Today we’d like to introduce you to Cristina Alcantara.
Cristina, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
Embroidery has always been one of my favorite hobbies.
I am self-taught, I learned when I was nine years old and since then, I never stopped.
Two years ago, I came to Houston because of my husband job. While I was waiting for my job permit, I had lots of free time, so I spend the majority of the day embroidering. At some point, all my friends insisted on the originality of my pieces and encouraged me to sell my art.
I liked the idea of selling embroidery but I knew its limitations. One single hoop can take up to 6 or 8 hours to complete (I’ve done pieces of more than 30). If I wanted to be an entrepreneur and made a profit from it, I had to find other ways to bring embroidery to people and that was when I created my DIY embroidery kits.
I also started to organize embroidery workshops. It is very satisfying to encourage people to try something new and give them a new hobby!
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
Hoops & Expectations is an expression of creativity that was born from the love of hand made things and DIY crafts.
My personal definition of contemporary embroidery is “an amazing way of expressing your creativity by hand sewing awesome designs into fabric or other materials.”
Forget about what your grandma used to make. Embroidery can be something modern and really cool.
Nowadays, you can almost have everything instantly and it seems that all around us is happening very fast. We live in a constant state of stress. I believe embroidery is a scape from all that. Is going back to patients, to a moment of relaxing, to be with yourself while you are creating something with your very own hands.
You can embroider almost everything: clothes, shoes, pictures, bags, papers (I’ve seen crazy things like an embroidered tennis racket). But you can also embroider a piece of fabric and keep it in its hoop (that round piece of wood that is used to hold the fabric). They can be a really nice way to decorate walls and shelves.
To bring embroidery to people, I decided to create DIY embroidery kits.
These kits have all the supplies that one can need to create an embroidery hoop. They also come with an embroidery guide that walks you through all the steps with pictures and tutorials so, in the end, everyone with no previous experience in embroidery can create amazing pieces.
My kits are unique; I designed the box and everything that comes with it. Every each of them is handmade. I prepare all the supplies and then assemble all the different parts one by one.
How do you think about success, as an artist, and what do quality do you feel is most helpful?
Success is being able to dedicate my full time to something I love and makes me happy
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
I show all my works through my Instagram account @hoopsandexpectations. There is where I share all that I have created or that I am working on.
I have also collaborated with some magazines like Mollie makes and Stitch and I am currently working on my first book!
You can also find my kits on my Etsy shop www.etsy.com/shop/hoopsandexpectations and read my blog and find out more about my workshops on my website www.hoopsandexpectations.com.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.hoopsandexpectations.com
- Email: contact@hoopsandexpectations.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hoopsandexpectations/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hoopsandexpectations/
- Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/hoopsandexpectations
Image Credit:
Cristina Alcantara
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