Swing out, sistahs and brothas!

Last month, after the Latin American Festival, knew I wanted to dance. While searching for dance classes in Kuala Lumpur, I came across the website of KL Swing. They have Tuesday Night Swing at Sid's Pub Bangsar South, a stone's throw away from my old home. I showed up every week and met more experienced dancers.

Socials at Sid's Pub (top row) and Shivz Grill (bottom row)

I also started attending LindyKL's Friday night socials at Shivz Grill in Bangsar and introduced my team to swing and lindy hop (and fortunately they enjoyed it).

Last Sunday, Swing Out@Publika was a pretty cool introduction to many who are new to swing.

Both KL Swing and LindyKL have free taster classes for beginners. You just need to buy a drink to support the venue. If you find yourself free in KL on a Tuesday or Friday night, come join us!

Jeans recon: tool belt

Inspired by the t-shirt recons on Threadbanger, I looked into my bag of cast offs for a garment to recycle into something else. I found a pair of jeans and thought of what to do with them. Since the jeans still fit me, I cut the lower half off both pant legs so that I still use the top half as shorts.


I thought about a tool belt for when I'm not wearing an apron and I need a pocket for tools.


Cut halfway up both sides of one of the legs, starting from the unseamed area. Fold the front flap forward to make a pocket. Cut the excess fabric from the top and fold in. Cut the back half of the same leg. Sew the bottom (without the seam) end and the sides of the pocket.


I wanted the existing orange seam to show but I didn't have orange thread to complement it, so I kept most of my seams in red thread out of sight. Hiding those stitches took the longest even if I only did an even running stitch (four-ply for extra strength) most of the time.

Snip four evenly spaced half-inch holes below the seamed edge of the leg. These is where the belt will come through. For the belt, cut off the seams all around the other pant leg and sew them together into one long piece. Save the excess fabric for future projects.



Slip your belt through the holes...


And here's the finished product. I think it's useful for anyone working with little tools, from hairdressers to dressmakers, waiters to makeup artists.

Beads

I got into beading in college because I enjoyed crafting. I sold some pieces to friends, but didn't continue it as a business. No burst of creativity lately, but since I'm having fun with my digicam (I think I picked up a few things from going to product shoots for work), I played around with the remaining stock.

I'm running a mini-contest, open to everyone. There are six pairs of single-strand dangling earrings in the photo. If you can guess correctly which pairs have acrylic beads and which pairs are made of crystal, you can choose one pair that you want. Getting it from me is another matter, though.

For a more detailed shot and other bead photos, head over to my Flickr likhang kamay set.

Did I make you bead-hungry? Say hi to Beadlady.

Kolektor ng basura

I started collecting empty beverage cans in high school. Good thing I stopped at 96 cans, or else it would be heartbreaking to throw them all away, as I will do soon.

Check out the highlights of the collection here.