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I went fabric shopping today, and bought a silly amount of fabric.

It was brilliant.

This is my first serious fabric “haul” - and I sure hope there are many more to come, because this was exhilarating! It was also exhausting. Fabric is so heavy. Who knew fabric was so heavy?

I think I’ve mentioned the fabric market at People’s Park Food Centre before. It’s a shopping centre down in Chinatown. The ground floor is a hawker centre (an open-air food court) which is ideal for a quick lunch to get your energy up before you start on your circuit of the fabric shops on the first floor. And you’d better make sure you’ve got energy, because there are many, many fabric shops. And there’s so much variety! And it’s so affordable! When we one day move away from Singapore, I think this will be one of the places I miss the most. I’ll have to take some pictures next time I’m down there - I’ll have to be sneaky though, as a lot of them don’t allow photography.

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Yet another Tilly and the Buttons piece… I made this Bettine dress! With chilli print fabric! Because spicy food is my favourite food!

Making this dress felt a lot like cheating. It has extremely simple construction as it is targeted at absolute beginners. I think I’m in the “advanced beginner” camp by now, so this was a doddle to put together! I made the version without pockets (not a fan of how they look) and omitted the cuff tab, which meant I was left with very few pattern pieces and very few seams. And no darts! It was a very quick make, to the point that it seems like I barely did anything to the fabric for it to turn into a dress.

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My palm print Megan dress is finished!

The fabric is by Sevenberry and I’m in love with it. It’s light, but has some structure. It holds a crease when you want it to, but doesn’t crease through wear. It’s great!

I really like this dress. I put most of it together very quickly without much thought, which was rewarding after how long my first Megan took me. But when I was about to put the sleeves on my husband commented that it actually looked really good without sleeves. So I thought I’d have a go at making bias tape and using it as a facing. It took me a whole day to figure it out, but I got there in the end - one new dress, two new skills. And he was right! The Megan is brilliant without sleeves.

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Look, it’s my first blouse! I made the Mimi blouse from Love at First Stitch.

I made no alterations to this one as I made it immediately after making my alteration-ridden Megan dress (the one with the six bodice muslins) and I just wanted to get my teeth stuck straight into the sewing. I think the finished piece fits me alright - but then it’s a loose fitting garment with no darts or anything, so there wasn’t much risk there.

I bought the fabric at the People’s Park Food Centre in Chinatown, which is amazing by the way. Fabric stores as far as the eye can see - and cheap too!

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Firstly, a brief announcement: my blog has a new name! Cotton on Cotton is now Cotton Noodle. I changed it because wanted something that wasn’t so close to the name of an established brand. Picking a name is hard, and it’s even harder the second time around as you have something to compare it to. The new name quietly alludes to the fact that the blog was born in Singapore. Or maybe I was just hungry.

Anyway, back on topic… Here’s my work-in-progress:

After putting all that effort into fitting the Megan pattern, I’ve kicked off another version. This fabric is a Sevenberry cotton that I managed to find in the chaos of Singapore’s Mustafa Centre. I like that the palm print is quite busy, while the monochrome stops it from being loud. This is going to be another work dress so I want it to be relatively subdued.

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I discovered self cover buttons!

I’ve just finished off a Mimi blouse (another pattern from Love at First Stitch) and just have to share how cute my buttons are!

I’d never made self cover buttons before, so when I made these I was really giddy at how perfectly they came out. Check out how they’re the perfect size for an anchor to fit on!

And you know what? It’s a total coincidence. Ha! I didn’t think about it at all, I just picked out a fabric I liked (yay anchors) and bought 1/2" buttons because the pattern told me to. I was literally squealing with joy when the two came together so nicely!

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Behold… I made a Megan dress!

A few weeks ago I picked up a copy of Love At First Stitch by Tilly Walnes, from the Kinokuniya at Ngee Ann City. (If you’re in Singapore, I really recommend the sewing book section there - there are a lot of books that have paper patterns included, including those from bloggers like Tilly, Collete Patterns and Gertie. I got a little over excited in the shop!)

I’d read the reviews for Love At First Stitch so I was pretty hyped for the book. And it totally lived up to expectation! It’s a gorgeous book, very beautifully put together - and Tilly has a lovely conversational way of writing which makes you feel like you’ve known her for years.

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In my first month of sewing I’ve made two Hollyburn skirts. The sewalong at Lavender Lane helped enormously through the process. (NB. Lavender Lane link removed, blog has sadly expired.)

I printed out the PDF pattern, and even just taping that together was a real learning curve for a newbie like me! Somehow I ended up with wonky grainline markings in the pattern – but I think I got away with it.

I made this green version first (my first ever garment!):

I was pretty pleased with myself. Within a few days I had turned a length of fabric into a wearable item of clothing!

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