I was asked to be a bridesmaid by my friend, Maya. They had a beach wedding. Beach means crochet right? So I conjured something specially for this wedding as my bridesmaid ‘get-up’. It took me a week to make this. I paid dearly from wearing it. (Na pulmonya ata ako T_T)
I also made my youngest a dress so we matched!
So most of you probably know that I have two kids 
and I do not feel so comfortable flaunting my tummy to the public anymore, so to compensate because I still love showing some skin during summer, I have to look for one piece swimsuits. Sadly, I only like a few designs, so this time around, I decided to make my own one piece swimsuit
Of course, everything starts with a ‘design’ first:
I made a very quick skecth on what my swimsuit would look like. Then I choose my colors and then decided to start the project swiftly.
After sometime, I decided to make the design a bit clearer, and make the upper body into a lacy mesh still with the same aesthetics, zigzag, lines etc.
Second Draft
The bikini top should be more nude tone but I do not have the right hue, so I just used this pale light brown one that I have.
It is always exciting to finish a project, right?
And tada! photos taken during our anniversary in palawan
Hi!!!
It was almost a year since I made this small summer dress just in time for my summer getaway drew a sketch of the dress and got inspired to make the stitch for the sunflower motif
Concept Design / Sketch of the Sunflower Dress
Disclaimer, I have a notebook with already builtin drawing of tiny girls in poses, so do not get mislead that I know how to draw croquis!
Anyways, so after crocheting 3 layers of the floral motif in pale yellow with leaves in blue green hues, I decided to crochet the top layer in white just so to emphasize the design below but still using the same motif.
Next layer of motifs in white
Then the rest of the body is done in ch mesh i made sure that i partitioned the stitches in parts where there would be ‘folds’ and stretches because of the upper body’s curves.
Upper mesh
Then i filled in the gaps by just crocheting dc’s in between
Filling in the gaps
Then continue crocheting the upper part to form the upper part. A little shaping for the sleeves and the neckline Ohh… some small florets for the neckline and voila
Tada! the sunflower dress
I added some tassels below the hemline just for a little flirty look. And because I am not a pretty model, I imported my husband’s cousin to model the dress for me and it looked so pretty. well, she is so pretty 😀
Today, I am about to make a yarn purchase.
I know, I said no yarn purchase for a year but somehow excuses always find a way to butt in and make me seemingly believe it is reasonable enough to spend some more to the items that make me a little bit more cheerful than I already am.
I love yarns. I really do. I think the amount of these stuffs in my room ultimately describe how much I love them.
I have no other reasons to justify myself why I have to do another purchase, in my case, I do not want to reason it with because I have another project or so. It is just that the yarns I am going to buy, I never had them and I am just as happy that my husband who seemingly spoils me with anything I want always says OK. Go! Top it with some friends who indulge me into just digging in and enjoy.
And I will Hopefully the yarns arrive by next month
Diadem Fingering Yarn from KnitPicks.com
The yarns would be coming from KnitPicks. I have been wanting mulberry silk, and this is like a dream come true.
The new crowning achievement of your yarn stash! Diadem is an ultra-luxe single ply fingering weight yarn with a very subtle differences in thickness – all while combining the plush softness of baby alpaca with the dazzling sheen of silk. Inspired by prized jewels and gemstones, these precious fibers are dyed in an eye-catching array of subtle semi-solid tonals, producing one-of-a-kind treasures that are rich with texture and depth. – KnitPicks.com
A Pre-Birthday Dinner Amidst the Heavy Downpour Two Years Ago
It is true, that most love stories are expected to begin with how they met, and ends with and they live happily ever after (which are usually highlighted by a grand cheerful wedding (or melodramatic)). But I would not begin mine with that, no. What I want to highlight is our life together as a married couple and what I love and hate about it.
A Prenuptial Photoshoot at the UP Diliman Grounds
The first few months of being married to you, I felt like I was the most beautiful and amazing lady. You showered me with much attention as I want, with all the flirtations and adoration a young wife would love. Then I got pregnant almost immediately as you have playfully planned to. Though I plan to be a mother much later than what happened, the prospect of finally bearing your child inside me, and the twinkling emotion of motherhood brought a different kind of ecstasy as we shifted our attention from you and me, to just him, the baby.
