Vivatveritas.com is up and running!!!!!!

Hello all.Sorry for the many test posts and delays but finally  vivatveritas.com has been fully tested and is working. I will be posting an actual post with new content later tonight after I get back from the gym. So from now on head to vivatveritas.com and check out the blog, store and whatever else gets put up on the main site.  You should be redirected automatically but if not just click here or go vivatveritas.com. Also remember to update your bloglovin' and google reader.


See you all over there,
Chie
xoxo

Moving!

Just wanted to let you know that this blog is moving! The move date is this Thursday, May 12th in JP time. I've had my own website (www.vivatveritas.com) for a while, and wanted to integrate the main site and blog into one. With a help of my dear friend Naoko, I will be blogging from my main site! In order to move all the past blog posts from blogger to the new site, there will be no post tomorrow, Wednesday.
For those who come here (www.vivatveritas.blogspot.com), you will be automatically re-directed to the new site. I'm not sure what happens to the followers through bloglovin' and google reader, so I would appreciate it if you can update your link:)

Tutorial: How to make a poncho top

Hi! As I promised, here is the tutorial on how to make a poncho top from just a rectangle fabric! I meant to post this yesterday, but for some reasons, blogger wasn't letting me post.

I made some diagrams to show how to cut the fabric and where to sew. You can click the image above to enlarge.

Material needed:
❤ 1-2 yards or fabric, depending on the length of the top/dress. I recommend fabrics that flows well, and avoid stiff fabrics, such as denim, 100% cotton, linen or wool. I used very light weight polyester fabrics for my top and dress. I recommend light weight poly or rayon blend.
❤ thread
❤ elastic band. This is what you use to cinch the waist part. Cut two elastic bands, in length that's half of your waist. For instance, if your waist measurement is 28" around, cut two 14" elastic bands.


I'm pretty bad at writing instructions - so if you have any questions, please post a comment! I will try to answer as much as I can:)
Hope you enjoy this and please do share some photos if you make one!

Little girl's sun dress

This is something I worked on yesterday - little girl's sun dress! I used a pattern from Japanese website, called "Handmade no kokoro". The website has a bunch of free PDF downloadable patterns for babies and kids. The dresses are for "Pay it Forward 2011" participants, for those who requested to receive kid's handmade clothes...my apologies for taking forever to do this!

The dress has only two pattern pieces: bust part and skirt part. It's really easy to make, and you can make it in so many different variations by using different fabrics or lace trims at the bottom of the skirt. The pattern is for 6 month to 2 year old, and depending on the size of a child, you can adjust the tightness of the elastic band that goes under bust.

Mommy's diary 2

Thank you for all your advice and encouragement on breast feeding last week! I thought I was the rare one who was having the engorgement problem, so it was comforting to know that other people face the same problem as well. You are right, it DID get better. Although it is not completely pain free, I can see the improvement I made in a week. I think my body is adjusting the milk production to the baby's needs, and also the baby is drinking more, which helps a lot. I read about the cabbage leaf thing for engorgement help while I was doing some research online. I've never tried it since it sounds like a lot of work to prepare, but I read about it all over the place. It sounds like of strange to me that such an ancient method helps!

So here is one of my favorite outfits for Sophia from my father-in-law - lion suit! The suit has a tail as well:p
I can't believe how much she's grown in the past two weeks. I can see her getting bigger by the day.

I gained total of 10kg through out my pregnancy. Two days after the delivery, I stepped on a scale at the hospital, and almost screamed, since I only lost 2kg! It was mathematically incorrect - the baby weighted 3.6kg, plus water and placenta (I'm assuming it to be 2-3kg), and I lost twice as much blood than normal during delivery. I was expecting to see 5-7kg weight loss.
But a week after the delivery, I ended up loosing 8kg without doing much - no change in eating or no exercise. Now it's been two weeks, the last 2kg hasn't come out yet. Once I get the doctor's go-ahead, I'm going back to doing a hard work out, so I can fit in to the dress I made for my self for the 1940's swing dress sew-along!

Inspiration: snidel 2nd collection

All images via snidel

Last week, I posted about snidel's collection. When I checked back their website this morning, I saw they released "2nd collection". I love the Summer look of their 2nd collection, it reminds me of board walk, sun hat, beach and pretty bathing suits.. 

P.S. I will be posting up a tutorial of this poncho tunic/dress soon!

