Talents de femme 2015

 

Around December 2014 I got an email from Soroptimist Internatiomal Women Association, Mont Blanc committee, a call to submit a candidature for their exhibition on March 2015. As this will be an exhibition in Megève, FR and it's my first doing it outside Switzerland, I was a bit reluctant .. I weighed a lot.

 

My concerns are:

 

1. Douanne (custom). I have to past the border and have to declare all merchandise which are my creations to both Swiss and France douanne. I have to ask them how and what forms to fill in, how much tax to pay, etc.

 

2. The registration fee is not too expensive 180 Euros for 3 days exhibition, I think it's not much, comparing to exhibitions I've done in Swiss (like Unicrea or Palexpo, that we, as a small homebased homemaker felt too much).

 

3. The trip from Genève to Megève take about an hour, and the event start on Friday, which means I must look for a childcare options on Friday, I think the team in Parascolaire will be able to help me on this as usual (for the little one), her big sis is now more independent and we could ask her help too, and of course, husband got to take a day off.

 

4. Making more creations, and carefully choose the designs, fabrics, etc. I don't know what kind of public will come to this event, as it's a women associations I might see more official, women, people who come to the ski resort (as Megève is also a wellknown ski resort).

 

So I came to decide, I submit my candidature, and on January 18th I got the result: I got selected.

Closing the year ..

Good news from the boutique assistant came through my email yesterday, it's the sales report for November and 4 items sold.

 

So people actually bought my stuffs, that's cool. I feel relieved, because I could continue to make more creations, that's my goal .. to continue .. I'm still new in this domain, sewing wasn't my thing before -- but as I love colors, fabrics and put them into a nice piece of clothing or accessories or whatever my mind came up with -- I began to sew (and never stop ever since) ..

 

Okay, now it's almost near the end of 2014. I already had some plans for 2015 actually, but as they say .. "DON'T TELL YOUR DREAMS, SHOW IT!" .. well, I just gonna keep on showing it .. ehehe ..

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

 

 

3rd contract

I just signed the 3rd contract with the same boutique, which means it's my 3rd collection. I didn't put so many creations this time, as I'm a bit struggling right now with other projects and orders, but still want to continue this collaboration as a place to showcase my new creations.

 

Another thing is that autumn-winter collection is a bit tricky, I didn't shop specially for winter fabrics, but I do have some materials to mixed with fabrics that I have at home, like a padded satin fabrics, fleeces and blankets. Yes, I made some blanket capes using literally just that and then put a hoodie and button :)

 

I also made those capes for kids, and added a fun ears on the hoodie, kids love them :)

 

I also tried to mix batik with padded lining, but well .. I really don't have many materials to make winter clothing, but I tried and I'll come up with more ideas later ... winter starts to set in, it begins to feel colder at this end of November ...

 

RGCP - Red Green Chilli Peppers

If you're young when The RHCP band was a big hits, then you know what I mean ;)

 

I'm not talking about the band, of course, I'm talking about my newest creations! The Reversible Batik Jacket/Cape in RED and GREEN chili peppers colors. Well, I was thinking of still be able to use batik but mixed with warmer materials such as these red and green satin polyester padded lining. I made a reversible cape that have a snap buttons on both arms which could turn it to a batik jacket. The idea was that simple actually and it wasn't too complicated to make it either.    

 

 

Next time maybe I'll try a padded jacket, I mean a jacket with real sleeves. I think I could make them, but not now .. maybe later. I wanted to finish autumn-winter new creations for the boutique before mid-November (that's my plan) so when the winter is officially come on November 21, my new creations will be ready at the shop.

 

After that I'll be "hibernating" to be able to continue to write those story books that my editor in Jakarta has been requesting ... until then, keep safe and warm, everyone ...

November updates

I got so many news to share actually, but don't know exactly where to start. I just happy that I gained back my confidence and just focus on result and on all works that I have to finish until end of year. So next year, I could start to plan some steps again, list some targets, knocking on opportunity doors and oh yes, we're going to move to our OWN newly build apartment!!! I'm so exciting ...

