Rulers and oilcloth

I had always wondered how people drafted things from scratch and I'm sooooo thrilled to be a little in the know now. LOL! One of the tools which fascinated me as I embarked on the drafting adventure were the rulers.
They're like toys! BUT they help you draft things on a smaller scale first. And they're relatively cheap. A set of two like the above pic costs SGD$1. I bought mine from the teacher, but they're also available in Chinatown.

Speaking of Chinatown, Malin Textile has brought in some oilcloth! Oilcloth is useful for things like bibs, purses/bags, diaper changing pads and things like that.I bought some to make a daycare shower bag for the little monkey and some cosmetics pouches (getting started on some Christmas gift sewing).

The oilcloth is available only in polka dot prints, but in a huge variety of colours, including chocolate brown, lime green, beigey white, dark blue and the rich black and deep black which I bought. Cost is SGD$35 a metre (slightly cheaper than Golden Dragon) and the minimum cut is half a metre.

Now I need to read up on oilcloth -- ie. needles to use, what presser foot to use, etc. Good thing is, it doesn't fray, so there is one less thing to worry about.

Edited to add:

• Here is a good link about oilcloth -- its uses and general machine sewing suggestions. And here is another decent link.
  
  
• Here are links to tutorials on how to make:
  - a simple oilcloth wallet
  - coin purse
  - grocery bag, another grocery bag, yet another grocery bag
  - backpack bag (from u-handblog, one of my favourite blogs on bag-making)
  - man's toiletries bag
  - garden tool caddy (VERY cool for someone who loves gardening)
  - baby bib
  - Collapsible travel dish for a pet (CUTE idea for someone with a cat or dog!)
  - book cover
  
  

And it didn't stop there

Nope. Golden Dragon was just the start. The fabric debauchery continued across the road at this place -
Seems innocent enough, right? But look here ... cute Japanese prints:.... adorable Hello Kitty (original Sanrio) prints which my little monkey ADORES:
And then there are these Kokka Russian Doll prints:
On the extreme right, you'll see a grey dotty fabric -- that's Japanese linen and I almost bought some. However, I resisted! And felt pretty proud of myself until these decided to come home with me ....
"She's a lost cause," I hear you say :-) LOL! Jo, who runs the store (and whose family also has a couple of other fabric stores at the same complex), is really sweet, friendly and not pushy. I like her range and think that her prices are pretty decent, especially for the quality you get.

At Jo's shop you know that when she tells you something is Japanese cotton, that it really is from Japan. And if you're looking at the "Japanese Liberty" inside the store, she'll tell you about the other similar ones outside which are on sale (the inside ones are not on sale).

Look out for the cuts of fabric at the back of the store -- ie. the ones not in bolts. These are usually shorter cuts of about 2 - 3 metres at the most (but most are usually about 1 metre) and they're all Japanese, if I'm not mistaken. You'll find linen/cotton blends and some 100% cottons as well.

The elephants are from those tempting piles at the back. And sorry, I think I took them all except maybe one in a blue colourway. But they may still have the cute hippos!

So with Jo being so nice and her fabric being so yummy .... HOW could I resist? Hahahahhahahah!

Malin Textile
Address: Block 32 new market road #02-1122
Tel: 6535 4660

Work got in the way

It has been a CRAZY time at work, to put it mildly, and I'm tired of slogging through the weekends. Plus, we're all down with the cold bug at home, so there has been lots of sniffing and middle-of-the-night interruptions.

BUT (and this is a "but" of the nice variety), I'm taking some time off tomorrow to meet a new friend (and fellow fabricaholic) and we're going to go gallivant around the fabric shops in Arab Street and hopefully Chinatown too!!

This new friend is relocating to Singapore soon and we were "introduced" by Jeremy of Hot Patterns. He's so sweet -- he put us in touch with each other when he heard that H was moving to Singapore.

So far, H and I have communicated by e-mail only, so it will be terrific to meet her in person tomorrow. Only thing is, I really have to control myself and NOT BUY ANYTHING. Hahahhaha!

Anyway, here is some fabric news:

1. New Liberty prints at NicoleXavier - I just called Nicole and she said that most of her new shipment is IN! There is a last batch coming in tomorrow, but most of her new Liberty stock is IN IN IN. She has some classics as well as some of the latest from the upcoming season.

2. New fabric at Malin Textiles - I haven't written about Malin yet, but it's one of my favourite stores for cotton, especially Japanese cotton. It's just two shops to the right of NicoleXavier. They have new stuff in, including some Kokka prints!

3. Sale at Spotlight - It's on till 4th July. All patterns are 50% off and it's also 20% off all elastic, buttons, thread and interfacing.