
Trinidad Carnival is life!!! You are more than welcome to tell anyone who questions that statement that Martha from GariChild told you so! It is one of the best celebrations of life and culture that I choose to participate in, and I wanted to share with my sew family some of the celebratory me-mades I included in my suitcase on this last big adventure before the pandemic hit.
First some background: Trinidad and Tobago Carnival is an annual celebration held on the Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, and is known for its beautiful and colorful costumes and music. Take a moment to google it and be prepared to be delighted. It’s truly is one of my favorite carnivals to attend and lives up to the notion of being “one of the biggest street festivals ever!”
Let me start with… No, I did not make that amazing Goddess-like ensemble above! All credit goes to the Designer, Alejandro Gomez, for Paparazzi Carnival Viper Section. My friends and I felt and looked amazing and had a great time Carnival Tuesday! Sighhhh. It seems like a lifetime ago now. #takemeback

How much fun is Trinidad Carnival, you may ask? Those smiles above were generated at the finale of my 2-week party infused journey to Carnival. And ohhhhh, what a 2 weeks it was!
On this journey to Carnival, my friends and I attended several themed parties with some dress requirements or more so suggestions in my opinion. This is what made sewing for my suitcase series really fun.

What does one wear to the All White Party?
Animal print because I am a rebel!
I went with McCalls 7922 in this amazing scuba in animal print that I got from Minerva Crafts.
For some reason, we booked four boat rides during this trip. Yikes! Not sure how that happened, but I don’t need to attend a party at sea for a good while. All of them were fun, and did I mention that they allow you to bring your own cooler full of drinks onto the boat?!?! It’s all coming back to me now. At this point I was in full party mode and I went with rompers and coordinated skirt sets for easy dressing!
South Shore Romper from Ellie & Mac Patterns Simplicity 8655 Crop Top and Hacked Gala Skirt from P4P Patterns Hepburn Crop Top from P4P Patterns and Self drafted Ruffle Skirt
All-inclusive days and pool parties are plentiful during Carnival, and I chose the most colorful fabrics in my stash to make these amazing outfits.

When I first got this burnout floral fabric, I knew I wanted something pool party ready. The South Shore Romper from Ellie and Mac is one of my TNT patterns, and I swear it looks amazing in any knit fabric I throw at it. This looked awesome with my all white swimwear underneath.
This was definitely pool-side ready!

This multi-colored striped rayon challis spoke to my spirit in so many ways.
I hacked the bodice of McCalls 6552 into a wrap top and used the Glebe Pants pattern from Muna and Broad. More details on my pants can be found here.
One of the parties we attended was Soca Brainwash, and this year’s theme was Treasures of the Orient. This Soca Music Festival explored and incorporated the rich culture of East Asia inspired by Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Macau and China. I immediately knew that I wanted to honor the influences of these beautiful countries with respect while fusing a little bit of me, so I chose to make a kimono style wrap dress using Simplicity 8925 in Ankara fabric. The Ankara fabric is of Angola’s typical textile prints, called “SAMAKAKA” or “SAMACACA” and it’s one of my favorite prints, so this makes it an even more special me-made.
Now while I did not make my costume for Carnival Tuesday, I did make one for the pre-show on Carnival Monday! I went with a 2-piece bikini using my bodice from my South Shore Romper (TNT for life! And yes, I used it 3 times for one trip #itsthatgood). I hacked the Evie one piece swimsuit pattern for my bikini bottom for some serious thigh action. As I said on that Carnival Monday, “I truly believe that I’ve been sewing all these swimsuits to get ready for this day. Being able to make a suit that flatters all my curves is soooo empowering.”

