Finally I dig into my Tula Pink fabric stash and decided to make a couple of wallets. I bought the fabrics a couple of years ago and I always waited for the "perfect" project to make. But now I decided to stop waiting. Just took out a couple of fabrics, choosing combos and get on with the project! But choosing fabric combos are always the hardest part. So this time I get Chatgpt involved. And using the suggestion to make the wallet and I LOVE how they turned out!
I must admit, I used a lot of helps from AI (Chatgpt, Copilot and Gemini) to help me writing my Etsy product listing, and some more.
By now I think these AI know my business better than myself! Like when I posted my fabric and asking for combo, it gave me several options depend on what VIBES (!) I want to create and what colors are now popular in Etsy. It's like consulting the Gen Z for free.
I think AI is very good for us, boomers, gen x and millennial generation, who try to make a little bit of side hustle online but are clumsy with words, struggling to understand what SEO, and especially if you do everything on your own from scratch. By the time we sit at the computer after creating products and taking photos, our brain is tired. This is where the AI comes in handy. We just need to write the prompt and they will do it for us, with minimal editing needed. Win-win!
Anyway, here are the details of the wallets. What do you think?
I'm still in the #sewmystash mission. I made a few Voyage Passport Wallets for the shops before Ramadan. They are now available in my ETSY SHOP as well as my WEBSITE.
This time I made curvy edge wallets and love how they turned out. If you don't like making your own bias binding, you can always make the regular Voyage Wallet using cross-cut binding.
Voyage passport wallet is a slim and compact travel wallet. Even though it's small in size (4.5" x 6.5") it can hold up to 4 passports (2 passports on each sleeve) and 2 cardholders. It's just perfect for those who carry 2 passports while travelling.
I made this floral wallet below from block print fabric because I love the print so much! I also got a small blue and white block print fabric on the interior. A bit of contrast but not too much!
The second one is thislavender patchwork print wallet. The fabric is also from my stash and I still have quite a lot of it, I may make bigger passport wallets like Ohana or Safari or another Nuno Wallet. I have matching purple polka dots too.
The third one is this blue wallet made from Marimekko fabric. I remembered I got it at Nomura Tailor. They have small cuts of designer fabrics and I picked up quite a few. The size is a little smaller than the fat 8 fabric. I had fun mix-matching this wallet.
This week I am pretty productive. I made a few wallet orders and then went on to finish two Voyage Passport Wallets. Last year I did not shop much for fabrics, instead, I was using what I had in my (huge) stash. Maybe I will let go of a few fabrics from my collection at some point of time this year. I just need some time to get organized. So, stay tuned!
Now back to the two voyage wallets that are made from my stash. The first one was the peach lantern wallet. I think I got the fabric from the Moda shop in Osaka. The lantern design is very cute with the ribbon bows, etc. Not sure why I bought it in the first place though, but I am glad that I did! It reminds me of Chinese New Year.
The second one is the Alice in Wonderland Passport wallet. I am so happy I decided to make the wallet from this linen fabric. I was making a kodomo wallet using the same fabric for an order and decided to make a passport wallet with it.
This time I also decided to make a curvy one because I have a bias binding ready. And I love how it turned out. I think I will make a few more with a curvy edge. The wallet closed with a snap button, I am thinking of making another one with a zippered closure. What do you think?
This voyage passport wallet can hold up to 4 passports (2 passports in each sleeve) plus 2 cards. Personally, I love to carry this one when I am traveling solo. It fits nicely in my purse.
These wallets are available in my Etsy shop as well as on my Website. I've been making a few changes to the website in the past few weeks, like I merged back the fabric section into the website. Hopefully, I now can update the listing more regularly. Having a small business is not as glamorous as it looks on Instagram. But as long as we enjoy it, it's worth it!
The pattern is written in simple English and includes a cutting guide, full-scale templates for various flap designs, step-by-step photos, and helpful diagrams to guide you through the sewing process. The wallet is designed to be sturdy and durable.
We're almost in the middle of February. The past 2 weeks, I was pretty busy, and even though I have so many things I want to write somehow I do not get the time to do.
First, I got back muscle spasm, hence I cannot sit or stand for too long. I am resting as much as possible and also doing a couple exercises and now I am feeling much better.
I ordered a watercolor painting from Nusrat when I met her a few months ago and she painted it so beautifully! Thank you, Nusrat! I have this beachfront photo that I took when we visited my mom's hometown, Makian Island, in Ternate a couple of years ago. The picturesque island holds great memories. It was our first visit to the island and also met many of my cousins, nephews, and nieces. Some of them I met for the first time!
On February 5th afternoon, suddenly we got a hailstorm which was pretty heavy! It was so fascinating to see the yard turning "snowy" white. The last week of January and the first week of February were unusually very cold. And then suddenly this! People in town are pretty excited as this never happened before. The flowers and vegetable garden was ruined but that was a pretty exciting experience.
Another news is the mall next to our house is finally open. Not fully open but at least Pizza Hut was open for online ordering. That's really good news as we have one more option to order in. The area where we live is becoming to feel like a satellite city now. New shops and malls are coming up, in one way it's good that we don't have to spend 3 hours just to get a couple of stuff from the town. I hate going out nowadays especially since the flyover construction is going on nearby. It takes even longer to the city.
