IRL

So it's been a while huh? There's been plenty of stuff going on that hasn't been blogged (possibly due to a misplaced camera battery charger) and the kicker to getting back up and blogging again was because my replacement Google reader - 'The Old Reader' pronounced my blog as 'dead' since I hadn't posted in a month. If you guys haven't already make sure to update your go to reader since Google is killing off reader =( or follow me on facebook.  There is a tutorial in the works which just needs to be written and was going to be the surprise update, but then I had all these food pictures to drool over. Also I have my 6 week break coming up and there will be some epic sewing of stuffs and a surprise I can reveal later on but until then this is how life in the real world has been.

There's been much procrasti-baking going on as I've waited for two shipments of clothing fabric to come in to inspire me to make more clothes. However I had to divert one to a relative's place in the US since the shipping ($70) was more than the cost of the very cheap fabric itself ($60 for 13 yards), so now I'm waiting another couple of weeks before I receive it.

In the mean time I've been busy at the oven instead of the sewing machine 

Berry Crumble Slice

Mini Cheesecakes

Pandan Chiffon Cake

Chocolate Fondant

Mini Apple Hand Pies

I've also managed to 'misplace' my camera battery charger and the weather has turned to miserable so it's been especially hard to take photos of my dress as promised. I let Pruet do it the first time round and he didn't tell me how awkwardly I was posed and that my sleeve was rolled up so it's been put away for another day. Also I haven't got much wear out of it since the stretchy jersey fabric I used to make it rubs against nylon stockings something horrible and static. The waistband is a bit wonky since I overestimated my waist and the inner circle for my circle skirt was too large but I managed to rectify it. I used the Amazing Fit 2648 for the top and I couldn't figure out my measurements even though I've read lots of blogs on how to measure yourself. My measurements showed me as a size 12 in some places and a 8 in others but I cut all the pieces in a 6 and it worked just fine. Also I only had 1.5m of this remnant fabric for $5 so I winged the skirt. Ironically though there are no pockets despite my fanaticism about all things pockets in work clothes, the fabric in this dress was just too stretchy for it. It looks good on and it has the right knee length for work, now all I have to do is make one in a non-static winter fabric. 

Until next time. Happy Crafting! 

Mel

Secret passport holder pseudo-tutorial

Guys I made a dress that I can actually wear! I'm so proud and I've been waiting to take a picture of it so I can post it, but the weather has suddenly decided to be cloudy and overcast after the hottest, longest stretch of over 30 degree Celcius days. I've put off making clothes from store bought patterns because I can never get the measurements right. I had a feeling I was not an American size 14 despite what my tape measure measurements told me, so I cut the smallest size (6) and it worked. Also the whole dress was made from a remnant piece I bought at 80% off so I paid $3.98 for a dress...score! Anyways now I've lured you in with the idea of a dress there is no photo alas, maybe tomorrow if the weather is good. But I've had this other pseudo tutorial lying around in my photos folder and thought it was about time to put it up. 

I was positive I took photos of this as I went, but it seems like I deleted them all when I was clearing my SD card so it would be nice empty to go overseas and fill up with more photos. 

So it is called a secret passport holder - the kind you take on holidays to secret away on your persons. The ones you can buy in stores and online market themselves as 'secret' or 'invisible' or both, but honestly? Not in a humid Asian country. Maybe if I was travelling to Europe in the middle of winter and hiding my neck pouch string under a scarf/ turtleneck, or hiding the fanny pack under layers of clothing. But in Asia where even one layer is enough to make you sweat, and some clever person will just cut the string of your pouch whilst it's on blatant display, I thought I better be craftier than them. 

 So can you see it?

 Nope? I'll give you a hint...

Found it?

Ta-dah. In your face fast fingered pick pockets. Ain't nobody going to get their hands on my passport. Lol.

So the basic premise of the secret passport holder is that it is a zip pouch with a looped elastic around the side and a fabric divider inside. The elastic loop is pulled through a belt loop and then the whole zip pouch is pulled through the elastic to form a closed loop.

The most important thing about this secret passport holder is that the lining is made from a waterproof fabric. Since the holder is kept nice and close to your body for security, in the nice hot countries it also absorbs all your lovely sweat, hence why I needed to launder it before photographing. I read somewhere that someone's passport became moldy from their sweat so I didn't want to take any chances. The divider compartment means that you can store your passport in one and spare cash, important jewellery and other valuables in the other side.

