I am SO bad at maintaining my blog

Last year's resolution was to blog more. I failed. My last post was 6 months ago and so many things has happened since.

This year I want to blog more again too. Though I'm really not sure if I'm gonna keep up.

1. Let's start the very first post of 2015 with my catssistant, Lights, being cute.

2. I've gotten into doing lots more embroidery portraits and really enjoy coming up with them

3. This is my latest commission: a couple celebrating their wedding anniversary

4. Some new work that I'm in the midst of, think marbling + leather

5. If you've been following me on my Instagram or Facebook, you'd have found out I'm expecting our son, Eden, come either late April or early May!

6. So far I've made a pair of leather moccasins, a sleeveless onesie and just today, a pair of leggings for him

7. This is the first time I'm working with knit, so you can bet I'm pretty proud of myself with how things came out. Patterns employed are stamps I've carved years back. Thought to revisit them again. Am definitely starting a kids' line if anybody's curious.

8. Excited about the latest workshop I'll be conducting for the Purrzaar Market on 7th Feb, held at Within. Check http://www.within.sg for more info and sign up. Apparently we'll be working out in a beautiful courtyard. It's gonna be good.

Cat Scarf

I had this textile idea for a while. 

It was first actualised on my couch covers. You might remember them.

On realising it on articles of clothing, I figured, a scarf would be best. 

And with all these rainy days we're having, what could be better?

With a 37" x 37" piece of silk voile, I roll-hemmed the edges before painting the borders with turquoise fabric paint.

 

Next, cat faces go on with a block printing technique I usually work with.

Some yellow diamonds follow after

Fine details are left to the end

Tea-stained later, to lend a quiet vintage tone

Then, voila!

We gots cat scarf.

With that, 2 new things are added to the shop today!

Go to see more of them!
And, isn't Lights silly with her tongue stuck out like this?

http://www.etsy.com/shop/graciechai

In sober anticipation

Decided to re-visit a previous design of my fox print. 

You might remember this from months ago:

Prints were too small and way too laborious for orders. Not in my favourite cut either.
So I up-ed the size of my little foxy faces and went with a sky blue fabric, rather than a cobalt for a lighter / breezier feel.

I normally start my designs by coming up with swatches.

If I like what I see, I go on ahead and start cutting up my dress patterns. 

If not, I go back to the drawing board to do more  shaving & fine-tuning to my stamps.

I also pre-wash my fabric, as colours stay on better with that.

Compared to all the other dresses I've made for sale, this one really is labour-intensive. 

Every detail to the fox (it's general face, ears, vest, eyes, nose), is individually hand-printed on.

This is a dress that definitely does not happen with a snap of a finger.

But, hand-printing (though not in a rush of things) can be very enjoyable, and very therapeutic. 

Plus, the end result of your sweatshop labour totally pays off.

Once my prints are finished, I let it air-dry and seal off with a hot iron after.

Now, is the part where I wiggle my fingers in glee:

I turn my canvas into a dress!

Someone once thanked me for making wearable art. That statement to me, is still just - wow. Absolutely floored.
I mostly make my clothes for me. I would never think for anybody else to like them too! 

In appreciation of God, who's put me in this position & thank you everyone for your support. 

It's been quite unbelievable where I am today. 

Fox dress will be up on Etsy once my issue with Paypal resolves ♡

Sk8er Boy

Apologies for the terrible lack of updates. Been so busy with various commitments that it's only today,  I've finally gotten hold of all the orders I was owing.

Hung out with Jian earlier this afternoon. Convinced him to model for me. Turns out, he's so easy/fun to shoot. Plus, it's too cute seeing him skate again.
Singapore made him lose his laid back Aussie-ness. Skating lights some sort of fire in his eyes.

& to add to the list of getting on top of things: Galaxy shirt's now up in the shop! :D

Moustache Dress

It took a while, but I've finally put my moustache dress up on Etsy!

 

Dress should fit a UK 8-10.
Not doing open orders as of yet. Maybe, in a while more  :)

Little bit of something

Organised another tie-dye tai tai sesh at my place last Saturday. 

 

This time, they were a success!

 The past two days were spent building and painting pyramids to house my porcelain rings. 

