March, April, May and June Makes

This year's been incredibly cruel to me. It's one hundred percent due to my bad judgement. I had injured my left shoulder last year and it was very slowly healing on its own. I did see a physiotherapist (subsidized) once and he did a few shoulder manipulations (press here, press there, pull here, pull there) and taught me 2 very simple exercises to do every day which he said should fix the problem. By the way, he was insistent I did not have a shoulder issue. He was very sure I had a neck issue. Also, he told me I'm not allowed (by him I suppose) to see him again for the same ailment unless I go back to the doctor to get another referral to see him. It had taken me a 3-month wait to see this idiot physiotherapist in the first place so no thanks. 

Well, things were going well shoulder-wise until January when I went to throw rubbish down the rubbish chute. In Singapore if you live in a flat, the rubbish chute is where you dump your rubbish. In very old flats, the rubbish chute is inside the flat. Mine is a shared rubbish chute with my neighbours located a few steps outside my flat. On that fateful day, I made a bad mistake of throwing a bag of trash that was way too big for the rubbish chute opening. I ended up jamming the door which couldn't close completely and it couldn't open either. The sensible thing to do would have been to call up the town council to fix it. But I opted to do the stupid thing. I used both my hands to yank the door open. And yes, I managed to pull the door open but the force from the impact of the door opening suddenly sent me flying backwards and you guessed it - it aggravated my bad shoulder. The pain was so bad I thought I was dying. I squatted down howling like an animal. Eventually the pain subsided but the damage was done. The good news though is I managed to free my trash down the chute and the rubbish chute door was not damaged.

At first I didn't see a doctor because you know what doctors say about injured shoulders? Do nothing, it'll heal on its own. So with that wisdom in mind, I left my shoulders alone. Which was a very big mistake because my left shoulder slowly became very bad to the point where every little thing made it worse, causing great pain. It felt almost random. Like if someone touched my shoulder, if hubs sneezed (he sneezes a lot), if my shoulder touched a chair, if someone brushed past my shoulder, if someone pulled my left hand, if I moved my left arm an inch, if I breathed deeply, if I turned... 

One day I told myself I had better find myself another physiotherapist because on its own, my condition was getting worse. I went to this clinic which I go to for health checkups and you know what the doctor said? Do nothing. It'll heal on its own. But he did refer me to the clinic's physiotherapist. Unfortunately, physiotherapist services at this clinic is not subsidized so it costs about 100 bucks each time. But since it's not subsidized, I could literally see the physiotherapist as many times as I wanted. The thing is the physiotherapist only came fortnightly so there was a waiting time to get my first appointment which was in end March. 

Now this story would have a happy ending if I hadn't been impatient. After my first visit to the physiotherapist, my pain was slightly reduced and he confirmed I have a frozen shoulder. A very bad one but he said it's treatable. I was given a few exercises to do at home and I started to feel hopeful. Unfortunately, my next appointment was more than a month away. I felt very desperate and decided to see a traditional Chinese medicine doctor (sinseh) for acupuncture. After all, the doctor had suggested acupuncture at a hospital but I rejected it because I had been there before and the experience was not good.

There is a traditional Chinese medicine clinic near where I live and I made an appointment. The sinseh I saw spoke English so I was rather relieved and maybe trusted him more. He placed a few needles on my arm and shoulder plus a couple on my right foot near my toes. He explained that there's a meridian relationship between the injured area and the non-injured area. Anyway, after the acupuncture, he asked if I wanted a massage (tui-na) of the injured areas. He said why not try his method and see if it worked. This sinseh was convinced I did not have frozen shoulder. He said I had injured certain muscles around my shoulder. Anyway, the tui-na was super painful. He basically felt around my shoulder/arm that hurt and rubbed away. I felt sore as hell afterwards but after 2 weeks the pain went away and believe it or not, I went back to the sinseh a second time for the same treatment. 

