Colors that inspire me.

Tutorials I Like

1. Pleated purse Tutorial, Modest Heaven. 2. Duffle Bag Tote, Bag’n-telle.  3. Square Bag Tutorial, Amanda Hawkins

4. Easy Retro Apron, Better Homes and Gardens. 5. Fully Lined Ruffle Apron, Modest Heaven 6.Suzy Homemaker Apron, Anna Reilly

7. Floral Corsage Tank, Such Pretty Things. 8. T-shirt Cover Up, Creative Kismet. 9. Ruffle Shirt Refashion, Made by Lex.

10. Beachcomber dress, Tea Rose Home. 11. Circular Vest, Threads Magazine 12. V-neck T-shirt dress, I love Maegan

Africa, shoulder bag.

This is a special request from my friend Paulina, it was a B-day present, but I forgot to take pictures before I gave it to her, so I ask my friend to take pictures before she gave it to the b-day girl. and she send me this, don’t you love the chair??? I really liked the composition of the photo, I ask my friend Paulina, to borrow her house for the next shootings.

Moon bag, completed

Do you remember that I was trying to make a bag that I found on a magazine? well I have finished it, I know, it doesn’t look exactly like the magazine, but still I really liked the way it turn out to be. I leave the tutorial, sorry, I’m not very good writing tutorials but I’ll try to do my best.

T U T O R I A L

1.-  Cut 2 A, 2 B and 2 C, and 2 A for lining.
B has to be double the length of the inside curve.

2.- Fold B in half  lengthwise.
Make the gathering along the edge with basting stitches.

3.- Mark center of A and B
Pin gathered B to center and corners of A right sides facing
stitch around the edges of inside curve
Topstitch to finish
Do the same for other side of the bag.

4.- join 2 A right sides facing and stitch around outside curve
turn, and attach lining the easiest way you know.
(sorry about this part, it was a bit complicated to attach the lining and I can’t explain it in English)

5.- Fold C in half  lengthwise, stitch around the seam edges, leave one side open to turn, turn and iron to make your handles.
insert the handles into the gathered tube made from B, make a bow, and “taran” your bag is ready.

Sorry I told you I’m not very good with Tutorial, hope it works for you, I’ll try to take pictures of the process to explain better.

Some bags I’ve been working on.

S A F A R I

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A F R I C A
Shoulder bag, with hand painted detail

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G I R A S O L E S
Shoulder bag, with decorated key chain, braided straps and wooden rings.

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L A  C A T R I N A
Special request.

Chips coin purse, recycle!

Bored as I am sometimes, wanting to make something but not sure what, I was watching an episode of Grey´s Anatomy eating some chips and this thought came to my head: could I turn this chips bag into a coin purse mmmh… I trow the rest away, washed the envelope, and try to see if my sewing machine can sew on this plastic.

Surprise! it does, but only with some fabric under it. I think this is a cool way to recycle chips bags. Now i just told my friends: if you eat chips save the envelope for me and I will make you something nice out of it, I got so obsessed about this that i also put a card box in the grocery store near my house to get people recycle their chips bags. We´ll see if it works.

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Aburrida y con ganas de hacer algo pero sin saber que, mientras veia un episodio de Anatomia de Grey y disfrutaba unas ricas papitas se me vino una idea a la cabeza: podre convertir esta bolsa de papas en un monederito? mmmmm…. tire lo que habia en la bolsa, lave la bolsita e hice una prueba para ver si mi maquina lo podia coser.

Sorpresa!! si se pudo, pero solo con un poco de tela debajo, para que la maquina pueda avanzar mientras cose. Creo que es un proyecto chido para reciclar, ahora ando buscando por todos lados bolsas de sabirtas vacias, ya les pedi a mis amigos que si comen sabritas me guarden la bolsita, me obsesione un poco con este proyecto, ja ja ja, pues ya hasta puse una caja de carton en la tienda cerca de mi casa para reciclar las bolsitas de sabritas. Veremos si funciona.

Por cierto mientras traducia esta nota, se me olvido la plabra con la que nos referimos a la bolsita de sabritas, mi mente de plano lo bloqueo, y lo tengo aqui, en la punta de la lengua, y se que no podre descansar hasta no encontrar esa palabra, ja ja ja.

Half moon bag, in progress

I saw this bag in a magazine, and really really liked it, and today I decided to give it a try, maybe I could make one for myself.

After many trials and errors, I kind of get it. Sorry this is a raw model, I didn´t want to spend a lot of time with the lining and details and maybe it will not be right at the end. But now that I know it kind of looks like the one in the magazine I will make a good one.
Has anybody made a bag like this? any advice on sewing round stuff?

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Vi esta bolsa en una revista y me encanto, asi que hoy decidi intentarlo, a ver si me puedo hacer una igual.
Despues de muchas pruebas fallidas, como que me salio bien al fin, Disculpen es un modelos burdo, no queria gastar mucho tiempo con los detalles y el forro y que al final no me quedara bien.
Alguien de Ustedes ha hecho una bolsa como esta, algun consejo para coser en redondo?

this is what I get with some free time!

Denim & Lace clutch, with bag outside /  Bolsa de mano de mezclilla y encaje.

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Vinyl Tablecloth Shoulder bag / Bolsa hecha con mantel de plastico.

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Lino, double view / doble vista hecha en lino.

16 de Septiembre, Mexican Independence Day!!

