My Little Black and Grey Dress

In the last couple of posts, I've been boasting about my new found pastime yet not once have I uploaded snapshots of the finished projects. Well in this post I'll be featuring my first garment making project. It's not really garment making cause the material used was originally a skirt I got from my BFF who lost 20 kgs and could no longer fit it. What made me hooked on to the skirt is the material and simple embroidery sewn on it. Because of my teeny size, I couldn't straight away put it on. I'd have to alter it so I could fit the skirt. It struck me then that to alter such beautiful fabric would mean cutting off a lot of it and the ones cut off would be of no use later. I then decided that maybe the best way to go about it, is refashioning it from a skirt to a short dress.

Before the sewing commenced, I'd never thought of the obstacles and challenges that I'd come across. Quite honestly I've always thought that garment making is easy cause I used to watch my aunt sew garments effortlessly. Thus, convincing me that sewing is easy and straight forward and everybody could sew given time to try a little bit of sewing. This project proves me wrong. Sewing I think is a skill that you develop overtime and demands a lot of patience.


It took me a good four months to finally complete this simple dress. It's such a long period ain't it to sew a dress? The long period is due to me putting off the project and moving on to work with other simple material like cotton and linen. There's nobody to blame other than myself. As a beginner I shouldn't have opted for this velvety fabric for it easily frayed no matter what you do to make it stay. There was a point when I nearly gave up working on it because of the countless re-sewing, re-cutting, re-seaming that had to been done. I only resume working on this dress a month ago when I realise that this beautiful fabric deserves better treatment than abandonment.

Mood swing

Recently I've been feeling down at work I think mainly because the thrill and excitement I used to feel is starting to wear off. I've recognised my working pattern. Every time I'm assigned a new task, I'd be very excited upon the thought of gaining new skill and knowledge at work. I'm always thrilled with the challenges that this new task would bring with it. After months of doing the same thing, and I know exactly what to expect or anticipate the cause of such outcome, I no longer find the job adventurous and in need of something new to excite me again.

Another contributing factor to my current misery is last Thursday's incident. The company that I work for had just opened up a new branch in the States and its operation is very much similar to the Head Office. Thus, the staff will be using the same system that we use here and they need to be trained and familiarised with it. As one of the account assistant explained all the different funtions available on the system, our Financial Controller then further added about the office's future plan for one of my colleague's career there. As soon as I heard this, I felt very demotivated to work anymore knowing the fact that they don't see me in their future plan. It hurts even more when I know that my colleague is less competent than me. I think they're oblivious of my true potential simply because I'm not a native speaker.

With the new company structure introduced early this year, I was moved to the Finance department due to my work nature that is seen as more finance-related. When I first moved there I was optimist that this is the move that'll guarantee a better career prospect. But the longer I spend time in Finance, the more I realise I don't belong in the department. Not because I'm incompetent or incapable of doing finance work but I just can't see where myself sit within the company structure anymore. I'm neither a retail team nor am I a finance staff. In simple word, I don't feel welcome in the company anymore.

I just don't understand why wouldn't they realise the importance of my role. If it wasn't for me, who would ensure the smooth flow of the system used by our retail shop, or monitor stock inventory, or help the shop out when the system freezes? My observation tells me that many of the staff there are not very computer literate. Even a spreadsheet with simple formula used would freak them out what more of complicated ones with formulas and functions that are rarely used. I'm proud to say that as an IT-graduate I know all Office applications like the back of my hand and not afraid of using new applications.

The other day I really felt like going up to my superior and express my dissatisfaction and my need of new assignment. I guess this urge for new thrilling and adventurous task is due to the fact that I'm no longer a twenty-odd employee. I've hit the THREE-O and I need to thrive and give my all out right now so that I'll be able to achieve my personal target within the next five years. My heart is bursting with frustation and grieve over my current employment that doesn't seem promising at the minute. These frustrations sometimes lead me to regret our move here. But when my better judgment is not clouded with grieve and sadness, I'm convinced that this move would guarantee a better placement when we return home for good as the employment experience here would work to my advantage. I could only pray to the Al-Mighty that my hopeful thinking would be blessed and granted someday.

Sewing away

Whoa! Will you just look at all these dust lying around this site? The owner must have forgotten about its existence altogether or simply not bothered to do some house-keeping for this blog. Yes, I know I’m wrong. And I also realise that it’s been ages since I last posted an update on this blog and I have absolutely no solid reason to uphold my innocence. I’m guilty as charged for abandoning this very dear journal of mine. To be quite honest, I no longer feel the same urgency as I used to when I first started blogging. I think I might be among the few who followed the big herd of blogging bubble but slowly drifted away from the herd as they become entangled with other things which urgently demand more attention in their daily routine.

Ever since I took over my superior's role as the lass who ensures the smooth running of the EPOS system, my mind's been loaded with boring work stuff that I needed to bring in something new to my rather mundane boring routine. That was when I persuaded my darling Fadz to present me with something that I’ve always wanted to have; a sewing machine. For as long as I can remember, I’d always had my eyes fixed on the physique, capability and functionality of a sewing machine. I was always amazed with the beautiful dresses and clothes that could be produced by this simple somewhat ancient gadget. I remember admiring every step that my mom and my aunt took in making a dress. I'd always wish to have one of this super machine so I could make my own one-off unique dresses as they're product of my own design and imagination.


Thus, for the last few months my new love sewing machine has enticed me from this humble blog of mine. In fact, my pastime is now occupied with working on sewing projects that I've long kept at the back of my mind. Some of you may wonder if I'm thinking of becoming a tailor or seamstress; no nothing like that. Let's just say that I've found a new hobby which not only fulfills the little girl's in me has been dreaming of doing but also satisfies my crave for new clothes. I enjoy every minute spend working on my new love despite the glitches and hiccups along the completion of any project. I must say though, things are easier said than done. There were a lot of things that I used to think would be easy to handle but not as easy as it may seem.

Take my first dress project, it took me months to finish it simply because I got fed up with the difficulty that I had to put up with. As frustration (and a lot of mistakes) filled up my head, I decided to put the project aside and work on other less complicated project with the hope of brushing up my new found skill and building up my confident. Upon the completion of my second project (after months of keeping the fabric in the drawer untouched) I thought I'm ready to re-visit my first project. And true to my instinct, I'd not only brushed up my skill but also gained more confident than the first day the project commenced.

You may wonder what's the hidden agenda beneath this long rambling? Is it just my way of sharing my personal experience and point of view on my new pastime? In part, yes, this is me sharing my new hobby but partially the difficulty and complication faced I think could be applied in project management. I know the volume of work involved could never match against big project which are by far more complicated and twisted in nature. But to me one of the vital things in project management is being resourceful in all aspects; manpower's knowledge & skill, materials' constraints and advantages, feasible timeline, and contigency plan. For those of you who are familiar with project management, you'll most likely be of the opinion that I'm rambling based on my personal view and not factual proven. Yes, you're right. This writing is supported simply by my own very little experience and limited knowledge. But then again, to me this little experience I gained has taught me that even though the work may seem simple, research and study still need to be completed to prep us up for any mischief along the project completion.