Beauty

Tell me the truth.

Aren't those little slices of happiness the most beautiful thing you put your eyes on today?

I'm soooo happy to have them, that I could break in a happy dance at any moment.

I ♥ fabric!

Special tanks to Gisele, German, Leise and my mom. You guys are the best!

Appliques

Hi there!

How're you guys doing?

I've been working a lot lately, but not on my sewing projects… Although that has been keeping me from posting here more often, I do see a light at the end of my tunnel. Maybe next year? We shall see…

I’m writing this post on an airplane, heading to a beautiful beach place where I’m going to just work. No fun in the sun for me this time.
Hopefully, I’ll have some time to go shopping for some handmade stuff . Cross your fingers =)

Till then, let’s focus here.

After my last two very successful projects, I kept feeling that it was high time I tried  something even more hardcore. I was doing fine with my sewing machine by then, and what’s life without a good challenge huh?

So, again, I plucked up all my courage and plunged into some hand sewing.

Gee. Have I told you there is a lack of  skills at the motor coordination field? Yep. Sadly, it is true.

I had help to learn how to make the blanket stitch, and it seemed easy enough to do by myself, so I made a few more gift bags, and chose hearts and stars as appliqués.

That was the first time I put my hands on an interlining that glues itself at fabric on both sides.  And mind you, it is fan-tas-tic!!!

So, I interlined my hearts and stars and went on hand sewing it on top of my gift bags.

That’s the result:

Back to the lack of coordination issue, it took me way more time that I’d imagine at first, but I’d enjoyed doing it, and I sure liked the way it looked. I made three of this and they all turned out to be excellent gifts.

At that time, I was looking for a handmade gift for a great friend who happens to really like cows. And guess what I came across?  The most cute cow appliqué ever!

So here I introduce you, Mafalda.

Ain’t she perfect?

Mafalda shows her beautiful face at a notebook case Gisele owns. Together with a matching gift bag (I know, I know. Another gift bag… But they are so nice to make… I couldn’t help myself!)

The notebook case was a little trick to work out, but totally worth it =)

Eventually, I’ll have to make on for myself. Maybe for my sewing notes. Who knows where this new skill will take me.

Till there, I’ll leave you with these last pics!

Bobbins, guides and ... the rain!

Hello there. How are you doing?

Have I told you that I live in a tropical country?

Right now, we’re a few days into spring, and the weather is hotter than ever. We’re urging for some rain to fall, but so far, we’ve got nothing.

And hey, I’m talking about the “can’t stand being outdoors” kind of weather. Gosh help us when this spring becomes summer.

But anyway, I’m not here to complain about the weather, right? We were talking about the splendid new life of a new sewer.

If you sew, you know the feeling of coming across a new notion store on your way to work.  And if you’re the kind of person who NEEDs to put things away, Houston, we have a problem.

Hopefully, where there is a will, there is a way, here I present you one of my favorites. How to put your bobbins away.

Find it here and here.

Tell me, ain’t the internet the best place you have ever visited?

In the meantime, I’ve been experimenting a little more with my straight lines. Truth be told, I’ve found an amazing way to cheat. Have you ever being introduced to a Magnetic Seam Guide?

Well, what can I say about it? It has changed my life forever. I know it’s dramatic, but it’s nothing but sheer truth =)

You can also find here another way to do that without the magnetic guide. I’m telling you it’s a brand new world!

As a result, I present you with two of my projects:

            The shoes bag with acrylic visors (again with my need to put things away… Gee, I need help).

           The gift bag (not that easy to make. Turned out that the satin ribbon was quite difficult to work with).

Weather update: since I have been  writing this post for at least 3 days, now it’s raining!

And what a nice rain we got =)

Hope to see ya soon =)

A Pin Cushion

Jeesh, after a short (?) break, here I am again.

Short because I was planning a three-week vacation, and it turned out to be only two. Long story. It isn’t even worth telling.

Anyway, I visited some great friends during this time. I even got even to sew a little with one of them. We put Leise’s heirloom sewing machine to work and, Gosh she’s a beauty! Probably more than 50 years old, but still running perfectly.