This November is the time when we're wearing warmer clothes, October we still had the sun and autumn seemed like spring time. I dreaded winter, so I create this warm wrap (a cape) using sky blue fleece and Balinese woven fabric that as colorful as a rainbow for an accent. And I think it's a brave combinations of bright colors for autumn :) but people love it, and it's already booked for someone in the UK.

rainbow cape by Petits Pas - handmade creations.

Sunday happy Sunday ...

Sunday afternoon usually we drove around Vaud area, today we wanted to find that address for our next rendez-vous with a Kitchen (interior) company. After we knew where it situated, we usually visit our future apartment, but today we decided to get some ice creams in our fave ice cream parlor in Nyon, which is close to a boutique that I really wanted to visit.

The boutique owned (and/or taken care by) a woman, a bag designer-maker that I talked on the phone couple of months ago. I saw her creations at Globus department store here in Geneva, and I fell in love with her works. Her bags were carefully neatly made by hand, and she really have a wonderful handmade pieces. I promised to visit her one day, and that day is today!.

The shop was open on 1st Sunday of the month (not every Sunday shops are open here in Swiss), so I was very lucky that the shop was open and she was there in person! what a lovely coincidence as we wanted only to buy ice cream at first .. and turned out we bought ice creams and two of her handmade bags!! .. I don't go to Nyon everyday, I don't buy bags everyday either .. (that's my excuse) .. hehe .. and I'm not regretting following my instant temptation to buy them, as we talked about our activities, exhibitions and .. why not a collaborations! as she said "on peut faire quelque choses ensemble" .. oh, oui, madame, pourquoi pas .. in fact I'll be very happy to collaborate with such a talented, skillful, creative and kind woman like her ...

Once again, I feel God's hand guided me to meet her .. God's help that moved her heart to be so kind to me today. I'm looking forward for our next meeting .. and our future collaboration.

HERE'S MY SKIRTS AND HER BAGS TOGETHER

If God's willing to lend you a hand ..

I'm a believer. I believe in God. I believe that everything that happened to me whether it's bad or good it's His arrangements. If He's willing to help you, you won't know where it's from and how He would help you. That's when we (if we believe in His existence) could feel and figure it out. Our heart knows, our head think, and our body moves. That's what happened to me these couple of months. I let you know ....

A couple of post below, I already talked about it a little bit. Now I want to share why I shouldn't stop believing in miracles. I shouldn't stop asking Him for a guidance and help. "You win some, you lose some", I guess that's what He'd taught me. 

I lose some of my savings to prepare for my last two exhibitions. I used my savings to prepare for my own stands, pay rental space, buying fabrics and all of stand equipment, decoration, etc ... well, I think I need to start somewhere and it's just a step for a start up (I mean, a beginner .. hehe). But from there I gained experience, I gained confidence, I gained contacts and I gained contracts! .. that's important.

I didn't make fortune by selling my own handmade creation, but I try to built trust from the boutique, the clients and my customers. Slowly, people trust me to make them things. Slowly, I'm more confident to try new techniques, to make (and modify) patterns. The last couple of weeks I made a challenging orders, one is for an ice skating costume, and other is an extra large dress for XXL size woman. 

And when I was sitting in my usual lunch cafeteria I got a good news from the boutique. They secure a place (an arcade in MParc Carouge -- where I was having my lunch, actually) to have a common exhibition from the boutique together with the art shop for THREE MONTHS!!! .. they will showcasing their artists and designers, and change the stocks periodically. Petits Pas is one of them, as I put some of my creations in their boutique too. Let's hope for the better. One thing I should consider seriously is hiring someone to help me with assembling (sewing) if their request is getting more than I could handle by my self.

I see all these like a miracle, I believe so. While I was sitting in a cafeteria in MParc, suddenly I got this news that they will have their exhibition in the same place! .. I think God's helping me out .. in shaa Allah ..