So my passport and ring were kept safely on my persons for the entire trip and the spare cash...well that was all used up.

The best part of the passport holder is that it just looks like you have something in your pocket (ha ha ha) and once you pop your phone in it is barely noticeable, even in fitted white pants.

If you want a rough idea of how to make it check out the wet bag tutorial as it uses the same fabrics and has tips on how to sew through the PUL. All you need to do is add in the elastic instead of the fabric handle, scale down the size to passport size and add in an extra rectangle of fabric as a divider if you want one. If you want a better idea of how to make one I can whip up a bad paint picture or a proper tutorial.

Happy Crafting!

Skirt Pocket Tutorial

It's almost been a whole month since I blogged and not because I haven't been crafting but because I've been inundated with uni and etsy stuffs. Well that and my house is a mess and just as I was about to photograph my lovely new skirt with pockets I found a family of spiders under a moving box which is still sitting in the corner of our laundry drying/ dining/ ironing/ guest room. So house cleaned and a slew of hot days and beautiful sunlight to help photograph the skirt means I have a post for you all. 

The mother of the spiders I spotted a few days before I moved the dreaded box

So if you recall I've made two different items to circumvent any need to add pockets to my skirts/dresses because there are just to many of them that would need upgrading, and making one (or two) items seemed to be easier. The inspiration for the Sandi ID Wallet Tutorial came from a need to have coins on me to avoid awkward moments when the doctors went on mid/ post ward round coffees and my pocketless skirts didn't have imaginary coins to save me from penniless embarrassment. 

Then there was the first world problem of not having a place to pop my phone and so the fabric pouch with elastic was made basically for the sole purpose of not having to add pockets (again).

So this time round I was motivated by another work/uni related awkward moment to actually finally put pockets into my skirt. I mentioned on facebook that I'm currently sitting in with a doctor who powers through his lunch break whilst I tried to fold my stomach on myself to dampen the growling it's doing in the middle of a consultation. Thus, I figured it was about time to add some pockets into my skirt, if only to smuggle food in.

So I was putting it off the whole adding pockets in because I thought it would be too hard, but it was soooo quick + simple. 

What you'll need

• sturdy fabric in the colour of your skirt/ dress
• I used black chino drill/ twill fabric because I hate hate hate discovering holes in pockets because your phones/ keys are too heavy/pointy for the sheer fabric they use in them

• a skirt or dress 
• template for pocket - so you'll want to download the picture or copy and paste it into a word document so it's printable on a A4 page

New Projects by you Part 3

I'm finally back in the saddle...of my sewing machine. Lovely imagery right? Well I'm not quite back in the saddle but I did an epic clean out of my craft area and as of right now everything has a place and is very pristine but I'm sure as soon as I start sewing there will be bits of loose thread everywhere again. Sometimes makes me wonder if I should just cave and let Pruet have his dog so I won't be the messiest person in the house anymore (an also it won't just be my hair all over the bathroom and kitchen floors).

So in lieu of anything new to post just yet as I had to wash and clean at least one of them for photographing, I've decided to do a new projects by you post. Most of these have been written in foreign languages Spanish, French...and one that google translate can auto translate but I can't figure it out (update: it's Turkish!), regardless they all have lovely pictures which explain their work as the google translate version of their post is probably not all that accurate. 

This a version of the DIY personalised fabric labels  rather than cut each label out separately the labels were cut out in long strips to make it easier to iron on.

This is a very funky fabric version of the Sandi ID wallet with an extra pocket at the back instead of a clear ID pocket - very practical. 

I love the combination of the fabric colours in this version of the  patchworky bi-fold wallet with a single contrasting fabric strip across the front. The colouful zipper works well with the brown lining fabric as well. 

This wallet version also has a little tutorial on how to change up the shape of the wallet to an envelope clutch style. I think this is a perfect example of how you can take the basics of a bag/wallet tutorial and customise it to suit your needs. The contrasting fabric strip is now at the back. She also mentioned that she added an extra bit of fabric so that the zip compartment of the wallet wouldn't open up onto the interfacing/lining part of the wallet. Basically something I should have added to my wallet tutorial but didn't because my sewing machine (the old one) was dying as it went through the layers, so go check out this version with the tutorial.

