Kantong Wortel | Carrot Pouch

Please scroll down for English.

***

Rasa penasaran kedua balita saya kadang2 membuat pusing kepala. Mereka suka sekali membongkar barang-barang yang saya punya. Akhir-akhir ini mereka suka menggali isi tempat pensil saya setiap mereka ingin menggambar. Terkadang mereka tampak iseng saja mengutak-atik. Sering kali, saya tidak akan menemukan barang yang saya mau saya saat saya butuhkan. Saya pun ingin berteriak rasanya.

Ibu Okta ini akhirnya memutuskan untuk menggaris bawahi peraturan tentang mana area kekuasaan anak-anak, dan mana area kekuasaan Ibu. Cara yang terbaik, berdasar pengalaman, adalah memberikan mereka tempat pensil mereka sendiri. Dengan begitu, mereka akan punya tanggung jawab sendiri dan tidak mengusik kepunyaan Ibu.

Mari membuat tempat pensilnya lebih spesial agar mereka mau merawatnya dengan baik. Akan lebih mudah meminta mereka membereskan  dan membersihkannya nanti jika si tempat spesial itu berbentuk dan bernama *kedip2.

Dengan beberapa pertimbangan, saya memilih bentuk wortel. Bentuknya yang panjang cocok dengan bentuk pensil yang juga panjang. Selain itu, ini juga merupakan cara mudah untuk memasukkan wortel ke alam bawah sadar mereka. Semoga mereka juga akan lebih terbiasa dengan wortel dalam bentuk makanan. Hehehe saya memang Ibu yang licik *seringai*

Saya memulainya dengan menggambar pola. Abaikan jika terlihat kotor. Saya menggambar pada kertas daur ulang saja. Bentuknya wortelnya seperti segitiga panjang dengan ujung melengkung, ditambah lengkung2 yang lain untuk bagian daunnya.

Sekarang saatnya memilih kain. Warna jingga itu jelas harus! Saya tambahkan sedikit hijau untuk si daun.

Ditengah menggunting kain, saya putuskan untuk menambahkan lining yang akan membuatnya terlihat rapi di bagian dalam. 

Saya lalu membuat daun hijaunya. Saya masukkan busa tipis ditengahnya agar terkesan tebal. Untuk garis tulang daunnya, saya menggunakan tusuk rantai agar terlihat rapi di kedua sisi.

Saatnya menjahit kain luar, kain lining dan ritsleting menjadi satu.

Terakhir, menyatukan mereka semua. Lalu jadi deh. Beginilah bentuk akhirnya. Bersama si bocah yang girang :)

 ***

The curiosity of my 4yo and 2yo killed me sometimes. They love to mess with everything i have. Lately they would dig on my stationary pouch whenever they want to draw or simply whenever they found something interested in it. Most of the time, I would end up hardly finding my belongings when I need them. And that was the moment when I just wanna go like 'aaarghh' .

So Ibu Okta decided to make a statement line where the children are allowed to explore and where they are not. And the best way to make a statement, based on my experience on them, was by giving them their own stationary pouch. That way, they would have their own area of responsibility and leave mine.

Let's make the pouch more special, to build closeness to their belonging. It'll be easier to ask them to tidy up later if we call it by name anyway*wink.

With couple considerations, I choose the shape of carrot. It's long shape suited the long profile of pencils. It is also another way to put carrot in their subconscious mind. Hopefully they'll get use to it also as a meal. Oh yes, I'm a sort of a cunning mother *smirk*.

Here comes the process that I took note briefly. They were the same steps with making reguler pouch anyway. 

I started with drawing pattern. Mind the dirty look of my pattern, I hand drew it in a recycle paper. Long semi-triangle with curve corners for the carrot, and extra curves for the leaves part.

Then I choosed fabric. Orange colour was a must! I added a little bit of green for the leaves.

Along the way, I decided to add lining. Lining would keep it neater and I would love how it look.

I stitched the green leave first and inserted thin foam for a bit puffy feeling. I hand stitched the leaves line. I use chain stitches that has neater look for both side of fabric.

Then it was the time to sew together the outer fabrics, linings, and zipper.

Last, we only needed to unite them all. Here comes the final shape of the carrot. With the boy, of course. They're happy, so was I. :)

Read More

Cutie Cat | Kucing Kiyut

Please scroll down for English.

***

Dua orang teman baik saya tahu saya mempunyai hobi membuat boneka. Mereka lalu meminta saya membuatkan mereka boneka kucing untuk para putri kecilnya.

