This is the 2nd and final part to my adventures making a topponcino. You can read the 1st part here

I will also try to stitch a few puns around this topic, because why not? 🤡

Equipment Needed

This was the minimal list of items I got to complete the topponcino. Hopefully, this gets you covered:

Item	Remarks
Sewing machine	We bought a portable one
Cotton	100% cotton would be ideal, I feel
Fabric	Purchased at Yuzawaya
Bobbins	For bottom thread on the sewing machine
Thread	You can also find some at 100-yen shops like CanDo
Long Ruler	Really recommended
Fabric Pen	For marking seam lines on the fabric
Seam Ripper	Your life-saver for undoing your wrongs

T(h)reading a fine line

My Japanese is still terrible, so I had a hard time watching the set-up videos from the sewing machine manufacturer. My wife helped a lot, but I was still fumbling.

Thankfully, it wasn't a radically-different machine, so I was also able to refer to English content such as Glory Allen's. Highly recommended, unless you prefer annoying your partner like I did.

As a Singaporean, I did learn some stitching during Home Economics classes in the early 2000s. 🪡 However, I don't think we ever learned how to operate a sewing machine. My wife, who had her education in Japan, was practically showing off her life skills. 🇯🇵 1 – 0 🇸🇬.

Navigating the sharp curves for the seam was challenging. Fortunately, the sewing machine came with a foot pedal switch; I was able to control the speed via pressure on the pedal! This seamed too good to be true. 🧶

Alas, like a beginner, I overestimated my rhythm when I got the hang of it. Having a seam ripper definitely helps, as you can undo your embarrassment.

Here is the sewn base, after a week of procrastination.

If one looks closely, there are irregular seam lines. However, I opted against perfecting them, since I reasoned it looks more “handmade” that way.

You reap what you sew. Well, the baby is using it, anyways 👶

Tying it up

We finally completed our first topponcino for the baby!

I think it turned out pretty well.

I'm hoping we will work on more sewing projects overtime. I hope this inspires anyone to also try sewing as a new hobby.

You don't know how much fun you're ミシン (missing) out!

#parenting #sewing #hobby

My wife and I are expecting our first child this September.

Having been convinced the magic of a topponcino during a parenting class, we decided to make it instead of buying one.

“Oh, it's almost $100 to buy one? Why don't we make one ourselves?”

We thought this (1) would be more fun, (2) allows us to customize as we like, and (3) gives us a greater sense of ownership!

I am hoping I become good at this. No, not parenting, I meant sewing (I kid).

Fabrication

I was introduced to Yuzawaya, by the wife on a Sunday afternoon. Here in Japan, Yuzawaya is the hobby shop, where you can find reasonably-priced fabric, and then of course, Marimekko fabric as well.

Base	Cover

It felt empowering knowing you get to choose what design and material goes into the product. We also had fun people-watching – guessing what others may be creating for their weekend project.

If you are looking to make other items like bibs, Yuzawaya also offers blueprints (they call them recipes). Unfortunately, there was no blueprints for topponcinos.

Sizing things up

Thankfully, the Interweb is an amazing place. I was able to find a blueprint from this organic cotton shop: https://www.fuwarico.com/topponcino/

Still, this presents a bit of a challenge, since we would have to print it on A1-size paper.

The convenience stores here allow prints up to A3 size. Photo-printing services like Kinko's also offer easy A2 prints.

However, I think I would need to fork out $40+ to print in A1. Most services assume you would be printing colour posters at that scale.

Being an engineer, and mainly because I'm skint, I decided to:

1. crop the blueprint to only the intricate portions (within A3 sizes)
2. draw the rest (mainly regular lines) myself onto the fabric

Why pay that $40, if most of the to-be-printed portions can be drawn by myself? I may be imagining things, but I assume my Asian grandparents would be proud.

(Of course, some may argue I could have simply drawn all parts by myself.)

Here's hoping things go well! We'll share the finished product soon, hopefully.

#parenting #sewing

buy Kelvin a cup of coffee ☕