Sewing Project #1 – Gong Xi Fa Chai Cape

Just a couple of days ago, the #porkgang was having the daily talk cock session on MSN. Haze and I somehow got into talking about taking vocal lessons together and then I suggested that we should take sewing lessons too. Suddenly she was like, “Ah, you want to sew ah? You take my sewing machine ah! I give you everything!”. I was like, “WTF? Are you serious?”. Later on, we met up for dinner and true enough, the back of her car was filled with sewing machine, loads of fabrics, mannequin and other stuff that I don’t even know what they are yet. SHE GAVE EVERYTHING TO ME!

Mannequin, fabrics and more fabrics!

My current apartment is really tiny and to be honest, I don’t really have space for a sewing machine. I ended up moving my laptop to the right of my study table and put the sewing machine where the laptop was. I think I made a good decision because as it turned out, it’s a very comfortable space to sew :)

I’ve got a sewing machine! I’ve got a sewing machine! I’m smiling from ear to ear :D

I spent an hour learning how to wind the bobbin and thread the machine. Thank goodness the manual was very, very detailed and I didn’t encounter any problem. Not to mention, Haze’s very clever to get the Brother XL2630 because it’s equipped with a quick-set bobbin and a needle threader! Great for blind asses like me :D

Threading the machine…

I tried out the machine and managed to sew a line without hurting any finger. Suffice to say, I was very, very proud with myself. Considering that my last sewing experience 10 years ago was nothing short of a failure. It was already about 2am by then but instead of going to sleep, I decided to embark on an impromptu sewing project!

Check out my awesomesauce drawing.

It was not as easy as I had imagined it to be. At first I thought of making an actual dog collar with buttons to fasten but I didn’t have any button. So after a bit of mucking around, I decided to make a collar cover instead. I chose a crimson red oriental patterned fabric for my project :D

First, I ironed out the wrinkles so I could with it more easily.

Then, I cut out a length of fabric with Charlie’s current collar as a reference.

After that, I roughly drew out the size of the triangular cape which will be attached to the collar.

And now, ladies & gentlemen, it’s sewing time!

My sewing skills suck to the max. Just look at my stitching :( I had to sew a few lines over each other to make/mock a straight line. If you’re in my situation, don’t fret because you’re turning the fabric outside in, so no one will find out :P

Now that the easy part is out of the way, it’s time to sew the collar cover. Imagine it’s like a mini bolster cover la! You sew the fabric end to end to form a cylinder shape. Make sure you leave space to attach the triangular cape though.

Took me 4 hours to get this:

And 15 minutes to clean up this mess….

and this mess too.

But it’s all worth it to see Charlie wearing something made with love on Chinese New Year :)

How’s my side profile, mummy?

Nah, lying down so you can see my Gong Xi cape clearly!

I can be a manly cowboy on Chinese New Year too, mummy.

I don’t like to model mummy, it’s so exhausting!

Till my next sewing project, thank you Haze for giving me this opportunity…I <3 YOU SO MUCH! +++ /UPDATE +++ Just got permission from QQ's owners that she could celebrate CNY with us for a couple of days. So I made another collar just for her :) It took me much faster this time, about 1.5 hours from start to finish. Check out my latest model :D Pink is so my colour!

More angpows please :D