Last week was very intense and full for me as I was lucky enough to work at Quiltworks NW in Bellevue (www.quiltworksnw.com).  Last fall the owner Stacy Baumeister acquired the local cool shop “Beads and Beyond”.  I think that it all worked out quite nicely as she packed everything up and moved to new digs one block east of the old location to 121A 107th Avenue NE, Bellevue, Wa., 98004.  I have never seen this combination before, but I think that it is a cozy fit to say the least.  I am very grateful to Stacy and her staff for inviting me to play in her sandbox.  I went to Sew Expo this year with the Quiltworks team and did demos of the patterns I was debuting there.  It was the most fun I had had in months.

Last week was Shop Hop, a tradition among quilters.  The goal is to visit 57 independently owned fabric stores in 4 days.  I got to greet our guests as they made this stop on their long roadtrip!  Then……………….coolness all around as the store to top it off had this fabulous guest jewelry artist, Gail Crosman Moore.  I was totally inspired by her designs.  And even better yet, she had all of her  makings and findings there for sale, while she taught classes.  Checkout her website at www.gailcrosmanmoore.com .

Here are the sequins.

Gail uses beads, findings, felting, and sequins for her own artistic expression that I had never seen before.  She also makes glass beads and pendents.  I love the “mat” pendents that look like shells best.  It was all very yummy.

I am getting ready for a trunk show in the Magnolia Village on Thursday, July 9th from 6-9pm at Bleu Papillon, 3315 W. McGraw, Seattle Wa, 98199, 206-284-3526.  I am working on new jewelry designs that are unique, with vintage touches and very wearable.  I will have “windowpane” pendents too.  Please come check it all out next week on Thursday!!!

Thank-you Gail for showing me a new way to create! This is one of my stacked necklaces, where the elements lie on top of each other

Gail paints her metal findings. It is so cool!

And finally, I started teaching my DIY Open Sew class at my house.  I have a great set-up in the garage for the class.  It really is working out very well.  One of my fabulous students reminded me that Microsoft and Amazon started in garages too.  Write me and I will send you a schedule to at cheryl@paradisodesigns.com.  I can only dream.  But for the moment I am having alot of fun!  Have a great day and week everyone!!! Sew Rama!

Just sewing in the garage!!!!! Can you tell we are in the garage?

I have been so busy getting the ball rolling on my Summer Sew Camp.  I am going to keep working on the promotion.  As soon as I get those first few kids sewing up a storm, the sewing gospel will spread!!!!  I love to work with kids because their minds know no limits.  When it comes to creativity, I relish letting them go for it.  When they ask if they can make something, I work to make that happen.

I came up with alot of projects, but….. I have even

Maya made her own market bag!

helped some students draft skirt patterns.

This is the skirt that I helped Roma draft a pattern for. Then she cut it out and made it!

Then Roma made a dress too. Look at that fun embellishment on the trim!

Teaching kids became such a fundamental element for me.  I was going through a very tough time last summer, and working with kids allowed me to step away from my own pain and give them something  meaningful in being able to create.  With their eyes wide open, I knew that it was important to be able to give them guidance in a very positive light.  I found that I had to let them do the work, and make mistakes.  It is all part of the learning process.  As each session ended, I found myself almost crying when I said good-bye to all these little ones that I had formed a bond with.  I am so glad that I remembered to take pictures to capture those moments of joy from last summer.  I am looking forward to this summer to working with those wacky kids and all their young uninhibited artistic process.  If you live in the greater Seattle are, I am teaching my Summer Sew Camp in Bellevue at Quiltworks Northwest in the morning.  I will be teaching on the West side in Seattle in the afternoon.

Quiltworks NW, 425- 453-6005

Seattle, 206-282-5149

These are all the weeks Sew Camp is in session

July  6th-9th, 13th-16th, 20th-23rd, 27th-30th

August  3rd-6th, 10th-13th, 17th-20th

If you know a child that would love to sew, or a teen that wants to make clothes that fit, please pass this on to them.  Let’s have some sew-rama fun!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Lily made a lunch bag!

Zola made apron with killer whales on it!

Have an awesome summer.

Luv,

Cheryl

Now you fold the edge of the pleather to the line to start your first line of stitching. I have decided that the next blog cast will be a full set of instructions to fully sew the pleather strap!!!

Here I am topstitching the seam of a Tiny Bag!

This is the finished Tiny Bag!

Check out this rose. Peace to everyone!!!

