My Sewing Room..
Behind I have left the beautiful sewing room I had in Lima-Peru but now I have a new beautiful space that I have fixed and organized with lots of care and love to be my new place to work with my hands and my soul! This time one of my windows overlooks the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains in a small town America in West Virginia. I could not be happier to have this space in our home and old house from 1912! My sewing room is where the magic starts! It is my office and the place where I like to be the most! I can never be without having a project on my hands. Drawing, creating, designing, sewing and working with my hands is what I love to do! This is also the place where I connect with friends, family, customers, artists and makers through the magic of sewing and creativity! Seeing that people like my designs and products is so rewarding and motivates me to work harder.
Hi! Hola!
I am Isabel, an Ecuadorian-American artist living in West Virginia and the hands and soul behind Gypsy Tailor!
My love for sewing began when I was a little girl. My mother was a professional seamstress, so it was hard not to notice all the fabric, thread, patterns and sewing machines around my house --and it was even harder not to fall in love with it all. Since my very first project I have not stopped sewing. As a little girl, I discovered the incredible feeling of creating something with my own hands. Later in life, I continued that passion and got a degree in Fashion Design from the Technological University of Quito-Ecuador. After graduation, I had the opportunity to make period costumes for the City Museum of Quito. Later, I had a small business making clothes that I designed, hand painted, screen printed, and sewed, which I sold to tourists in the Galapagos Islands. In the United States, I worked for the Washington National Opera in the Costume Department where I learned even more about sewing techniques --and opera of course! It was a wonderful experience.
My work is influenced by my travels around the world, by nature, colors and textures I find in local textiles of each country I have lived in. I love working from an idea, designing and bring that idea to reality through sewing. I design and sew many things but in the last 10 years I have been designing accessories for women and men. Just recently I started to share sewing pattern tutorials! Another side of this creative business is that I really like to share how things are made and connect with people around the world! Sewing bring us together!
Let’s be in touch!
Since 2010 I have been running my small business, selling my handmade items on Etsy. I designed a mini coin purse called “The Mini Gypsy Coin Purse” that has been the best seller in my shop!
It has been a great learning experience working on my business and I continue to learn from it. I love connecting with customers and seeing my designs going to so many places around the world.
I am studying surface pattern design to incorporate my own fabric designs with sewing. I would love to sell my fabrics with sewing tutorials and also teach people how to sew! So here is where I am right now, trying to dive into the digital world, learning a new skill that will provide me a movable career and keep me in this creative path that I feel I belong to and want to stay in forever!
My family and I just moved back to our home in the United States after living in Lima, Peru for almost 3 years. We travel around the world every few years which is another wonderful experience to be able to see new places, learn from other cultures and meet new people. We have lived in Argentina, Vietnam, USA, Ukraine and Peru! My sewing machines and sewing room travel as well --thus the name, the GypsyTailor!
Moving around the World!
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Argentina
Buenos Aires was our first overseas tour! A beautiful city! Besides trying to learn to dance tango I also learned about leathers and discovered an amazing street full of them!
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Vietnam
My years in Vietnam were so happy, an immersion into a new culture, new foods, and motorcycle rides! Saigon is an amazing city full of life day and night! Visiting the fabric shops was incredible, the silks and textiles..amazing!
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Ukraine
We lived in Kyiv, the city of beautiful golden dome churches! Green parks, tulips, pysanka eggs, cherries, all of those come to my mind! So green and alive in the Spring and Summer. It holds a special place in my heart, especially at these times.
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Peru
Our last post was in Lima, Peru! The land of the llamas and delicious ceviches. But even better, the land of amazing textiles, embroidery, crafts and pompoms! A wonderful and colorful experiece.
Let’s keep in touch!
"I believe that handmade items bring a special energy to the maker and to the one who receives it".