Soapmaking at Soap Ministry

We like soap over here at Casa Wee. Alison and Zoe love fragrant soaps from places like The Body Shop, and K prefers good old-fashioned bars from brands like Cussons Imperial Leather and Lifebuoy, to liquid soap. I knew the girls would have fun making their own soap so I signed them up for Soap Ministry‘s basic one-hour workshop, which costs $38 and includes 250g of soap base and one colour or herb to make between five to seven soaps in different designs.

Soap making kit.

Soap making kit.

Before the class started, the instructor asked about the girls’ skin conditions – whether they had sensitive skin or problems like eczema. Zoe has mild eczema, so we chose the goat’s milk soap base. All the soap bases available are organic. Actually everything they have there is organic. I liked that, considering that many commercial soaps are chock full of potentially harmful chemicals.

Learning about the benefits of different types of soap bases.

Learning about the benefits of different types of soap bases.

Since soap bases are sold by the kilogramme, the girls had to cut off the 250g required, and then cut it into smaller pieces so they would melt faster.

Diligently chopping up the soap base into smaller chunks.

Diligently chopping up the soap base into smaller chunks.

Quick soap, melt!

Quick, soap, melt!

While the soap was being double boiled (I was tempted to type “soup” there) the girls chose their scents. Zoe chose spearmint and Alison went with lavender. They also took their pick from the many moulds that the shop has available for students.

"Mmm, that's a nice smell!"

“Mmm, that’s a nice smell!”

Choosing soap moulds is serious work.

Choosing soap moulds is serious work.

When the soap base was nicely melted, the girls stirred in the colouring and scents. Then it was time to pour the mixture into the moulds.

Zoe pouring the mixture into a 3D teddy bear mould.

Zoe pouring the mixture into a 3D teddy bear mould.

Alison spritzing her moulds with ethanol to get rid of surface bubbles.

Alison spritzing her moulds with ethanol to get rid of surface bubbles.

The filled moulds were popped into the freezer and allowed to set. In the meantime, we walked around the shop, looking at all the soaps on sale and taking whiffs of the flavours and scents available for sale. Twenty minutes later, voila! Soap!

Alison was pleased as punch with how her soaps turned out.

Alison was pleased as punch with how her soaps turned out.

Both girls were so happy with their soaps that they keep asking me when we can go back to make more. They are planning to celebrate their birthdays there, too. I was quite tempted to buy the soap making kit which has everything you need to make soap at home, but it’s a whopping $420. The more economical option would be to simply buy the ingredients and keep them at Soap Ministry. They allow former students to keep their kits at the shop so they can make use of the tools to make soap. You pay just $10/hour, which I think is quite reasonable and saves me from having to set aside equipment just for soap making, at home. Apparently, Soap Ministry has many regular customers with super-sensitive skin, who come by regularly to make their own soap.

This was definitely a hit with the kids, and I’m sure we’ll be back soon to make more soaps when the ones we made are all used up.

If you’re interested to try making your own soap at home, here are instructions for the melt and pour method which is what we did during the class.

Soap Ministry
Orchard Central
181 Orchard Road
# unit-B2-07/08
Singapore 238896

Tel: 9669 5953 / 6634 1920
Operating Hours
Daily: 11am – 8pm
Earliest workshop timeslot : 11.45am
Last workshop timeslot : 6pm

Upcycling, and other craftiness.

Being a solo parent is a little challenging if I don’t plan ahead, as Alison and Zoe usually expect a little bit of excitement on weekends. I decided to sign them both up for a free upcycling workshop conducted by Agatha to introduce them to the idea of upcycling, and to let them try their hands at a new form of craft.

The workshop was conducted at the Supertree Grove in Gardens by the Bay, as part of the Garden of Youth event. It was my first time seeing the Supertrees up close, although I did catch a glimpse of them when K and I attended the Jason Mraz concert in June last year.

Supertree Grove at Gardens by the Bay.

Alison and Zoe were rather concerned about millipedes, as there were many crawling about during their first visit to the gardens. Thankfully there were only one or two, else I’d have had to deal with two screaming, squeamish girls.

We were a little early, so I herded the girls to Peach Garden for a quick lunch before the workshop, since they’d had only a very light breakfast in the morning. Thanks to Peach Garden’s efficient service, and the girls’ cooperation in wolfing down all their food, we were in and out of the restaurant in a record 30 minutes!

Agatha explaining the concept of upcycling.

At the start of the workshop, Agatha briefly explained the idea behind upcycling. Her top and apron are both upcycled!