This time though, things didn't go so well. Firstly, before the sinseh inserted the needles on my right foot, he didn't do it near my toes like the last time. Instead he pressed and rubbed very hard on my front right ankle. It was crazy painful and I told him so. And the sinseh said that the pain told him he was hitting on the correct spot. Then he placed a needle on the very painful spot (created by him). It was unbearable and I told him I couldn't take it. So he took out the needle and put it on another location. The rest of the acupuncture went as normal. After that, he tui-na my shoulder/arm as before. Except, this time he sounded a bit lost as if he didn't know what the hell he was doing. He would press and ask, this hurts right? When I said no, he would dig around for another location and kept on until he found a spot that hurt and he would rub until tears came to my eyes. I don't know why I trusted the sinseh despite all the pain he was giving me. The next day I could tell the sinseh had worsened my shoulder/arm. The pain was so unbearable and wouldn't go away for weeks. On top of worsening my shoulder, the sinseh also injured my right ankle which was fine before. Could this get any worse?

Yup. One day I discovered I couldn't eat without getting stomach pains and bloating. It got so bad even a drop of water could cause me great discomfort. The good ole' gastrics was back. It was probably due to all the painkillers I had been taking. Plus the stress from the shoulder pain. I stopped taking painkillers immediately and went on gastrics medication for a month. After a month or so, I could finally eat like a human being again. Honestly during the month I couldn't eat and I was also still in pain from the shoulder, waking up each day all I could think of was: another day of pain, another day of suffering. I really hated being alive. How I managed to go through each day without painkillers is beyond me. It's all a blur to me.  

Over the years I've taken my fair share of painkillers. Doctors have warned me about the dangers. Well, it's finally come to bite me in the ass. Recently, my doctor told me that my test results say that my kidney may be impaired. They don't know what caused it but I can't take strong painkillers anymore. Panadol is all I'm allowed from now on. The kidney issue can be taken care of with medication so it's not like I will lose my kidney right away. At the moment it's still wait-and-see. After the next test results, the doctor will likely prescribe me some kidney-loving medication.

Well, I learnt my lessons and decided to stick to the physiotherapist. He's patient and his skills are decent. If only he's a miracle worker...If only I didn't have to pay almost a hundred bucks per session... At first I saw him fortnightly. In May, he started coming to the clinic once a week so I jumped at the chance to see him weekly. Hubs nearly fainted when he saw how much I had spent on my treatment. 

So far I have recovered some movements and flexibility. I have a long way to go before I could consider myself fully healed. Due to long period of not using my left arm, my muscles had become very weak. So apart from recovering my arm flexibility, I had to work at rebuilding my muscles. Every day I have to do some specific exercises. Each time I do the exercises, especially the harder ones, I risk aggravating my injury. The thing is I have to bear with some pain but not push it too far. It's tricky. I have injured myself a few times. Some weeks it is 1 step forward, 3 steps backward. Once I injured my back. Fortunately it got better after a few weeks. Some weeks, especially when I don't see any progress, I feel like a frail mess. I try not to think about all the things I cannot do. Instead I think about all the actions I've regained. That way I don't feel like so pathetic.

After a lot of hard work, perseverance and pain, I am now able to do the following:

• hang laundry (boo)
• cook independently 
• bake (hubs has to carry the mixer for me)
• cut fabric (it's still awkward when I spread out a large piece of fabric)
• remove my T-shirt the way humans do over their heads (I had to wear very loose T-shirts and remove them like a skirt. Sad)
• hug someone (yay for my daughter)
• tolerate hub's sneezes (no more pain every time he sneezes!)
• wash my hair with 2 hands
• clean my right armpit (woo hoo!)
• use the rotary cutter (I almost cried)

On my wish list are just 2 things I hope to do even if I don't achieve full recovery (touch wood):

• sleep on my left side
• swim (breaststroke)

Lately I've started using my left arm more. Definitely no heavy lifting but really just to use my left hand naturally when I go about the day. I've also been sewing quite a bit. 

