angry chicken

peter-pan collar blouse in navy linen

This blouse is made in navy blue linen. It's hard to tell in this photo. Actually, it's the same linen I used for this skirt. So, I could have some sort of suit if I were feeling matchy and a little insane. I usually buy about 4 yards of linen when I see it on sale and just keep it around to cut into. For this blouse I used Simplicity 2599. This is the second blouse I have made from this pattern and it's becoming a favorite. The first one is here. It's such a versatile pattern, I'm actually using it for dresses, as I will discuss in 3 paragraphs.

I had a bee in my bonnet about a peter-pan blouse that buttons up the back. The button-up-the-back didn't go as planned, but the collar was salvaged and a new blouse was sewn, and I am quite happy with this version. Let's hear it for buying extra fabric on sale.

I drafted up a peter-pan collar and I used super-soft hem tape to cover the raw edges where it's attached on the inside. You can attach collars in a few different ways, either with a facing or with the edges finished— enclosed or under a tape of some kind. A facing would have been too bulky here, I think.

The super fantastic part of this pattern is that I noticed the over-all shape is very similar to this green dress I am planning on sewing. I have the green silk all ready and I just tried this blouse-into-a-dress experiment in a different fabric, one I could test on that is not silk. I made it into a dress simply by extending the length of this blouse and widening it just a tad past the hips. It worked so well. Like, crazy good.

So, I will have more to report soon with photos to show. It's very pleasing. And stop the presses—I actually have the new Wendy book in my hands right now (It's so good! More on this very soon.) and there is a dress pattern in it identical to this simple lengthened blouse shape, perfect for customizing with sleeves or any collar style you can dream up.

This skirt in the photo was on super sale about 4 years ago from Anthropologie, which means many other people have it. What can you do? I also realize it upstages my simple blouse.

potions and concoctions, part V.

I made this Lavender-Fleur De Sel Caramel Sauce from the February 2010 issue of Martha. It's brand new and the recipe doesn't seem to be on the website yet, dangit. Otherwise I'd link to it. (Is it me, or is the MSL site getting harder and harder to use?) However, in searching for a similar recipe to link to I found this one, which looks great and uses no corn syrup, which I think is so very wonderful. It seems almost all caramel recipes call for nasty corn syrup and I always feel so weird using it—although I use it nonetheless. But this one doesn't! So, to alter this recipe to make pretty much exactly what I made, just add 1/4 tsp fancy salt, like Fleur De Sel, and 1 teaspoon dried lavender at the very end. Then let it sit for 15 minutes and strain it into your jar. There you have it.

Here it is drizzled over pears with chopped cashews on top. I warmed it just slightly from the fridge. It's really good, but I think I am still on the fence. I love caramel. Like I have a fierce love of caramel. So, I am hesitant to gussy it up with salt and lavender. I love it so much plain-jane. Every time I eat this, I like it, but at the same time I think "wow, this is the best tasting liquid soap ever!" because the lavender is unexpected on the first taste. Then, after the second bite I really enjoy it. So, I am not 100% sure when I make this again (which I will) I will add anything extra at all, but I might. Pete tried it on vanilla ice cream last night and loved it and said it was "crazy-fancy-restaurant good." It was excellent on chocolate ice cream too, despite what I said about the initial soapiness.

• Unrelated, I now am selling a print of the drawing I just posted right here in my etsy shop. I am geeking out about how good the black ink looks on this very fancy (and expensive!) watercolor style paper I am printing on. I love this paper so much and I really think you will as well.

it's coming very soon—

I'm talking about Wendy Mullin's newest sewing book, Built by Wendy Dresses: The Sew U Guide to Making a Girl's Best Frock. I am beyond excited. You can see the reviews I have written of her first two books here and here. I highly recommend them to all sewers (at any level) who ask me what books to use for garment sewing. Although Wendy's designs runs a bit 1980s for me at times, her sewing books are rock solid in terms of garment making technique and construction. Plus, her patterns are so easy to customize, I can easily make her styles more my own. I hope to have a copy of this newest title in my grubby paws very soon and will write about it probably the day I get it—cause it's just that thrilling to me.

