The One About Inori

After pondering for 2 days on whether to wait for my mom’s instructions or to just go ahead and try to make a simple pinafore dress for Sunshine, I decided to go ahead with it.

Tonnes of rough sketches and brain juice later, I came up with this:

I sewed two pieces of fabric together as the blue floral cloth is really thin. I also left the top part of the side seams open to save us from struggling to get her arms into the armhole.


Please pardon her sleepy face. She was really sleepy.


It really is a very very simple dress. I’m thinking about whether to add embellishments or not but decided against it lest I spoil the whole project.

Here’s a close up on the buttons. (My first time ever sewing buttonholes and Thank God it was a success.)

This is also the first dress Sunshine has ever owned. I will design and sew more for her.
Criticism and comments most welcome!

Q: What does your Brother do?

A: It’s not a Singer.

HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *ahem*.

My dearest husband bought me a Brother LS2125 sewing machine 2 days ago. Spotlight was having a sale and we went down to snap one up ($148! Cheap!) together with some fabric to sew for Sunshine.

I come from a family where most of the women sew.

Both my grannies sew. My mom sews. All of them have been commissioned and sold their hand-made garments before.

However, I never thought I would follow in their footsteps.

The last time I sewed something was a raincoat for my dogs, but I abandoned the project midway as I…..err… you guessed it…. was too lazy. That was 3 or 4 years ago.

The last project i actually finished was when I was 13 years old – I had no choice, it was a Home Ec assignment. That pair of culottes had stitches running in every direction except straight. My mom still wears that pair. At home, of course. She isn’t mad enough to wear such an ugly thing into public.

When I unpacked my machine, a wave of nostalgia swept through me as I thought of all the home made PJs my granny (dad’s mom) made for me. She also sewed a pillow and a bolster. I’ll let you in on a secret…. I STILL use that pillow and bolster. They are smelly but they are mine and I will bring them to my grave.

I also remembered the dresses, blouses and skirts that my mom made for me. When I was much younger, I wore them happily but as I grew, she had to force me to wear skirts as I preferred shorts/ pants. It’s Nad’s turn now to force me to wear skirts. Hahahaha.

I remembered the many nights where I would fall asleep to my mom’s sewing machine’s sounds. That dull hum from the next room, the sound of scissors snipping. The “Shit!”s when she made mistakes (seldom).

I also remember taking her curved ruler and pretend it was a machine gun. Hahaha.

I also remember my dad and I picking my mom up when she was attending sewing classes. One evening we came home with a pair of ducklings. Because while waiting for her, I saw them in a petshop and wanted to keep them. – My mom had to bathe them and take them for walks instead of me. My parents gave them away to a farm in the end. -

My granny’s machine was the old Singer type where you had to pedal. I loved playing on it. She would remove the needle before I pedaled away the afternoon, pretending to sew.

Still, I never thought I would pick up sewing, ever. It must be the mother hormones that Sunshine gave to me. Now I just want to sit at home and sew and knit all day.

I’m going back for a short holiday next month and I will absorb as much sewing tips from my mom as I can. I’m really excited about what I can learn from her.

I hope they would be proud of me.

 PS: For those who don’t get the joke, Brother and Singer are famous brands of sewing machines. Hahahaha. I’m lame, I know.Â