My short business of doing portraits

During the pandemic I was trying to explore some side hustle. So I put an ad on marketplace, which later was taken down by facebook as it was a service -  service is not allowed to be advertised on facebook. 

But during the short periold the ad managed to stay alive, I got a client who asked me to draw a portrait of 7 people.

She gave me a photo of each person and I did a rough sketch to show her how I would place these people in the picture. She was not only happen with it but told one of her friends about me. So this friend also came and asked for a portrait of five people.

The first client later asked me to do another portrait for one of her relatives and I did it. 

She was also so kind that she introduced me to a neighbour of hers. Ths neighbour asked me to do two portraits.

I learned how to draw even before I was in primary school. My parents both like drawing but they are never experts. They used to teach me to draw some very simple things. I became interested in drawing people because of my mother --  she liked to draw pretty women.

To be honest, after I've done all these commition, I felt a bit tired of portraying people. The payment wasn't the best and mostly, I just realized I wasn't good at drawing at all 😓 

When I was in school, I thought I would become an artist (who didn't!), and all my school mates love to ask me for a drawing of mine. After 30 years, today some of them still kept me drawing! Heartwarming indeed when I heard that. But my parents and my teacher never allowed me to go to an art school. In China, the best wayout for a working class family would be that the kid goes to the university. Going to an artschool would have been the last choice for a kid, unless they are from really rich families and they can just afford a good art school. Mine is never like that.

So I went to uni, just like many kids from both single-child families and more-than-one-child families, carrying the greatest expections of our parents.

I studied English for four years, and law for one year (during the four years), and had nothing to do with art. But I did take another year off two years after I finished uni. I studied fashion design in the best fashion design university in Beijing, for a whole year. That was when I got back to drawing the things I always loved: women in pretty clothes.

Then, I worked for a fashion website for a bit, changed my career to work in a sales team in a consultant company, but quickly realised that I was a good sales material. So I found another job, working for a styling company as an editor.

After I moved to Australia, my drawing life kind of ceased. Thanks to the lockdown, I did have more heart for creating. But I guess this was it for now, my portraits.

Good news is, I started to crochet a little bit again, after at least 3 years without touching the hook!

Summery Outfits for My Daisy Dolls

Months ago I designed and then crocheted a jumpsuit for my favourite Daisy doll. I really think she looks fab in it!

It was made using crochet cotton thread and a hook smaller than size 1 mm!

My friend Inge from Daisy group asked me if I could make a yellow version for her, because she had been wanting a pair of crochet doll pants. There are other things I also needed to improve from the above version so during the last week or 2 I focused on designing a better version. This time, it will be a separate set with a top and a pair of palazzo style pants.

So here they are!

The first version also only has the front part of the top with a pair of sleeve straps holding it in the right place with the help of the halter beck design, and this time I made it a separate top.

Both the pants and the top can be worn in 2 ways. The pants have an opening with a popper, and the top has string features which make it possible to be worn on a bigger doll!

I also wrote down the patterns for the pants, and hopefully I can uploaded it to ravelry or etsy for sale. Now i just need to take more photos for the pattern!

In fact, I have a tight project to do during the next 2 months but I still want to make something for my new doll Agatha Primrose. Here in Singapore it is always summer, but I know somewhere else in the world it will be cold soon, so some crochet items will be necessary for her if she decides to travel to a much cooler place in the future! 

So, we will see!

Crochet Designer Fashion 2017

As a crochet lover, it is not strange that when I saw a stunning design by Alexander McQueen from 2017 resort collection, I decided to have a look at other designer's work in the same season, and found a few very beautiful crochet designs! Pictures below are all from Vogue.com.

Alexander McQueen 2017 Resort

It is a very in-style off-shoulder design with ruffles seemingly made with small flower motifs connected with nets on the bodice, and dc or tr stitches in different colours.

Valentino 2017 Resort

Classic Irish crochet skirt!

