Tuesday, August 31, 2010

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:

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great to know you are blogging again! Cute! Are you sewing all your christmas presents? I have not thought about it yet, maybe I should too:)

Anonymous said...

Yes those rulers, I used them too. Never could understand how these rulers were missed out in our maths instrument kits back at school;).

Anonymous said...

Just a note to let you know that you are welcome to drop me a note at equatorcollection@gmail.com if you want to ask me anything regarding these things. I don't have a clue about lots of the stuff but feel free to pick my brain if you so require. I will be happy to help.

Simone said...

Thanks, Adey and Jali!

Adey ~ I plan to sew most of my Christmas presents this year, but given how slow sewing progress is, I thought I'd start early this year and see how much I can get done :)

Jali ~ You're an angel; thanks for your offer of help! I drafted my first dress yesterday and have cut out the pieces as well. It's just sewing time now and seeing how the draft "translates" into an actual garment :))