This sleeveless shift dress I actually made just before my shoulder got really bad. I tried it on and had a hard time removing it because there's no zipper or buttons. The fabric is a Ikea remnant I had bought years ago. The neckline and armholes are finished with bias binding. I included one pocket. Why not 2? I forgot why. The edges are serged and I wish I had taken the trouble to change the serger thread to white. To draft this dress, I followed PatternLabLondon's youtube video. You need to have Adobe Illustrator tho'. Honestly, drafting patterns on paper is a lot faster. I gave this dress to my daughter who says she'll wear it a home.

After I had sewn a Gemma top for myself in January, I wanted to sew one for my daughter. (even though she hadn't asked for it). I think I sewed this in March and back then my arm was still in bad shape. It was really hard handling the fabric with a bad arm. Fortunately it's only a blouse so it took me maybe a week to complete. I'm so pleased the serger thread matched the fabric. Sadly, my daughter said she may not wear the blouse because it's sleeveless. I do hope she gets over the phobia of wearing sleeveless clothes like I have.

This gingham shift dress (pattern from Christine Haynes Skirts and Dresses book) was my first attempt at sewing after regaining some flexibility. My left arm was still pretty weak but I could move it around and it did its fair share of the work. It took me one whole week to complete the dress. I don't know why I chose this pattern. Is it hideous? It's pretty shapeless but it was an easy sew. Anyway, I made the mistake of using this thin fabric so it's a bit see-through. My daughter says she'll probably not wear it because it's too see-through. My bad. I haven't tried on this dress because I'm not confident I can get out of it. Yup, another no zipper, no buttons dress. The sleeves aren't cut separately so no finishing required. The neckline was finished with bias binding. The raw edges were serged and again I wished I had changed the serger thread to white.

My daughter said if I were to sew anything new for her, it must have sleeves. So I worked on a pattern for a blouse with inset sleeves. Getting the fit right took ages. It's still not perfect but it's not too bad. I wanted this blouse to be a top she could wear to work so I chose a light colour. The fabric is calico with white print. The closure is invisible zipper. The neckline is finished with facing. I made the mistake of cutting the facing too narrow and it couldn't stay down naturally so I had to hand tack it all around. What a rookie mistake. For this blouse, I made the effort to change the serger thread to white. It took me 2 whole days - 1 day to thread it correctly and 1 day to recover.  

The last item I made is basically the blouse with sleeves and invisible zipper but lengthened with 2 pockets. I took the trouble to change the serger thread to grey and this time it only took me a few hours. My daughter prefers the dress with a belt as she doesn't like to wear shapeless dresses. When I was a hot young chick back in the days, I wore this kind of dresses all the time. I cut the neck facing wider for this dress and it lay down obediently.

My next project is likely to be a shirt or blouse with buttons. This shirt no.1 which I made in 2018 and never wore became invaluable to me during the period when I couldn't remove T-shirts over my head. Suddenly clothes with buttons were badly needed. I only have 4 buttoned shirts and shirt no.1 with buttons very quickly became my favourite. Who knew this shirt would come in so useful? Since I've come to love buttoned shirts, I would like to make one for my daughter. Hopefully she won't reject it! See you in my next post and I pinkie promise not to bitch about my frozen shoulder anymore.

Cleo Skirt With Side Zipper

This is my third Cleo skirt. Help. I clearly need an intervention. This time, I made one with a side invisible zipper. Rae has a post on adding a zipper to a Cleo skirt if you want to take a look.

I used a cotton drill fabric which I have no memory buying. It's like the past 10 years I was a different person and I woke up and am just discovering all the stuff the other me did. Like buying this fabric.

I started working on this skirt in December last year. Which was unfortunate because December 2019 was when I went through a crazy greedy phase (unlike my other not so crazy greedy phase) and ate waaaay too much. As a result there was a massive weight gain, especially around the tummy. And I was feeling sad about it because I was thinking I'm never going to be able to lose the extra girth. So I did the best thing I could think of (at that time) - I made the Cleo skirt to match my wider girth. It would be my "fat skirt".

