Cute elephant Passport Holder and Travel Wallet

Hello again,

I hope you had a great weekends! It's getting warmer in here and new leaves are coming out and with a few spell of rains the trees look fresh!

The boys are having session break holidays and they plan to have a few boys over for the day. 

Elephant Passport Holder

In the meantime, I finished a couple of family passport holders. A custom order from my Etsy shop. I really love this colorful ellie print. I made a basic passport cover earlier with the same print. 

This model is the most popular one in my shop. I published the pattern last year and it's really a humbling experience to see how others made and interpreted the pattern. Thank you so much for you who tagged me on Facebook and Instagram! 

Another one I finished was this Passport Wallet in African Women Print. 

This passport holder model can hold 4 passports and a few cards. It even has long zipper pocket and 2 slip pockets. 

It's perfect to keep all your frequent flyer membership cards and documents even when you're not traveling. I am using a single version of this model when I travel alone. 

That's all the news from my sewing room. I still have a few wallets and quilts to finish this week. Hopefully I can complete a few things on my to do list! What about you? Have you tried anything new this week? 

Until then,

Happy Sewing

Linky Party:
Handmade Monday
Show Off Saturday
Finish it up Friday

Mini Family Trip

Hello,

Last week I went to Delhi for my passport renewal work. It was a nice mini trip with my small family. Of course the boys got more excited. The younger one was a little upset because he had to miss his high jump final round in the inter house competition at school. Anyway, he was later quite happy after he got a new running shoes. 

Here are a few photos from the trip: 

#1. Travel Organizers

Of course we never have enough pouches and wallets. The passport wallet was really handy to keep all my family passports and the necessary documents as live in a foreign land. 

My Travel Must-Have organizer:   small pencil pouch, shoe lipstick pouch,  tissue pouch and the small pouch to keep urgent medicines. 

The patchwork pouch for my phone and hotel keys as we go for breakfast. The red one was for my make up bag. 

Travel Must-Have 

2. Spices and Teas

The House of Tea in Central Mall Delhi Aerocity

Dry Fruits

Pink salt and spices

Arqa at Central Mall

For Tea lovers like me, it's difficult to choose :)

#3 The Delhi Road

Spotted near the Indonesian Embassy

Equal Rights 

Horn Please:)

quick fix 

Embroidered bags and clutches. My boys didn't let me go closer :(
They surely knew my weakness for anything ethnic ^^

We met my hubby's friend for Indian dinner at Karim's in Gurgaon. There were so many grand weddings going on while we were on our way to Karim's. The white horses, the singing and dancing et al really amazed me. I wish I could just take photos. I tried but one could not get decent photo while riding Indian taxi, right? 

We also went to visit hubby's aunt and had a great time chatting and catching up on family gossips. While coming back to the hotel (we stayed in Novotel in Aerocity), the uber driver was really bad. He drove very carelessly, if not dangerously :(

Novotel Green Garden 

two of my favorite things :D

Until Next Time, New Delhi

It was fun trip ( although sans fabric shopping), though the traffic was really bad. Even at almost midnight there was traffic jam!! Maybe next time we should try the Delhi Metro. 

Now all the dirty clothes are taken care of, it's time to get back to (sewing) work. 

Happy Sewing,

Improvisation Part Deux - Family Passport Holder for 4

Hello again,

Weather is still pleasant in the Northeast of India. We got plenty of rain (and storm) this year and I hope the summer will not be too hot. 

Since I posted my family passport holder with 4 slots in Facebook , many has message me. Many people need a smaller version of the wallet. 

If you already bought the pattern (if you have not, links available at the end of this post), here's simple things you can do.

To make 4 slots passport holder :

1. Cut only the top and bottom card slots (Exterior Fabric, Lining and Interfacing).  And proceed as per pattern instructions.

2. Adjust the main body piece (Exterior, Lining, batting) by reducing the HEIGHT by 1 inch. The width should remain the same. 

3. (Optional) Reduce the WIDTH of the flap exterior and the interfacing piece by 1 Inch. The length of the flap piece should remain the same. Or else you don't have to change the flap pattern if you want a wider flap, just like  these fun and beautiful wallets by Kausalya of The Turquoise Paisley

 Now,  don't you love her wallets? They are super cute and fun. Check The Turquoise Paisley Facebook page to see more of fun handmade passport wallets and other fun stuff she made from Indian Fabrics. 

Who wants a boring black faux leather Travel Wallet if you can get a fun,  cute and one of a kind Handmade Wallet? 

The Family Passport Holder pdf pattern is available  here:

CRAFTSY

ETSY

CHEZVIES 

(Printed Pattern & Kits available in ChezVies - Price in INR)

if you already got one and have any questions, you can always email me. 

