Sanae Ishida

A crafty little atelier in a grey city

Giveaway! Swimwear Fabric + Clear Elastic [CLOSED]

Two weeks in a row of giveaways! I heard the call for swimwear fabric, and as the possessor of plenitude, I’m feeling the need to share.

For this giveaway, I have that sumptuous aqua stripes I used for K’s swimsuit and an equally cute pink/orange/yellow stripey fabric. Both seem to contain spandex and/or lycra and are just shy of a yard each, but plenty to make a kid-sized swimsuit or two, depending on how little your kiddo is. You could also squeeze out an adult-sized bikini or speedos (for a man in your life), if you are so inclined. I’m also including some clear elastic, which is extremely handy for swimwear sewing. All you need to do is get lining fabric from JoAnn’s and you’re set (in fact, the lining is kind of optional).

But wait, there’s more! I’m also tossing in about a yard-ish of this mystery fabric that is clearly meant for swimming trunks. It’s sateen-y, polyester-y, water resistent-y. I have no idea what it’s made of, but it would make some awesome swimming trunks. I’m planning on making a pair for M with the remainder of this fabric.

I’m in a cooking rut these days and am in need of recipe inspiration. I keep cooking the same five dishes for dinner (quinoa salad, pasta bolognese, corn chowder, asian noodles with veggies, pizza), and I’m starting to hear grumbles of “not this again?” So to enter the giveaway, please leave a comment with a tried-and-true healthy and delicious dish. A great food blog/website recommendation is also welcome. Kid-friendly is a bonus!

And after consuming all the healthy recipes, I’ll look a whole lot more presentable in my own bathing suit…

As always, I’m totally willing to ship internationally. The giveaway is open until next Thursday, June 13th, and I will announce the winner the next day. Good luck!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Gorgeous fabric! And recipes? I’m not the greatest cook, but you can find tons of kid-friendly meal ideas at weelicious.com. You can even sign up to get a free recipe emailed to you every day.

  2. awesome giveaway! If I win, hubs is definitely getting a speedo… ha. j/k… but a baby swimsuit could be a fun attempt. Okay, one dish I make a lot in the Summertims is wheatberry salad. You boil the wheatberries, drain them. Add dried crans or cherries, diced cucumbers, chopped apples, red onion, scallions, kale, etc.. whateva! I usually make a dressing with lemon, olive oil, and a dash of maple syrup. Pour it on at room temp, mix and then keep it in the fridge. I make a big batch to have for lunch all week.

  4. woo hoo. all these sweet giveaways are so fun! K’s swimsuits are so great. kids swimwear that is both affordable and adorable is not always easy to find! i really need to give swimsuits a go. have a great Wednesday!

  5. Well how could I skip this awesome giveaway?? Quick answer, i can’t. 🙂

    Tonight I’m making a stuffed sweet potato since it’s a pretty big hit for everyone except lily (i’m not sure why she doesn’t like sweet potatoes, i just make her a normal one).

    I simply cook my sweet potatoes in the oven and stuff with anything we have … tonight it is quinoa, Brussel sprouts, and some herbs from the garden. Sometimes I add canellini beans or kale. Really it’s whatever tickles your fancy& it’s a quick way to use leftovers. Hope that helps!!

    Mae

  6. Oh, what a great givaway!! One of our fave summery dinners is roasted ratatouille pasta. Really just chop up zucchini, peppers, (sometimes eggplant), toss onto a pan with cherry tomatoes…toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, toss some garlic cloves in there too and basil and oregano, roast at 425 for about 20-25min. Saute chopped up chicken breast or shrimp while veggies are roasting…then toss all together with pesto and penne or pappardelle…sorry, it’s kind of a loose “recipe” but, it’s yummy!

  8. a timely giveaway for me as I’m feeling an itch to sew bathers (you know, just in time for winter…) but haven’t found any nice fabric. I absolutely love the blog My New Roots for healthy recipes. I have made quite a few and they always taste delicious, especially her life changing bread, happy crackers (with beetroot and chickpea hummus) and her samosas with mint chutney…. really, really yum!!

  9. We love lettuce tacos here…just grilled fajita meat and veggies rolled up in lettuce leaves. Add your typical fixings, and enjoy!

  10. On my blog I’ve got tortellini soup, frittata, and turkey tacos that all qualify :). Also good old Martha Stewart has quite a few quick, easy, healthy “slideshows” that I have found inspiring. Lastly, cookbooks always help me out of a rut, check out a bunch from the library and something might really pop out. Lastly, remedial eating is my very favorite food blog.