One of the main reasons I love to attend Carnival is because I love to see adults just having fun and enjoying life to the fullest.
Sewing the majority of my suitcase for my trip and sharing my carnival adventures with my friends on Instagram was a big highlight for me — so imagine the heartbreak when I discovered that many of my pictures on this carnival journey were being “shadow banned” on Instagram.
What is shadow banning?
Shadow banning is the act of blocking or partially blocking a user or their content from an online community such that it will not be readily apparent to the user that they have been banned.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_banning
When Instagram shadow bans your account, only your followers will be able to see your feed, and not the entire Instagram community. It didn’t take long to realize that some of my pictures were not coming up under some of the hashtags that I used on my posts, or that some of the hashtags themselves were being muted by Instagram.
Based on my research, an IG shadow ban tends to happen when you’ve broken a rule or if someone reports your content as inappropriate. I want to know what rule was broken, because at first I thought it was only my carnival posts but deeper research revealed that some of my sewing content was also missing on public feeds.
What is not clear to me is who (Mrx. Algorithm seems to be the culprit at every turn) ultimately decides what content is appropriate and when a shadow ban is lifted.
This left me utterly disheartened and made me take a step back from social media to fully assess why it bothered me so much. I have virtually met many amazing people, learned new things, and have engaged in shared experiences through social media. The thought that Instagram’s algorithm chooses to censor content based on a set of rules known only to the cloud pisses me the hell off. My emails to Instagram continue to go unanswered regarding the matter, but I will continue to shed light because I am more than sure that I am not the only one.
I hope you have enjoyed my sew journey to Trinidad and if you want to see more of my makes, you can find me as GariChild on Instagram and look up the hashtag #SewYourSuitcase to see other stuff I made for my trip.

Until next time,
GariChild!
Bio: Martha, 1st generation Garifuna princess born and raised in New York City by my Guatemalan parents. I’ve always been intrigued by the art of sewing garments but continuously found a way to push the thought aside for years. Forever challenged by my friend to dig deeper “What would you do if you were not afraid?” #lightbulbmoment Learning how to sew is such a rewarding experience and I absolutely love it!!! I am self-taught and still learning which can definitely be an adventure as I traverse the art of sewing for my curvy body. You can follow my sewing journey and shenanigans on Instagram @GariChild.
Shadow banning sounds like a pain, I’m sorry! But you have 100% sold me on Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, it seems incredible. As do all your looks!! My favorite might be the wrap top + Glebe pants but it’s a treasure trove, you look gorgeous and the whole trip looks like SO MUCH FUN.
Thank you! Ohhhh ittt wasss soo much fun
?!?!! What a nasty thing to do to ban your pictures without even giving you any notice or explanation. But so glad they are here so we can all enjoy the utter fabulousness of your suitcase! What an amazing party, and what a crazy over the top totally in the spirit of things wardrobe to celebrate with. Good for you getting all that done, and I am so glad you got to go show it off before the bottom dropped out of life. Here’s hoping that next year brings more of the same joy and togetherness. And meanwhile when life gets grim I hope you wear something of this set and have a little dance party in the kitchen, remembering the real thing to keep you warm
😂😂😂 im down for the dance party in my kitchen
Wow! I am blown away by your courage and spirit and Style (with a capital S). You’ve brought your vision of the celebratory self to life. Thank you for sharing these images and your story here.
Don’t know why this is happening disappointed in that though your work is fire/so are you/I saw you 1st hand keep it up girl proud of you
Love your sense of color and design. Screw Instagram, no reason to ban any of these!
Absolutely gorgeous!
Thanks for all the colorful outfits and party fun!
I needed that…
🙂
Gorgeous sunny travel wardrobe, reminding us of past freedoms. I *&$#ing hate algorithms,. We need to all wake up and realise that we are being fed only what FB/IG decide we should see. Social media effects political opinions and presents the vast array of humanity as a homogenous self reinforcing paradigm. If more people boycotted the so called socials they might sit up and take notice. I’m off to investigate Reddit! Keep up the awesome sewing x
Thank you
Thanks for the reminder to do what you dream.
I love your outfits. I think my favourite was your wrap dress.
As for being shadowbanned for no discernable reason – 😡
One if my favorites!!!
Gorgeous outfits. Carnival sounds like a blast and this brightens my day. Love the way your beautiful spirt is expressed in what you sew
I’m certainly glad I follow Sewcialists so that I could see this wonderful post. I love your outfits, and it looks like you had soooo much fun! I particularly like your skirts: the palm frond set is lovely and festive, and the self-drafted ruffle skirt looks like it’s made for dancing! It almost looks like it IS dancing.
“What would you do if you were not afraid?” Thank you for this post! It is snowing today (May 9) and this post gives me all the joy, colour, and heat I need right now. Those wrap crop tops are especially wonderful. Shadow banning should be illegal and thank you for including it in this post so people are informed this awful stuff is happening.
Wow the carnival looks amazing as do you. I think many of us need that ‘light bulb moment’. Thank you for finding a way to share despite the shadow banning
❤️ and you look beautiful!
Lovely fabrics and makes makes me happy to see your beautiful outfits.
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