You can pre-order your copy of this one now, it comes out in about 3 weeks. Now I have to decide if I should wait for her book to arrive before I cut into the green silk I just bought. I don't think I can wait. Oh well, I will just have to make another dress when I get this book. You know, for research.

sketchbook scans

I found this from last year—in an older sketchbook I had stashed away. I finished up the title and lettering today. Originally, there were thoughts of making an actual comic with these elements but the project hasn't made it past this point and the lack of details and actual story makes me happy. I'm tempted to give it to the girls and have them make the story up with these elements and then go from there.

Unrelated:

• I am going to try and copy (or sort of copy) this dress, except change the collar a bit. I'm all about the silk, the pea-green color, and the loose fit that can be cinched up with a belt or fabric sash.
• I am giving serious thought to trying to sew a swimsuit after seeing this amazing one at a shocking price.
• I have an interview up over at Progressive Pioneer, thanks for asking me, Amy!

cut & paste

The last few years I have been trying to make a bunch of blank cards around January when I am filling in my new calendar. That's when I notice birthdays and it seems like the perfect time to go through old images, postcards, scraps, and clippings I have saved up from the previous year and make them into cards. I always think this will be an organized and tidy stack of cards—perfect for all occasions and easy to find. In reality, I usually put the cards in such a special place, I lose them, but am thrilled when I find them again mid-summer.

One of my favorite sources for making cards are Camilla Engman's calendars. They are too beautiful to not use again. This one is from last year.

To make the cards, I cut out white cardstock, fold into a notecard, and smear the front side of the cardstock with a glue stick all the way to the edge. Then I position this face down on the back of the artwork. I press it down really hard and cut off the excess of the artwork, creating a perfectly flush edge with the cardstock. This is much easier than trying to cut the artwork out the exact size and center it perfectly on a blank card. I do this not only with calendars, but anything I love and feel horrible not using again—like letterpress cards of all sorts, wrapping papers, pages from foreign books, postcards, magazine photos—all that. I used to feel a bit bad about cutting off the pretty part of a card someone had sent me and reusing it, but after I have hung it up for a year or so, it seems silly not to pass it on.

Having said this, as someone who sells cards, and loves to support card sellers—I like to buy new cards too! But I also get a huge thrill out of making cards from images I already have stashed away. I feel so good about using up clippings from one of my many many piles of papers.

If I am making a card with artwork (as opposed to some other ephemera) I write "artwork by‚—" on the back of the card, so people know who made the lovely image. Regarding re-using this particular calendar, I did get a thumbs up from Camilla first because it would just be weird to not ask her permission before I posted about it. You can buy her amazing 2010 calendar (and re-use it for cards next year!) right here.

**In no way do I advocate using other people's artwork to make cards to sell. Nor do I advocate scanning, and making multiple copies for personal use, ad infinitum. This is all about reusing what I already have, one time, and sending it off into the world with proper credit.

Unrelated:

• We decided to make a donation to Direct Relief after some research and talking to close friends who we trust (and whose research we trust.) My girl Mellisa has a succinct and heartfelt post on the complexities of Haitian and international adoption here, along with some valuable links.

potions and concoctions, part IV.

Chai Concentrate

We are all better here. Well, Pete still has that cough that seems to come only after 9pm and is loud, but aside from that we made it through this thing.

Here's the most recent concoction in the house. It's a chai concentrate. I have made chai before. It was mixed spices with loose black tea in a small tin. I would add that dry mixture to hot water and add milk and honey or sugar to the sweeten the chai. It was good, but was kind of a pain. Not a huge pain—but required several steps and I always seemed to sweeten it too much or not enough. So, I didn't make it often and kind of forgot about it.

Then over the holidays our local newspaper had this story about making homemade gifts from the kitchen and I thought this chai tea concentrate sounded very cool. It's got all the spices mixed with sweetened condensed milk. That's it. You just add a heaping spoonful into your already made hot black tea. Brilliant!

I am a big tea drinker (and coffee, too) and I usually have a pot of tea I sip from all day. I make a pot of Assam in the morning and drink it plain and then when I want a treat, I add a spoonful of this chai concentrate from the fridge. It's like getting two beverages for the price of one. So pleasing. I don't think it's too sweet either, which I was worried about. It seems perfect to me.

