This was intended to be the first item to be listed in the shop, and note that the seam from the sleeve cap is opened to the waistline. However the fabric stash for this material wasn't enough for making more, thus I decided not to list this up. The fabric was sourced from Bangkok during my trip in December, and I wasn't too sure that I will be back for more of these any sooner.

Anyways, this is a good sewing project for me and provided much more insights on how I should construct my garments in the future.

Do note, this dress is 100% hand-stitched including the internal seams.

Items listed in the shop won't be 100% hand-stitched though, but I will make sure that the external visible stitches will be done by hand, as do I guaranteed it by my unique sewing style haha :) 

The size for this dress is L, and fits perfectly at my waistline, not too loose not too tight.

Noticed that the hem of the dress is being pick-stitched, a kind of backstitch which is durable and leaves almost invisible thread (have to be the same tone thread with the body fabric to achieve maximise invisibility results) to be seen on the front fabric.

 The side seam of the top bodice of the dress, also hand-pickstiched.

 The wrongside view of the dress. I managed to french-seamed the lower and upper bodice of the dress together. I also pleated it as I sew along the entire waistline.

The collar of the dress. I did not attach a bias-tape to it even though I intended to. Feel that it will make the collar look bulk-ish with the tape, therefore I managed to clean-finish the raw edges by folding in 2 times with pick-backstitches.

Welcome to my sewing blog of my shop - your lovely hand-stitched CottonBears!

I love Bears, thus I named the shop as CottonBears.

Do read my shop's policy for extra information on refund and shipping details!

A New Start

A new start.
After planning for weeks and weeks, I have finalized on designs and selling venues for CottonBears.
Fabric sources continued to be a big headache for me, materials aren't that cheap in Singapore.

Whilst deciding on my sewing style, I have came across forums complaining factory-made stuffs.

How much do a customer actually appreciates the fine stitches and seams that a seamstress used in the garment?
Do customers choose prices over quality?

To make myself distinctive from factory-made, I adopted hand-stitching. Yes, stitches by stitches with hand.
And I had another enemy, time.


100% hand-stitching a sleeveless dress costs me almost 10 man-hours, in which I would seperate them up into days. Which would prove to be too time-consuming for a small business like mine. Therefore, I gave in to sewing machines. However, my items wouldn't be fully machined. Internal seams and hems would be topstitched with sewing machine, external seams and finishes like collar, sleeve cap and hems would be given hand-stitches.

You would never find the exact same dresses in my shop, every stitches is not the same! And thats what makes hand-sewing all the unique. You would never find perfect stitches in my shop, every stitches is done by hand, and thats what makes the imperfection a kind of art passed down from olden days.

Support a designer, be it local or foreign. Support a hand-crafter, they possess exquisite skills.
You are supporting their flair of working with hands, and in turn, you are not financing factories who poorly-paid their operators.