We were to make a bag out of old t-shirts. A shirt with a nice centralised or all-over pattern would look great, and you wouldn’t even have to decorate it. I took along two of K’s old white shirts for the girls to use so they had a nice blank canvas to work with. First, we had to cut off the sleeves, and cut an elongated neck for the tee to create the two handles. No photos here because I had to help both A&Z with the cutting, but you can see the shape in one of the pictures below.

A variety of stamps from ordinary household items.

A variety of stamps from ordinary household items.

Finger painting was, of course, a fun and easy choice.

Finger painting was, of course, a fun and easy choice.

After the painting was done, it was time to create the base of the bag. This was done by cutting tassels about one and a half inches long, and one inch apart, and then knotting the front and back tassels together to close the opening.

Alison and her nearly-completed bag - all that was left to do was braid the handles, but she decided to leave them as-is.

Alison and her nearly-completed bag – all that was left to do was braid the handles, but she decided to leave them as-is.

Alison was so pleased at having learned a new craft skill, that she’s decided to make upcycled bags for her classmates for their birthdays this year. I’m a little concerned about the threat to our stash of t-shirts, but I guess it’s a good way to make use of the ones that Zoe’s outgrown! Thank you, Agatha, for the very educational and enjoyable workshop.

The girls also broke out their stash of pipe cleaners and made them into random items like “balloons” and ant antennae. Here’s Zoe with one of her creations:

A pipe cleaner balloon. Or a stick of candy?

A pipe cleaner balloon. Or a stick of candy?

They decided to adorn their little plush cat with a pipe cleaner crown, anklets and even a skirt.

Pipe cleaner-decorated cat.

She doesn’t look too pleased at her decorations…

Finally, Alison made herself a little sock monkey out of a baby sock and a pair of black gloves! She did it all by herself, with minimal help from me (mostly to thread the needle because the poor girl can’t see to do it). I’m so proud of her for planning and putting it together independently. I have owed her a crochet sock monkey for well over a year now, and she got tired of waiting for me to finish it. Yes, I’m a bad mommy.

Alison's sock monkey.

But look! Isn’t it adorable? It even comes with a little muffler/beanie thing for when the weather is cold.

Simple gathered skirt.

I have plenty of large fabric pieces in my stash and have been looking for ways to use them up as my fabric boxes are filled to the brim and then some. It’s been a quiet, rainy Sunday and with K out coaching I decided to make Zoe a gathered skirt using this tutorial. Gathered skirts are really easy to make – all you need is a long piece of fabric and some elastic. It didn’t take very long at all for me to whip one up for Zoe. I managed to coax her into modelling it, but she wasn’t 100 per cent cooperative.

Simple gathered skirt.

This was after I said she could play with the iPad if she let me take a decent photo. Yes I’m a bad mother.

Simple gathered skirt.

Shirt pulled up to show the waistband.

Someone gave me a huge roll of very thick elastic a long time ago, and it’d just been sitting idle in my craft cupboard. Since the tutorial calls for 1.5 inch elastic, I decided to try it on the skirt. I think the elastic is nearly 2 inches thick – too much for a tiny waist like Zoe’s. She doesn’t seem to mind though.

After Alison saw Zoe’s skirt, she asked if I could make one for her in denim. I took her measurements (she requested that the skirt sit on her hips) and made up a skirt for her, but it turned out way too big and about 2 inches longer than she likes her skirts to be. She promised to wear it when she was taller and bigger around the waist.

Simple gathered skirt in denim.

I used much thinner elastic for this skirt.

The measurements I used for Alison’s skirt were 25 inches for the waist and 16 inches for the length. I’d have preferred to make it smaller  (~23 inches) but with her insistence on wearing it on the hips, I settled for 25 inches. I tried her skirt on and I think it’s fair to say that gathered skirts only look good on kids and beanpole-skinny people. Those with curves like myself need to stay far, far away!

Bicycle tool roll for K.

K has been asking me to make him a new bicycle tool roll because his current tool roll isn’t designed to carry very many tools. He hauls lots of tools around to make adjustments and repairs during his coaching sessions, so he needed something that was designed specifically to fit all his stuff. We took some measurements together, and I came up with this:

Bicycle tool roll

Enough compartments for all his tools. Yes, he carries many more tools than the average cyclist.

The most manly fabric I had in my stash was a skull print in cotton, which I used previously for Alison’s messenger bag, and some leftover black denim.

Bicycle tool roll

The foldover flap showing a bit of the skull fabric.

