mini Pockets)

This consists of 8 pockets and the diemsions are are follows from left to right (all measurements are in inches)
3″ (phone or hand cream)
1 1/4″ pen
2 3/4″ phone
5 1/4″ wallet preferably small one, the long one could fit if not bulky
2 1/2″ 2 lip glosses
1 3/4″ lip stick
4″ small tissue packet
4 1/4″  big enough for pocket diary

Model 2 (Deep Pocket)

The green and black one the pockets are deeper and folded all the way up.

It has 7 pockets (from left to right)
3″, 3 1/2″, 4 1/2″,5 3/4″, 4″, 1 1/4, 3″

 

Ahh finally organised

Pricing

The price of a the standard model for both mini and deep pockets is 6 RO (with no additions) any other emblishemt such as ribbon, ric rack, stones is extra.

To Order

Send me an email umhadeel [at] gmail [dot] com with your desired model and i will forward you pictures to choose from.

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100 doses of me

Wow didnt see that coming…100 posts already!!

Well i’m sure you all heard the saying time passes when you are having fun!

Only 8 days left to go until the charity fair, still lots of sewing to get done.

After the fair i can concentrate on making other things i have lots of tutorials lined up for just that

Oh and by the 27th of April i should have made one top to join into spring top week which i talked about here and here. I am reading through the book Sew U which i bought from borders its really good but i doubt that i will finish it in time, i know i could just skip to the part where it teaches you to make the blouse but i really WANT to learn how its done to cover the basics etc hmm maybe i am in way over my head wanting to do too many things to soon! Anyway i’ll see how i go i would really love to attempt to make the top i already bought some cute material…

I have decided not to make the curtains for my craft room after all because its a big  job and i really dont know when i will have time to make them, so might  as well send them to have them made.

 Ahhh so many things to sew, so little time

I am off to sew some organisers have a great weekend everyone

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Its just the beginning

My dear blog readers

These last few months i have shared  the happenings of  my life with you through my blog  and today  i would like to announce to you that i have started my company which is

Sew Chic & Unique

Sew Chic & Unique is already in business as most of you know i sell purse organisers but this is only the beginning. I have lots more planned  and it will all be revealed to you in the next couple of months in sha Allah.

I want to take this opportunity to thank my husband who comments as J000 on my blog  for his constant support and love.

To my mother who is also my best friend she is the best mother anyone could ever ask for i wouldnt be the person i am today if it wasnt for her.

My girls Hadeel and Dania who make me want to be a better mother. I want my girls to be proud of  me and believe that thier dreams can be realised with lots of hardwork i want to set an example by realising my dream of running a successful business.

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