Yuki Clothing

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Author Archives: Nicole Nordström


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Rice Pillow

Rice_pillowBought this lovely fabric on sale but I didn’t quite know what to do with it. After careful deliberation, I’ve decided to make an apron (but that’ll be in a post in the future). Today’s post is about what I made from the soon-to-be-leftovers. (Since I haven’t even started making the apron yet, I can hardly call it leftover, can I?)

My friend Mia gave me the idea for a rice pillow on our last sewing circle and here it is! This is gonna be a present for my soon-to-be mother-in-law and hopefully she’ll like it. Since I’ve got enough fabric to make a smaller army of rice pillows, I will make one for my mum as well later on. Perhaps I’ll even make one for myself (or maybe it’s more correct to say “for my fiancé”)… We’ve already got one pillow but I’m always hogging it so perhaps one more would be nice.

For anyone interested in making one for yourself, here’s some info (if you haven’t got one already, make/buy one now! They’re freakin epic!):

  • Measurements for the pillowcase are ~18x48cm.
  • Measurements for the inner-pillow are ~17,5×46,5cm.
  • 1,5 kg Japanese rice (I guess any rice will do, I just used the sort I’ve always got at home)
  • Use fabrics like linen or cotton. Also, think about using cotton thread (not sure what’ll happen in the micro if you don’t).
  • It could be a nice idea to make two seams, in case the rice decides to run away.
Inside of the rice pillow.

Inside of the rice pillow.

Heat in the micro for ~3min. Some say you should put in a glass of water together with the pillow. Water + Rice + Heat… I don’t know about you, but I smell disaster. Never done that, never burnt down the building so you can probably do without the dangerous water.

When not being used, store the pillow in a dry place.


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My neighbour Totoro! (となりのトトロ)

Blue Totoro crochet

Blue Totoro crochet

For those of you who doesn’t have a clue what “Totoro” is, I recommend taking a look at IMDB. Then hurry up and buy this wonderful movie asap!

Even though I made this as a Christmas present for my oldest niece last year, I have to write about it because it’s just too darn cute. I almost feel like making one for myself, but then remind myself of how long it took to complete and immediately suppress the urge.

If I’m not mistaken, it took 1 ball of white cotton yarn and 3 blue + some black yarn for eyes and nose. The pattern said to use plastic eyes but since I made it for an almost new-born I wanted to make it safe (what if an eye fell off!?).

I’m not entirely sure, but I think I got the pattern from this site:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/blue-totoro-amigurumi


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Baby onesie with snails

Friends of mine are expecting their first kid in a couple of months and I thought I’d make a little something for the little monster. Here it is, my very first baby onesie (baby-anything, as a matter of fact)!

baby_onesie

Olive coloured onsie with snails

Unfortunately, I don’t have a baby of appropriate size to try my creation on so let’s just hope it fits. The snails are slanting a bit but that’s just the fabric’s fault (and you can’t really expect snails to move in a straight line, can you?). I just love this cute fabric, and the fact that the snails refuse to go in a straight line just adds to its charm.

If I could go back and re-do something I think it would be the bindings. The end result would probably have turned out better if I’d cut them a bit bigger.


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Beauty and the Beast

Contrary to what you might think, I’m not talking about the Disney movie but two of my attempts at sewing an invisible zipper. My lovely friends just cannot stop making fun of me whenever they see one of my very much failed attempts, or as I like to call it, the abomination. And I really can’t blame them…

The Abomination

The Abomination – I really wish this wasn’t my work :/

The Beast

Just look at how completely visible this “invisible” zipper is!

How to avoid this: Open up the zipper, iron it a bit and sew really, really close to the plastic teeth. Just take care not to sew too close or there’s a risk you can’t close it.

Moving on to the next problem. See how the fabrics are all skewed on the two sides of the zipper?

How to avoid this: Begin sewing one side of the zipper. When you’re done, close the zipper and mark with a needle where it’s vital that the fabrics match. Now it’s time to sew the other side. Open the zipper again and sew over the critical part. Close the zipper again to check that it looks good and then finish the rest.

Last issue: You see the ugly fold at the end of this horror?

How to avoid this: Never try to sew an invisible zipper in just one piece of fabric that you just cut open. The engineer within me says it should be possible and that I just need to try harder. But trust me, cutting the fabric into two pieces where you want to install a zipper will save you a lot of headache.

Oh and one more thing, use your brain when doing this. I clearly underestimated my opponent and managed to first sew on the sodding thing backwards. One day I will untack it and do everything all over again.

The Beauty

For the second and improved version of the skirt I knew that I had to fight the same battle again, but this time I would not lose! And here’s the result, isn’t she a beauty?

How it's supposed to be done!

How it’s supposed to be done!


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Oversized tank top

Oversized tank top

Oversized tank top

An old friend asked me to make something for him, like a tank top or something. I was first a bit hesitant because I’ve never actually made anything for men before but then I thought to myself “how hard could it be?” Famous last words, ey…

Since Jenny’s too small and got boobs (my friend’s neither small nor got moobs), I got my fiancé to act as a dressform. He did a good job and the end result was pretty alright. Here it is, an oversized tank top!