So today is my birthday, and I just had to get it on and do a new post. I was really busy last week getting ready for a trunk show this last weekend. I got alot done, new Tiny Bags, and Market bags, and for those of you that do not know, I make jewelry too!!! And I have to include a picture of my peace rose blooming. I love these roses, yellow with a blush of coral. I think to be able to cut a beautiful flower from my garden, then put it in a vase, and to see it’s beauty every time you walk into the room is lovely. How lucky are we to have these gifts of the earth! So I am also including some pictures of me sewing the Tiny and Market Bags. I included adding trim to a pocket top, and sewing the pleather strap. I love sewing with pleather. It is a wonderful fabric, and it comes in all kinds of textures and colors. I even use vinyl too. If it looks like leather, and you can fold it into thirds easily, then you have the making of a strap. Joanne’s has a really great supply of pleather/vinyl. They even have one that is ostrich too. Here in Seattle, I love to see what Pacific Fabrics has. Sometimes they get crocodile embossed, or snakeskin too, and tons of colors. I recommend the 4th Avenue, the selection cannot be beat. In fact, all of the pleather straps on my patterns covers are made with pleather I bought form Pacific Fabric  (www.paradisodesigns.etsy.com for the patterns)! Also, I am having my first DIY Class at my house tomorrow night from 5-9 pm, at the special price of $15.00. E-mail me at paradisodesigns@comcast.net, if you want more information, and to hold a spot for you too!! Have a great day everyone!

Here are the materials for 3 new Tiny Bags

Here is the first step to sewing a pleather strap. The cut piece is 3" wide. I have drawna line 1" from the edge, the entire length of the strap piece.

Sew Rama, Cheryl

One of my students Megan, dreamed of the perfect dress for herself to vogue about in the warmth of spring and summer.  And, she asked me to create it for her.  Well, you know, her wish is my command.  So I was off to complete this task.  Megan is this very refined woman.  I think that she has the best attitude about life.  She has little sayings that are like the quotes you might hear from the mom in “Leave it to Beaver”, yet Megan brings this new century freshness to her words of wisdom.  She makes me smile!

Megan pointed me in the direction of the website/blog called “Dress a Day”.  The dress is back baby!  Gals galore are making dresses from vintage patterns or they are wearing vintage dresses.  We choose to create a special frock for Miss Megan.  She had fabric in mind, and had found a blouse pattern.  And a blouse pattern does not make a dress…..yet, that is exactly what I did.  I drafted the skirt to fit the dress, and it turned out wonderful.  I really enjoyed this process as I threw in a few fun details.  We decided on 3/4 sleeves, mother of pearl buttons, and the facing on the sleeves and the collar is a white baby cotton stripe.  We also used a muted variegated thread to sew it all up.  Except for the buttonholes.  I love variegated thread, but it bothers me if it is used for buttonholes.  It just looks tarty (tarty= bad).  So I matched the thread for that those buttons.  In any case here are the pictures on “The Dress for the Day for Megan”.  She really loved it and so did her mom.

I also had my gal pal Melissa over sewing today, and she made a sash/scarf to complement her new knit kimona dress made from the Weekend Sewing book by Heather Ross.  Melissa has this beautiful silk japanese print, that we backed with chiffon to make the sash/scarf.  This will be one of my free pattens on my website in the near future!  See my landing page at www.paradisodesigns.com

I am topstitching the sleeve here!

Thsi is the dress fabric, and youcan see the verigated thread in the topstitching.

Here is the white lace stripe used for the facings.

This is the raw materials for the dress of the day.

Check out the collar facing, it is the perfect match!

And....ta-ta, here is Megan in her new frock. I think she looks great in it, and is now offically ready for summer!

This is the most beautiful sash that I helped Melissa make. This is just a simple tie. It is amazing how great material works when you sew it the right way!

this is the back of the sash, artfully twisted.

Here are all the fixings for Tiny bags to be made tomorrow. See you then!

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So for all you in or near the  greater Seattle area, on Saturday, June 6th, I will be doing a trunk show of my pillows, handbags, market bags, and my fun, electic jewelry.  The trunk show will be at Bleu Papillon in Magnolia at 3315 W. McGraw,  Seattle,  Washington  98199.  I will also  be design and color consulting, and taking custom orders for anything that your heart desires.  Please call for an appointment at  (206)284-3526.  I would love to see you there!

Tomorrow, check out what I am making for the show!!!!!!   Sew Rama.

Here is Genny, my faithful canine companion, manning the power cables!

Here is the market bag, almost finished!!!

This is the finished Market Bag with it's smart shoulder strap!

