Trying to be less wasteful

Firstly, apologies for the lack of posts, I have started working and had forgotten how completely it sucks up your time!

While I wasn't working I got into the habit of doing some baking each week for the man's lunch, and so far this is continuing. Mainly muffins, or things that are not to unhealthy, although every now and then I would throw in a batch of chocolate and raspberry muffins as a treat. Anyway, for the last couple of weeks I have been trying to combine this baking routine with the habit of using up everything in the kitchen. I have an annoying tendency to forget about things, and have to throw out food that is no longer edible. This goes against everything I try to live by, so I am trying to fix it and I discovered that by making myself use ingredients that are no longer at their best my baking has become a lot more interesting.

So last week we had banana bread, baked from the good 'ol Edmonds Cook Book, except I added some mixed spice and cinnamon to add a bit of interest. This was surprisingly good as I have never really been a fan of banana bread. My only gripe with this was that by Thursday it had gone mouldy. My muffins always last through the week. I am thinking about putting individual slices into zip lock bags and freezing them. Then putting the frozen banana bread into lunches in the morning, and hoping they have defrosted by lunch. Does any one out there have any experience with this?

This week I have just pulled a lemon loaf out of the oven, and have glazed it and am waiting till it cools to try it. It smells good so I have high hopes for it. I will let you know how it tasted. Again the recipe was from Edmonds (which I use so much as the recipes are straight forward and I normally have all the ingredients on hand. I find a lot of modern baking books ask for all sorts of odd and expensive ingredients, which to me defeats the whole purpose of making lunches at home to save money. Anyhoo.)

Thanks for waiting so long for an update!

My Creative Space

Today I am finishing off a job I have been meaning to do for 6 months now, making placemats and coasters. These are just two bits of fabric with some thin polyester batting, but once finished they should look quite good, hopefully.

Also, I am still working on the booties from last week, I have a finished one here and it shouldn't take too long to complete the next one. Turns out, while I am quite blase about things I make for myself, when I am making something specifically for someone else I become very very anal. I have re-made these so many times I could probably do it in my sleep. I hope they are appreciated!

Lots more lovely (hopefully less frustrated) creative peeps over here.

Making a muslin

Confession time. I. have. never. made. a. muslin.

There I said it.

I think I have mentioned my need for instant gratification before, and muslins just do not provide that. Why would I essentially want to sew something twice?

But, my latest project uses vintage fabric and a vintage pattern, if I get this one wrong I can't just run out to spotlight to get some more fabric. So, today I have started the muslin. So far I have it all sewn up but I do not have the correct size zip so can not finish it just yet but already I have found a couple of things that will need fixing. The most glaringly obvious is that the waistline is about an inch lower then my natural waistline, so that will need fixing. Plus it is way to big...

So, I may be coming around to this muslin business, if I hadn't have made one then the dress would have been ruined due to the waistline alone (this has already happened to me with a different project). But, I am going to reserve judgement till I see the final finished dress.

My Creative Space...

Wow, I have not been a part of this in a few weeks and I miss it! I have started a jewellery course on Thursdays and it has taken me a while to get organised enough to produce a post. So here we go...

This week I am working on baby booties, some friends from America arrive here next week and she is 6 months pregnant with their first child so I wanted to make something little that is easy for them to take back to the U.S.

I found these crochet shoes from here and I think they are crazy cute. Plus I have not crocheted in a while as I ran out of potential projects, but these have got the ball rolling again.

I started trying to make them with some wool in my stash but it hasn't really worked out (I blame the wool, despite trying three different hook sizes I can't get them the correct size) so today I am going to go get some more. I am thinking red with bright green soles (they are having a girl) as you are never to young for your first pair of red shoes. Now I just need to get myself some red Louboutins and we can match...

Image from here

As normal, loads more creative spaces here!

Good things...

Firstly, look what I won from the lovely Cath over at ChunkyChooky:

I never win anything so this was super exciting, and the book is really helpful. I don't know about you but even though you can find all the instructions you need on the inter-webby thing, I still like to have my reference books too.