Awalnya saya menolak berkali-kali. Saya gak yakin bisa menyelesaikannya. Pertama, saya mempunyai dua krucil dirumah yang membuat waktu me-time menjahit saya berkurang drastis. Apalagi kalau mereka mengajak bermain lego atau meminta dibacakan buku, tak bisa ditolak. Kedua, waktu yang saya butuhkan untuk membuat boneka cenderung lama. Pakai acara bikin konsep yang sesuai, lalu bikin desain, lalu bikin pola, lalu jahit prototipe, lalu revisi pola, lalu, lalu dan lalu. Banyak ubah sini ubah sana sebelum menjahit final. Walhasil, jarak antara permintaan dengan selesainya boneka bisa berbulan-bulan.

Entah kenapa akhirnya saya iyakan permintaan mereka. Mungkin rayuan maut lewat whatsapp? hehehe. Untungnya mereka berdua itu cukup sabar menunggu dan pasrah pada saya masalah bentuk dan warna.

Salah satu boneka kucingnya akan saya ceritakan disini. Ini adalah boneka untuk si kecil Amara. Permintaannya cuma satu, bisa untuk bantal. Mulailah saya membuat sketsa bentuk yang pas (sayangnya sketsa-sketsa itu terselip, jadi fotonya tidak bisa didokumentasikan disini). Berhubung permintaannya adalah sekalian bisa dijadikan bantal, saya pikir bentuk pola dua dimensi lah yang lebih pas. Tinggal gambar, lalu dijahit jadi satu dalam sekali jahitan. Gampang, pikir saya. Tapi dasarnya saya itu cenderung ribet, akhirnya malah ditambahi ini itu. Makin lama hihihi.

Saya lalu membuat prototipenya, dua kali. Dua kali ini tidak termasuk bongkar pasang loh yaa. Prototipe pertama masih kasar memang, namanya juga percobaan awal. Sempat bongkar jahitan untuk menemukan bentuk yang pas. Kurva sempurna di kertas pola, ketika disatukan menjadi boneka dan diisi dacron, belum tentu bentuk tiga dimensinya sebagus kurva kertasnya. Karena itulah, kegigihan untuk bongkar pasang yang menentukan bagus tidaknya hasil akhir boneka.

Setelah bentuk dasarnya oke, barulah saya buat versi mininya. Pakai acara bikin ukuran mininya karena saya ingin memasukkan beberapa teknik tambahan di boneka ini. Biar makin spesial hehe. Untuk bagian raut muka, saya bordir tangan sederhana. Lalu untuk bagian loreng-lorengnya saya bikin pakai teknik patchwork. Polanya juga bikin sendiri. Disinilah saat-saat dimana kemahiran menggunakan AutoCAD berguna hahaha.

Kucing versi mini ini pun jadilah. Bahkan saat baru selesai,  si mini ini sempat di gembol Gendis kemana-mana tanpa boleh diminta.

Begitulah penampakan mereka berdua. Mereka lucu banget yaa hihihi. Sewaktu saya tunjukkan ke mama Amara, beliau menyukainya. Dadah meooong. Semoga harimu menyenangkan bersama si bulat lucu Amara yaaa. XOXO

***

Two good friends of mine knew that I liked to make dolls as a hobby. They asked me to make cat dolls for their princesses at home.

At first, I refused their request. I wasn't sure I can finish it on short time. I have two kiddos at home that reduced my sewing me-time drastically. It is hard to say no whenever they asked me to accompany them while playing legos or to read them story books. Second, I tended to need lots of time to make one doll. I would make concept, then designing, making patterns, sewing prototypes, revising patterns, and so on. It was always a back and forth process before finalizing the doll. The interval between first request and sending the final doll to them could be months.

I couldn't remember how I said yes for making the cat dolls. Luckily, both of them were patiently waiting and left everything on my own desicion, including the design. The story behind one of the cat doll will be shared here.

This are the cat for little Amara. Her mother request was only one. It should've also be served as a pillow. I started by making sketches for the design (unfortunately i lost this sketches somewhere over the pile so I can't show you the picture). Two dimensional pattern was the best. All I needed to is drawing the shape and sewing the frontside and backside all together. Easy peasy, or so i thought. Everything went more complicated as I decided to add this and that :D.

I made the prototype twice. The ripping out and sewing back the pattern were excluded, of course. The first prototype was very rough. I tore apart the rough doll once I didn't find it in perfect shape. After sewing the fabric and filling it with polyfil, perfect curve pattern on paper didn't always end up in good three dimensional form. The persistency to find the best form will determine the design quality.

Once I satisfied with the basic form, I started making the mini version of the cat doll (or should I say pillow?). I needed to make the mini because I wanted to add several techniques on it. It must be a special pillow :). I used simple embroidery to make the facial expression. For the strip pattern on its body, I used patchwork. Making patchwork pattern is always fun. This was the part where mastering AutoCAD was very helpful :p.