I was trying to make something like this last summer with Thai iced coffee and I wonder if it would work for that. You do need to add it to a hot liquid or the condensed milk won't dissolve, so I'm not sure how this would work iced. I would make all of it hot and then chill it after? Not sure. Tests will be conducted, for sure.

And thanks for all your support on the herbal recipe book/cheat sheet for eMailorder #11! Consider it done.

potions and concoctions, part III.

Calendula Eye Compress

And we rounded out the week nicely with pink eye. I will always think of this hysterical scene (warning, f-word in the first 2 seconds) when I think of pink eye, but let me assure you, it was NOT contracted in this house same way. 3 out of 5 people in the house got pink eye and this compress helped. You just steep dried calendula flowers (or chamomile) in cold water tied up in this cheesecloth and put in on your eye. It feels nice and seemed to make it go away faster. (Although, we wouldn't really know that for sure. We had never had pink eye in the house before now.) I read you can also use chamomile tea bags, wet with cold water, right on your eye, too. Very convenient.

I am happy to report I am about 95% back to normal. These last 2 weeks have been rough, but really forced me to make all these herbal remedies that I had been meaning to try—so there you go. I am considering making the eMailorder #11 a little recipe book and cheat-sheet for all my go-to herbal recipes that I have personally used and really like, along with my deodorant, lip balm, vapor rub recipes and all that. I would find it really handy for myself, too. I actually got lazy and didn't follow my deodorant recipe exactly last time and it really didn't work as well at all, so I made another batch and it worked perfect. I still can't believe that stuff. Anyhoo, do let me know if this sounds good. I think a cheat sheet version is crucial along with a booklet, for easy reference, to post inside the medicine cabinet, or wherever.

So, there has been much discussion in our house this week about earthquakes and where Haiti is on the globe. Lots of questions about what would happen in Portland if an earthquake hit. And lots of questions about how we can help. For donations, we are going to look over this list and talk it over this weekend and have the girls help decide where we will send financial aid.

potions and concoctions, part II.

Making Mullein Oil

Thanks for all the great advice and tips on the cough syrup. My throat feels better, but it still hurts a bit, which really surprises me. This is a bad cold, I tell you. I'm on day 9 of ick-feeling. I'm going to see my naturopath because what the heck? I can't remember the last time I had symptoms this long. Husband got it too, and his ears hurt as well, so I know this is a particularly nasty bug.

Here's a jar of dried mullein with garlic steeping in olive oil. I made this last week. Not terribly exciting. I have used it before for when I have made vapor rub, but luckily have never needed it for ear trouble until now. Of course this fall I didn't make any mullein oil so I was in a pinch. My herb book tells me it needs to steep several weeks, but my other favorite home remedy book tells me I can use it after a few days, which is what I did. I strained it and have been using it for 3 days now and my ears feel significantly better. They smell a little like good Italian food, which is funny and a bit gross. I'm sure it would be better if it could steep the mullein longer, but oh well. I suppose I could go to the store (walking distance) and buy some hippie ear drops, but that would be too easy. And it's practically free here at home. And I would feel so much less like a witch buying this type of thing—I have to make it. I need to get some fun out of this cruddy cold, dang it.

Here's a little about mullein oil and another recipe for mullein oil with garlic that helps for ear pain, too. And thanks for the neti pot and probiotics reminders—done and done.

potions and concoctions, part I.

Elderflower Cough Syrup

So, the flu, (or something flu-like) made its way into our house last week and is still here. The kids seem okay actually, just a few days of symptoms, but I have not been so lucky. I am on day 7 (!) of feeling like crud. It's mostly pain in my ears and throat which is intensely uncomfortable. I was feeling a little better this weekend and made some old-timey natural remedies.

This Elderflower cough syrup is made using super strong elderflower tea, honey, and a juiced lemon. It really makes my throat feel better. I found quite a few elderflower recipes (scroll down) in looking around and need to revisit them under better circumstances. See more here. There is a recipe for elderberry syrup in this book that I love, but it didn't call for straining the herb out of the syrup, which seemed odd to me—so I strained it per other recipes I found and used honey instead of sugar to sweeten it. I have also become a huge fan of herbal steams in the last 4 days.

