Something different

Too often I neglect to write about food.  I think part of it is that it’s so much a part of me that it doesn’t seem very interesting.  I mean, I’m LEARNING how to sew, so there’s just a lot more fodder to write about (I’ll never be done learning to cook, I just trust my instincts a lot more because I’ve been doing it longer).  That being said, when I started this blog, it was my intention to write about food more.  Hence today.

My good friend Tamara (who is often my partner in all crimes food) made a similar salad the other day for lunch and I thought it was delicious.  She put tuna and avocado in hers and served heirloom tomatoes on the side.  I love grain salads, but I never think about rice.  Plus, it makes a lot of salad which ensures easy lunches for me for a couple of days which is handy with a wee one around.  It sounds like a lot of ingredients, but really, you could make it as wild or simple as you like based on what’s hanging around your fridge. 

Salmon Rice Salad

1 cup dry basmati rice cooked–I’m not sure how much that yields…

1 shallot, minced

1 clove of garlic, minced

1/2 cup green beans cut into 1″ lengths

juice of 1 lime

1 rib celery, diced (if you have any celery with the inner leaves–use them too…they’re yummy)

1/2 cucumber, peeled and julienned in about 2″ lengths

3 green onions, chopped

1 tomato, seeded and diced

1/2 cup cashews

2 good handfuls of cilantro, torn off stems

1 can wild salmon, drained and any obvious bones removed

1 T rice vinegar

olive oil–enough to suit your fancy–say 3-4 T

salt and pepper to your liking

If the rice is leftover, you’re set.  If you’ve just cooked it, spread it on a baking sheet that’s been lined with parchment or waxed paper to let it cool. 

Heat a skillet over medium heat.  Add 1 T oil when the pan is hot.  Add the shallot and garlic and cook until the onion is translucent.  Add the green beans and saute until the beans are crisp-tender.  Salt and pepper the beans to taste.

Toss the beans and rice in with all the other ingredients.  Add olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.  Sit down and have a lovely lunch.  You deserve it!

More sewing later.  Gnomey is back.  She had a good nick in the throatplate (I thought my 1/4″ foot was a blind hemmer–whoops!) and a worn out link that was causing the problem.  There are lots of projects on the table…almost so many I feel a bit discombobulated.  Such is life.  Noah’s cutting a tooth too, so that could have to do with my state of I’m-not-sure-what’s-going-on-here.

This really wasn’t what I was hoping for

August is Hand Sewing month at Sew Mama Sew.

Isn’t it a cute button?  Would that I could get excited about hand sewing.  Gnomey has a bit of a cold.  Last night she stopped working spontaneously…there is thread getting stuck around the bobbin.  I had a couple of dings on the throatplate that I filed out, but the thread is still getting caught.  So I’ll have to take things in on Tuesday when the store is open. 

While I was sad when my serger was out getting fixed, I could still sew…but now…sans Gnomey…I feel like my right arm is gone.  I have about 200 more yoyos to sew before I can start piecing my next coverlet, but my heart’s not in it what with Gnomey and all. 

Oktoberfest is coming soon though, and I DO have a lot of music to learn, so perhaps I’ll be accordioning away my sewing blues.  I’ve said it before…polka can’t not make you smile.

Thanks Grandma!

I found this dress in the midst of some of the lovely fabric I found when Nathan’s Grandma let me raid her stash.  At first I just thought it was a bit of fabric very cool patterned lightweight polyester.  I unfolded it and saw that it was not only a dress, but it looked suspiciously like it was cut precisely to my size.  Exactly.  Perfectly.  Amazing too, given that I would guess the dress is from the 60′s. It’s a Jackie-O looking style dress.  Here’s a good one on Etsy for comparison (don’t you love the jacket?!).  The scarf is a vintage Echo 100% silk scarf I picked up at the thrift store for $2.

The side seams, center front, and center back seams were sewn, plus the zipper beautifully installed (phew–I hate putting in zippers).  The darts and the faux princess seams were basted in.  The shoulder seams were handily not done at all, which gave me some room for experimentation.  I’m going to start listing my goals that I have for garments that I make.  Call it a new feature to the blog.

Grandma Williams’ 1960′s Jackie O dress

Goal:  1.  Draft my own facings to finish the neckline, back, and armholes.

             2.  Make button loop closures at the shoulders so that I can still wear a dress and feed my child

Goal 1 success?:  I think so.  I recently took Pattern Review’s facings class (it was fantastic–such great information.  Facings were so confusing to me before).  With the info from the class I was able to quickly and painlessly draft my own facings that fit this garment with an unknown/unavailable to me pattern.  The dress fits me like a glove and I LOVE it.  Maybe I’ll start scrounging about for 60′s patterns.  Perhaps it’s more my style than I’ve given it credit for being.