Before the House is finished, With the four of us Just Before the Fourth Member of the Family was Born
First New Year with the Four of Us :)
Last month was my birth month. Though we did not celebrate it because of the continuous rainfall in the Philippines, my husband agreed to take me on a “me and just me” date last August 26, amidst the call for a #millionpeoplesmarch against pork barrel issue. That “me and just me” date was stupenduous to describe it at the very least. I had several things I wanted that was given to me without second thoughts. It has never been my thing to ask for the things I want. I usually work hard to be able to get what I want and it is rather comforting to have a partner who recognizes my wants and provides them.
So one of those wants was my (not-so-secret) yearning to be able to do a bit of fashion design. It is a (not-so-secret) dream I had since I was young, when my concept of that is to become a sewer. I had several attempts in the past and I had also worn a number of my own creations. I can only force them on me for a number of reasons: (1) They take a bit too much effort to finish a piece of clothing (2) I do not reckon that a number of people share my own fashion sense and if ever someone wants the same piece, it would be too much effort to recreate another one and I would be too clingy to my work to even let it go.
The purchases includes:
WANT WANT WANT! Fabric + Tailoring Guide Book + SketchPad
(1) A book on “Combined Tailoring and Dressmaking Guide Book”. This book was too ambitious for me because I can never cut a straight line (as well draw a straight one too :D). So with all the instructions on how to properly create a pattern and the measurements to take to create one, I took the big leap of faith that I would probably muster enough patience (after pregnancy, mind you) to actually study this by heart and finally acquire the skill of becoming a decent pattern maker.
(2) Loads of 1 and a half yard of fabric (Just one and a half yard is enough to make a dress for small little me).
(3) The Pantone, Fashion Sketchpad. THE SKETCHPAD. THE ULTIMATE SKETCHPAD for me to answer my ambitious need to actually create a dress design.
You see this sketchpad has pre-drawn “croquis”. (It rhymes with “hokey). Which is the figure of a slender human that would later on be dressed by fab designs. It is this figure that I can never ever draw myself because I had always been more of a cartoonist than a “croqui-ist”. So my human figures always looked like anime with big boobs or a straight chubby figure.
Since then I had been actively sketching designs and this had been my de-stresser for the past weeks:
The mesh sando would form from irregular or free-form crochet with the cropped pants built with continuous crochet motifs. The Doily skirt, which I have been yearning to create for quite sometime would be made from different doilies joined together by black thread.
Design focus: Ruffled Collar. The dress would be done in alternating motif and dc mesh with a drawstring to form the waist
The mesh sando would form from irregular or free-form crochet with the cropped pants built with continuous crochet motifs. The Doily skirt, which I have been yearning to create for quite sometime would be made from different doilies joined together by black thread.
An idea to create an illusion of creating homogeneous design from brown to light beige of diamond stitches for shorts with continuous motif double functioning as belt
Hexagonal Motifs + Bruge’s lace. An attempt to create a colorful dress with a number of color switching created continuously. I have attempts to create the bodice of the dress but it takes too much effort so the dress has been set aside.
And the first design I was able to procure is finally taking shape now:
Using continuous crochet motifs for the sleeves and upper portion and (ununiformed) mesh for skirt
The trickiest part for creating a design is the execution. But the design always gives you something to look forward to. Like a goal. It gives me direction on what to do next and keeps me focused on what I want to do.
You can say that again when you see these:
White Beach Crocheted Shorts by Ginantsilyo
White Beach Crocheted Shorts by Ginantsilyo
White Beach Crocheted Shorts by Ginantsilyo
White Beach Crocheted Shorts by Ginantsilyo
White Beach Crocheted Shorts by Ginantsilyo
Unfortunately, this design is no longer available You can contact me if you want to order a custom design for your own beach getaway
I have no intention to actually write this down, but i would like to be able to recollect this memory as something that is good enough to start a conversation among friends
A week ago, one of my friends mentioned this on a chat with me. Asking if I knew a certain facebook account, she sent me a link and I looked at it.
