I’m Back

I just got back from a week away to busy Dubai and i am knackered.

I think i need a break from the break lol ( I missed sewing so much and really wished that i had my machine at times, i am so glad to be back and cant wait to get some time to sew)

 No serisously going away with young ones is no joke. Hadeel was not so bad but Dania was a whole different story. She would not eat much and if she did then it would be very little of it. Her routine got messed up she would nap late in the evening which meant staying up late, and that meant no sleep for me oh plus the waking up in the middle of the night hmmm need i go on?

All in all i had fun and got to spend some time with my family.Whilst there i got to meet a bloggy friend Grace who lives in Dubai ( will tell you about her in another post)

I couldnt be in Dubai and not go to IKEA. They have a part sale at the moment which will last up to the 1st of August 2009.

I bought some fabric of course and have projects already lined up for them. I had planned on buying my cutting table and expedit desk but i forgot that we had the girls lol and because of that we didnt have enough space to bring the things back to Oman.

Good news is that J000 aka as my husband might be going back to Dubai and will pass by IKEA to buy them from me ( this is what i mean my supportive – thanks hon)

That is all for now just wanted to give you a quick update

 Cheers

PS. I have now moved to Sew Chic and Unique and will only post here until the 15 of July 2009.

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Sewing Supplies

A couple of months ago i posted Sewing supplies i want and i thought the only way i would get my hands on them is if i ordered them online. That is until Isra from Sew2bhappy and Laila  from Time for tea informed me that there is a shop in Dubai where i could buy them from.

So naturally i had to check them out and boy am i glad i did

The shop is called Classic Quilts  and it is owned by Marla Ramakrishnan and her husband Shankar Ramakrishnan. Their shop is a sewing haven i could have spent hours there (had it not been for hubby and the girls waiting for me in the car) as they had everything that a sewist would need.

They are i believe the only shop in GCC that i know of that sell quilters sewing supplies. Although its a shop dedicated for quilters however, they sell fabrics imported from the US, all kinds of sewing notions and supplies ( rotary cutters, omingrid ruler, fabric markers,) i mean you name it they have got it.

They also are the dealers for Bernina sewing machines which is like the mercedes of machines lol.

I would have loved to meet Marla but she was out when i arrived so i I met her husband Shankar who was very welcoming and I was given a tour of thier shop.

Their prices were reasonable and i left with a big smile on my face as i had just bought an omnigrid ruler 6 1/2 inch x 24, an olfa rotary cutter 45mm, a fabric marker and a cutting mad 24 x 36 inces I probably would have bought more things but i needed to save up for IKEA LOL

The good news that they are planning to open up shop in Oman some time next year which is great!  They also have a representative in Oman and you place an order through her (will share the contact info as soon as i get it) at get this the same prices.

Thanks Isra and Laila for letting me know about Classic Quilts

*I have now moved to Sew Chic and Unique but will continue to post here until 15th of July 2009*

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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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More fabric

In preparation for the Charity Bazar (which i am still waiting for more information on, apparently they might be changing the venue, so once its confirmed i will let you know) i went to buy more fabric

It was a whole family affair Hadeel, Dania (her first trip to the fabric store) and R my niece joined me.

Hadeel of course had to have her say in the fabrics i choose there just had to be RED her favorite colour! All the fabrics were “very nice or beautiful” just because there was some red in it.

Dania didnt have much say in the matter she was too busy playing with the staff there lol

Anyway this is what i ended up buying

Reds & Blacks

 

some browns, greens , greys and some more blacks

So with all this fabric it only means one thing, more handbag organisers!!!

Today i plan to sew 25 of them, and i plan to start right away and its now 9am will report back later during the day on how many i have actually done.

I hope you all have a great weekend,

you know what i will be doing SEWING

Sewing Update didnt reach my goal of 25 thanks to my lovely daughters oh well i just have to do my best 

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Dress no 2 – Complete

 Yesterday was my sewing class i sewed on a different machine than usual, and wow what a difference a good machine makes. The one i used previously would always trip, was very slow and the stitiches were not neat.
Anyhow i completed my second dress and this time i used fabric from Alexander Henry  called Juicy stripes.

I made an umbrella cut dress with a collar and wide cut sleeves. I enjoyed making this dress it was a challenge but the end result was worth it.

Here is the front of the dress (needs some ironing)

 

The back of the dress

The collar

 

 And my model – my daughter

 

She liked the dress so much didnt want to take it off lol and kept asking me why I didnt make one for her sister.

 I love the fabric so much i have decided to paint my daughter’s room using this stripes ( will blog more about this soon)

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New Year, New Fabric

Today is the beginning of the year 2009. Yes its hard to believe another year has gone by, it seems days just fly past us.
Let us hope that this year will be one that brings peace to the world.

This year is one i am really looking forward to, i have so many things planned out and plan on doing lots and lots of sewing

In prepartion for that i bought some fabric to make some purse organisers.

I cant believe that i actually found these fabrics in Oman I am so happy which is why i bought so much. This will have to do until i can get my hands on the GORGEOUS fabric designed by the likes of Amy Butler, Jessica Jones, Anna Maria Horner.

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Fabric, oh so beautiful!

I have been reading sewing and crafty blogs for a while now, and i am amazed at what these women come up with from clothes, bags, to covering furniture i mean the list is endless.

However good these ladies may be their creations wouldn’t be all that WOW if it hadn’t been for the fabric they used. However good a seamstress is, i am sure most of them would say its all in the fabric!

With the amazing fabric of fabric designers such as Amy Butler, Anna Maria, Heather Bailey, Sandi Henderson, Jessica Jones, Paula Prass and many other fabulos designers they wouldn’t have been able to make such beautiful things.

There is just one problem if you live abroad like say in the Middle East like i do, then you don’t get the privilege of enjoying making things out of these fabrics, the closest i can get is IKEA fabric, who do have lovely fabrics i cant wait to start on sewing with them.

I know that most of they are some fabric stores that ship international but the shipping price always turns out to cost more than the products which is absurd! So those of you who live in America enjoy the low shipping cost and wonderful fabrics, whilst the ones aboard arent so lucky!  

“If there’s a will there is a way” I am trying to find a way where i could gets hold of these fabrics without spending so much on shipping, i am sure there is a way, if anyone has any ideas on how this can be done please let me know, i would be sooo soo grateful.

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