I hope these photos give you some inspiration to get crafty. 

Happy Crafting, 

Mel

Personal planner giveaway

Giveaway now closed

Congratulations to the winner of the competition commenter  #6 Thanh! Thanks for all your wonderful comments on the blog and facebook - I'm glad I'm not the only one in love with my sewing machine.

For those of you who did not win the lovely people from personal planners have offered a generous 15% discount off a personal planner anyways! 

 
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 Although I purposefully booked my flight home early to give myself time to catch up with friends in Melbourne and get back to studying, I still feel that pull of regret that comes with leaving family and an amazing holiday behind. I’ve spent the last few days in a whirlwind of family activities and Chinese New Year biscuit making. 

The love letter biscuits start out as a dollop of batter in the middle of a pair of circular disc prongs which is then squished flat by closing the top disc . Then the prongs are placed on a charcoal fire and the person manning the grill folds the circular biscuits in half. 

Then they toss the half-circle biscuit at the folder sitting at the table/ wood plank on the milo tins, who then folds them into quarters and stacks them into the tins. At least with these biscuits I was just the folder and wasn't manning the charcoal grill. The next day with the egg rolls was a whole different matter - I was dripping sweat in front of the charcoal grill; not onto the biscuits though.

Now that I’m homeward bound I figure it’s time to work out my plans for the rest of the year. Hopefully I’ll be able to make the transition from making crafty things into making crafty patterns so that when I start working and graduate I’ll still have this blog and my etsy shops although in a different form.  Which is why I’m happy to announce a giveaway for an item I hope will help me plan out the rest of my year, a personal planner. 

So I’m generally not much of a diary keeper. I start out with the best intentions but it dwindles downs around March because it’s not set out how I prefer, or it’s a hassle to wedge open a tiny a6 book. In the end I just made a fabric book cover for an ugly lined notebook which in turn ended up being a sketchbook for sewing plans rather than a real planner, which end up being a bunch of sticky notes and scrap bits of paper.

So what better than a planner which I can personalise exactly how my neurotic personality demands, basically with lots of long columns for lists, a pretty design and a spiral binding for easy opening. 

You can check it out them out at personal planner or on their facebook page. I like that you can customise the space on the planner pages with to do lists (yay!), notes or just blank space for doodles. You pretty much get to pick everything, from how it looks inside with the ability to import friend’s birthdays directly from facebook and the spare pages at the back can be personalised too. 

So how do you win a free planner to help you out with your year? The competition is open internationally (since I'm in Australia) and it's as easy as these two steps:

1) Like Personal Planner on Facebook
2) Comment in the comments selection below on your most valued sewing tool? (mines my seam ripper by a long shot, since I'm always having to undo things)

The giveaway will close Tuesday 22 January 2013. The winner will be chosen by random number generator. Good Luck. 

Happy Crafting

MTC week 3 + 4 - Reproductive Health

Sitting at an overpriced cafe in the airport during transit, sipping very slowly on my one drink to ensure I can continue to sit at their table for a time period far extending the time it takes to drink an ice tea and having internet-ed myself out by checking all my regular bookmarks, I figure what better time then to post my last few weeks at the MTC? Well actually I thought it might be nice to finish the series of posts for those of you still with me. 

Happy mum and chubby healthy baby (she was about to be discharged)

I had a pretty amazing last two weeks at the MTC with the reproductive health inpatient department (RH-IPD). There was an American OBGYN there which was nice, but to be honest the midwives there do such an amazing job and have a good command of English so it was fun anyways. The difference between the RH IPD at the  MTC and a maternity ward at home was that they look after obstetrics, gynae and neonatal (newborn babies up to 4 weeks) cases. They even have their own version of a neonatal ICU; theirs is an enclosed room which has phototherapy lights and humicribs to keep the babies warm, the room is okay for ward rounds in the morning but if you pop in in the afternoon it's a sauna. There are three humicribs and given the younger age of the mothers there is an increased risk of premature births, so sometimes two babies are put sideways in the humicribs which works just fine. 

Tiny twins, whose combined birthweight was that of a normal term baby

Burmese women in general are very stoic. There is no pain medication during labour or during evacuation of miscarried fetuses. The delivery room shares a wall with the main ward and even in the middle of the day when everyone is napping in the heat, you still can't hear the labouring women because they grin and bare it. 

