Tis the Season...

Of Halloween!!! 

Remember how I've been super busy?

Thus I had to abandon my other Halloween costume ideas and just go with a costume made out of stuff from my closet.

All I needed was a red hooded cloak - Red Riding (the bus) Hood!

Don't look now - there's a doll behind you!

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Here's the pattern I used for the cloak http://nenesta.deviantart.com/art/Simple-Hooded-Cloak-Pattern-286331009 .

It took a bit less than four metres with a self lining, and I made it over two days (though you could easily make it in a couple hours).

Felt Wallet

I have a gross wallet. It's lumpy, ugly, and it has come into contact with a variety of unpleasant substances. Basically, I need a new wallet. But will I buy one? Never! I have all this felt lying around...

Note: if you try to make your own wallet, don't make it out of felt. It's way too thick, even before you stuff it full of cards. Although felt is nice because you don't have to finish the edges.

Unfolded with three rectangles for cards, a pouch for coins, and a closing strap.

1. Get some money! Seriously. Fold your fabric. Place a bill on your fabric along the fold and measure out a slightly larger rectangle.

2. Get a credit card! Or library card, what have you. Use it to measure out three rectangles of fabric, slightly wider and shorter than the card.

3. For the coin pouch I just eyeballed a long rectangle of fabric and folded it twice. I sewed the edges closed when I sewed the pouch to the wallet, and will put a snap on the flap to keep it closed.

Rectangles sewn on!

4. Stack your card-sized rectangles in a step pattern - each one going a bit further down than the last. Pin in place and sew the bottom edges of each piece to the wallet. 

5. Sew the sides of all the pieces and the bottom edge to the wallet.

6. Cut a strip of fabric for the closing strap and sew it to one side of the wallet.

7. Fold your wallet in half lengthwise and sew the edges.

8. Voilà wallet!

Eventually I'm going to embroider the back (the outside) of the wallet, but I'm busy now!

(If you want to embroider a design, do it before you sew up the sides of the wallet.)

Quiche Time!

Some people have Adventure Time, Dinner Time, Alone Time, whatever. I have Quiche Time.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/clarks-quiche/

For ze filling.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Moms-Pie-Crust/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Thumb&e11=pie%20crust&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Recipe#&panel1-1

For ze crust. Use less sugar/no sugar, 'cause this is for a quiche, not a pie!

Bon appetit, peeps.

Word to the wise. Don't put your baking sheets in the oven while it pre-heats and then try to put the filled quiches in them. You will spill the quiche mixture out into the baking sheets and burn your hands on the side of the oven. Arrgghhh!!

A Loaf of Chocolate Cake!

I made this cake for my mum. It's super moist and not too sweet, and it's also vegan (with the option of being gluten free if you use rice flour instead of regular). The strange specks are from me not mixing it too thoroughly, but even so it tastes awesome. I had to eat two pieces with my tea this afternoon! It's made in a loaf pan, but I've also made it into cupcakes with good results. Basically, this is my go to chocolate cake recipe that's perfect for everyone!

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/vegan-chocolate-cake/

Second Best Cookies

That I've made. I had some macarons once that were awesome. But I bought those. And my mom accidentally threw out my ultimate fave recipe: Peanut Butter Chippers (If you have this - Gimme!! It came from a book a long time ago and I've been attempting to recreate it ever since I lost it...)

Ginger cookies! Unfortunately I can't find the recipe online (there was something about happy cows and chickens which caught my eye...) Anyhoo, I've typed it out for y'all, plus a couple of my own additions.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter (or margarine)

1/4 cup molasses (I use a bit more than that)

2-4 tsp ground ginger

2-3 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

Plus a bit of white sugar or white sugar mixed with cinnamon to roll the cookies in!

Cream butter and sugar. Add the egg and molasses. Stir in the dry ingredients gradually. I usually mix the first 3/4 of the dry stuff in with my hand mixer and then just squish up the rest with my hands - by this stage the dough is pretty "sturdy" (as the original says - I say dry and hard to mix! Hence my addition of more molasses. But see what you like). Roll the dough into one inch balls and then roll them in white sugar.

Place on greased cookie sheets and bake for 8-10 minutes in a 375 degree (F) oven. Leave the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for a couple minutes and then transfer to a wire rack. Or your tum!

I've really wanted to use these as the crust for a cheesecake. I think that would be epic. Haven't managed to do so, as I'd rather just eat them.