  11. I love me some giveaways, especially fabric giveaways! Recently my honey poo and I made “spaghetti and meatballs” with julienned zucchini for noodles and ground turkey/chicken meatballs. It was really delicious, and we pan fried the noodles for a min or two in the drippings (for lack of a better word) once the meatballs were done, giving them a scrumptious flavor. This website is really good for yummy things to try http://nomnompaleo.com/recipeindex ( it’s where I got the spaghetti recipe).

  13. Do you like asparagus? Here is a little recipe:
    250g green asparagus, 50g walnut kernels, 150ml sunflower oil, 50g grated parmesan cheese, pepper and salt to taste.
    Cut off the woody end of the asparagus, cut asparagus into pieces and cook for 5 minutes in boiling salted water, afterwards take the vegetables out off the water. Blend asparagus, walnut kernels and sunflower oil to a creamy (not too fine) sauce and add the grated parmesan.
    Perfect for pasta, bread or grilled meat.

  15. this would be awesome to get… I just drew up with a swimsuit pattern for my oldest daughter and tested it on a gymnastics suit (which turned out) and used fold over elastic for the top edges and straps… lovely stuff!
    healthy food… good question (this is not a strong suit!)… one of my favorites is instant brown rice with teriyaki chicken (you could make the sauce from scratch, but I use Yoshida’s from Costco) and just put the chicken breasts frozen in the crock pot with some sauce in the am and then 1/2 hour before dinner I pull them out, shred them and put them back in the sauce to soak. Serve over rice and add any veggies that tickle your fancy (frozen or fresh). Serve in a bowl with chopsticks.

  16. Yay for awesome bathing suit fabric! I think I am actually going to try a pattern from Peek-a-Boo patterns for a rashguard for my almost 1-year-old girl. All the ones I have found commercially have some trite saying or are covered in ruffles/rainbows/ovaries or some other very gender centered image. Can’t a girl just get an awesome solid color or fun stripey rash guard?

    In cooking news, we have switched over to easy, simple meals for summer. One of my new favorite things to do is to microwave corn on the cob because it is easy, fast and really cooks the corn well. I saw the recipe via a youtube video, but the basics can be found here: http://pinterest.com/pin/11751649000636742/. I usually combine the corn with some other seasonal veggie, hot dogs/grilled chicken/kielbasa and either baked or roasted potatoes. Oh, and tons of berries. Both of my kids love all of this stuff. Good luck!

  17. we’ve been enjoying grilled chicken breast (the frozen ones from costco, thawed in a bowl w/running water, cut in half flat-wise) marinated in teryaki or olive oil w/garlic & italian seasoning. mmmm. just try not to make it jerky.

  18. Wow, this fabric could be wonderful for my very first try with a summer swimsuit! For summer my kids love the ‘pasta alla rachele’ ( from the name of the cooker!). It is pasta with pesto, black olives and fresh tomato chopped in little pieces…delicious, believe me!

  19. You are the queen of giveaways!!! Thank you! My favourite recipe is a goat’s cheese and spinach noodle casserole. It’s so easy and my toddler and I love it (My husband is not so impressed..I think I may have cooked it too often..).

  20. love that stripe swimsuit fabric!! you’re so sweet to share:)

    my favorite salad the past month or so . . . (and seems to be kid-friendly as all three eat it up without complaint):
    mixed greens
    diced pear
    thinly sliced red onion
    dried cherries
    diced avocado (optional)
    blue cheese crumbles (definitely not optional!)
    pine nuts (my favorite) or candied pecans/almonds
    Raspberry dressing (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/raspberry-vinaigrette-dressing/)

  22. I’ve just been reminded how my mom used to make my sister and I swimsuits each year – it was so fun to pick out the fabric. I must ask her tricks she used to sew them – I wonder if she used the elastic thread.

    Anyway, I love 101 Cookbooks for healthy recipes. This is one of our favorites: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/broccolibasil-mac-and-cheese-recipe.html

    It’s really adaptable. I usually use sweet potato instead of the squash, and I’ve also added sweet peppers. I even have started playing with different cheeses – I’m excited to see how a goat cheese would be!

  23. That bathing suit material is perfection! I love the suit you made for K in the aqua stripe, and I would love to make one for my daughter. Since I have a son too, the idea of making custom swim trunks that don’t fall down is making me giddy!

    One of our favorite hot weather dinners is Taco Salad – but we’re vegan. So… here is an alternative:
    Start with your usual salad ingredients: Romaine lettuce (3 pack from TJ’s), green onions (1 bunch), tomatoes (2 large – or a large red bell pepper to substitute), olives (one can), and avocado (1-2..I usually dice it and save it for last – then I gently fold it in so it doesn’t get all squished during the salad tossing). Then I get Trader Joe’s Beefless Beef crumbles in their refrigerated section and heat it with about 1/2 cup water and 7 teaspoons of taco seasoning until water is gone. For the dressing mix 1 cup salsa with 2/3 cup vegenaise (more or less ratio depending on your liking). Mix everything together including about 1/2 bag of frito style chips (TJ’s has the organic which I prefer – no GMO). My kids (2 and 4) love this! This is their favorite salad by far 😉
    PS – if you’d rather not use the soy beef substitute then a can of black beans with a bag of frozen corn is an awesome replacement. Just roast it in a pan with the same amount of taco seasoning.