As you know, indigenous peoples were the first to inhabit what is now known as Mexico. They created great civilizations such as the Olmec, the Teotihuacan, Maya, Toltec, and of course the most powerful of all, the Aztec Empire.

After Christopher Columbus “discovered” America, the Spaniards carried out expeditions to find gold and riches from these faraway lands.   In 1521, about 500 Spanish soldiers arrived in Mexico, headed by an ambitious man: Hernán Cortés.  At this time, the Aztecs had built a great empire that ruled over all Mesoamérica. So the Spaniards decided to direct their attacks towards them.

The indigenous nations that were under the Aztec rule were tired of the physical and economic hardships imposed upon them by this empire.  This circumstance made them think that by helping the Conquerors defeat the Aztecs, they would be better off.  So they decided to aid the Spaniards.

This is how the Conquest of what is now Mexico began.

On the 13th of August 1521, Cuauhtémoc, the last Aztec emperor was captured. The indigenous allies of the Spaniards raided Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec empire. They didn’t know it at the time, but they had been liberated from one oppressor and fallen in the hands of a much more powerful authoritarian.

This was the beginning of three centuries of Spanish rule. The new colony was named Nueva España, New Spain.

The years that followed were devastating. The conquerors brought with them diseases unknown to the natives. The epidemics that broke out as well as the merciless workload imposed upon the natives dramatically diminished the Indian population.   There were approximately 20 million Indians inhabiting this territory before the Conquest, and after just one century of Spanish rule there were only 1 million left!

Colonial society was highly stratified. Spaniards born in Spain, occupied the higher echelons, followed by Criollos, those born in Mexico from Spanish parents; Mestizos, the mix- blood offspring of Spaniards and Natives; Indios, Native Indians; Negros, African slaves. Each socio-ethnic group had different rights and duties. The privileged were the peninsular Spaniards.  Discontent steadily grew, especially amongst the Criollos, who were always treated as second-class subjects of the Spanish Crown.   It is no surprise then, that Criollos were the spark that ignited the Independence movement.

In  1808, Napoleon invaded Spain, and decided to impose his brother José Bonaparte, as king of Spain (1808-1810).  The Criollos found in this circumstance the opportunity to seek their independence form Spain. Influenced by the concepts of liberty, equality and democracy proposed by the French philosophers Rousseau, Montesquieu, Voltaire, and by the war of Independence of the United States, they decided to start a revolt.

In the early hours of September 16, 1810, father Hidalgo, accompanied by several conspirators –Ignacio Allende, Doña Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez-   rang the bell of his little church, calling everyone to fight for liberty.  This was the beginning of the Independence War, which lasted 10 years.

And this is the moment that every 16th of September is re-enacted in every plaza or zócalo of Mexico, and commemorated by Mexicans all over the world.

It is customary for our President to deliver the grito in Mexico City’s zócalo. It is in this plaza, atop Palacio Nacional, the National Palace -a beautiful colonial building where the President’s offices are located-, that the original bell rung by Hidalgo is placed. And this is the bell that is rung every 16th of September.

The ceremony reaches the high point when the crowd joins in proudly shouting out the names of the heroes of our Independence, to end with the exciting VIVA MÉXICO!

When the grito ceremony ends, the sky lights up with multicolored rockets that shower our hearts with the pride of knowing that we are a free and independent nation.

and to celebrate it I made something with a mexican touch. Do you remember the fabric I just bought.

I wasn’t quite sure if I could make this bag, I had the idea in my mind, put it in paper, but then, I didn.t know what to do, so I just started cutting, and sewing the stripes, and got so much into it I could not stop until I was done. I have to say, that I feel very proud to accomplish this. Perhaps you may say : but it looks really easy to make, well, not for me, I’m still figuring out the best way to make the linings for my bags, or like it’s being really hard to cut and make the fabric fit the other fabric once it’s sawn together. sometimes I have one side bigger than the other. Anyway, don’t you agree that it’s beautiful? and I found a great way to use this fabric with out it looking tacky. (not sure if it the right word to use)

Bolsa hecha con lino y Gambaya (Tela Mexicana)

flowered clutch

Just a few days ago I tried modifying a pleated tote bag tutorial, to make a clutch like this… I have to say, i failed 3 times, first the bottom was to big for the top band. I tried and tried, until I finally got it kind of right, but when top stitching at the end I didn’t left enough space between the fabric and the snap closure to top stitch with the machine. so I made a third try, and this is the result i finally got it right, but I probably won´t be able to make it again, ha ha ha ha, I didn’t write down the process.

Hace algunos dias trate de modificar un tutorial de una bolsa plisada, para hacer un bolso de mano como este….. pero he dedecir que me costo mucho trabajo, tuve que hacerlo 3 veces, primero la parte de abajo era muy grande para la banda de arriba, creo que descosi la bolsa 3 veces hasta que medio quedo bien. despues en el segundo intento desde cero, ya habia quedado bien, pero cuando cosi la parte de arriba, me di cuenta que al ponerle el boton magnetico no habia dejado espacio suficiente para que la maquina pasara asi que otra vez a empezar de cero, y finalmente despues de muchos errores me quedo bien. Aunque probablemente no la pueda hacer bien otra vez pues tonta yo no apunte como hacerla.

But I will have to try it again, this is a battle I cannot loose!!!!
Pero lo intentare de nuevo, esta es una batalla que no puedo perder!!!