Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Updates on Rachel and sewing


We're back from Bali and I wish we could say that we are happy and contented, but we didn't want to leave. It was so wonderful to be free of the day-to-day stress of our lives back home. Can't wait for our end-of-year holiday!

I'll do a short post on our trip after I've gone through our photos. I think in total there were at least five cameras shooting!

Rachel had a lovely time in Bali. She was a very good traveller. No fuss on the plane, to and fro. She was interested in and participated in our daytime activities - eating, swimming, sightseeing - and slept well at night. For meals, she nursed from the breast and ate whatever solid food we ate.



These photos were taken at our villa on Friday just before our relatives arrived. We arrived in Bali on Thursday and had a day and a half to ourselves before our relatives arrived late Friday afternoon. Rachel was well-loved by her relatives and she enjoyed every minute of it. She insisted on joining her older cousins in everything - swimming in the chilly pool late at night, swimming in the sea and playing on the beach under the hot sun, playing on the slides at Waterbom Bali, walking through the paddy fields at Sardine, sitting at the children's table with them, dancing with them, and generally, being one of the gang.

She charmed everyone with her girlish ways. She sat with her Aunty Margaret in the garden pavilion in our villa and looked on with curiosity while her Aunty Margaret put on her makeup. The next morning, she pouted her lips for her cousin Jerica to apply lip gloss. She picked out a small handbag at the souvenir shop, which her Aunty Margaret bought for her, and she paraded around with it for the next two days.



Development-wise, Rachel is expanding her vocabulary quite a bit now. She repeats a lot of the words that I say to her. She can say "bird bird", "apple", "duck duck", "bye bye", "dirty", "diaper", and quite a lot more. She is determined to learn to use her spoon and fork, and she is improving fast.

She still refuses to learn her ABCs, names of colours, and anything remotely academic. Love her attitude.



Okay, now let's talk about her mama-made outfit. The top is from a pattern called the Bimaa Sweater by LouBee Clothing. Both the floral and the mustardy-brown knit fabric were purchased in Chinatown. The floral is very light while the mustardy-brown is on the heavy side.

The pattern comes with three options for the neckline - the cowl-neck, the hoodie, and the shawl collar. This is the hoodie option. I made the cowl-neck option previously, which you can see on her in this post and also in the first photo in this post.  I made it in the 12 months size for the cowl-neck, but sized it up to 2 years for this outfit to account for the heavy mustardy-brown fabric.


The pants are loose-fitting drop-crotch harem pants, super comfy. I used a pattern called "The Best Harem Pants" by Too Sweets Patterns, but I had major problems with the fit the first time around - the waist was much too loose and the ankle cuffs were much too small. Unpicking the seams on this fabric was just too much work so I just sewed up a new one. That probably took me less time than if I'd unpicked the seams on the first one.

All's well that ends well. I think it looks pretty hip, and I might make a pair for Ryan - if my fussy man can accept this design. I put him in a sleeveless top the other day and he complained, "The sleeves are too short!" Okay, okay.

Anyway, this was a very comfortable outfit. Rachel wore the top on the plane ride to Bali and slept a good part of the way in it. More to come!



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