  25. You’re so generous!! I don’t know if I’m the person to be asking about healthy cooking, but one of my favorite dinners is lettuce wraps. You can use ground chicken or turkey (if you eat meat, and throw in whatever veggies – we like eggplant and bell peppers, with some water chestnuts, green onion and flavor it with hoisin or shoyu or whatever you’ve got and throw it in some fresh lettuce.

  26. Wow, what a great giveaway! Swimwear fabric is impossible to find in this part of the world (New Zealand) but I would love to make my own swimwear for the kids.
    Tonight we are having homemade tortilla wraps. You can fill them with any meat/vege/cheese combo. They are quick and easy to make & the kids love getting involved. They always eat more veges when they ‘make their own’ dinner.

  27. Yes please! I’d love a go it sewing swimwear! As for food, I also get stuck in a rut regularly, but a fave with my children is chicken with squashed new potatoes and roasted tomatoes, so easy. Cook some chicken thighs in a little olive oil to brown, boil new potatoes then smash them up a bit with a fork. Place cherry tomatoes in bottom of a fairly flat oven dish, add chicken, potatoes, a little more oil and some yummy balsamic vinegar. Add herbs if children allow! Cook at 180 to 200 degrees for about 40 mins so tomatoes ooze to create yummy balsamic-y sauce. Serve with lovely salad.
    I have my fingers double crossed!

  28. That is – again – an awesome give away! Those kind of fabrics are very difficult to find here in France. I actually never saw them in the fabric shop.
    I really recognize your cooking ‘problem’. I also have a repertoire of several recipes that I make again and again. It’s laziness, but also because I only use seasonal products, which means lots of cabbage, potatoes and root vegetables in winter. But then, suddenly I get inspired and look up recipes on internet (pinterest is a great source!). That’s how I found this savory pie, that my 4 and 6 yo girls liked to my surprise: http://pinterest.com/pin/202310208232651812/ It’s from ‘Cannelle et Vanille’ and gluten free. But I also make it with a store bought crust, delicious as well.

  29. Hi!
    I will be thrilled to get some swimwear fabric. Since I saw the two swimming suits you made, I have been thinking of getting some with the pattern. But it seems quite difficult to get this fabric in Germany, at least with with designs or patterns.
    For a nice healthy dinner I like a lot fish tacos. I got the recipe originally from wholeliving.com, but I do it a bit different all the time depending on what’s in the fridge.
    I like your blog a lot!

  30. Love this giveaway, and hopefully some of these suggestions help you…

    Food-rut-rescue!
    I love dumplings… and I make a variety of them and then freeze them. These are what help me get through the rut-times. Also, I make pizza dough and freeze it for later feasting.

    For the pizza dough, my recipe is really similar to the one here:
    Perfect Pizza at Home http://www.craftsy.com/class/perfect-pizza-at-home/186

    and for the dumplings… this book has a great survey of different dumplings:
    http://www.asiandumplingtips.com/
    (you don’t have to deep fry, making pot-stickers or steaming them make for a healthier alternative)

  31. Lovely gifts! I’m scared still of stretchy fabric and making swimming suits is quite daunting too, but if I win (everything cross) I will give it a go :).
    Cooking…I have some dishes that my family likes, besides the infallible bolognese. The first is called Curried Potato-Shrimp Chowder, is taken from posie gets cozy blog : http://rosylittlethings.typepad.com/posie_gets_cozy/2012/08/some-recipes-ive-been-meaning-to-share.html.
    The other one, I called Moroccan chicken: Sauté some onion in olive oil, then add chicken with some cinnamon powder. When the chicken is brown add some diced tomato. Left to simmer for some minutes. Then add some chickpeas (I used the tin ones -guilty!, but you could cooked them the dry ones in water and then add them). Leave to simmer a little bit more. Serve with couscous and add handful of fresh coriander chopped.

  32. I am totally smitten with the fabrics in this giveaway and dying to try out swimwear!

    As for recipes, my all time favourite signature dish which is so healthy is Beetroot Risotto, it is my little girls favourite meal! I make it using this recipe http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/12278/creamy-beetroot-risotto and if you leave adding the beetroot until almost the end the dark colour is really vibrant! I don’t use the butter (just olive oil) and top it with a tiny bit of grated hard cheese and serve with a nice rocket salad, yum! Bon appetit!