As a medical student we are taught the steps of breaking bad news, you initially start with a warning shot i.e. did you bring anyone with you today? You might want to take a seat etc, which is generally followed by the bad news and a grief reaction. At the MTC it can be difficult to gauge whether or not the woman is aware of her situation (miscarriage or interuterine fetal death) as they do not have the typical Western grief reaction. Sadly enoughthere is a tradition amongst Burmese people that they do not name their newborn for the first 7 days in case it does not reach 7 days of age. Although many cultures observe similar traditions, rooted in the fact that historically not all newborns survived, the traditions are observed as a part of history rather than for an actually statistical reason. It is not uncommon to see women with a history of 9 pregnancies but only 3 live children.

Another difference is that the Burmese women all breastfeed and the clinic only provides milk powder to orphaned babies, women with HIV or multiple children. Breastfeeding is not taboo at all as it is in most Western countries and women will happily breastfeed in front of a room full of men and women whilst holding a conversation with you. It ensures a supply of food for the newborn, basically for free and conveys immunity to the child as well. 

Another cute baby in a handmade beanie (yay they fit) - if the baby looks yellow to you (yellow jaundice not yellow like an asian baby then you would be correct)

 Actually I remember one day the lab had run out of supplies to test bilirubin levels to check if a neonate was jaundiced so we had to eyeball it and actually suggested to the mothers to walk around outside for a bit with their baby to let them get natural sunlight. Just to be clear it is not recommended that you leave your baby out in the sun if they are jaundiced, they have tests and special lights to treat jaundice, but with no testing and not wanting to subject small babies to unnecessary treatment, 15 minutes of natural sun is perfectly fine. 

Cute baby with unknown cause of low haemoglobin

The experience at the MTC was amazing, and it was equally amazing to meet all the different volunteers in Mae Sot. There are at least 50 different NGOs working in Mae Sot and pretty much all the foreigners living there are volunteering and doing something worthwhile and amazing with their lives, it's actually quite an inspiring place to be. 

There's a facebook group what's happening in Mae Sot which is really helpful if you are going to be there for any amount of time. There are people selling bikes/ furniture as they move on to different places, important announcements such as the time the power was scheduled to go out and helpful long termers who are happy to answer all kinds of questions like where to find a good English speaking dentist etc. And there are all kinds of invitations to events happening in the small town of Mae Sot. One of those was for a Christmas Eve pot luck dinner at one of the local orphanages. The grassroots orphanage also rents out rooms for people who want to help out but can't afford to donate more,the cost of accommodation include a donation.

The children's playroom has had indoor hammocks and tyre swings, basically a child's dream. 

As I mentioned on my facebook page I generally feel quite awkward whipping out my point + shoot camera to take photos, so I did the next best thing and handed it over to one of the children and got some amazing shots, including this one of the mischievous photographer Charlotte. 

And with all kids the squeal of delight at the gift of candy was equally high pitched and excited.
 

I'll always value my time at Mae Tao Clinic for opening my eyes to those less fortunate and teaching me that working with less does not mean a lower standard of care, it just requires more creative in the medical approach. I'm equally grateful for the friends I made and the people I was able to meet who  opened my eyes to the plight of their causes and how much the world need more people like those who dedicate their lives to international development and the developing world.

Happy Crafting! and Happy Belated New Year.

Mel

The Stray Dogs of Mae Sot

Even though I am now safely absconded in Bangkok riding around in a car not a bike, and am thus no longer seen as a doggy chew toy on a bicycle I still shudder in relief every time we pass a pack of stray dogs in the car. 

So I wussed out and did not get enough photos of the stray dogs doing their dead dog in the sun act but a quick google search of 'stray dogs Mae Sot' brought up a whole multitude of stories and pictures of the stray dogs. Sadly, most of which I had already read in an attempt to found out how to deter stray dogs. These blog posts date back to 2005, and if nothing else I'm sure the stray dog population has increased. Here's someone who got bit twice and here's someone who tried to poke, cajole and yell at them.

This is a picture of the stray dogs who like to hang around inside the U-shaped car park where my Thai lessons are. In fact my thai language lessons were right at the back of this parking lot. 