These were mock ups for a friend:

 

 

 Then actual ones, which I've made out of thinner cardboard, painted, and scaled smaller

 

Porcelain rings, going up on Etsy, soon!

Crochet My Heart

With all this research in shibori methods and technique, I have officially reignited my interest in Japanese culture since my high school days.

I'm considering re-taking Japanese lessons again. Being able to read katakana, hiragana and chinese (not in proper kanji), has been useful with all the Japanese books I just bought, but I lack understanding (I've a very small pool of Japanese vocabulary) in what I read, especially words in hiragana.

So yeah, maybe back to Bunka it is for me? Ponder, ponder, ponderous. But, priority first goes to a serger. My granny (who used to sew the most beautiful qi paos) says I can have hers (and she would actually teach me! Oh!), which has been sitting there in a corner of a room for a long time now. This is most excellent news, except for the fact that she says it might be a little faulty as it's so old now. I haven't gotten a chance to play with it yet, but I'm crossing my fingers that it isn't as bad as things could be, and that maybe a little servicing will help fix its' bugs.

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Well, here's some sewing I've been busy with in the past 2 weeks:

If you remember my fox dress, I kinda ended up, hm, not liking it.

So I decided to bring the length up and converted it into a top. This way, it makes it a lot more versatile, and I can pair it up with jeans/shorts/skirts.

The fox print also put me off lino printing for a bit, as it was such a labour intensive print.
I moved on to hand-painting instead.

The design was finished and dried in less than an hour, which was highly refreshing!

With it, I created an over-sized mid-sleeve dress.

Yet, the project I had most fun with, was the definitely the one where I experimented with itajime shibori!

With no scraps of wood around (actually I do, but I don't have a hacksaw) and buying wrenches, thinking they could work just as well as C-clamps (bad mistake), I ended up using lino and rubber bands..

All the while, I was thinking, this would definitely be another failed project. I mean, just look at that. You can't get anymore experimental that this.

 But, surprise above surprises, the method actually worked!

I'm extremely well-pleased with how the dress came out! 

I'm so excited with it that all I can think about is how I want to do more and make it better!

In His Time

The weekend was hectic, yet thoroughly enjoyable. Definitely, one of the best weekends I've had :)

Saturday - Jeff and Phillane's wedding! 

They had gone through so much in the 11 months of planning, and to see it finally happening, it's all too wonderful and I'm so glad for them. 

The new Siaws on the block!

I've been looking forward to this day since November of last year!
So excited I bought my outfit and thought of the gifts to make them months and months before (haha)!

Sewn and painted these pillowcases a while back, and finally, now that the wedding is past, I can post them here!

 Jian painted a couple of cups for them as well

Hope they'll like them!

But, I won't deny it. The best part about attending the wedding was the chance where Jian and I could dress up! Might be a bit embarrassing to say, but we don't really get the opportunity to dress this fancy.

(Silly papi, looking all smug with half his lids closed)

It was a beautiful God-centered wedding, and I'm so honoured to be a part of it.

We wish you both bliss and happiness. May God continue to bless your marriage and may you place your trust in Him always. He will carry you through :)

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Sunday, it was church, choir practice then a short nap before heading out to dinner with my Sunday School class. A nice time spent sharing and giving thanks, before Jian and I had to leave haphazardly to catch the last of The Lion King!

I'm so glad I've finally managed to persuade Jian to go catch it with me. It was so much more than I expected! The set, the props, the colours, the dancers! Everything was so alive! I have no words to describe the experience, except for fantastical!

It being the last show, the entire crew got up on stage after to say their thanks and goodbyes. You could feel a tinge of sadness for them having to leave after being here in Singapore for 8 months.

Jian: "Woah! Next time, for any musicals, we'll catch the last show! Then we'll always get an extra special bit to it!"

A terrific night, besides the fact that I had to deal with a pounding headache which pounced on me out of nowhere + kept walking into a rough estimate of some probably mid-30 year old caucasian wearing the same dress as I at the musical + walking about all over town after the show in the attempt of finding a cab but failing to + missing the last bus that went home from the esplanade, then catching another that went to Thomson instead, to make a what seemed like awful situation better, buying home some "tofu sweets", what one of Jian's Aussie mates call it (A.K.A tau huey), home.