Of course I lost some of the girth in January and trust me, I'm not complaining. I was still working on the skirt in January and I could have re cut the waistband but I was too lazy and I also thought it's not a bad idea to have a "fat skirt".  Also I didn't put on thaaaat much weight so I was sure I could still wear it. And I'm right. I wore it out last week and it works. Except I don't really like wearing loose skirts. I find that I have to adjust my waist every now and then. A bit irritating but I'll continue to wear it.

The finishing for the zipper area wasn't as good as I would have liked. The first time I sewed the waistband I did it in one step sewing the zipper to the front and back. The finishing was great but I found it hard to move the zipper as the fabric is a bit thick. So I redid it in 2 steps. First, I sewed the zipper to the front. Then I sewed the back of the waistband to the zipper using a smaller seam allowance to allow the zipper to move.

The finished skirt is 18" long including the waistband. I made the front and back body the same width because I found my previous Cleo skirts look a bit flat on the back.

Hopefully this is my last Cleo Skirt. I should move on to other kinds of skirts.

A Line Skirt With 2" Flare and Pockets

If you know me, you'll know I dislike drafting my own patterns for garments. I'd much rather someone else do the hard work. That is why I bought this book Beginner's Guide to skirts by Wendy Ward. After buying it, I didn't open it for at least 6 months until last year in September or so. I wanted a simple A line skirt with pockets and after looking for one in shops without much success, I realised that if I wanted one, I've got to make it myself! And the book has the pattern for something similar. So lucky or so I thought.

Then I tried to trace the pattern. OMG. Is it just me or do all the lines look the same? It is so unfortunate that the pattern I wanted was printed in some sort of purple which is so similar to another purple.  And I cannot tell the difference between the two. I might be purple colour blind! I made a few attempts to trace the pattern but finally I gave up because I didn't want to die before my time. Why couldn't the patterns be printed in black and white? It's so frustrating. $29.95 down the drain.

I didn't want to give up on the skirt so I decided to draft one myself which is an indication of how much I want the skirt. Fortunately I still have my basic skirt pattern which I made in 2018. Using that pattern as a base, I used a cut and slash method to give the skirt a 2" flare.

And this beautiful skirt was the result. I wanted a waistband and I wore this skirt at waist level. It is surprisingly comfy despite my having a bit of a tummy. Oh, why can't I have a flat tummy!

When I drafted the pockets, I was a bit greedy and drafted them too big. Next time I'll be sure to go narrower and less deep. Also, I wonder if you can spot something?

Yup, silly me. I have a dart in the pocket. After the cut and slash, I didn't manage to remove the dart entirely and I chose to keep it instead of widening the skirt flare. Or I could have removed the dart entirely since it is so small! Having a dart in the pocket instead of the skirt front created so many little things you have to take care of to ensure the skirt matches up with the pocket and still stays within the correct width. Needless to say, I'll never put a dart in a pocket again.

I don't know why I chose to go with center zipper installation. I think a lapped zipper might be better.

I made the skirt in January because I suddenly wanted to wear it for Chinese New Year. To make sure I don't abandon the project, I did not buy any new bottoms which means if I don't finish the skirt...

In case you find the fabric for the skirt familiar, I used the leftover fabric from my Crescent Bag. The fabric is comfortable and only cost me $5 per yard!

I love, love this skirt so much. My daughter says she likes the skirt so it's on my to-do list.

Specs:
Finished  skirt is 21.5" long including waistband
Finished waistband is 1.25" wide

Star Wars Cleo Skirt For My Girl

I finally made the Cleo Skirt for my daughter. My girl folds the laundry and whenever she sees my Cleo Skirt (here), she would squeal and say, so cute! So one day we went to Spotlight to get fabric so I could make her a Cleo Skirt. She chose a Star Wars fabric and this was the cheapest we could find. I wanted a comic strip one because the fabric was thinner but the price was ridiculous. The Star Wars fabric is cotton drill and not ideal for gathering with a pocket but I thought I could make it work.

