Happy Friday + Randomness

 

Happy Friday! Friends, the giveaway comments are awesome. I am having so much fun reading everyone’s unique/secret talents! I can’t wait to do a round-up of my faves when I announce the winner next week!

On another note, above is my tentative plan for my (mostly) handmade vacation mini-wardrobe, scrawled in my sketchbook. For travel and comfort purposes, it makes the most sense to keep the garments to knits, and being me, there will be a lot of solids and stripes. Maybe some polka dots. This is going to be a blast to sew up!

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I’ve mentioned several times that I’m a night owl and can’t seem to sleep much. Unfortunately, K has inherited this trait of mine, and she gets very little shut-eye for a little girl her age. Maybe that’s why she says things like this:

Mommy, today in gym, I slumbered along the tracks.

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Have a great weekend, everyone! As always, a haiku:

My secret talent
is something that is handy:
gift-giving sixth sense*

*I’ve been told that I have an uncanny ability to give people the perfect gift. A gift to gift, if you will. I’m like Santa. Except Asian. And female. I am also a Powerpoint ninja – my presentations have moved people to tears (ok, maybe tears of boredom. But generally they’re good).

Sewing for Me: Linen Top + White Skirt

Sewing for myself is becoming addictive. I’m keeping it simple and am continuing with baby steps in building a handmade wardrobe as you can see. I have yet to have a seam-ripper-free experience and every project has had its share of snafus, but I am totally getting into this selfish sewing business.

For one, I’m learning about my body shape on a whole new level. The other day, K lovingly looked at my legs and said, “Mommy, you have the cutest legs!” “Really???” I responded incredulously. “Yeah, they look like giant squashes!”

…um.

Check out them giant squash calves. There’s a reason I wear almost exclusively jeans, preferably boot cut in dark washes. But I saw this skirt in this book (from which I attempted the top last week) and I really wanted to make a summery, white version. The midi length is probably not the most flattering for my gourd-like legs (which look oddly discolored in this photo), but with the pin-tucks and substantial heft of the linen/cotton blend, I love how the skirt feels.

The skirt sits low on my hips and I can see now that it throws off my body proportions when the top is tucked in. I still cringe at pictures of myself, but through sewing and these photos, I’m finding that I’m a little less critical. Just a little. And at this point, I’m truly having a hard time taking myself too seriously.

It’s called a “wrap skirt” in the book, but it’s not really. I think it just refers to the fact that the ties wrap around the waist. I have to literally squeeze and shimmy myself into the skirt because there is no button or zip closure. It’s kind of weird and the instructions may be wrong. Here it is from the back – the tucks/pleats look nice, right?

I found that the pattern pieces didn’t match up very well (this happened with the top from last week as well), and although I really like so many of the designs in this book, I am not loving these types of inconsistencies.

The linen tank top was an afterthought. I had accidentally pulled out this pattern when looking for another top, and thought, “Hey, this looks easy!” I had just enough of this cocoa-colored linen left over from the Belgian Style dress I made K, and I really love this fabric. It has a dart on the arm scythe pointing down toward the apex (in other words, a downward dart from the armpit to the boob), which I don’t think you see often, and I wanted to see how it would look on me. Eh. I like it fine though the neckline got a little wonky, and it might provide a little bit of a slimming contour. Because I didn’t cut it on the bias (not enough fabric), I just used bias binding to finish all the raw edges.

Here I am, gripping the fabric of the top to make it look less blobby.

I’m focusing on summer clothes even though it’s grey and rainy here in Seattle because in a few weeks, we’re going to the lake in Michigan and I had this idea of making a vacation mini-wardrobe. My goal is to have 10 me-made garments (that fit well and that I love) to take with me on the trip. I’m feeling ambitious…Not sure if this skirt and top will make the cut (the shimmying into the skirt leaves me feeling a bit undignified), but so far, they’re pretty comfy!

Giveaway! Retro Fabrics + Lotta Prints [CLOSED]

And the giveaways keep on coming! I have about a yard left over of the adorable orange polka dot print that I used for this dress, and have a feeling that you might like it… I’m also throwing in about a yard of Oliver + S “City Weekend” fabric, which is the perfect complement to the polka dot for that uber retro vibe, no? Both are 100% cotton.

And for you fellow crafty types, I have the lovely Lotta Jansdotter book that is full of fun ideas. With Father’s day coming up, wouldn’t it be cool to stencil a handmade tie? The stencils are all intact and unused – this is a great book and I’m a huge Lotta fan. However, this is one of those books that looks so pretty on my shelf but hasn’t gotten much (any) use.

