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Happy Women's Day - Let's empower women!

Guwahati, Assam, India


CHEZVIES
Yourstory




Happy Women's Day to all the wonderful women!! On this women's day, I've been honored to be featured on Yourstory.com Women's day edition. A few days ago when Disha from Etsy India sent me the questionnaire, I was sitting on my computer thinking what should I write? I am just an ordinary mother of 2, doing what I love the most in my spare time from one of the corners of my home. But when come to think of it, most of the mompreneurs or women entrepreneurs that I personally know, started the same way, from one corner of our homes. 


Oh yes, we have many up and downs stories and I am glad I have a circle of craft entrepreneurs friends in my city that empower each other. Truly, I would not have met them if I was not in Etsy
Today, I'd like to give a shout-out to them, thank you girls for always being there for me! 





Achumi from Treasured Elements, I met here 20 years ago when I first came to Guwahati. She was my makeup artist during my wedding!! We lost contact for many years, and finally met up again a couple years ago and this talented girl, now a self-made Jewelry designer. She mostly works with silver and precious stones and has her products displayed at Guwahati Airport and several stores in Northeast India. 





Manisha of  MrbWatercolor is a watercolor artist and is the first Etsy seller from Guwahati that I know. We chatted several times on Instagram before we met in person a couple of years ago. I love her style of watercolor painting (I got a couple of them!) and of course, her popular watercolor paints that she sells on her Etsy shop







I first met Meenakshi from Rustic Origin during the Etsy event in Guwahati in 2019. She's a friend of Achumi's. We shared a common interest in fabrics and hand stitching. She loves doing boro sashiko and dyeing fabrics. We met a couple of times, and always planning to meet and do some sewing and quilting together. She runs her Etsy Shop, Rustic Origin Shop, where she sells woven loom home decor from Northeast India.

When we met, we talked about the hustle we have to do, the challenges for selling online now compare to a few years ago from shipping to compliance with the latest government regulations, to the worries for our children, etc. You know the real talk and we often forgot to take selfies! But here's the photo of us from 2019 just before the pandemic started. 



Do visit their social media or Etsy shop whenever you are free. Yes, there are always untold hustling stories behind those pretty photos on Etsy and Instagram. For every woman who reads this blog, I hope you can be inspired to pursue your dreams. It's never too late to start doing what you love, what makes you happy! Whether it's a hobby or a business. Just do it! 

Happy women's day! 

Elvira


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Wallets, Quilts and Bias Binding Tutorial

India



In the past few days, I've been busy making a few wallet and placemats orders. I got a couple of passport wallet orders in the past two months. I think now that travel around the globe is eased, many people started to travel again.

This time, the zip around small passport holder seems quite popular and as usual, whenever I make for an order, I cut one extra to add to my shop. Because I am working solo and nowadays hardly have time to sew, this way I can add a couple of new designs in a month. Also, I will always have projects that are ready to sew. Although sometimes it takes days to finish and sometimes I can finish 2 wallets in a day. Well, as long as I can sew, I am a happy girl! 

Ah, I also recorded the video tutorial for this small passport wallet - which hopefully I can finish editing and put up on YouTube this week. 


small passport wallet



passport wallet for 4


I often got questions regarding bias binding. For beginners or someone who never makes or use bias binding, it can be a daunting task. There are a few ways to make a bias binding but this traditional method is my fave because the binding always turns out perfect. 
In this video, I made DIY bias binding using FAT 8 fabric (9" x 22"). The rule of thumb is, you must make sure the fabric grains (warp and weft) are straight. That way you will get nice and crisp bias tape. 
Please check the video below. I hope the video is clear enough. If you have any questions, you can contact me or leave a comment below. 




Here are more fabric wallets recently done and a couple of them are on their way to the new home. I love making this classic bifold wallet.  My first wallet was this bifold wallet and even after washing it several times, it is still in a good shape. The interfacing and padding did make the wallet sturdy and did not lose its shape. 

bifold fabric wallet


snoopy wallet

snoopy long wallet

GET THE PATTERN HERE


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And here's the medium scrappy placemats I recently finish and sent out. I hope they will be received well. As a maker and seller, nothing more rewarding than a happy customer! 
I kind of love these medium-size placemats and I have a couple more to finish hand sewing the binding before I put them up in the shop. 

I also experimented with different quilting lines on my Industrial machine. I tried doing FMQ after watching a couple of  YouTube videos where people do freehand machine embroidery using a similar machine as mine. Well, guess what? I worked! I will try in my next project and hopefully can share a few tips with you all. Stay tuned! 

Scrappy medium placemats
Scrappy Placemats




FMQ on Industrial Machine
FMQ Trial 


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On the 16th, my SIL and I went to a wedding in a village nearby. It was great fun for both of us. And of course, I love watching how the folks are having a great time at the party. In the village, a wedding party can last a couple of days (2-3 days) from morning to midnight. People from all around the village and nearby village will keep streaming in, sitting and chatting. I love to see the young girls dressing up to the latest Bollywood trend. 

And of course, I enjoyed the ride through different small towns and villages. Since the harvest season is just over, most of the fields are dry now. But it was a  lovely day! 



The bride and the bridesmaids 

Henna -  a must in every wedding! 






We also went to the market last week. We went saree shopping for one of our helper's daughter's wedding next month. Of course, I wore a double mask even a lot of people are not wearing masks now since the state government announced that all pandemics restrictions are lifted off. 
I really enjoyed looking at those colorful sarees. Even though I don't wear colorful clothes myself, looking at those bright colors, makes me happy! And no, I did not buy for myself, I only went to my regular fabric shop to get denim material. I suppose to go look for Mekhla (Assamese dress) border for my kawandi project but it was getting late, so maybe next time! 
 




That's all for today. I hope you enjoy reading my blog. Thank you for stopping by and please leave a comment or two.

Until next time,

Elvira


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