Skirt and Pocket Square

When we went to visit the MIL, she let me raid her fabric collection. I found this absolutely fantastic fabric with an amazing pattern. And it seemed destined to be a skirt because it was already cut up into pieces just the right size for a skirt.

This is what I started with:

I sewed the smaller pieces to either side of each large piece, and then sewed that all together on one side. I hemmed the ends of the long piece and then folded the sides in a bit and then folded it in half, right side out, and ironed it down, making a kind of a bias tape. I pinned it to the end of the skirt piece and then started making inch wide pleats and ironing them in place until I just had 1.5 inches of overhang left on the waistband. I basted the skirt inside the fold of the waistband and tried it on. I stitched up the last sides, leaving enough room for a zipper. I put a buttonhole on the overhanging tab and a button on the other side. Lastly, I hemmed the bottom.

I had a few scraps left of the fabric, so I decided not to let it go to waste, and make a pocket square for my boy.

I felt like a vintage wife, making a matching pocket square for the husband out of scraps....

None of leftover pieces were big enough for a pocket square so I made a patchwork quilt style square. I cut out squares and rectangles until they made a larger square.

I hemmed all the edges (one fold only) and then stitched them together with the faggoting stitch function on my sewing machine. It made a pretty, corset-like binding to keep the pieces together.

D loved it.

Love, A

Skirt to dress refashion Part 2

So I had a very productive long weekend, and finished TWO dresses, a skirt, and made some jewelry! The weather was really dark all weekend though, so I only managed to get pictures of only one dress in the brief sunny period we had on Victoria Day. It was actually quite lovely, D and I went for a walk to a friend's house and he snapped some pictures of me and my dress for me. I took pictures of the lilacs that are starting to bloom and the last of the tulip festival tulips....

Anyways, after chopping and hemming the skirt, I though that there was just enough fabric left over to make a top. I've never made one before, so I decided to follow a pattern.

I liked the top, but because I already had a skirt, I cut the pattern at the "lengthen here" line.

I lined up the pattern pieces on the bottom of the skirt with the hemmed part being the bottom of the shirt. It didn't quite fit the entire top on, but thats because the lengthen here line was at the hips and I only wanted it to go to my waist. I kept the hem in case I wanted to keep the dress as a top.

I cut out the pieces (I made them all the the same distance from the hem to the second lengthen here line, you can't really see that from the picture.)

I didn't take a picture of this step, but I just followed the directions that came with the pattern and sewed all the pieces together.  I sewed on the facing and then turned it right side out and ironed it into place.

You can see I kinda made a mistake with the facing when I forgot to flip the piece when tracing. That's ok though, no-one will be looking at my facing... I hope.

I pinned it onto my skirt then, and tried it on, and made sure it was pinned at the right level, then basted it onto the skirt. And then tried it on again. Because ripping out a seam takes a lot longer than pulling out a basting string. As I've learned the hard way.

Rant time... I went all the way out to Fabricland last week to get zippers for this dress and for some other skirts that needed replacing. They did not have black zippers in any of the lengths that I wanted. You would think they would stock more black and white ones than coloured ones! And they even spaced out the remaining black ones so that it looked like they had all the lengths, but it just made it confusing. Also, they only had separable zippers with giant plastic or metal teeth. I really wanted to keep the original zipper in the skirt and just add a separable one at the top, but it would have looked hideous with giant teeth. Ok, I'm done now.

So I took out the original zipper on the skirt and pinned on the new one. And then I basted it, and tried on the dress.

I carefully studied how the original zipper was put in and tried to reconstruct that with the new zipper. I learned how to use the zipper foot on my sewing machine, thanks to youtube. I also learned the buttonhole foot and the button attaching foot.

As you can see in the above pic, the buttonhole was now on the wrong side. Because the tab would have had to have gone under the zipper to button. So I sewed up the old buttonhole and put in a new one on the tab. I resewed the button over the old buttonhole (when it's buttoned, you can't see it.) Lastly, I put a hook and loop at the top of the dress to keep it from sliding open/prevent zipper damage... well really it was because the zipper didn't quite get to the top....