Until then,

Happy Sewing

Improvisation on the family passport holder

Hello,

I got an email from a customer asking if the passport wallet I listed in Etsy will be able to hold 12 passports as they are dual passport holder. So, yes I can make it happen (I feel like a magician ^^ )

So, after carefully thinking I made a couple of changes in term of material that I used or listed in the PdF Pattern.

For you who already bought the pattern, this tips may come out handy if you need to make one too.

1.  The interfacing. In this Map Family Passport holder I used Medium Heavy interfacing on the exterior only. In the main body lining fabric, I used woven interfacing. I also used woven interfacing for the passport slots. Since I need them to be less rigid. This way, 2 passports can easily fit in one slot.

2. I omitted the mini zip and ID slot and added exterior zipper instead. 

3. I also made the flap  longer by 0.5 inch to accommodate the bulk.

This family passport wallet is already on it's way to its new home. I will be offering this options in my shops. 

This is the best part of custom order. Sometimes a request from a customer can lead  you to new ideas. 

Thank you for all of you who've been supporting my small business all these years. 

Until next time, 

Happy Sewing

Links :

Wallet Pattern

Interfacings & Supplies

Handmade Shop 

Trip to Hong Kong

Few days ago, a facebook friend Sunita posted about taking unpaid leave  to travel. Well, I certainly would do it. Life is too short to spend in one place, right? 

After marriage and kids, travel seems to be a distant dream, but believe me, we need to go out there, take the kids off their gadgets and start looking around you instead of glued to the HD screen. 

My 13 and 11 years old boys are just like any other boys who prefer  lounging around and play games  in their gadgets during holidays.

Hong Kong 

Last summer we went to Hong Kong, which they enjoyed.  We still laugh at how my younger son kept disappearing to explore the stalls in the Temple street night market or any other places we visited. 

The boys enjoyed reading GPS map to find our Big bus stop. The younger one was fascinated by double decker busses and always made us sit in the upper deck.  

How we were all  so worried during our day trip to Shenzhen when one couple in our group was detained in the immigration because he forgot to bring their return air ticket. 

ShenZhen Window of the world

{this is why you need a travel wallet, esp if you travel with family }

Family Travel Wallet 

 Even though they were tired of walking around in Hong Kong summer heat, they still enjoyed street shows and looking around. 

Big Bubble street show 

street show

They learned that there are  more interesting and exciting things to see and to do out there then looking at their gadgets.

Cable car ride in Ocean Park Hong Kong

Travelling indeed is life lesson : learn to be away from the comfort of the home, to be discipline, to be aware of what's happening around you, to be alert, and most importantly to enjoy yourself. 

Yes, travel will definitely enrich you as a person, as a family. Give your children memories to treasure.   

What about you? Where are you heading this winter?

Until then, 

Almost Holiday

Summer holiday is almost here! It's time to pack my bags and make few handmade for my family and friends in Indonesia. 

I always prefer to give handmade stuff even if it's small.

two of my sisters already told me to make them passport wallets :D

Mickey Mouse Family Travel Wallet

 and I already order one Bag from my fave bag-maker bestie, BagStock . My mom loves her Saddle bag that I gave last year. 

****************

Black and white is always favorite. Last weekends, hubby's cousin came to visit me and she wanted  wallet and pouch set in black and white and Blue. I showed her my photos from my previous custom order and she wanted same combo. 

I really love this combo. I thought black, white and red is perfect but this linen blue and this chevron really look classic. 

If you notice that stone car, it's my current fave photo props. I collected that stone when we went to Umngot River in Meghalaya few months ago. Hubby was laughing when I collected stones to take as souvenirs.

What is your fave photo props? 

Personalized your Wallet with Hand Embroidered Names

Photo props is really important, I feel, esp when you are selling online. But not too much. You have to make props that visually appealing yet not crowding your product that it takes away the focus. 

I love my canvas board white background. And always try to take photos before noon in a room which does not have direct sunlight. 

Ethnic Traveling Vanity Pouch

I have screen door in my sewing room that facing the front porch. I recently put an off-white lace curtain to block the direct afternoon sunlight. And that's my fave photo spot now. Since I got my new 50 mm lens, I love taking photos here. 

Ballerina Small Pouch

As much as you can do not take photos with auto setting. Try to tweak the setting a bit and you will get  perfect photos. Do take a look at your camera setting and try to search for online tutorial. YouTube is a great source of information. 

Here, I give you sneak peek on how I did it. The photo below was  taken using my Sony Pocket Camera. I put my canvas board near the screen door and I put a white card stock paper (it was  bed sheet wrapper or whatever you call it). 

The paper is a bit shiny so it gives perfect reflection. The white paper will sort of block the light from the door/window and reflect it back. It reduces the shades that you normally get when you take photos without one. 

by the way, my handmade shop in Etsy will be closed from next week until end of July since I will be going for holiday. So until then do check my READY to SHOP section in my shop. 

Thank for dropping bye

Until then,