Taraaa..here comes the mini version and the big version. Aren't they cute? Amara's mom loved it too. Yippie! Bubye pussycat! Have a good times with little cutie pie Amara xoxo!

Read More

Rumah Pintu Merah | Red House Door

Please scroll down for English.

***

Ini adalah proyek cepat yang saya kerjakan hampir setahun yang lalu. Hanya dalam semalam, mulai dari ide, konsep, eksekusi sampai selesai. Dikerjakan karena saat itu saya sedang jenuh sekali dengan aktivitas harian plus kangen jahit-menjahit. 

Dengan pola sederhana yang dikira-kira karena kepedean dengan bentuk hampir kotaknya yang notabene setiap hari saya sambangi lewat gambar kerja bangunan. Sebenernya saat selesai, saya gatal ingin me-revisi proporsinya. Tetapi kemudian saya urungkan niat. Ketidaksempurnaannya membuatnya istimewa:).

Hingga usia si paling kecil yang hampir dua tahun ini, mainan ini masih bisa dipeluk-peluk. Semoga bisa bertahan lama sebelum dhedhelduwel dimainkan.

Saya sempat membuat cerita pendek untuk dimainkan bersama boneka rumah ini. Ceritanya berkisar tentang warna pintunya yang merah. Silakan dibaca di bagian akhir tulisan ini berhubung belum ditulis ulang dalam bahasa Indonesia.

***

This plushie is a fast crafting project I made almost a year ago. Only in one night, I made the idea, concept, sewing, until finishing. That was the time when I was bored of my daily activity and missed sewing. 

It has simple house pattern. I overconfident for its almost straight rectangle shape that I mingle with almost everyday through construction drawing. When I finished, I felt the itch to revised the proportion. But then I took a step back. Its imperfection has made it special :).

Today, up until my youngest is 2yo, this house soft toy is still huggable. I hope it will last long.

I even made a short story to play with this plushie. Something connected with the red colour of its door. Please read below, or pass it to your little one if you like:).

***

Mr Witsy had a new door for his new house. 

He wanted to paint it in red because it reminded him of the sunset that he loved.

He went to Mr Jeng store and asked for a bucket of red paint. 

Unfortunately Mr Jeng ran out of stocks.

So Mr Witsy went to the nearby mountain and valley. 

He wanted to collect all red color he could find.

Strawberry, tomato, and jalapeño..

Rose, dahlia, and aster

Apple, fig, and cherry.

Mushroom, orchid, and gladiol

When his bag full with things, he went back home

To his new house, next to the river

He pour all he got into a big bucket

Stirred slowly and mixed it well

Not for long time, he got color of bold red

He satisfied and sang happily

Now Mr Witsy has the door color he wanted

If you stop by his village, don't forget to knock and say hello!

Read More

Angelfish Softies | Boneka Angelfish

Please scroll down for English.

***

Boneka ini masih datang dari ketakjuban saya pada kehidupan bawah air. Keindahan kehidupan bawah air itu membuat imajinasi semakin dalam. Membuat fabel tentang makhluk-makhluk yang hidup di dalamnya sering terjadi dengan mudahnya. Walaupun begitu, berada di bawah permukaan air masih merupakan momok yang menakutkan buat saya. Selalu kesulitan mengatur napas membuat saya malas memulai lagi pelajaran berenang.

Ini adalah boneka angelfish, jenis ikan yang ternyata bermacam-macam speciesnya. Mulai dari Dori yang lucu dan terkenal dari film Finding Nemo, sampai jenis ikan Pennant, ikan favorit saya saat kecil. Yang jelas, ikan angel itu adalah ikan-ikan cantik berwarna-warni yang sering menghiasi perairan tropis.

Bentuknya saya buat sederhana. Saya buat garis-garis lengkung untuk pola tubuhnya, menambahkan sirip-sirip dan mata, melakukan beberapa revisi, Lalu jadilah yang seperti sekarang anda lihat.

Saya membuat dua buah untuk dua anak kesayangan ini. Sejauh ini, angelfish ini jadi boneka yang paling sering mereka mainkan. Bahkan fungsinya bertambah! Selain sebagai mainan, juga berfungsi sebagai bantal. Sering juga untuk kipasan di saat malam yang gerah. Habis bentuknya pipih sih! Kita lihat saja, nanti bisa berguna jadi apa lagi ya.

***

This plushie still came from my amazement for underwater life. I found it's not only beautiful that made my imagination ran deeper, but also scary at the same time that it's still hard for me to take swimming lesson. It's easy to make stories about underwater creature but it's frightening to do real swimming in the water as it's hard to breath.