Goal 2 success?:  I made some loop closures out of white rattail that I stitched to some grosgrain ribbon for stabilization.  They work, but the loops could be a bit smaller, and more buttons would be more fun and more secure.  Still, the loops are functional, which they need to be.  The back shoulder is a bit wider than the front because I didn’t bother measuring.  Oh well.  There’s a 98% chance that  I’ll pop a cardigan over the whole thing once it gets cooler here, so that will be my own little secret. 

Summer Top Strap Sleeves Tutorial

Yea!  I’m back.  My serger is online again and I feel much better.  Sewing shall resume its normal place in my life.

I thought about doing a tutorial of the sleeves on my summer top, so here goes:

For those of you, like me who are rather tired of straps on summer tops that don’t cover your bra straps, and if strapless is a 4-letter word, this is a good solution to your dilemma.

Materials:

Basic sleeveless top pattern, cut out, front and back sewn together

1/2″ wide ribbon

pins

disappearing ink marker

1″ gridded paper or graph paper

fashion ruler

1/4 yard fabric, same as the top

1/4 yard lightweight, fusible interfacing (I’m using SofKnit)

tailor’s ham

1.  Baste a long length of ribbon where you want the strap to hit you on the back on each side.  Try on the top.  Pin the ribbons to each bra strap where the top edge of the top meets the ribbon.  Mark 1/2″ below this point with the marker.  Also mark the top point of your shoulder on the ribbon.  Note: you only need to mark on one side, but do pin on both sides, because your measurements will be more even.

2.  Take the top off and take out the basting at the back.  Measure the distance from the top of the shoulder to the back and the top of the shoulder to the front on the ribbon.  Make a note of these measurements because you’ll need them for the next step.

3.  On your paper, draw a 4″ line.  Mark the center of the line.  From the center mark, measure the distances from step 2 and make a mark in each place.  Centering your ruler at each mark, make a 2″ line that is parallel to the 4″ line. 

4.  Use the curved edge of the fashion ruler to connect the ends of all of the lines in a nice pleasing curve.  Cut out the template.  Cut along the 4″ line, leaving a 1/4″ hinge.  Pin the back of the strap to the back.  Try on the top and pin the front to the front edge of the strap.  Open the slash until the strap sits flat (sorry about the photo…it’s plum near impossible to photograph yourself doing this).  Measure the widest part of the opening. 

5.  Take the top and strap off again and spread the slash open the distance that you measured in step 4.  Fill in this gap with paper.  Use the fashion ruler to create a new edge.

6.  Repeat step 4 to check your work.  If you’re happy with things, go on.     

7.  Lay out the template on your fabric and cut 4.  Cut 2 of the interfacing.  Fuse the interfacing to two of the pattern pieces according to the manufacturer’s directions.  Facing right sides together, pin and sew along the long edges of the straps with a 1/2″ seam allowance.  Clip along the curve in the seam allowance every 1/2″ or so to the stitching line.  Also cut out v’s at the sharpest points of the curves.  

Now trim the seams, trimming the part of the seam that will lie next to the body a bit less–this is called grading and it will reduce some bulk when you turn the strap right side out.  Turn the strap right side out and press it on your good old buddy, Mr. Hammy or a folded towel if you don’t have a Mr. Hammy in your life.

8.  Finish the bottom edges of the straps however you wish.  Today I used pinking shears, but you could serge it, or fold the raw edge under…choose your own adventure–I promise you won’t end up in a black hole.  Topstitch along the long edges 1/8″ from the edge.

9.  Sandwich the straps upside down between the facings and the right side of the garment.  Stitch them in place.

10.  Enjoy the cute straps you just made! (Wow, I look caffeinated).

Insomnia bag

Well, not really, but in the midst of insomnia yesterday morning, I thought, why not finish the bag I started on Monday.

It’s another diaper bag and matching chaning pad for one of Nathan’s friends from college.  She expressed a need for one and I already had one half cut out, so it was a quick project.  There are lots of interior pockets and I made a 3 tab button closure because I was feeling quirky. 

inside view

matching changing pad/playmat

Noah and I listened to some polka while I sewed.  He thinks accordion is funny–or at least he drools and coos and laughs with sheer delight when he hears it.  He’s particularly fond of Skater’s Waltz, which, I admit I practiced A LOT while he was a cookin’.  I think I’ve asked this before, but it’s always interesting to me–what do you listen to while you’re working?