An old love rekindled.

While I have been writing these posts on old projects, I remembered how much I love embroidery. It seems to have sparked a new desire to do more again.

So on came a new internet search while I was supposed to be writing my first assignment on Medusa. I am studying Myth in the Greek and Roman worlds, this year. I would like to share with you what I found.

Here is a site that has some lovely free patterns and a FAQ section.
http://embroidery.about.com/  it is heavy on advertising but definitely worth checking out.

http://www.royal-needlework.org.uk/  the Royal School of Needlework, lots of information. I would like to do a couple of their courses next year if  funds allow. In the meantime I stocked up on books from their on-line shop to learn some new techniques.

I have rotated that picture several times however it wanted to appear sideways each time. sorry.

http://www.embroiderersguild.com/
who have two magazines -
stitch and embroidery , which are both worth looking at.

For those of you who are interested the exhibition below is taking place at the ashmolean museum in Oxford.
On the Saturday 1 December there is a  big stitch event. I also hope to attend.

Threads of Silk and Gold: Ornamental Textiles From Meiji Japan Exhibition | 9 November 2012 – 27 January 2013 | Galleries 57, 59 & 60 | £6 /£4 Concessions Many of us are aware of the beauty of the traditional Japanese kimono: Threads of Silk and Gold introduces the less familiar but equally spectacular ornamental textiles that were made in Japan for the foreign market in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Intricate embroideries and tapestries, dyed silks and velvets entranced Western audiences with their sophisticated designs and brilliant craftsmanship. The exhibition highlights Meiji textiles from the newly-acquired collection of the Sannenzaka Museum in Kyoto, one of the finest and most comprehensive collections of its type in existence.


Wow so many events to do, we also have comi-con/expo (just found out Matt Smith, Doctor Who will be there) and hyperjapan that we want to attend.

How do you decide what to do when there are so many good things going on, On what to visit / do and what not to do. Perhaps we should play Diceman.

Sew Vala. x

Making the Most of Taobao: A Crude Analysis

Taobao is awesome; it’s the place to get cheap stuff for cheap prices—or in the case of Lolita, good stuff for medium prices. That is…until you factor in shipping. International shipping is the killer, and that’s the problem.

Picture this:

You buy a bunch of adorablestuff found only in Asia, and the prices are great! But eventually, the weight adds up and your Taobao agent slaps on a huuge shipping cost. Factor that in, you’ve ended up paying an average of 20USD per item. That might seem fine at first (compared to prices in America), until you realize that it’s 20USD for Taobao quality. Basically, you’ve paid Western prices for bad quality! Kinda beats the whole point of buying from Taobao in the first place, right?

So what to do? Well in any other case of high shipping prices, you’d probably want to increase your item subtotal to offset it. (I mean, you wouldn’t buy a $7 item just to pay $5 shipping on Amazon, would you?) 

So Taobao shouldn’t be much different--except that because shipping goes by weight, merely adding more items won't help. The other option is to buy more expensive/high quality items, such that the shipping is well worth it. (You’d much rather scarf up $20 shipping for a high-quality, expensive purse than you would a cheap purse, correct?)

But by how much would we raise the item value? Well, let’s take a look at the math:  

First, let’s examine the average weight per piece of clothing:

(I’ve averaged the values from this site.)

Now let’s look at how much it costs to ship one kilogram internationally. (I took my rates from Taobaospree, and I’m shipping to the US.)

By EMS, the first 0.5kg is 144元, and any additional 0.5kg is 45元. Let’s say you buy 5kg worth of stuff--that’s a good handful items! The average cost per kg is then:

[144 + (45)(4.5)]/5 = 69.3元 = 11USD

So it takes 11USD to ship 1kg worth of stuff. If we use the averaged weights above, we can conclude the following international shipping fees per item:

With that in mind, you can estimate what quality/types of items you’d be willing to pay that much shipping for. If you ask me me, with that shipping, I wouldn’t buy anything valued lower than $20 (126元). Paying $7.15 for even a $15 sweater would suck! (Keep in mind that I’m cheap, hehe.)

But don’t lose faith! Chinese prices are still cheaper, which means that anything above 100元 is probably going to be pretty good quality. In other words, even though we can’t use Taobao to buy cheap stuff for cheap prices, we can still use it to buy good stuff for medium prices! Again, this is only because we live outside of China and international shipping is ridiculous. 

Sorry it was a bit long; I do hope it was helpful though! And of course, these are just my conclusions and thoughts are welcome. ^.^ Otherwise, what are your experiences with Taobao or Taobao agents? 

Clear Nail Dilemna

Hello, just a quick tip for clear fake nails!

I've mentioned Yukiumi in my old posts before, but I just can't get over it. I absolutely LOVE these little nails! It's definitely "kawaii sweet," with all the strawberries, cherries, oranges, and flowers; it's like a little fruit garden on your fingertips! Squeal-worthy!

Aw man, one thing I hate about roots is that it makes your hair look oily, even when it's not! Oh well, Oppa will bleach it for me this weekend, teehee!

Anyways, I want to caution you on something I discovered today!

If you wear clear fake nails, try to avoid cheap nail tape.....I had bought some really CHEAP nail tape that was more of a clumpy gooey film than tape (brown, by the way...). Yet it was very adhesive, so removing all of the brown goo from under the nails was difficult. As a result, when I wore the nails again today, instead of a nice clear finish, I saw little brown discolorations under the nails! Waaaaahhhh my beautiful nails!!! Cheap nail tape OK for colored nails, but not clear ones!

I don't know about nail glue, but I'm assuming that the residual glue left on the nail will build up, and if it's lumpy it will show. Not sure though, just a guess! Anyone else have experience with this?

Pattern re-use, Help please....

Morning all,

As I have found a new favourite the MaCalls Shirt and as I have plans to make this over and over again. I was wondering how many times a pattern could be used before it falls apart.

How many times have you re-used the same pattern?

Last night I was reading  this book

and on page 45 Sandra Betzina writes about fusing pattern pieces to interfacing. Have any of you done this, which interfacing did you use, Sandra's sugestions are Pellon or Fuse-a-Shade and what were your results.

Sorry this is not much of a blog more of an question and answer session, but I havn't any sewing friends apart from you lovely people on the blogging network.

Also has anyone ever used the inkjet paper on which a picture can be printed on from the computer and then ironed onto fabric. If so any suggestions on a good quality make.

Looking forward to your ideas, Happy Sewing Vala x