More dresses!

No?! ... more dresses? ...
Oh yes! oh yes.

 

See, there were two people wanted the denim embroidery dress I put in the boutique, the manager emailed me asking if I have enough fabric to make it in smaller size (34), the dress is in EU size 38 actually, and I don't have anymore fabric to make more similar but smaller size dresses, so I asked if they would just alter the dress and make it smaller.

 

As I currently working in another project (I wrote story books for children in my country), and I need to finish 5 new series, I took my time and organized them carefully .. we also went to visit Turin during Easter long week end, we loved the city and it's my source of inspirations (for the new story books series) .. so it's true that it's not how long you stay in one place, but what really matters is how the place inspire you, at least for me it works.

And, oh yes, we are so occupied with our moving next summer. There are things we need to tackle, like new school registration, site visits, dealing with annoying régie (landlord), etc .. so I think my sewing activities will getting slower during these next couple of months.

 

sarong dress

songket dress

Okay, back to dresses .. I'm using traditional woven fabrics (like sarong and songket), I took my time, I really enjoyed my slow pace creations, as I could rethink, remake, re-drape in no hurry. I could finish the dresses meticulously to get the neat results, and I'll keep them for the next events, for special customers or for next season's pieces to bring to the boutique, whatever the occasion, I'll have a beautiful stocks in hand :) 

A dress A day, keep the doctor away :)

cotton silk embroidery dress

who says? ... me!, évidement!

 

Lately I made some lovely dresses in black and white (or sometimes a bit of red). Maybe I got influenced by those beautiful dresses the top designers showing us in Paris Fashion Week and London Fashion Week? .. well actually, I just want to make something "neat" classy with more skills and sewing exercise needed ..

 

And, once it's finished ... it's sold! (I have to find excuses not to sell some of them because I plan to bring them to the exhibition -- and well, I love the dress so much, I don't know if I will let it go!) haha .. my deepest secret confession ;)

The 3rd dress I made with batik fabric was reserved for a friend in Germany, she bought 2 batik dresses before, and she wanted this dress too. So, I had to let it go :)

this dress was sold and sent to Germany.

 

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.