jabishah's

These were couriered to me the other day. What do you think? I love them...! Well, I have HB to thank. I started designing for the label when he was in Nepal. But instinct made me wait for him & asked for his opinion. My idea was rejected. In fact Wardah highlighted the colour choice I made was pretty much the same like ari**i. I selected light pink for the background & purple for the characters. HB suggested purple with green instead. I was quite irritated. Thought he was fooling around. Who would combine purple with green? I, being the obedient wife trusted him. Furthermore he is better in art than I am...

When the parcel arrived, I unwrapped the package whilst saying "Please, let it look good! Let it look good!" Once appeared right in front of my eyes... it was certainly love at the first sight. I was oooing.. aaaing... Smiling non-stop. Wardah even made this remark "If we make mama angry, just show the labels & she will cool down." Hahaha... Give it a try ! ;-)

So now, my tudungs will have those labels. Ohwwww.... am still smiling :-)

My Online Shop

At last!! My online shop is ready for visitors. Please feel free to shop at my newly launched blogshop


jabishahsews.blogspot.com



I look forward to serve you :-) See you there....

Almost there...

Last Thursday was not really my day. Drove all the way to Nilai Tiga to get some stuffs but the place we headed to do not operate on Thursdays...! One thing about me, when I have set my mind to something... I will find ways to get it done. You can say determined yes, but a little speck of stubbornness as well ;-)

My hindrance is normally HB. With his consent, things should be fine but without, I usually get paid immediately. It's like when you are in Mecca. But me ? Di mana bumi dipijak... which really means anywhere!

There was one incident a couple of months back. HB asked me to follow him somewhere. I can't recall where to exactly but I kind of refused in a nice way. My reason, I was occupied with beading. He did not make a fuss over it so I took it that my refusal was accepted. To HB yes but not to the Almighty... After he left I continued sewing my beads but I accidentally pulled out the thread from the needle. I hardly have problems inserting the thread into the needle hole (alhamdulillah.... for my good sight) however, my many attempts failed that day. Deep in my heart I apologised to Him for refusing HB's request. In a flash, the thread went into the hole with ease. So, do you get the whole picture?

Now, where was I...? Oh OK, Nilai Tiga. FYI, I went there with HB so the shop was closed has got nothing related to the story above. Merely tak ada rezeki....

Today, I got his consent to go to a branch in Klang. We didn't know... Obviously Klang should be a better option than Nilai. I got to know of this place in Nilai from a fellow blogger. Tx eenaz. So, I was in Klang this afternoon & purchased the thing I wanted.

Now everyone say hello to my pretty mannequin... Hehehe!

A close up.

Yasmin & Wardah knew I was getting it. Frankly, they got the goosebumps. Memang penakut dua-dua ni... Hence , I chose the most decent looking mannequin head. Don't mind the extra cash as long as my girls won't get nightmares.

After school they entered the front door nervously. Knew what awaited them... but both agreed it was not horrible looking at all. Even Nadeen was excited for having a bigger Barbie.... Nooo!!

Why the mannequin head? Well... Didn't I mention about my online shop before? The mannequin head will be my mute model ;-) I have made a few tudungs for a collection to the shop but without a suitable model, the tudungs were sold without a snap from my cam (Sigh...).

Here are my mannequin in yours truly's selfmade tudungs...

A scallop tudung made for a friend. Printed Korean jersey & plain Korean jersey for awning.

Another order by a friend. A kiddie scallop tudung from a medium quality jersey. Cotton silk for awning.

Now, this is fresh... Made it this morning whilst monitoring the girls with Math.

A hajjabba. M size. Plain Korean jersey with 100% cotton for awning. Status? Available. Selling at RM40.

Now I have the products & the model. Am almost there... Watch out for a URL to my shop :-) Have a good weekend.

DIY Raya Prep

I have been away for a while. My apologies.... Busy is such an ancient excuse ;-) Ramadhan has passed. Both Yasmin & Wardah Alhamdulillah, managed to carry out this third tenet of Islam with ease.

Now Syawal is here. It is already the 4th of Syawal & things have started to get less hectic for me. The preparation for Syawal this year was rather a DIY. Tiring which I cannot lie but the satisfaction overcomes all.

Some are aware that I made the baju kurung boria for the girls plus their mom this year. Not only that... I also managed to make at least one more baju raya for each girl. It all started with Wardah's dress. I was merely trying out to make a proper smocking. Without a pleating machine it was quite a challenge but it turned out not bad at all.

My pioneer hand sewn smocking pattern. You can see that it is far from neat. The DIY uneven pleats made it quite tough for me to smock. However I managed to make the focus away from my amateur smocking. Those flowers which I made from ribbons did the trick ;-)

The dress

The moment Balqis saw the dress, she requested one for herself. Material wise was not really a problem (I now make a collection of fabrics ;-D) but time was a major hindrance. Anyhow I was able to make one even though the smocking took almost like forever.