  33. Lovely fabrics! I’m not much of a cook, so when I “plan” a meal, it usually involves the crock pot. My favorite receipt is the Butter Chicken recipe from the blog Meal Planning 101 (http://www.mealplanning101.com/2008/09/slow-cooker-butter-chicken.html). I couldn’t find all the ingredients in her receipe though and had to tweak it just a bit (my recipe is here http://kansascitykatie.wordpress.com/2012/02/01/indian-at-home/). My 4-year-old used to eat this dish before he transitioned from his picky phase into his super-picky phase!

  35. Do you eat pork? I put an old favorite recipe (Miso pork wraps, with romaine lettuce leaves) in the link.

  36. Swim suit shopping always gives me the heebie jeebies- i would much prefer to make my own- seriously! That black and white fabric would make an awesome suit for me, and the colorful fabric- well maybe for me too- a bikini?
    I love 101 cookbooks site. She has a new recipe for mung bean hummous- my summer go to food is a hummous plate with pita, fresh veggies for dipping, and a greek salad.
    http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/mung-bean-hummus-recipe.html

  37. One of my favorite dishes is shrimp Provençal. Season shrimp with salt and pepper. Sauté in olive oil. Add lemon juice, capers and parsley. Cook until translucent. Serve with crusty bread. Yum!

  38. Wow, lovely giveaway! Fingers crossed. My healthy recipe… Claypot chicken in a rice cooker for 2. Take 2 skinless chicken thighs and cube into bite sized pieces. Take 2 spring onions and chop the white bits finely. Add to chicken. Take chicken mix and marinate to taste in soy and oyster sauce (about 1/2 to 1 tablespoon each for me), a touch if sesame oil (like a half teaspoon), a clove of raw finely chopped garlic, a bit of shaoxing wine for moisture and a teaspoon of cornstarch. I like some dried chilli in my marinade too, but its lovely without. Marinate for half an hour. Meanwhile, chop up the green bits of 3 to 4 spring onions into 2 inch lengths. Wash enough rice in the rice cooker for 2 and top with enough water to cook. Sprinkle spring onion bits on top of uncooked rice to form a bed. Add chicken mix and spread around the top. Chicken should be sitting on the spring onions, not totally submerged in water! Put the lid on and press the cook button. When ready, you’ll have yummy steamed chicken with rice and greens. I’ve also tried adding brocolini on top of the chicken (putting it under the chicken with the spring onions makes it too soggy) and that was yummy too. The trick is to spread out the chicken so it cooks evenly.

  39. This ia a great giveaway! Thank you! I just started experimenting with swimsuit sewing for my little girl…so far I think it’s going we’ll so I’d love some new fabric.

  40. I was thinking that my daughter and son both need new swim suits so this is absolutely perfect. As for recipes, I’m a terrible cook, and the hubby does the cooking, however when he’s away we usually do pita pizzas. Just some greek pitas from the store and then chicken, spinach, tomato sauce and cheese. My daughter loves to help me make it! And its reasonably healthy.

  41. One if my favorite easy weeknight meals is this black bean taco: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Crispy-Black-Bean-Tacos-with-Feta-and-Cabbage-Slaw-351271

    I usually add 1/4 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to the beans to give them a bit of acidity. And I usually chop up a cabbage instead of buying a mix, but my hippie food co-op doesn’t sell a mix, so not really a choice.

    Are you familiar with Eating Well? Great magazine and website for healthy recipes. I love their yogurt marinated chicken.

    Great giveaway, and I’m loving all the comments, too!

  42. Our staple is taco salad. A huge plate of lettuce piled with corn, meat, beans, tomato, avocado, etc. You can just use salsa as the dressing or mix it with a little ranch. Yum!

  43. Thanks for the giveaway opportunity! Below is a delicious salmon recipe that’s great for summertime (hopefully your daughter likes seafood!)

    Greek-style grilled salmon:

    4 fresh Atlantic Salmon Portions
    1/2 cup of lemon juice
    1/3 cup of olive oil
    3 tbsp. of chopped fresh oregano
    3 tbsp. of chopped fresh mint
    1 tbsp. bottled minced garlic
    1 tbsp. finely shredded lemon zest
    1/4 tsp. salt

    DIRECTIONS

    1. In a small bowl, mix lemon juice, olive oil, oregano, mint, garlic, lemon zest and salt. Set half aside.
    2. Place salmon portions into a large plastic bag with half of the seasoning mix, close the bag and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
    3. Drain the salmon portions and discard used marinade.
    4. BBQ the salmon portions over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until cooked to taste.
    5. Brush the salmon portions with reserved marinade while grilling.