The last thing to do was the straps. I measured from the highest point on the front to around the back, and added three inches to that. I cut 3.5 inch strips of the remaining fabric (they were half the length that I needed, so I sewed them together into a longer strap). I folded them in half wrong way out, and ironed them down. I sewed a hem about an inch from the fold, and then cut off the excess fabric. I turned it right side out and ironed it again to make flat straps.

Then I couldn't decide wether to do tank top straps, a cris-cross in the back, or keep it simple with straps that tied into a halter. Then I thought... por que no los tres? Then it could be either of the three depending on my mood.

I sewed the straps to the facing/top of the front. I then folded the other end over twice to hide the raw end and stitched it into place, twice. I then put in on and marked where I needed to put the buttonholes for straight straps and cross straps. I made buttonholes where the marks were.

And I put little buttons on the inside of the back of the dress.

And after trying it one more time and taking it in a bit from the sides (even after all the trying on, it still felt a bit big), I was finally done! My first ever dress!

Here are some pretty pictures of it:

Love, A

Pull apart bread

Ok, so that inspiration post did make something happen.... I finally made that pull-apart bread! I made it using the recipe here (I was too impatient to let it rest in the fridge overnight):

http://www.abeautifulmess.com/2013/05/lemon-chia-seed-pull-apart-bread.html

But instead of lemon chia seed, I used cinnamon sugar instead, like in the inspiration for the recipe.

http://joythebaker.com/2011/03/cinnamon-sugar-pull-apart-bread/

Great now I'm hungry again....

So unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures, as it got devoured immediately. Also, it didn't turn out quite perfect. The suggested temperature was way too high for my oven, and it was overcooked on the outside and undercooked on the inside. Also, it needed more butter. And more sugar. Brown sugar would have been nice. I definitely want to try it again and I will update with my perfected recipe.

Love, A

This is hard......

Yes, I'm being whiny. I've been sick with allergies all week and then went on a trip to visit the in-laws, and then had to spend a few days recovering from that.... so not a lot of blogging or crafting was done! I've come to the conclusion that it is way too much work to post something every day and I will end up posting lower quality content just to make a post. So I decided to only post when I have something to show. I've also been reading a lot more blogs lately, for research, and have come across a few concepts that I would like to explore, such as inspiration posts, letter posts, link posts, TBT (throwback Thursday for those of you new to twitter, as I am,) and things-I-love posts.

I think that inspiration posts are a fantastic idea, and it will give me a chance to go through my Pinterest boards. Sometime even just browsing through my arts and crafts board will give me the kick I need to start crafting!

So here we go! Some ideas for upcoming projects:

I desperately need a dress form!

http://personalizedfashion.blogspot.se/2010/02/how-to-make-your-own-dress-form.html?m=1

I have a couple pairs of jeans that need some love...

http://prettylifeanonymous.blogspot.ro/2013/02/pinnedtriedloved-it-diy-heart-patterned.html

http://www.trashtocouture.com/2012/03/diy-laced-up-pants.html

http://pinterest.com/pin/240450067577511336/

A pearl embellished collar:

http://www.lovemaegan.com/2012/02/embellished-collar-diy.html

A cute bra for more revealing outfits. Also one of those low back dress bra extenders that wrap around your waist.

http://www.polyvore.com/diy_bra_for_backless_tops/set?.embedder=2979535&.svc=pinterest&id=68041722

I also have some food inspiration. I really want to try pull-apart bread. Maybe I can convince the chef to make some for me....

http://www.abeautifulmess.com/2013/05/lemon-chia-seed-pull-apart-bread.html

Actually, this can be dangerous... I will end up posting every thing I've ever pinned!

Love, A

Feeling blah, so have a pretty picture

Between studying for my exam and trying to not die of allergies, I haven't gotten much crafting finished lately.

So instead I'm going to post a pretty picture. This was from a photography workshop on long exposure. Everyone had fancier cameras than me and were getting amazing photos, but mine just looked blah. The only pictures that I likes, I got when playing around with the focus and the lights, taking the camera off the tripod.

And obviously a little photoshop never hurts!

The best chocolate chocolate chip cookies ever

I've been feeling quite sick lately, compounded by allergies, and one of the things that had really cheered me up was the fact that I made chocolate chocolate chip cookies over the weekend. And lucky for you, I took pictures, so I can share the process. These are honestly the most delicious cookies, all light, and chewy and soft. And full of chocolate.