So I've already written about my detailed research before arriving in Mae Sot, and one of the most common topics I read about was run ins people had with stray dogs, so I was already prepared for being chased and planned to get my rabies shots. However, the one week I had between finishing exams and leaving to the 'endemic area' was not enough to receive the three prophylactic shots and also it was $120AUD each. And as the doctor said to me; 'you'll need five anyways not really going to matter when you get it.' And for those first few days when I was finding my feet and back at the guesthouse not long after dark (6.30pm) it was fine because the stray dogs were yet to shake their afternoon sun daze off. And for those of you who think that talking about things out loud doesn't jinx them, I give you irrefutable proof that it does. The first weekend I was in Mae Sot I went with a few friends to a charity event which we left late-ish, well the latest I had been out in a while ~ 10.30pm. And the topic of stray dogs came up, to which I boldly stated, 'yeh I read about them but they haven't chased me'....BAM instant jinx. The next person I met was a girl who got bitten and needed her FIVE rabies shots, who then told me of a friend who had gotten a massive bite in her calf whilst riding her bike. I was breaking out in a cold sweat since I lived further than the other guesthouses. So I took the advice to carry rocks in my bike basket. Apparently the locals in Mae Sot have deadly accuracy with their rocks to deter stray dogs, and so they are actually scared of them. So feeling a bit stupid about stealing rocks from the charity function owner's garden I pocketed it on my way out. Decided it was too hard to reach into my bike and throw a rock if I was being chased I decided to hold it in my hand; just in case.  

So cycling home on my lonesome having just left my friends behind what should I pass but a temple.  A temple you say, how peaceful! Pfftftfttatfttaft. The monks like to feed the stray dogs, so where do all stray dogs loiter? IN FRONT OF TEMPLES. So as I purposefully kept riding the same speed, so as not to let the dogs think I was playing a game with them by going faster and also riding on the wrong side of the road to avoid them, what should they do but start to growl at me and raise their hackles, and cross the road? So blindly throwing the rock at them I cycled as fast as I could and used a 4WD as a shield as I went around the dogs. I basically collapsed on the floor of my room when I got home. And so lesson learnt; 

(1) Keep rocks in your basket and hand at all times
(2) Don't go out late at night

That was until I left for work the next morning. So I go through this main roundabout on my way to the MTC, it's surrounded by a Tesco, various hawker stalls and a school, with lots of walking pedestrians. And usually when I rode my bike out in the morning the dogs at the round about already looked like this:

But it t'was not to be. The damn dogs were awake on all fours and there was at least 5 of them. So as I went the wrong way around the roundabout to avoid them, since the road was one way and you didn't need to go anticlockwise from 6 o'clock to 3 o'clock to turn right, they crossed the road to chase me!!! Even the motorcyclists were looking at me weird like 'oh what did you do to them, they hate you'. And there was a pedestrian right next to me! Eat the pedestrian! 

So I figured that they:

(a) recognised my bike from it's squeaky breaks 
(b) some dog rubbed against my bike in heat
(c) most likely they just smelt my fear and decided to chase the idiot going the wrong way around a round about to avoid them

So for the rest of my trip I religiously carried a rock in my right hand whilst holding on to the bike handles just in case. My friends didn't believe my stray dog problem until they rode home with me through two separate packs of dogs at which point I realised that dogs are also scared of squeaky breaks. 

For those of you who are planning a trip to Mae Sot here is the summary of my research on detering stray dogs: 

(1) dog whistles only work with varying reliability 
(2) throw a rock at them, and cycle off as fast as you can 
(3) when going past a pack of stray dogs, try and wait for a motorcycle or car to pass first and go with them/ behind them/ on the side without the dogs
(4) break really hard and yell at them (I tried this from a few meters a way which worked) 
(5) get a bike with squeaky breaks, and break as you get closer to them - they do not like it
(6) have a friend, they help
(7) if it is just one stray dog you can hop off your bike and use it as a barrier between you and it as you walk slowly past (this worked on my friendly neighbourhood dog who was more like 'what are you doing, I wouldn't even sniff you let alone bite you')

Anyways here are the photos I managed to take of the dogs whilst hiding behind a car in the dreaded Thai language class carpark. 

Anyways now Pruet's family's gazillion Pomeranians are nothing compared to the stray dogs of Mae sot.

Happy New Year's Eve. 

Mel