TUTORIAL - How to Make Easy Fabric Ear Savers

Necessity is the mother of invention.

That quote is so true and looks at how people can be so creative with a mask during the pandemic. They even come up with the name, yes, ear savers.

I remember during my trip to Japan 2 years ago, I struggled with earloop masks because I'm wearing a hijab. Luckily my dear friend brought masks from Indonesia which is designed for hijaber, like me. Basically, it was like ear saver only it was a string of elastic. When I saw many people started making and sharing in Pinterest, I remember the one I wore in Japan. 

Today I finally get a chance to make one for myself and here is how I made it. The measurement is based on my measurement, so please feel free to reduce or add the length as necessary. 

Materials and Measurements: 

1 piece of fabric 8" w x 4" H (20 cm x cm)

1 piece of lightweight interfacing or all-purpose interfacing 7" x 2" (18 cm x 5 cm)

2 pairs of kam snap button 

Wonder Clips 

 

Let's Have Fun : 

1. Center and fuse the interfacing on the wrong side of the fabric and fold in all around seam towards the wrong side. 

2. Now fold the fabric lengthwise, clip it using wonder clips, and sew all around the perimeter using 1/8" seam allowance.

3. Installing snap buttons. Remember, the button stud and socket should be installed on the same side. First, install the stud on the outermost (3/8" or 1/2") from the edge. And the socket 1" from the stud. 

And voila! Your DIY ear saver is ready.  Now go ahead and make a few in different colors! If you wear hijab, you maybe want to pull the ear saver a little up so the mask won't slip down your face. I was thinking to use velcro but velcro tends to ruin my hijab or tangle your hair.  If you need more inspiration, I put together a board on Pinterest for this. Check it out. 

3D Face Mask with Ear Saver

I hope you enjoy the tutorial. Do share with people who you think might benefit from this tutorial. After all, sharing is caring.

Thank you for stopping by today!

Take care & stay safe,

- Elvira - 

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Small Business and Lockdown

The pandemic and lockdown have brought uncertainty for everyone. And for us, small business owners or we proudly said mompreneur, we have to take the business to the back seat. For those who sell digital products, they won't be much impacted because there's no product to be shipped.

While sewing and other behind the scene works are going on, we're worried about how and when we can ship them. During the strict lockdown for 2 months, I had to shut down my fabric and handmade shop, both in Etsy and Website. I actively following every bit of news about government guidelines regarding e-commerce shipping. By the way, strict lockdown means a movement of non-essential items is restricted. And since most people are gone to their village or hometown, no couriers are in operation until last week! 

Now we're on the 5th phase of lockdown and thankfully, postal and courier services for all have resumed. I put out a notification in my Etsy and Website that Shipping will resume after 31st May. According to the India Post replied to my tweet, we can ship to 103 countries, including the USA and UK, but when we went to the PO, the officer said the service to both the USA and UK is not available. As I am writing this, I'm still waiting for their response to my queries regarding this confusion. 

In the meantime, I got several calls from DHL e-commerce rep saying that Etsy India has tied up with them and I can send my packages through DHL. I was so excited and I called up the Bluedart (DHL rep locally) but I was going in a circle. Few rounds of call and WhatsApp messages didn't bring any good news ( as yet). Going to their website, there's no clarity about the tariff rate, etc. I mean, why would you offer such service and not updating the website? I feel that courier services should have a rate calculator for every service they offer regardless of whether they are individual or company. 

On a positive note (hopefully), I got a newsletter email from Shiprocket, which I recently used for delivering our domestic orders, that they tied up with several e-commerce courier services to deliver internationally, including DHL e-commerce, FedEx, dan Aramex. Well, this is certainly very good news to us, Etsy Sellers in India. So today, I upgraded my account and will complete any necessary paperwork (or e-paperwork).  I am trying to get hold of their customer service but it looks like everybody is busy :P. 

