Help and get helped: DoGuincho

When I announced my guest post series, I kept one date available for a surprise blogger. To be honest with you, I wanted to ask Marta from DoGuincho, but I just kind of forgot to mail her. So when I saw her reaction at the top of the list: I had the impression it was meant to be! Marta is an amazing seamstress and photographer with the cutest kids ever. Just hop over to DoGuincho! I’m sure you’ll be surprised (if you haven’t already discovered this treasure!)…

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Hi Compagnie M. readers! My name is Marta, I am from Portugal and I blog at DoGuincho. I am really happy to be at Marte’s fantastic blog sharing with you one of my latest loves: embroidery!

I’ve always thought kids’ clothes with embroidery details looked kind of corny… But then I’ve decided to give it a try, made these summer dresses and absolutely loved the result.Embroidery is, actually, the perfect way to turn a plain everyday fabric into something special! I like simple, discreet embroideries, but you can go for a bolder applique… There are lots of different embroidery techniques, some very basic and others a lot more intricate… But, as I like to keep it simple, I usually just chose the easiest stitches like the running stitchor the back stitch. But that’s enough theory! Just google “embroidery” and you will find lots of fun projects and great tutorials! So let’s take a look at the project I’m sharing with you today: the windygirls tunic!

This summer I made a new tunic for Ines with the same self drafted pattern I’ve used before for Teresa’s “kitchen curtains vintage dress”. But, this time, I wanted to add a contrasting cotton ribbon across the chest so I thought it would be fun to also have a matching embroidery detail… As I love hand writing, I got a lovely free font from I don’t know where (take a look at pinterest for inspiration!), printed the word I wanted in a regular sheet of paper using Microsoft Word and my everyday printer, passed it to the fabric using carbon paper and started “writing” it with my needle and thread. Since the fabric was a bit lightweight, I’ve also reinforced it with a small piece of iron-on interfacing and used and embroidery hoop for the fabric to stay taut. Less than an hour later the word “windygirls” was embroidered and I could start sewing the tunic! By the way, “windygirls” is kind of my children clothes’ brand, although I am not making many clothes to sell now, and the name came up because Guincho, the place where we live, is really windy and the beach is one of the best in Europe for windsurfing and kitesurfing. So Teresa and Ines are the windygirls! Ines has already worn the tunic several times this summer and, although she doesn’t know how to read, she is always very interested in those green words written on it… Thank you for the help, Marte! I hope I helped!