Moschino 2017 Resort

Granny squares are everywhere - on bras, underpants, dresses, hoodies, jackets, bags and even pageboy hats!

I hope this post has brought you some great inspirations! It has already brought me a lot!

Crochet bike motif

When searching crochet bicycle I couldn't find anything so I did one which took me an hour or so I guess (when you crochet, time tends to pass super fast so maybe it was longer!) I quite like it!

I was planning to write the pattern down but as it went the stitches became quite messy... And I was having an argument with my husband about who did the drum outside our building so it was finally a mission impossible to be done.

But glad the little bike turns out to be sweet and my favourite part is the basket with a flower.

Laura's hat and dress were done by me in last month and earlier this month.

crochet for dolls - Crochet socks for Blythe and similar dolls!

This pair of socks look quite nice with Laura, my new dolly who specially models my crochet work for me. I used slight different stitches for the 2 socks but basically they are both cute enough! I think some lace on the ribs might make them look even sweeter. Very soon I will list this sock tutorial on etsy in ravelry, and probably on etsy too. I also accept orders. 

Laura has a "azone"body, super articulated, she might have slightly bigger feet than a real Blythe doll but the socks will still look nice on smaller feet. I also tried the socks on Mary Quant Daisy dolls who has similar body size with Blythe, and they look pretty cute too!

The photo below shoes the details of the socks. If Laura could talk I believe she would have told me she loved them! Stay tuned for the pattern update in Ravelry.

Magical Crochet Button-Fastening Toy Bracelet

My very first official crochet design: Magical Crochet Button-Fastening Toy Bracelet!

One day when I was out with my family, I felt a bit bad that my son didn't have any toys to play at hands during the car journey. I really wanted to make something that he can play for some time and doesn't get bored easily. Then I thought that he was still not able to fasten a button. I searched the internet for a button fastening bracelet and couldn't find one I'm satisfied with, so I decided to create my very own button-fastening toy for him.

I thought about button shapes and once wanted to crochet the buttons, and then decided I should start with the most basic and simplest idea. So now here it is! This bracelet can actually made of different yarns, threads and buttons - you can decide the materials! And once it's made, it can be worn with many different looks! My hubby is a math teacher and I asked him how many looks exactly can it create. He hesitated and couldn't give me a satisfying answer, because the bracelet has too many ways to fasten the buttons, and there are just too many possibilities!

I put the pattern for sale on ravelry.com (Also available on my etsy store and will soon be available on ebay too), hoping there will be kids enjoying this little magical bracelet! You may be even get your kids to make it on their own, because it's really really easy to make!

And what happens when I give the toy to my boy? 

Well, he's only 2 years and half, and he's not hugely interested in the button-fastening game yet. But I'm sure he will soon be interested and spend some fun time playing with it when we are on another car journey!

A crochet skirt made of space dyed yarn

I came across this gorgeous pattern on Ravelry and immediately decided to make it. I've got 3 balls of space dyed woolen yarn I bought from the talented girl (little crab yarn) and before that I hadn't really known what to do with them. They were finally somewhere to go!

what it looks like on me

what it looks like laying flat

what the original design (D&G2013) looks like

what the crochet pattern looks like

I'm quite happy with how it turns out. It took almost exactly 3 balls. I repeated the part where the pattern requires, and also repeated the big flowers (Line 4-10) at last. The skirt finally comes a bit big, and doesn't really need a zipper or buttons. I made it a flat piece and this turned out to be a little mistake for colourful yarns like this - the seam will never look natural when sewn together! My mother later started to make a black one and I asked her to crochet rounds instead of the flat piece. Her black yarn looks great as the skirt. She hasn't finished it because the yarn ran out, and she will continue when she's back home.

This skirt now is sometimes worn by me at home as a poncho. Because it contains some cashmere it's quite warm! I might wear it some day out for a yoga or pilates class. After all, that was why I decided to make this skirt at the beginning!