For this particular project, I ordered my fabric online at Kewl Cotton. I came home yesterday from Friday brunch with Syad to find my package arrived on time! Yeaay! I was so excited to start on the project, and I immediately pre-washed the fabric. Luckily the weather was in my favour and the fabrics dried within an hour.
Just a note, I always pre-wash my cotton fabrics. Since this one doesn’t have much starch (which is great!) I didn’t have to soak it. So I only pre-washed it incase it shrinks (although the owner claimed this one doesn’t shrink) it doesn’t hurt to be on the safe side!
I recommend this shop to get your cotton fabrics, she has some really cute designs! However, do be careful with the colours as the colours in her albums are not so accurate. Regardless, the owner is really nice and she helped me to match the fabrics according to the colours. Weee! It can be confusing to match colours on screen.
Anyhow, after sewing most of the evening, I finished this project this morning. Normally, I should’ve done it in shorter time, but being enormously pregnant, sewing was definitely a challenge. If it was not for my belly getting in the way, my feet would get bloated when I stay in the same spot. So I had to take a break every hour or so or I’ll have to walk like a zombie in the most awkward way. Not very elegant I would say.
Set Tilam Kekabu. I’ve been looking for it for a while. Found online ones, and they are pretty expensive. The good looking ones cost above RM200. So Eddie asked his mum incase she knows where to get them in Penang. And guess what, she got a set for us! Yeay, Alhamdulillah. She said Eddie’s aunt got this one on the roadside or something, just like that. Kekabu is really hard to find in the city.
My mum said it’s very rare nowadays. She put all of us on tilam kekabu when we were babies, and she even made it herself. She only had to make one set, and it lasted all through her 5 babies, only the covers changed. So, Alhamdulillah for this one. I hope this one will last as long too.
The set comes with two bolsters and two infant pillows. The first bolster was a pain, only because I didn’t know how to construct it. Once I figured it out though, it came easy.
The pillows.. I screwed up the measurements but I guess it worked. Just not as perfect as I envisioned it.
I had a lot of facepalm moments with this one.
First, the table light on the working table was mysteriously missing. I pretty much sewed the bed cover in the dark. My eyes almost went blind because I couldn’t see where the threads were going. After I was done, I realized the table lamp was sitting on the floor, right next to where I was sitting when I was measuring and cutting the fabric! WTF??!!! UGH HAHAHAHA. I facepalmed really hard. Literally.
Next, as I tried the bed cover on the tilam kekabu, I realized it needed velcro or some sort of closure to make it look neater from the top. So, I grabbed the thinnest velcro I had. Only, this velcro has glue on the back. I was happy to use it because of the convenience of the glue.
Then I started sewing the velcro on. It was great for a couple of stitches before the problem arose. The machine stopped stitching! After much struggle, I realized that it was the glue getting to the needle and thread, thus making any stitch impossible. I had 12″ of velcro to sew on, and there were two pieces! I just, wanted to stab myself for getting into so much trouble. I should’ve just used the 2″ of regular velcro and saved me all these trouble.
Finally, no thanks to this preggo brain, I measured AND cut both of my bolster and pillow covers wrongly. The bolster covers were fortunate because I cut them bigger in size. So it was just the extra work. However, the pillow covers were 1″ short. And I had to compromise. Unhappy about it, but I had to compromise because I used up all my fabrics. and I hate compromising my projects! *architect in me talking LOL*
The conclusion is, I should’ve started making the baby projects earlier. Best is before 30 weeks. Being 37 weeks and trying to work, is definitely a challenge. For me, I just can’t avoid it. I was so busy before and now that I’m not, I’ve got this crazy eyes going on that I just HAD to make all these projects.
Overall, I’m very pleased with the result (if I can forget the imperfect pillows). LOL. Now lets just focus on the cuteness of this tilam kekabu! Love! Hope my baby will love it. She’s got a dedicated (and crazy nuts) mummy ;D
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this is so cute! Love the colour. I NEED to try sewing.