The stickers on this jar are from The Small Object Labels & Stickers set  which I love with much intensity and am convinced will make this cough syrup more powerful.

bread of the monkey

I just keep making the same things every year. (See here, too.) I think the monkey bread has now shifted from random fun special treat to a New Year's Day event. I have made this so many times now that it's pretty much foolproof and so very good. When I am craving cinnamon sugar doughnuts, this is what we make.

Some tips and such:

• I use this recipe from Martha. I have never used one of the crazy quick kind of recipes, you know, where you cut up Pillsbury biscuit dough and add pudding mix, or some crazy stuff like that. As much as I love trashy baking in concept, I can't eat it. You know how it is. So I use this recipe, which calls for yeast and 2 rises, so I start a bit early. I usually make the dough during breakfast and let it rise and then call in the kids in after that.

• I add 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon to the dough. This really helps the flavor if/when the coating comes off in the pan. I also make this dough pretty soft/sticky, meaning not too much flour. Better that way than too dry.

• For making the balls, we roll out long tubes and use kitchen scissors to snip off pieces. Super easy and quick. Then roll these into balls, or sometimes just use the shapes as is.

• I do the coating step a bit different. I don't have them dip in melted butter and then the cinnamon sugar, which is what the recipe states. Rather, I just mix the melted butter, cinnamon, and sugar together in one bowl decreasing the butter to 5 tablespoons. It becomes a wet paste and much easier to roll the balls into. Any extra coating we have left I just spread on top. This makes the bread stickier and less runny and the kids appreciate the dipping experience more. But baby got the idea to just eat this mixture with a spoon, for real, so that happened. Don't turn your back on that baby! I think she got in about 6 big spoonfuls before I realized why she was so quiet.

• I have frozen half of this after baking because it makes so much—it thaws really nicely.

And, I updated my banner but not my links. I will get on that soon-ish.

 

the doggy bunny.

The two older girls made this doggy (bunny) for Liddy for Solstice. It's made from an old sweater of mine and is crazy soft. We used my go-to soft toy/doll making book, the 1963 classic, The Woman's Day Book of Soft Toys and Dolls, by Joan Russell. You can still find used copies around. I love this book and have made probably a dozen toys from it over the years. The directions and patterns are easy for the girls to trace and sew from, with a lot of help of course. My toys always turn out a bit different from the photos, especially when I use super soft sweaters for the fabric, but that's the charm, right? Hence the doggy sort of looking like a bunny.

In sewing news:

• I was super flattered to be included in Sew Mama Sew's Sewing Industry Best of the Decade list. Thank you! It was really interesting to read and think about how much has changed in the fabric/sewing industry in the last 10 years. Pretty amazing.

• I can't stop looking at BurdaStyle best of 2009. All these garments were sewn by BurdaStyle members and they are really really amazing and inspiring. Please check it out. It makes me want to start on something grand, totally impractical, and difficult. Kneel before Zod, silk charmeuse!
  

happy 2010!

We got snow! That's a big deal here in Portland. The girls ran outside and built a snowman and then the middle child dramatically watched it melt (she pulled up a chair and took some photos) over the next two days. That snowman is wearing one of my two finished crocheted projects ever.

• I love year-end lists. Best music, movies, and all that. I was looking at all the lists on the NPR site and found the 10 best cookbooks of 2009 and only was familiar with one (The Craft of Baking) so it looks like I need to get busy. I am intrigued by Asian Dumplings, but wonder how many meat-free options there are or if they can be easily made veggie.

• I am getting off to a slow start for 2010, which I think is wonderful and I would like to continue the slowed down pace of the last 2 weeks. I have in mind to make a Not Done, Nor Am I Going To Do Today List, which will help me track on a daily basis what I am not doing. I am very excited by this. I tried to start doing less already, especially in the mornings when I seem to get on a cooking/house cleaning/laundry/pick-up-toys merry-go-round and realize I have not sat down for 4 hours.

• I saw, instantly on Netflix, Valentio, The Last Emperor. I loved it and just cried. I think I was in one of those moods. I didn't realize I could watch movies instantly on Netflix. How I missed this I'm not sure. I also watched, instantly, Singing in the Rain while I cleaned my art/sewing room. I love that movie.

• The new Tie One On theme is up. Thanks to all of you who sent in theme suggestions.