Hats with Peachy

Peachy wearing a straw boater I made last summer. I bought a regular old sunhat from work for $3 (it had some hideous trim hot glued to it - yeuch!) and then reshaped the crown, brim, and sewed on a hatband. 

The lovely thing about straw is that with a bit of steam/hot water you can basically get it to do whatever you want. I made a rough hat form (a thin strip of scrap metal my dad picked up, bent into an oval the size of my head and covered in plastic) and then steamed and stretched the crown over it and let it dry with a weight in the middle to keep the top flat. I also shortened the crown at the same time and unraveled/trimmed the brim when it was dry. The hatband is a piece of ribbon sewed on (no gluing hats!!)

I was going to sew a little button on the bow (I found an awesome button with Humphrey Bogart's face on it, and one with Bela Lugosi as Dracula!) but eh, I really don't wear this hat enough to make it fancy. It makes me look like Asian Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables is actually super popular in Japan, apparently). But sometimes you just gotta protect your head from the sun, especially if you don't have very much hair. So until I finish my new summer hat project (crocheting a cloche out of raffia - a much more flattering shape for me) this is what I got :)

Peachy, my model, is older than I am (she was given to me before I was born) and I can't remember a time before I lost all her clothes. Now that I have skills I really should make her some...

Until next time!

Two Hour Gloves

I have rather short fingers and pretty small hands overall. I found some stretchy fake leather fabric ($7 for half a metre) at my local sewing store so I decided to make gloves instead of trying to fit into kid's ones. Here's how that went, plus instructions.

Sometimes you just gotta have elbow length gloves. Sometimes you're in a hurry! Here's how to make gloves in two hours and eight steps. Perfect for various costumes (add some claws - Catwoman!) or performances. 

1. Draw your hands! But tuck your thumb under! Try to draw your pattern on thinner paper, 'cause you need to sew through the fabric and the paper together. I used some recycled gift wrap tissue.

2. Pin the tissue paper pattern to your fabric (I got some weird stretchy stuff that kind of looks like leather) and sew through the three layers, making sure the two layers of fabric have the right (shiny) sides together. 

Also, draw a bit of extra space around the tracing of your fingers, with a "u" rather than a "v" at the base of each finger. I didn't leave very much space in my pattern because I'm using a stretchy material and I want the gloves to be pretty tight. You can't really see the "u" shapes in the picture, but you should add them! (This was my first glove so I didn't know better, the second one has "u"s and the fingers turned out much nicer). 

It helps if you turn the sewing machine by hand when you go around the fingers (spin the little wheel on the side) and lift up the machine foot (with the needle still in the material or else the thread will get pulled).

3. Cut around the sewn glove and rip the paper off! Messy! Fun!

4. There is no thumb, only Zool! 

Turn the glove right side out and try it on for size. Line up the side seams where you want and mark where your thumb is.

5. Well, I sort of drew my thumb and the side of my hand, and then an oval about how big I thought the base of my thumb was. I didn't actually end up using the thumb oval, I just put the glove on and cut a hole where my thumb was. Give yourself some extra space around the pattern.

6. Sew the same way as the rest of the glove. Here's the thumb piece, right side out. Again, first try, so I cut out two pieces. What works better is putting the long flat side of the thumb pattern on a fold, so you don't get a seam on one side.

7. Cut out an oval about the same size as the base of your thumb. I just started with a slit and stuck my thumb through, then cut away the excess fabric until I could move my thumb freely. Turn the glove inside out and sew the thumb piece in the thumb opening. I did this part by hand 'cause it was a bit too fiddly to do by machine.

8. Hubba hubba! :)

All in all, a pretty easy and super fun project. I started making these two hours before dress rehearsal and the only thing I had to sew later was the top hem at the elbow. The material didn't fray, so that was just the finishing touch.

Costume Details

This costume was super easy/cheap to make. I got an underbust corset ($10) and a bunch of sequin trim ($2) and sewed it along the boning channels (you can only see two lines of sequins in the picture, but there are more on the sides). For the tutu/bustle I gathered two metres of tulle ($4) and sewed it onto a sequin/elastic bit of trim the size of my waist. I tried to shape the tulle into two parts to keep the fullness mostly at the back and sides.

Finishing touches: heels, fishnets, frilly garter (made out of the same trim as the bustle, can't see it in the picture), black sparkly bow tie, sequin bra, and elbow length gloves (pictures/tutorial to follow)