To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment with a unique talent that you have. For example, not many people know this about me, but I’m a whiz with mysteries and can almost always figure out who did it right away, be it movies or books. I am also the record holder of the lowest karaoke score in the city of Matsusaka, Japan. Totally tone deaf, I am. Obviously, my criteria for a unique talent is quite far-reaching.

So have at it! I will leave the giveaway open until next Thursday, June 6th, 5pm, and I will announce the winner the next day. As always, I’m happy to ship internationally. Good luck!

P.S. Liz, who won the giveaway a while ago, sent me a pix of the cutest pair of pants made out of the fabric she won. It made me so happy! Look at these adorable robot pants:

Homemade Fruit Snacks

We’re big on snacks around here, and I’m always on the lookout for healthy versions. The other day, I came across this recipe for homemade fruit snacks on Pinterest and knew that K would be all over it.

I didn’t follow the recipe exactly, though, which may account for the more watermelon or deep peachy-pink color that resulted as opposed to the vibrant red of the original.

I made a special trip to a natural foods market, but was unsuccessful in procuring the grass-fed gelatin, so I made do with good ole Knox gelatin. K really liked cutting these up.

This is a quick and easy snack to make, and K and M and I devoured them like there was no tomorrow. I like that these taste very natural without the cloying sweetness common in commercial fruit snacks. The strawberry seeds give it a bit of texture and the orange juice I used enhances the sweetness with a  touch of underlying tartness.

To make it awesomely healthy, I think this would be delicious with agar agar powder instead of gelatin. And I can think of so many different kinds of fruit that could be used – how yummy would a mango-pineapple-peach fruit snack be?

Here’s what I did to make them:

3 cups quartered strawberries
1/2 cup of orange juice
2 tablespoons honey
4 packets of Knox gelatin

1. Chop up strawberries and place in small sauce pan with 1/2 cup of orange juice. Cook over medium-low heat until softened, about 10 minutes.

2. Place in blender and puree. Pour into a bowl and let cool for a couple of minutes.

3. Add honey and slowly whisk gelatin into hot puree. You’ll have to whisk briskly to get all the lumpy bits out.

4. Once mixed, pour fruit snack mixture into molds or a baking dish. The recipe called for 9×13 inch, but mine was only 7 x 5, and was about 1-inch in depth.

5. Chill in refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours. Cut out into cute shapes or into squares and pop ’em in your mouth! I keep these in the fridge but apparently they will be edible in an air tight container in room temperature for a few days.

 

 

Monday Outfit: The Color of Tangerine and Coral

Good morning, I hope you all had a lovely weekend! Ours was very low key – some gatherings with friends, a lot of loafing around. And much sewing.

I’ve been having an orange moment. Especially the deep, almost red variety. Let’s start with this little retro number.

It’s from this book, and I’ve seen this dress around the sewing blogosphere for awhile and have always wanted to make it. It’s really an adorable style, though I have to say that it’s not the fastest thing to sew with all those little contrasting bands.

The fabric is a quilting cotton from JoAnn’s purchased a long time ago with a vague idea of sewing something for me. It’s a Donna Wilder collection according to the selvedge. The contrasting white fabric is just muslin, and I had to double-up since it was a little too sheer. Look at those teeth (that’s two permanent teeth completely filling the space of four baby teeth)!

As a nod to the fabulous Vintage May series by Skirt as Top and CINO, I wanted to make a vintage-inspired dress, and I think it fits the bill, don’t you? All she needs is a rootbeer float and a letterman’s jacket.

I have about 100 shots of her in this pose.

As for this loveliness, it was the opposite of the retro dress, and took all of an hour to complete. Love it when that happens. We had a bit of a skerfuffle about the way the dress should be worn. The buttons are supposed to be in the back, but as usual, K wanted it the other way.

I like them in the front too, but I wanted to see how it would look the ‘proper’ way, and this resulted in a meltdown of all meltdowns. She sat for a long time and refused to get up. We’ve all had the sniffles this weekend, so that might account for the disproportionate emotional outbursts.

Fortunately, hugs were dispensed and moods restored. And after turning the dress around the way she likes it, she started to do that pose again…and yes, the tattoo from last week is still on her arm.

The pattern is from this book, and the fabric is a stunning cotton sateen. It has a subtle sheen and a swishy, luxe feel to it. With that full skirt, the twirlability is top notch too. I want this dress in my size and may have to go get more of this beautiful stuff…

Do you like orange? Yellow and orange were not my faves before, but maybe it’s the approach of summer that attracts me to those hues like a moth to a light. And K’s pick out of the two? The swishy twirly sateen dress, of course.