It's been awhile, whew!  Life does get in the way of things at times.  LOL

But, things are calming down and I am finding a small bit of time to try some new things.  Here's my latest adventure, or at least the beginning of it.....

I was recently in Barnes & Noble and was looking at a sewing magazine, which.... I can't remember, but it had a brief article on a sewing book that looked quite interesting.  The book is Stylish Dress Book ~ Wear With Freedom by Yoshiko Tsukiori.  I opened this book and immediately fell in love with the styles pictured. 

This book includes 26 patterns and has great photography.  I love the way the book is it set up with 26 photos labeled A ~ Z.   The only downfall I came across was the pattern pieces themselves - these 26 patterns are printed on 3 sheets of paper, front and back and look like a crazy, confusing, jumbled mess.  Have you ever picked up a Burda Style magazine and seen the pattern sheets enclosed?  They're overwhelming.  After a few minutes of considerations, I decided to take the challenge and figure out how to work with these road maps of mass confusion. 

After reading and obsessing over the book for about two weeks, I finally decided on what looked liked the simplest pattern to start with.  I choose dress E.  Dress E only consists of seven pattern pieces, but those pieces are on three different sheets. 

Since I have never tackled this type of challege I did a little Pinterest research.  I know you all know what Pinterest is, don't you?  I consider Pinterest to be the new Google, LOL. 

The first challenge with this type of pattern is getting the pattern.  You could just cut out the pieces you need and move on, but then you are wasting all of the other pieces.  Well I'm not one to buy a book for only one dress pattern, so the option of cutting out only what I needed was not going to work. 

After first figuring out what to type in to the Pinterest search engine ( I used:  burda pattern transfer), I came across a very helpful post.  Deby from So Sew Easy has a post titled, Tracing Burda Patterns the EASY Way.  It's very informative and I really liked her blog and decided to bookmark it as one of those to check back in on to see what's new. 

Now in Deby's post she talks about a double tracing wheel and transfer paper that's sold in a roll.  But I didn't have those things and I am just too impatient to order online.  So I used the transfer paper that is sold in the fabric stores and a pencil.  I didn't want to invest money in those things until I decided whether I liked this type of sewing prep work. 

I think I may enjoy this......  time to hit up Amazon for the additional supplies for future use. 

Here's the crazy, confusing road map of pattern pieces...

And here's my transferred pieces. 

It's really not that hard to do. 

Next time, more details on my dressmaking attempt, I'll show you the completed transfers and the layout.  I've decided to first make this out of muslin first.  If all goes well, I spied some beautiful linen at the fabric outlet that may have my name on it. 

Until next time...... Happy Easter to all!!!

~M~

It's a wrap!

Yep, it's a wrap.  That's wrap skirt I mean, :).

Who doesn't love a great wrap skirt?  Me for one.  Spring is coming, summer to follow and during those times of year I love to wear skirts and dresses. They just seem so much cooler and more comfortable. 

With that said, I've been on the hunt for a nice wrap skirt pattern and came across this one from McCalls - M5430.

Isn't it so cute? Best part of all, it was touted as a "1 Hour Skirt"!! 

I decided to make view B, but with out the trim addition.  This pattern calls for less than 3 yards of fabric, and along with that your typical notions of interfacing and thread.  The layout instructions were simple and easy to follow.  However, I learned a lesson while laying and cutting out this pattern.  DO NOT use a one way directional print and talk on the phone while laying out this pattern.  Ding Dong me did and had to go back to the store to buy additional fabric since I laid and cut out one on the skirt panels with the pattern upside down!! 

Can you see the direction of the print in this fabric?  Those tulip looking flowers DO only go in one direction.  ~~~~errrr~~~~~

So once I fixed that disaster I proceed to make the skirt.  It is an easy pattern.  I found that the directions are clear and precise.

I also like to try and make the inside as pretty as the outside.  Thus, I incorporated French seams for all of the skirt panels and then topstitched them.  If you haven't tried French seams, check out this blog for a great tutorial. Sewtorial.