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Last week, I took a Chikan Embroidery Online Work Shop with Saba. It was on my list to learn. I was really excited about the class. Chikan embroidery is a traditional embroidery from Lucknow and is still very popular. I LOVE Chikan embroidery and I have a few sets of kurtas and stoles of Chikankari.
Chikan embroidery is traditionally done on white or pastel colors thin fabrics, like muslin, and with white thread. I did not have the thread that is traditionally used, so I used regular embroidery yarn here.
Although some of the stitches are the same or similar to regular embroidery, I am so excited to learn the stitches' names in the traditional Chikankari terms. Listening to Saba tell us the story of how they came up with the name and some historical background of the design while we were embroidering away was fascinating. 3 hours went by in a flash!
I still have to practice a lot and Saba gave us a couple of designs for us to start. But first, I must get a white muslin or maybe Kota cotton.
Katey Stitch
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I went to the Guwahati University Post Office last week to send an order to Australia. This is the second time I came to this PO. Since the rate for FedEx and DHL to Australia is too expensive, I started sending packages to Asia and Oceania by Post. It took about 30 days from here to Australia by Speed Post (EMS). The package is trackable but I suppose due to the flight restriction, most packages, even via FedEx experiencing some delay. The PO is not too crowded, so it was nice to go there instead of going all the way to the main PO in town. The officer in here is also more efficient so the process was pretty quick. I hope they keep it up, now that India Post started international services again. And of course, I always like the drive to the University.
And today was the son's farewell party in School. The program was set in the morning and I love to see the boys and girls dressing up. The girls mostly wear Saree and they look really gracious and the boys look dashing in their suits. My son spent 13 years in Sarala Birla Gyan Jyoti Guwahati. I remembered how he used to be very shy and hesitant to start a conversation. Thanks to the teachers and staff in SBGJ now he grew up to be a confident young man, with a clear goal in mind for his future. Insha Allah he will start going to college next fall and we have been going through a lot of discussions choosing subjects, etc. And yes, I do feel anxious and excited for him at the same time. He is going for a big leap this year, will start a new journey et al. My younger one, who is more sensitive, often asks me how I feel about his elder brother going away for college. And when I said, sometimes I feel sad, he said " can you imagine how Nenek (my mom) must have felt when you decided to come here". Ha! I did not see that coming!
Anyway, the party is over now and the boys have to start studying for the Term 2 exam next April. And we still have a lot of things to do. Wish us luck!!
Finally, the video tutorial for the Safari Travel Wallet is up on my YouTube Channel. I hope the video can help to visualize how to make the wallet from the beginning. I am trying to get a better angle as I recorded the video and also try not to skip the process. The video is sped up 2 to 3 times from the original. If you want to watch it at a slower speed, you can do so by clicking the setting on your YouTube screen.
The original pattern only has instructions for flap closure which is pretty easy, but as many customers like zip-around closure more, I decided to make the video for the zip-around version. If anyone wants to see the flap closure version, I will record one when I make my next wallet. Do let me know in the comment.
I really enjoy recording the video and I really hope to share more sewing tutorials in the future. If you heard some funny noise in between the videos, that's because my son was watching a football match, or sometimes, someone came and asked something in the middle of the recording. Maybe I should put a sign like "recording in progress, do not disturb" LOL
I hope you find the video useful and you can understand the process of making the wallet. I'm looking forward to your feedback!
In between working on orders, last week I went for a photography workshop held by Sony for Sony Alpha Camera Users.
Though it turned out to be more of marketing presentation but I enjoyed it nevertheless. Especially looking at all those high end cameras and lenses
here are few things that's been happening
I made a green polka dot passport wallet while working on orders and also made a camera strap sleeve. Isn’t that cool? I am thinking of add this in my shop. But I need to make a few more first! What do you think?
So about the double zip wallet (pattern by Noodlehead) I finally cut this green apple denim fabric. Nowadays I am trying to make few pieces of one product. This is one of my way to increase ready to ship stocks in my Etsy shop and of course to use my fabric stash ^^ . I hope with more ready to ship items, I will be driving more sales! Besides, it makes me more creative. It's way more effective to do it this way that just scrolling Pinterest or Instagram.
I posted the above photo in Instagram a few days ago. I know posting on social media is easier and faster but I want to write a blog post about it too for my personal reference. It's easier to let the buyers know on my blog then scrolling endless Instagram Photos.
I love this simple wallet. It has all the necessary slots and pockets for your daily needs like slots for multiple cards, bills, mobile phone and of course the double zip pockets are very handy. Especially if you like to keep all those shop receipts like me ^__^.
I made a little changes from the pattern, that is the way of attaching zipper. I used zipper tabs which I find easier for me. Though the top stitching part is a bit struggling. But I am happy with the result and I hope you too.
I have a few double zip wallet in the making right now which hopefully will be ready after New year! If you're in Instagram, feel free to follow my behind the scene stories. That's all for today, I better get back to my sewing table and finish up a couple of orders before the New year roll in.