The weather was nice. Ok, it was quite cold, but I do love it, so I was beyond happy.  It was short, but I can’t complaint =)

Now, back to my sewing experiences. If you still remember about last time, I was pretty sure I could sew almost anything by then.  Not that straight, but still. I felt powerful!

Time for project number three: the pin cushion.

Another thing you need to know about me, I`m crazy about putting things away. Yeah, great problem being a sewer, I know. There are so many things you have to have to sew, and keep those in proper places is a challenge I`m still dealing with! Gosh, and all those pins and needles were driving me insane by then. I needed something to keep them together.

So, I went online for another tutorial, and found one I liked AND tought was easy, and ta-da! Here it is!

I know… It’s a little wonky. But I love it just the same.

Turned out to be quite easy. And I had a great time. 

That outta count for something, right?

Sewing alone

Hey there =)
Me again.

Just arrived from the movies with some great friends. We watched “Letters for Juliet”. I highly recommend it =)

So, back to the subject, I`ve already told you that I`m clueless about why I took up sewing. But I did. And believe you me, once you start doing something like that, it`s almost impossible not to get hooked on.

At the end of the weekend I went back home (my relatives and I are living a few cities apart) with a bag of rags and a lot of sewing plans.

And then, out of the blue, I broke my stupid leg playing basketball.

So I was there, trapped with my clutches, with tons of good books to read, good movies to watch, but all I could think of was “how nice it will be if I could sew something right now”…

That thought became a wish. That wish turned into a craving. And when that craving was really overwhelming, I bought her.

So here I am, introducing you Pandora, my first (an only) sewing machine.

It was love at first sight. Of course I had no idea of how she worked, how to put the thread correctly, how to handle the little buttons I was seeing for the first time, and most important of all how many other things you have to buy when you want to sew (that being the subject of another post, I promise).

As every good (and busy) dress maker, my aunt hadn`t taught me any of the important stuff – ok, my bad, since I was all ears and eyes for the cute stuff – and I was at a lost.

That was my first try on the wide world of sewers that put their lives on the internet.

Amazed and overwhelmed, I started downloading every single nice tutorial I could put my virtual hands on.

When I came across one that said “for beginners” and “very easy” in the same sentence, I plucked up all my courage and tried my hands on it.

I worked out the thread and button problems fine enough, together with the interlining and the bias issues, and after a few hours (I know it`s sad) my paper tissue case was done. Made all by myself. No professional help needed =)

A few cases were given as gifts for my friends (including Karina, who’s watching me typing this post and is sweetly asking me to say she’s one of the happy owners), ‘cause handmade gifts are the best ones.

Can’t say I was successful making the “straight” pink line tough, but that`s gonna be challenge number two.

On the whole, I think this experience went quite well. Don't you think?

The very beginning...

Hey there!

After a long period of procrastination (hate that word), here I am, posting my adventures in a blog. Sharing with strangers (not necessarily) all the craziness of my life as a person who has just decided to do “it” by myself.

But eventually, you would have to ask, what is “it”?

Well, tough question. “It” is pretty much everything that crosses my mind. Lately, “it” has everything to do with sewing. Can’t say how long it’s going to last. But I could swear I would be a very happy old lady if I could go on sewing till then.

So, hello again. This is me, sewing.

But I have to be honest with you. This is me sewing for the first time in my life. It was 2009. A summer afternoon in this tropical country. November had just began and I was at my aunt’s. Can’t tell you how it came to me, but suddenly I felt a great urge to sew.

Seriously, I spent my entire childhood in that sewing room, and it never occurred to me that I could (much less than I would) take up sewing in this life.

You know, before that afternoon, I had never been that kind of girl. Truth be told, I’ve never had the talent for hand-made things.

And I honestly don’t know what happened, but this is how it  began. 

Under my aunt’s supervision I found some cute fabric (first soft spot for me), cut it in little squares and then put them all together again. Voilá, my first patchwork  just came to existence!!!

I was so excited that I took a zillion pictures!

And that was it. Totally lost and going down the road from that moment on.

Of course my aunt had to finish my project for me (it turned out to be a beautiful brush case), but that my dears, was just the beginning of this whole new life!