When I was cutting the fabric, I noticed the fabric print had a printing flaw. One line down the middle of the fabric. It made me really angry because the location of the flaw meant I couldn't work around it. Fortunately, the skirt had lots of gathers so it is very hard to see the flaw once the skirt is made. I think it's not cool of Spotlight to sell flawed fabric without notifying the buyers.

So what can I say about making the Cleo Skirt the second time? Firstly, with a side pocket, it is pretty hard to do gathers with drill cotton. I didn't use shirring elastic. Instead I did it the old fashion way - 2 lines of basting stitches and pull like hell.

I feel so fortunate I have a serger. Without a serger, I doubt if I would want to make clothes. Raw edges drive me crazy. I still haven't explored using my serger beyond serging. But I maintain the machine very well. I clean and oil it after every use.

I made the skirt in size XS. I had forgotten that I found the back of the skirt a bit flat and did not make adjustments. My daughter doesn't seem to mind it. The final length of the skirt is 16". She likes her skirts short.

I hope my girl will enjoy wearing her Star Wars Cleo Skirt. It is a very easy skirt to make and the best thing? You can gain a bit of weight and still be able to wear it.

Pattern details: here

Cami Cami Cami

Dear 3 persons who still read my posts,

In my last post, I shared that I intend to make something to wear out of a fabric I don't love. Someone left this comment:

that fabric you hate, but are making something to wear out of? Don't.

I don't know who left that comment as he/she forgot to leave a name. As you can tell from the first image, I did go ahead to make a cami out of the fabric I didn't love. Just to be clear, I did not ignore the advice given by Anonymous. You see, I get a lot of anonymous comments on my blog posts and they're usually gibberish left by spammers. So I don't read them. Blogger goes through them on my behalf and only publishes the ones it considers non-spam. So by the time I saw the comment, I had already cut and sewn the whole thing.

And just to be clear. I don't hate the fabric. I just don't love it.

I only had 1 yard of the fabric so I googled for something to make and I found Melly Sews camisole tutorial. There's a free pattern (Melissa's size) and a video. To get the pattern, you need to get the password from her newsletter... Anyhoos, I congratulated myself on being very close to Melissa's size so I could use her free pattern. (my boobs are much smaller) It's a very simple pattern. If I were to draft my own camisole, I would lazily draw a horizontal line across the chest. But Melissa's version has a little v-neck. And you have to use bias binding. I don't know if you know this but bias binding and I aren't exactly on speaking terms. 

I used bias binding (1/2") to do the v-neck. It's a little tricky to do the little dip. (watch the video) I cut my binding at a 60 deg angle. For the binding that goes over my shoulder, I cut binding on the crosswise grain because I don't have enough fabric for a 45 degree nonsense and I don't fancy doing multiple joins. I did not do an adjustable strap either because I don't have the hardware so mine's a fixed length strap. I have to say I totally dislike doing binding because after you have done the final fold you need to machine sew the folds together and no matter how good your sewing skills, you can't get it perfect.

This is the back which has an elastic running across.

I did a good job on the inside - serged everywhere. There's a small amount of fabric left and that will go into the scrap bin. I congratulate myself on using almost 1 yard of my fabric stash.

I used my iphone self timer to take a few hundred pics of me in my camisole.

Can anyone see a defect in my shoulder blade?

So what do I think? The camisole fits me very well. The only thing that bothers me is the strap. See the last pic. One strap tends to fall off. I think an elastic strap is a better option but I didn't think of it earlier. Will I wear it? Yes, but only at home. I don't like to reveal too much of my body when I go out. Will I make another one? I'm not saying no but if I make another one, it has to be in a knit fabric. I don't know why but when I think of camisole, I can't imagine it in a woven fabric.

What do you think? Yay or nay?