This time around the smocking was neater & I like what I did with the ribbon as well.

Balqis's dress

Once the dress was ready, Nadeen declared it hers. Balqis with a very heavy heart had to give in to her baby sister. I should have taken a video of Nadeen twirling & twirling in the obvious over sized dress ;-)

Nadeen in Balqis's dress.

I really love the colour of the material. The plan when I bought this Japanese cotton was to make 2 dresses. Each for my younger 2. The smocking however used up a lot of cloth & Nadeen was left for only less than half a metre. I then remembered a matching polka dots pattern I bought. It was no cotton but polyester. Planned to use it as piping but I had no other choices. Used the fabric as part of Nadeen;s dress but it turned out great.

Nadeen's dress.

Yasmin at first didn't want me to make her a smocking dress. At the last minute however, she changed her mind. This was the last week of Ramadhan. I found out of a place that offered pleating service & decided to make my life easier. Unfortunately, the shop needed 3 days to complete the pleating. Hence, I opted for plan B. Managed to find some materials I bought long ago underneath my rattan chest box. Turned them into a long skirt & a blouse.

Yasmin's blouse & long skirt.

Towards the end of the final week of Ramadhan I ventured into another field in sewing. Beading! Normally a dear friend will do it for me. This time around she was not only occupied with her 6-months-old baby but also her other multiple customers. My mistake as well for giving her the baju during raya season. She didn't manage to complete the beadings as requested before raya. Managed to sew on both the sleeves but not at the collar. Since the colour of my baju is kind of dull. I decided to sew my own. It looked pretty simple yes but I was really running out of time.

This was how the beading looked like at 830pm on raya eve. I was not panic at all though but surprisingly HB was so concerned about my unfinished baju. So cute of him! :-D

Slept at 2am but it was still incomplete. Since I would cover the colar with my tudung I gave in & stopped. This was how my baju raya was when I put it on that raya morning...

Seriously, I surprised myself... In my teenage years I used to have a few drawings to sort of contribute to the fashion industry. Hehehe... Now I am practically doing it! So watch out!! Project Runaway here I come....! Hahaha!

Oh ya! I tried something else too. Flower arrangement... Not my cup of tea at all! Next year, I will leave that one to the florist :-)

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri

&

Maaf Zahir Batin

I did it again & again & again... HELP!

Before I share my guilt... I would like to wish -

"Selamat menghayati bulan Ramadhan. Semoga Ramadhan ini menjadi Ramadhan yang lebih bermakna daripada Ramadhan yang lepas. Saya juga ingin memohon maaf kepada semua atas segala salah silap saya selama ini. Semoga ibadah kita diterima Allah..."

We will start fasting this Saturday & it is a relief that the school break will officially start. The truth, my girls have been cutting school this week ever since Tuesday. Test is over & with this outbreak, home is the safest place. Balqis anyhow was in her kindy today. There was a photography session which she refused to skip.

She loved the attention she had with the mask I made ;-)

Okay, back to the title up there. I did it again... You should know by now that I have been bitten by this sewing bug. A very big one I assume. What hindered me to get a sewing machine before was due to space. I'm an organised person. Really can't live in a war zone. I however , managed to get myself this rattan chest box at R&R Melaka. It really does its trick to store most all my sewing stuffs.

Notice that it is put the other way around by the wall? That is meant for Nadeen. The other girls know well that they are not supposed to open it at all. Many times Nadeen tried to do so but so far, no luck ;-)

The many not yet touched fabrics are resting underneath... Shhh!

Both the sewing machines & overlock machines are now sharing the big study table with the girls' desktop. At the corner next to the over lock machine is where I secure any sharp tools as I am pretty sure Nadeen will manage to solve the mystery to open the chest one day.

As some are aware my latest craze now is making DIY tudungs. These are a few of my needlework...

My maiden touch...

This one has a button at the back like the h*jaba

My raya tudung which Wardah loves madly.


A dear friend modeling the tudung I made for her & Nadeen in my niece kiddy tudung.

This one is my favourite so far...

Like them? ;-) The problem now here is I fail to control my lust over purchasing fabrics & more fabrics... I came across my first jersey materials in Kamdar, Mid Valley & the results are all the tudungs you viewed on top. I still have a few jerseys left but I fail to stop myself from getting more!

My first face to face with printed jerseys & cotton jerseys was at Gulati's. I was almost flying in happiness... Now, these were what I got myself. Frankly, they are still in fabrics. Not yet cut, neither sewn, deep down the chest :-)

I googled for more jersey materials just to find out how good is the quality I bought at Gulati's. Landed myself onto a few blogs & forums which mentioned a lot of "kedai kain SS2". Instead of further finding out about Gulatis's materials, I googled for the shops in SS2. Today, I made my mainden entry to both shops including the Kamdar nearby.