I immediately said no, before actually reacting to the content of the page. I noticed two of my works posted there And yes, with my half-body shot (:D During my maiden days!!! WAY WAY BACK!) and shrug it off at first but the thought that someone actually claimed my work keeps nagging at the back of my mind. I consulted some friends about this and most of them wants me to talk to the administrator of the page but I said, let it be, since it would not really mean so much to me, lest she actually claim that she made those. If she is just using them as reference for something she can custom-made for other people then I might ask how much would it cost her to make me one, as I am having difficulty recreating these myself.
Mine! Mine! Mine!
Original source of images can be found here and here.
But lo and behold another friend sent a private message to the page administrator asking if the blouse from the image was actually made by her and she replied yes! I cannot help but laugh when my friend related to me how she reacted 😀 and that is what i want to share as a good conversation starter:
Private message
Private message part 2
Private message part 3
😀 If i have it my way, i would have asked her to ask the price and make an order 😀 but i guess, being my friend, she cannot help but be a bit harsh and rude at the same time
so my suggestion to people who will claim someone else’s work as your own. Be careful. Social media is a powerful tool nowadays.
I do not wish anyone to claim my work as theirs. I, too have a hard time buying crocheted articles or even handicrafts as anyone among my circle would always claim that i made them. So it would do me less harm if i say “No, i just bought it, or found on the net” straight forward than someone being able to claim it otherwise.
I also find it difficult to post any other works online on my own page or my website because they also think that I make those things, so i always put in the tagline that it’s a work of a friend or something like that, because it is a shame for an artist’s pride to be shamed about your work and also be praised for a work that was not yours.
Yes, I do pride myself as a wannabe artist, that is why i uphold an artist pride. Lesson to other people, if you have pride, please be wary on claiming other people’s work as your own.. Specially if you are a wannabe/self-proclaimed artist as I am, because your pride is the only thing you have.
I have long wanted to create my own brand. A brand that offers unique and elegant designs as well as delicate and high-quality craftmanship.
Before I opened my facebook page at http://facebook.com/ginantsilyo, my plan was to start with a line of bags I personally designed but the plan was sidetracked with so many things that pushed me to just have the site up.
Now that my first bag has found a client, I am very keen to reawaken my dream. I started searching for customized labels but deemed them too much for my need then I rediscovered my clay-molding skills.
The first reverse-mold was a bit ragged. It’s not easy molding the letters, the clay breaks when folded and does not really follow the form i want it to do. But I gave it a try and created my first mold and cast as well
I liked how the label in my bag looks. The endeavor looks promising enough that I took the courage to create another much better push mold, creating the first one gave me enough experience on how the letters should fold and curve. This is my second push mold:
Now this looked smoother and more polished. No more jagged sides and broken fonts. I cured another mold for it and created my first cast:
This looks more promising than the first one. So I baked my first cast. My only worry is that since the whole thing seemed like it was glued on a base layer. I noticed that most of my bags has an “engraved” label. That would mean I have to make a stamp instead of a mold. But creating a reversed “image” of my logo seemed not easy, until I gave in and tried to make one:
And yes! I loved the way I was able to render this last image. Because the spacing of the fonts are right and I was able to bend and mold the letters without showing the breaks in between.
I had to mix in colors because I do not have the right shade that is needed. I mixed in gold powder so that the clay would have shimmer.. I tried my first stamp Eeek!!! I can repeat the designs!!!
And finally! My final output! I had to put the holes so I can sew the label into the bag.
I took my unfinished bag out and placed the label to see the effect I loved it I think all the effort I put through was worth it. Triple worth it
It warms my heart every time my friends love my work.
A friend tagged me in her photos and I was really taken by the striking scenery of waves and sand that I fail to find a reason why I was tagged.
Then I realized that she was wearing the crocheted shorts she ordered me a few months back
This actually made my day Hence I got inspired to create a new tagline for my facebook page.
Thank you Maya.
Here is my new tagline for my site:
Ginantsilyo: where being fabulous starts with a stitch