On Thursday I had to teach a class at Nancy’s Sewing Basket, and I also needed to finish a sample of the market bag for them.  I have to say that 20 years ago when I arrived in Seattle, Nancy’s was the first fabric store that I went to.  Nancy has many treasures all over her store.  Then, she had to open the ribbon room.  I died and went to heaven.  They have all these things with the word “vintage”  attached to it.  You know, buttons and ribbon, and flower making stuff.  I have to be very careful when I walk in there, so that I do not buy too much.  The materials we picked for the market bag were fabulous.  Designer denim, yummy!  I had a student that had made the market bag in denim, and it was really cool.  What I  love is the fabric that we picked for the  side embellishment.  Usually I use 3 different fabrics that coordinate together, but with this HUGE designer print in fresh, just picked colors, I cut the strips and put them in an order so that was not in order, and that you can see the individual pieces.  Then I did my thing and made it come together.  I think it turned out very nice.  And, a big plus, it was the first day to sew outside.  Yes, all you sewing divas, I sew outside in the sun

Here are the embellishment panels reassembled, ready for topstitching>

.  Multi-task and get a little color while I work.  Really,….does it get any better then that!!!  Take a look at the pictures and see for yourself!!!  Tomorrow I will have the full report on Megan’s dress.  I am soooo happy to say that it is done.  If you want the pattern, click www.paradisodesigns.etsy.com .  Have a great week!

Genny is all business, as we drive to Gretchen's house.

Here is the lovely aqua toile that gretchen picked out, and here is the floral silk that matches!

here are all the slipcover pieces, that now need to be assembled!

Gretchen and genny are so happy that darn slipcover is complete.

Time to rest.

A final touch, this pillow is perfect! Not too matchy-matchy, but....just right.

Genny is all smiles as we finally drive home.

I am determined to blog each day, but it has not quite worked that way being that I am the company of one. So, I will continue to do my best, as I truly wish to only inspire others to create new things!
On Memorial Day and Tuesday I worked on a slipcover at my friend Gretchen’s home. She was cool enough to let me bring Genny, my canine companion with me for 2 long days of work. Making a slipcover takes time. Before I got to the point of where I could construct the cover, I had to cut out the pieces, and back them with muslin. To make it really special, I serged the fabric and muslin together for that “professional finished” look. I then proceeded to carefully assemble all of the pieces. Genny and I were very happy when I got it all done. As a surprise to Gretchen I found a printed silk with vintage looking flowers on it that matched her aqua toile to make 2 throw pillows. Check-out the pictures. Next up a cute day dress for Megan!!!

this is a very lovely friday today.  yesterday i gave my friends Mary and Sean a skirt for the most beautiful toddler in the world, their daugther Harlow.  Mary is building my website, and she saw this little girls skirt on Heather Bailey’s blog.  this fabric collection by Heather Bailey called “Pop Garden”  is fabulous.  it is a great mix of modern and shabby chic, with awesome color ways.  in any case i was all over it like butter on toast.  i checked out the skirt, and whipped one up for dear Harlow, and the pictures are here for all to see.  i enjoyed making this using variegated lemon-lime thread.  i will be getting my class schedule for the summer and the fall in the greater Seattle area next week.  there will be a e-mail sign-up for those of you that wish to know of new stuff and upcoming events.  I am working hard to bring it all to you.  If you wish to know how to make a skirt for your little one like this, visit www.paradisodesigns.com soon for the sewing tutorial!!! Luv,  cher

Harlow and her dog, Bailey

Hi!  I am back to do this thing.  My name is Cheryl Kuczek, and I have a little company called Paradiso Designs.  I have an independent line  of handbag patterns.  Anyone can create their own designer handbag that looks great and is can really be used.  If you wish to view my patterns click here, www.paradisodesigns.etsy.com.  I am the first designer to use pleather for my bag straps.  Soon on my website  www.paradisodesigns.com,  I will have a teaching tutorial on how to sew pleather!

I love to sew, and I love to teach sewing to people that wish to learn to create!  My friend Melissa is learning to sew knit fabrics into t-shirts.  She was so worried that she would look like an old lady in a very colorful pattern that she had made into a t-shirt.  So she called me up today, and said “what do I do”.  I told her i would bring some solid knit fabric to embellish to class tonight, and it turned out really cool.

I showed Melissa how to cut out flower petals, and then I showed her how to sew them on freeform, and this is what happened!

Luxury custom handmade bag with fun graphics. Professionally handcrafted for durability with a vinyl bottom and 4 inside pockets. This bag is well-built with many layers of muslin and fleece. The strap is pleather, which is not only strong, but comfortable on your shoulder.