 

 

To make this even more "finished" I used what I think is the blind hem foot.  I probably didn't use it the way it was meant to be used, but it helped me to make sure that when I topstitched and finished the waistband it was nice, even and straight.

Here's the foot I used, is it a blind hem foot?

The perfect topstitch......

And finally, the finished skirt,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Once it's warmer, I'll model and post a picture. 

My final say on this pattern from the McCall Pattern Company, I will be making this pattern again.  To be clear this was not a paid endorsement.  But I would definitely recommend this pattern and if you are new to sewing with patterns, I believe this would be a great beginner pattern.

Now if the weather would only get warmer so I can slip on some cute sandals and a nice tee, I'd be happy.  Can't wait to wear this new skirt, and to make more in cute spring/summer prints. 

Have a good week everyone!

Monica

 

Canning as promised.....

Today I canned, :)  Pear Vanilla Jam, yum yum yum. 

I've canned before a few times and am still learning.  I've only been brave enough to attempt water bath canning though.  Something about the pressure cooker and pressure canning that makes me a bit nervous.  However, that's what this blog will be about, my adventure into trying new things, just not today for pressure canning. 

As I said, I've canned a few times, but I am no expert and will not be giving you a canning 101 lesson.  There are a million blogs, websites and books out there that can teach you the basics.  Since canning is a science that if it isn't done right can lead to things like food poisoning, read and do your research to make sure you are doing it right. 

The Pear Vanilla Jam recipe comes from Food In Jars author Marisa McClellan.  I own her book, Food in Jars, Preserving in Small Jars Year Round.  It's a beautiful book, but the Pear Vanilla Jam recipe was found on her website.  I can't wait to try some of the recipes in her book though.

Here are my pears.  Yep, they are frozen, and are from my October Bountiful Baskets purchase.

Here's all of the other goodness that I added, sugar and vanilla beans. 

Now, while all of that goodness is cooking, I started my jars a boiling.  Since I like to do small batch canning, I use a stock pot. I don't have a colander that fits this stock pot, but I do have a small rack that I add to the bottom of the pot to keep the jars from resting on the bottom.  This helps to prevent the jars from rattling on the bottom and possibly breaking in the process. 

And here they are in all of their boiling madness getting ready for the jam.

Now that my pears are starting to boil, we're on our way to some yummy goodness....

Once the pears have softened I take my hand held immersion blender and smooth out the mixture, but leave a few lumps for texture. 

Doesn't that look awesome, and can you see all of the little black specks around the pot?  Those are the vanilla bean seeds.

My jars are ready, my pectin has been added and boiled. 

And here are the filled jars.......

And a little left over that we'll be keeping for ourselves.  No need for a fancy container on this one, it won't last long, LOL.

Once the jars are filled and rims are wiped down I process the jars in a water bath for 10 minutes.  Here's the final shot of the jars, and a shot of the awesome book from the author of the Pear Vanilla Jam recipe.

And here's my taste testing sample.  You know you must taste it before giving it away, you have to make sure it's good. 

 

And it was good..........

Hope you enjoyed the photos.  Here's a preview of an upcoming post.....

Sourdough.

Let's get started............

Okay........
Are you ready????
Here we go........

This is my first blog entry and I think also the perfect opportunity to let you know what this blog will be about. 

I like to do things like cooking, sewing, reading, gardening, diy'ing things and thrift store exploring.  But one thing I really like is to create, or do things just to say, or know, that I have done it and can. 

For example, several years ago I read about sourdough bread starter and have had this desire to make my own since then.  Well, I've finally done it! And... I have been successful at it. 

So there you go this, blog is about my adventures in doing things to just know that I can.  I'm going to show you my successes, and probably some failures, in my adventures. 

I'll try to update this weekly as I get familiar with this blogging thing, and my second post will be coming soon.  Stay tuned for "Canning." 

Thanks for joining me in my adventures........