The materials I fell for at Mikawah

Though I was aware of the costly prices at Zhouhou, I just could not resist the many patterns offered. True that Mikawah offers better prices & quality too (I think...) but at Zhouhua, the many fabrics on displayed could really hypnotise you.

These were what I lost to.

They even have Japanese coduroy. Plan to make something for Nadeen & Balqis.

True like what HB said. This hobby which he thought would cut the household budget has turned into an expensive hobby. Errk....!

Back to Hectic Saturdays

My weekends used to be pretty hectic. Then their Mental Arithmetic Class was on a Saturday morning, 1030 - 1230. We would reach home half an hour after the class ended & that if we opted not to lunch out. At 1530, off for their 2 hours swimming lessons in Sunway. The next day, we would be at Pyramid Ice for their ice skating practice as early as 0930 or sometimes even at 0900.

Seriously, come to think of it.... how did I manage? Especially when my helper was away & HB at work. Balqis then was about Nadeen's age. A supermom, I was!!

The two girls have long completed the swimming lessons & both are no longer active in ice skating. They did not continue with their ice skating classes ever since Nadeen was born. After all I was, still am & will always be the family chauffeur & with a baby in the picture, my hands were full.

HB did take them to the ice rink once in awhile without me esp during my confinement with Nadeen. It was then when he noticed that both his elder girls were not really serious in such dear hobby he invested. They were most of the times off the rink, rather than in the rink. When they met their friends, the rink was more a play arena to them rather than their practice arena.

On top of that, their school work has gotten tougher & extra time is needed to revise & to complete their homework from school. The costly payment is also another issue. We have other commitments to zero in to. It is a different story if they really take the sport seriously...

Wardah then in action.

Yasmin, doing a crossover.

With their coach during a competition.

Every parent definitely wants the best for their children. Being fair to each one is another effort to show their love. Balqis, at 4 is ready to be exposed to skating. But to a girl that age what they have in mind is to wear pretty things & be graceful. A girl that age is also easily influenced & I used exactly that advantage to make things convenient for me... (bad mama! bad mama!).

I asked her one day whether she would want to learn skating. She looked excited & straight away answered yes.... but suddenly she gave a worried look. Her concern was falling on the cold rink. I took this chance to introduce her to another source of gracefulness ;-)

"Balqis, would you like to go for a ballet class instead?"

"Ballet? Aqis will be like a ballerina? Like 12 Dancing Princesses? Yes!!.."

And so that was how Balqis ended up in a Ballet class. Yes, I would send her to learn ice skating one day but only time will tell whether she will get active like her sisters once did.

Balqis, 3rd from left during a trial class. She made friends with others in no time.

In her new costume.

With her friends (the boy was a brother to one her friends)

Now, a pose....

I don't know where she learned that posture from. This was taken before her maiden class! :-D

The ballet studio also offers music lessons and... Yasmin & Wardah have added another weekly class - a piano lesson. I just hope they are serious in this one. Yasmin had been wanting to enroll for a piano lesson. Wardah on the other hand, wanted to opt for violin but I consulted their music teacher & she admitted that violin would be more challenging than piano. Again... I played my role there (bad mama! bad mama! ;-D) Convinced her to get familiarised in music through a piano first. Not only that the instrument is simpler, it is also ready to be shipped from my PILs' place. Hehehe... An old Kawai, still in a good condition.

Yasmin during her first lesson.

From now on, my Saturdays start as early as 0830. Yasmin's class begin at 9am & Wardah at 930am. Balqis's ballet originally was at 1030 but starting from next week it will begin 45 minutes later (sigh....). Anyway, I try to make full use of the time there with them without the internet & my sewing machine (am still addicted!). As for last week, Balqis read pages of her Peter & Jane book 3b together with Bacalah Anakku 3. Her sisters got busy with their mental arithmetic homework.

Busy at work whilst Wardah was having class. Balqis was colouring, a reward after having completed her reading. (Yasmin was in the school uniform as it was a school day last Saturday. Straight to school after that).

Their piano books are rather too big for their bags. Hence, I decided to give in to my addiction & made them a piano bag....

The piano bag

Open the cover & there you go a Trebel Clef & a pouch.

The musical notes sewed on the pouch... Hahaha! Not a good effort really.

The inside. No compartments as the pouch should accommodate their pencils, eraser & handphone.

The back with Yasmin's name embroidered.

The bag was much an annoyance to Wardah. She questioned her sister's name there when they are sharing the bag. My mistake... Well, my first project on bags was for her. A bag to put her Al-Quran for mengaji.

The bag

Quite simple but sewing the letters was quite tricky.

The inside

I also made this sling bag for a good friend's daughter on her birthday.

My first attempt with a zipper bag. Not that neat... though.

Embroidered her name too...

The inside with my label sewn ;-)