You will need a big bowl to mix it in. And an electric beater. And these things:

Start with the butter. Put it in the bowl and beat it on medium until it is white (about 20 sec). Then add the sugar. Keep beating it on medium for about 5 minutes (10 if you have a less powerful beater/hand beater). If you have a stand mixer, feel free to use that instead. This is an important step, because it will make the cookies that much lighter and fluffier. This is what it should look like:

Nice and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat each on medium until incorporated. Add the vanilla and give it a final beat.

Next come the dry ingredients:

To save myself a dirty dish, I just dump it all into the wet.

I mix it on slow just until it is all incorporated (you don't want to over-beat at this point, and any faster than the first setting will send clouds of cocoa powder and flour into the air. I learned that the hard way).

Yeah that looks gross. It's not, I promise. It just needs more chocolate. I normally use chocolate chips, but I didn't have any. I did have baker's chocolate though.

Be careful to read the label. They sell unsweetened chocolate squares. And I was victim to a cruel cruel prank once when I was PMSing and craving chocolate and someone, not going to name names, thought it would be funny to give me unsweetened chocolate. I didn't even know that was a thing! So gross! Especially when you're not expecting it....

So I just chopped up 4 squares, which came up to about a cup. You can add as much or as little chocolate chips as you like. If you're one of those weird people who like nuts in their cookies, you can add those too.

It was warm enough in my kitchen for the squares to chop easily without flying everywhere. I mixed that in with the dough and then set up my baking sheet with parchment paper and preheated my oven to 350.

I rolled the dough into balls about 1 inch in diameter and placed them 1.5 inches apart.

The I put them in the over for 11 minutes. This is the most crucial step of the recipe: take them out at 11 minutes! Yes, they look super undercooked. No, DO NOT put them back in the oven. Just put them on top of the oven and put the next batch in. They will continue cooking outside the oven. By the time the next batch is done, the first batch should be firm enough to transfer to a drying rack or plate. You will have soft chewy gooey melt-in-your-mouth cookies. The best part is they stay soft for a couple days in an air-tight container (if they last that long). If you didn't follow my advice and left them in the oven, you will have rocks.

This recipe made 35 cookies (though I did use 1 cup of chocolate chips rather than 2).

Recipe:
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs 1tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup cocoa
2 cups chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (5-10 minutes). Add the eggs one at a time and mix to incorporate. Add the vanilla and mix thoroughly.
3. Add the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt to the bowl. Mix together on low until the dough appears completely combined. Add the chocolate chips and stir them into the dough.
4. Roll into 1 inch balls, place about 1.5 inches apart on the sheet.
 5. Bake for 11 minutes at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). The cookies will appear to be just barely firm with a sheen to their surfaces. Do not over-bake. Allow to cool on the sheet for about 11 minutes before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in airtight containers.

Cinco de Mayo or Orthodox Easter - Hollowed out eggs

Happy Cinco de Mayo! I don't actually know what that one is all about, other than people getting together and drinking a lot... which is basically all holidays. It is also Orthodox Easter! Happy Easter again! My family is Eastern European so we celebrate that, but not really. But I thought it would be a good time to show off the Easter eggs that I made for regular Easter. I didn't get to show them off, as it was pre-blog. I didn't think I would have a chance to show them until next year, until I remembered Orthodox Easter. To me, holidays are just an excuse to have themed crafts.

I hollowed out the eggs and drew the designs on with a Sharpie.

Just for fun, I hollowed out another egg today and took pictures to show you how.

You will need: a pearl pin, a Dremel, a cone shaped drill bit, an egg, and a bowl.

First poke holes in both ends of the egg. You will have to press quite hard (hence the pearl head... the flat heads hurt!)

Then use the Dremel on the lowest speed, using the pin hole as a guide. Drill a smaller hole on one end (about halfway down the bit) and a bigger one on the other (all the way through with the bit.

The egg was coming out already! Next just make a seal with your mouth around the smaller hole and blow over a bowl. If it doesn't come easily, just make sure you have poked through membrane, go around the hole with the pin a bit. You can use the egg for an omelete or whatever you use eggs for. I made cookies with mine. Leave the empty egg shells in an open container overnight to dry out on the inside, and then decorate as you please!