Anyway, I managed to understand how to schedule shipping from the computer. I understand that this e-commerce international service is very new, but I am sure the courier service company understood, even though we - small business owners - are small fish in the pond, but we're great in numbers. If anything  IMHO, the small e-commerce business will be able to jump-start the economic slump due to the pandemic. I hope they will simplify the paperwork and make international shipping as easy as India Post. Let's hope and pray this will work. 

So that's a little bit behind the scene of small business. If you're happened to place orders with one of our Shops, please bear with us. We're trying to get things sorted out. Your continued support and trust at this time really mean a lot to us! 

Now I better get back to my sewing table and finish a few orders. Thank you so much for dropping by and reading my blog. 

Until next time,

Take care & stay safe!!

Elvira

 

New normal after lockdown

3D Face Masks with Filter Pocket

Many small businesses suffered during a strict lockdown. If you read the news, many migrant workers have to walk for days to reach their village due to the unavailability of the transport system. I went out a few weeks ago and saw many people are walking on the highway, some with their friends, some with their family and young children. It breaks my heart to read and see the news about them that sometimes I just stopped reading the news. 

Mask for Kids

As the government relaxed lockdown a few weeks ago businesses  started to open and slowly people are back to work, to new normal.

New normal means:

• Wear a mask when you go out. (Also read: what fabric to use for homemade mask)
• Maintain a social distance of 6 feet (is that even possible here??).
• Wear a face shield if you cannot maintain 6 feet distance. (Also read: how to make DIY Face Shield)
• Cover your mouth with your elbow while coughing or sneezing.
• Frequently wash your hands with soap.
• Wash your groceries after you bring them in (at least I do this) - some said to leave the vegetables, etc in an open space for a couple of hours before putting them into the fridge.
• Change your clothes after you come back home and wash your mask every day. 

According to the news, the school most probably will re-open after July. Now, thanks to the internet, online classes are going on. Some parents suggested to only open the senior section so that the school can maintain 1/3 ratio per class. 

Many senior students also tweeted asking for reopening, especially those in the science stream. There are so many things to be considered before reopening and I know it's going to be tough for the teachers to keep vigilant of the students. 

How to make a surgical pleated mask

I guess we all need to learn to be more disciplined and considerate of others. Think twice before you act. Think about what will be the impact of your action for others. 

I hope this virus will be gone soon, meanwhile please wear a mask when you go out or when you don't feel well at home. 

Until then,

Take care & stay safe!

-Elvira- 

Bunny Mini Sling Bag for Toddler

Sewing for kids always brings happiness to me. So when my customer wanted a bag for her toddler, I said yes. She sent me a reference picture, a bag with bunny ears. Her daughter is only 2 years old so this bag is pretty small. I used the bigger size of the Mini Sling Bag pattern and trim the height a little bit. 

The picture below was the first set of ears that I did base on this bunny pencil case tutorial, but I was not happy. I found it too small. 

I remember I used to make flower brooch from fabrics, I thought that would be better for ears. I only need to cut the fabric larger. I cut 5" square fabric and cut them again to make 2 half square triangle. I used thin interfacing just to make the ears a little firm. Fold the triangle then sew the shorter side. Turn it inside out and hand stitch the straight side using running stitch and pull it tight and secure it. Tada! your fabric bunny ears are ready! 

Now place the ears on the bag exterior and make sure the ear's raw edges are placed at the edge. Baste stitch and you're ready to assemble the bag. 

Since I already sewed the sides seams of the bags, I decided to finish the bag using drop lining method. I little fiddly for a tiny bag but I managed :D.

I put the exterior bag in the lining, right side together, and clip it. I didn't trim the ears at this stage yet. 

Feed the bag under the needle and carefully sew using a 3/8" seam allowance. Once it's done, I trim the excess seam of the ears. 

Turn it inside out, topstitch the edge and voila! Bunny Mini Sling bag is ready to go! 

I really love how this turned out. I got this Riley Blake fabric for a long time and I'm so happy now I can use it. I hope this bag will bring happiness to her too! 

What do you think? What's your personal fave things to sew? Let me know in the comment below. 

Thank you for stopping by!

Take care & stay safe

- Elvira- 

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