Scrap heap project: Completed 2

Left: Pale pink dot poncho tunic, Right: Dusty rose poncho dress

I completed 4th and 5th projects from my scrap heap! My 1st through 3rd projects are posted here. I wanted to make something new, but quick until I get up to my speed while I recover from the delivery. These tunics are super easy to make, and you can make them in so many different variations. These tunic and dress are made out of one big rectangle fabric! Can you believe it?

I first made the one on the left as a tunic. While I was sewing the tunic, I realized that it could be a dress by just lengthening the rectangle. I also added a waist sash for the dress version to make it somewhat different.

Is anyone interested in tutorial of how to make these tunic/dress? I can write a simple diagram of how-to if anyone wants to know:)

Weekend recap: Birthday weekend

April 28th was my birthday! I just turned to 27. This year's birthday was rather low-key, since the baby kept both me and my husband busy. Also my birthday fell on Thursday, so we celebrated my birthday on Saturday instead. We asked my parents to watch the baby while we went out for some dinner and drinks with close friends. Although we both love our daughter, it was so nice to be out as a couple without the baby and took some break.

Andy also surprised me with a gift of pretty lingerie - I did not own a piece of lingerie before this, since Andy likes "white tank top, sweat pants and white sneakers" on women (so strange, right? totally not my style). I never felt the need to own any sexy lingerie. But I love the color he chose (purple is my favorite color), and it will be great to throw on in the hot summer night.

How was everyone's weekend?

Free Pattern Month at Grosgrain

Are you following the free pattern month at Grosgrain? Now we are on day 4, and I already can't wait to try out their tutorials!

Day 1 featured the Sunny Resort Blouse pattern by the Sew Convert, one of my favorite sewing blogs! 
Day 4 featured knot shorts pattern by Elsie Marley, and although the tutorial is for kid's shorts, I think it would be great for adult as well for the Summer.

I'm happy to be invited as one of the contributors for the project! I'm sharing a free pattern on May 18th. I'm working on the patterns and tutorial now, and I'm learning a lot through this, from pattern grading to writing up a clear instruction.

Check out other contributors for the free pattern month here:)

Mommy's diary 1

Good morning all!
So week one of motherhood has been completed, only 50 more years to go :)  A lot has been going on in that area of my life.  Most of what goes on with newborns is interesting only for the parents so I won't bore you all with it.  But there are a couple things which I just have to talk about. 

The first night we brought her home was both exciting and really scary.  We had her at the house and she was sleeping well but the thought kept coming to mind "What if there is a problem"?  I could not sleep at all the first night.  I was constantly listening for her every breath.  Any of you have the same experience?  Thankfully over the next few days that thought subsided so now I can relax and if it weren't for another problem I would be sleeping quite peacefully.

That "other problem" I mentioned is breastfeeding.  I don't know how many of you have experience in this area but I can tell you that it is much more complicated than I thought.  I thought you just put babys mouth in the right place and that was that!  But apparently there are right and wrong ways to feed.  For example the baby must have their mouth not solely on the nipple but around the whole areola or else, like what happened to me, the nipple gets injured.  Because I was "doing it wrong" the first day or 2, I beat my nipples up so bad that I couldn't properly feed for a few days after that.  Another breastfeeding challenge I have encountered is my milk production is too high.  This is not a problem for the baby but for me.  My breasts fill up so quickly that they hurt.  It got so bad I couldn't sleep or eat or anything. I sent Andy on a mission to figure out what was going on, because it did not seem normal for it to hurt that much.  Andy is no doctor but he is a good google monkey and was able to figure out what the problem was.  Apparently because I produce an over abundance of milk I have to breastfeed a little differently.  I have to use one breast at a time so that the baby drains one entirely, gets the proper nutrition and can get my body to respond to the needs of the baby.  When I first started I was alternating between breasts for each feeding.  From what Andy was able to find out, that "normal" way of feeding won't work for me.  I need to have the baby on one breast for a full 15-20 minutes then on the next feeding use the the other side.  Breastfeeding is really complicated.  I had a really easy pregnancy but the delivery and week following is where I have been getting my mothering pains!

Outside of baby stuff, I have a couple photo shoots coming up.  I will start putting together my Carnival line soon and hopefully will be able to start with some new projects.  I wasn't sure how working with the baby would go but so far, it hasn't been too bad. How about you? How do you manage to do things while raising a newborn? Any suggestions?

All for now....time to feed, sew and feed some more!

Made more re-usable nursing pads. I need a lot of those! Tutorial is here.