This were a soft toy of angelfish, which I found that it ranged wide from famous hillarious Dory from Finding Nemo the movie to pennant, my childhood favourite. Yes, it's that kind of beautiful fish with many colourful pattern decorating most of the tropical water.

The pattern's made from a simple shape. I made fat curvy lines for its body, added fins and eyes part, made a few revisions, then it became as it is looked like then.

I made two for this two loving kids. So far, it became the softies they play with the most. Acted Double, even triple functions. As a toy, pillow, sometimes as a easiest reachable fan in a hot bedtime night for its flat shape. We'll see if we can find another function ;).

Read More

Melihat Langit

Please scroll down for English.

***
Bayi merah saya sudah bukan bayi merah lagi. Tepat berumur satu bulan hari ini. Pipinya sudah nyempluk, lengannya jadi cipluk, pahanya, ohlala, sangat empuk!

Tetapi pandangan matanya belumlah sempurna. Saya bisa melihatnya dari matanya yang selalu sibuk berkelana, dan juga dari bayangan saya yang terlihat sangat jelas di matanya. Bukankah itu yang menyebabkan bayi-bayi selalu terlihat murni? Irisnya belum berkembang baik sehingga yang terlihat sebuah lingkaran hitam di mata, sebuah cermin yang sempurna bagi siapapun yang sedang menatap kedua matanya.

Bayi baru lahir sangat mudah menangkap sesuatu dengan kekontrasan yang tinggi seperti benda-benda berwarna hitam putih. Itulah sebabnya saya membuat mainan gantungan ini untuk dia bermain mata.

Temanya tentang langit. Saya membuat bentuk bintang, awan, matahari, dan bulan sabit dari koleksi kain hitam-putih saya. Saya jahit kedua sisinya, mengisi dengan dacron lalu menggantungnya pada dua bilah bambu. Sekarang, saya harus mengumpulkan kisah tentang langit untuk diceritakan padanya :).

Yang lebih menggembirakan, kakak Elang juga tertarik pada si gantungan ini. Dia menunjuk sambil memanggil-manggil "Bintang! Bulan! Matahari!". Dia belum akrab dengan kosakata 'awan' jadi si awan dicuekin XD. Jadinya, waktu bercerita bisa melibatkan kakak dan adik bersamaan deh.

***

My newborn is no longer a newborn. One month old and she has a chubbier chick, chubbier arm, chubbier thigh, the list started with word 'chubbier' could go on and on. Oohlala!

But her eye vision isn't perfect yet. I can tell from the way her eye wanders around and also from how clear i can see my reflection on her eyes. Yes! That is why newborn eye always looks so pure, i think. Her iris isn't developed well so that it looks like one big circle, makes it a perfect mirror for whoever look into her eyes.

Newborn eyes easily catch high contrast object such as things in black and white. That is why i made this black and white mobile hanging for her to eye playing .

The theme is 'sky'. I made simple shapes of star, cloud, sun and crescent moon from my black and white fabric stash, fill it with polyfill, and hang it on a crossing small bamboo branch. Hopefully i can gather some stories about sky along the way ;)

The happier thing is, her older brother, El, is also interested in the mobile hanging. He kept calling the name of the shape, "Bintang (star)! Matahari (Sun)! Bulan (moon)". He isn't familiar with cloud shape so the cloud is out of tune XD. Now the sky story telling time can include him too ;)

Read More

Premiere! Cute Elephant Softies^_^

 Finally, I finished my first softies, my own pattern design. Woohooo! I am so proud of myself. Especially since sewing is my long forgotten hobby. Last period of my sewing time was 15 years ago, that's before i drown into drawing and architecture. It started again last November after a good friend of mine passed me her old sewing machine.
It turned out making my imagination of softies design is not as easy as i thought. You may read my first summary here.
Started with simple conceptual sketch.

It took many redrawing pattern ...

and many failing elephant ...

and of course it took many hours. I have to juggling around between taking care of El, doing household work, and other works. But since I made my first prototype below, i just can't stop sewing. It's a new addiction^^. 

I collected pictures of the failing elephant to see the transformation, for my own record. You can see that one time i wanted to separate the cutting for the trunk to smooth out the shape. Another time i struggled to get fluffy shape of feet and round shape for body. At the end, I get to match the concept of elephant i once sketched out. Yaay! 

Several failing elephant didn't make it here. I ripped it off directly when it didn't come the way I wanted it to be -__-

I managed to get it a company, a sleeping Elephant. I looooveeee shocking pink ^^

Now we call them Mother and Baby Elephant. Great way to tell story to El that he'll going to have baby sister very soon :)

Read More