Many tool rolls are secured with toe straps, but K prefers to use Velcro instead, so I didn’t include a fastener in my design. That made it a lot easier to whip up. This is the very first project that I’ve made completely from scratch without referring to a tutorial, and I’m quite pleased with how it turned out! The denim gives the roll structure and eliminates the need for interfacing, so I’d definitely use it again if I make more of these rolls in future. The design can be adapted for knitting needles, paintbrushes, makeup brushes – the list is endless.

Bicycle tool roll.

The tool roll, all rolled up and ready to travel.


Creations by Kara

Laminated cotton zippered pouch.

A new year means new resolutions and in my case, a new sewing machine! On New Year’s Day, I paid a visit to the Janome concession at Best Denki IMM and traded in my little Janome Jem 639 machine for the Janome HD3000. I upgraded mainly because I needed something that would be able to manage quilt sandwiches but was unwilling to pay thousands for the higher-end Memory Craft models. The HD3000 is the perfect middle-of-the-road model. I like the fact that it’s mechanical and has so many features. It’s good value for money!

Apart from the standard feet that come with the HD3000, I also bought a walking foot, darning foot and a Teflon foot. I tried the latter this evening for my very first project with laminated fabrics – little zippered pouches for the girls. I have plenty of laminated cotton chevron fabric so I bought zips from Spotlight and put the sewing machine to work after dinner.

Laminated cotton zippered pouch.

Alison is using her pouch as a case for her iPod Shuffle and earphones.

The Teflon foot made working with the laminated cotton a breeze, but if you don’t have one you can stick masking tape on the bottom of your presser foot, or put tissue on top of the fabric to prevent the foot from sticking as the fabric moves under it. I really enjoyed working with this fabric because it doesn’t fray, and although it’s a little bit slippery it’s quite easy to manage on the whole. I’m definitely going to be making more things with laminated cotton and oil cloth in future!

Not-quite neck pillow.

Since we are going away on a long road trip soon, I thought I would make the girls neck pillows so they would be more comfortable in the car. After scouting online for a suitable pattern, I finally found one that I thought would make a good pillow. K took pity on me because I am so slow and so bad at cutting and very kindly helped me cut out the four pieces of flannel necessary to make the pillows. We all concurred that the pieces looked like they would produce a too-low, too-skinny, too-loose pillow, but I decided to go ahead and whip them up anyway just to see how they’d turn out.

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Pink flowers for Zoe, apricot fairies for Alison. I found the original pattern jpeg on Burda's website and scaled it up to A4 size because it was too small. And it was still too small.

These pillows are not high enough in the back or the sides to provide very much support for the neck. The neck circumference is also too large for the average person’s neck and the long sides are too thin so the pillow does not sit snugly on the shoulders. My mom took out her travel pillow to compare and hers is too fat and too high compared to mine. There are dozens of designs on the web that all look different, so I guess more trial and error are needed before I find the perfect one. For now, it doesn’t matter. The girls love their soft new pillows anyway!

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The pillow that would be a snake.

If you would like to try making your own, you can use a free template like this (wish I’d found this earlier; it looks very promising!). Cut out two pieces in your chosen fabric, then simply sew the two pieces right sides together, leaving a generous opening for stuffing. I like to leave the opening on the top of the pillow as that gives easy access to each long end. Turn right side out and stuff generously. If you’re diligent, close the opening with blind stitch. Or, if you are lazy like me and know that the pillow is not heirloom material and will see plenty of abuse, just do a whip stitch. You now have a nice neck pillow for your next road trip!

Beginner quilting: piecing my charm pack quilt.

I finally found the time to start work on the baby charm pack quilt that I’ve been meaning to try. I must say that arranging the charm squares is very much like playing sudoku! You have to lay everything out nicely so that you don’t put two of the same squares together and the whole thing looks balanced. I tried at first to put only one square per design on each row, but quickly found that it wasn’t possible, so I moved things around and sewed the squares together to make eight rows when I was happy with the arrangement.

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A couple of dense spots, but I think it doesn't look too bad overall.

The next step is to sew the rows together, and then add the sashing which is the border that goes around the quilt. I’m not sure what I shall do after that. My little Janome Gem will probably be unable to withstand the rigours of quilting so I might have to send it off to be finished by a professional quilter. We shall see. Alison has already claimed this as her car quilt, which means that I will have to make another one for Zoe.

If you’re interested to try your hand at quilting, I’m using this tutorial and got my fabric from Southern Fabric.

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