Taiko uniform

Each person in my taiko (Japanese drumming) group, was asked to sew themselves a uniform. Those of us with bigger busts, had to sew darts into the boob area but basically they are all similar. Three panels on the bottom, criss-cross straps and a back strap across the middle. All that is to stop it falling off you when you drum. When I first sewed mine, I accidentally had my two side panels on top of the middle and had to wear it that way to perform. But after that performance I unpicked the top from the bottom, unpicked the three parts and resewed it all. Truth be told, I liked it better the first time and I sewed it better the first time lol. Oh well.

Below, you can see that the three flaps are overlapped and have a split.

And in this photo, you can see the back side, where it is all lined nicely with grey denim. Plus you can see the way the straps work. They pull the sides around me (the black you can see on each side). Look at how nicely I sewed this, can't see a single piece of raw fabric! :P As I always say, I can sew, I just don't like to lol.

The next step is to get them embroidered. Our name used to be Kaze No Ko (children of the wind, I think?) but we are re-branding our performance group to 'Seigan daiko' (I think?) which means 'west coast taiko'. Today I will wash, dry and iron my uniform, then I'll take the print out to embroidery shops and ask for quotes for the group to get our names embroidered on them (in red). We wear this over red t-shirts and long black pants. Below you can see where the name will be embroidered:

And that is almost enough sewing for this week, I've got a couple of easy skirts to sew and a couple of dresses for Emma to sew from the same fabric.

theDIYdish

So I sewed myself a huge handbag tonight. I had to drop my nephew at work early and I don't do early mornings, so I stayed up instead lol. I saw this bag tutorial on youtube (channel in the title of this post) and thought I could easily sew it, so I did. The only changes I made were to add a magnetic closure and sew in a pocket on the lining, this bag is WAY too big to go searching for your phone! Lucky for me, I love a big bag lol.

Here you can see a little more detail. The inside and outside are sewn the exact same way and the two layers are sewn together. The inside and outside are opposites and the strap is opposite (so it matches the inside). I really like the little pleats on the outside, quite cute! The photo below is the more realistic colouring. Oh and the material for this bag (excluding the magnetic snap) was $4!

Bachi bag

Ok so I admit, I don't like sewing all that much lol. But I do it when I need something done. My current need was for a bag to put my bachi inside when I go to drum class. This material was so beautiful that I just couldnt resist buying it when I was at the store with one of my girlfriends! And so the bag was created! See the little leaves on this? They're the pattern for the lining of the bag.

Here I am showing you the inside of the bag. This material is shimmery just like the outside. This was a fun project and not too stressful.

Baby bib

So what is a girl to do when she is bored but isnt well enough to actually do a lot/go out. When she has cancelled her haircut and the gym and is freezing cold? Grab some material and sew a baby bib of course lol. So I've never made one before, didnt use a pattern and very very rarely do I sew anything so no being mean about it lol.

Lessons I learnt:

Flannelette isnt a thick enough backing (but that happened to be what I had laying around), next time use polarfleece behind it for better water-resistance (aka drool resistance).

The hole you want to stuff it through then sew up, should be hidden not at the very front (duh Heather).

Still, it's cute enough for a round the house bib right?