Also, I planted some herbs a couple of weeks ago and check out my coriander, it is growing so well I think I will have to thin it out and re-plant it! The basil is poking its little head out too, and while there has not been a peep from the others I have high hopes.

Dreaming of Hawaii

This is the dress I got at the Love Vintage fair, the colours really caught my eye, and the cut was really flattering. It is an 80's dress, but I had hoped that with the right accessories I could make it look a bit more vintage. I was thinking along the lines of meeting Elvis in Hawaii...

I think I kind of made it work, I curled my hair, put on some vintage earrings, a chunky bracelet and some vintage inspired shoes and I think I looked vintage. In fact, one of my male friends said I looked like I was from the 40's, without any provocation, so I must have done something right!

I wore this to high tea at The Victoria Room and felt very sophisticated, if a tad over dressed, I needed to be having cocktails really. But, life is always a bit more fun when you are overdressed don't you think?

Tracing my vintage pattern

My lovely vintage patterns arrived from What-I-Found, and they are perfect. Both uncut, none of the pieces are missing and both have the instructions. So now, I have the fun job of tracing them (as I would like to conserve them as they are). I always find tracing a pain, but with vintage it is even harder! When I am tracing from, say, Burda magazine I just staple the pages together to stop them moving around but I can't really do that this time. I have looked at pattern weights before but they seem like an unnecessary (big) expense. So I am using the wish and hope method, going ahead and wishing and hoping that pieces don't move to much and cause to much distortion.

Wish me luck!

This week's thrifted find

I swear I am still crafting, and not just shopping, but we have had people staying for a week so there has been a little hiatus. So, here are some shoes I found at my local Salvo's this week, aren't they pretty?? They are Italian, fit perfectly and the leather is so soft, all I need to do is get them re-soled as I wore them yesterday and was slipping and sliding everywhere!

My cardigan has me a bit stumped so I am taking a little break from that, I am still working on christmas gifts and next week I am hoping to finally get this dress fitting properly for a girls high tea I am going to next weekend. So that's it for me, hope everyone has a lovely weekend x

Love Vintage purchases

Finally, a post on what I brought at the Love Vintage Fair! I am most excited about my fabric purchases:

The mustard fabric is destined to become a sixties wiggle dress, I have ordered a couple of vintage patterns so hopefully I can get started on that soon. The green material is probably going to be made into a high waisted slim skirt, but I need to search out a suitable pattern for that.

I am also happy with these earrings, I can't pierce my ears (I have had it done twice and both times had to give up due the continual infections), and I have quite fat earlobes so can't wear clip-ons either, so I am always on the look out for pretty screw-ons.

And finally, to further fuel my scarf obsession, a pretty scarf.

There was also a dress, but I think I need to do an outfit post for that, as it is, ummm, interesting :-)

Opps

Well, grrr. Last stretch of the cardi has not gone well and I blame the buttonholes. The pattern has you mark where the buttons are to go, and then on the side of the actual buttonholes to knit till you reach where you have marked. This all sounds fine, except for the fact that the buttonholes are on a trim which you knit separately from the main body and then sew on, but to make this trim lie flat you have to stretch it a bit as you sew. So now my buttonholes are in totally the wrong place, and the bottom one is roughly where the top one should be. But it is all sewn up and is going to be a pain to undo and redo. I had thought that perhaps I could just sew up the top buttonhole and make it a one button cardigan. What do you all think? Is this a decent solution given that there is no way the cardigan works with the buttonholes where they are now? I'm thinking I will have to undo it as it will probably bug me forever but tell me, can you see the problem??

Sydney vintage clothing, jewellery and textiles show

I went to this show on Saturday and it was awesome! So many vintage stalls, with some of the most breathtaking clothes you can imagine. Most of it was totally out of my measly budget but it was so fun just looking. I did come away with a few bits and pieces, some fabric, buttons, earrings, a scarf and a dress, which I will attempt to photograph at some point. I just wanted to do a quick outfit post today to show you what I wore. This was last weeks thrifted find from my local salvo's, and while not vintage I thought it had that feel to it and I didn't feel out of place at the vintage show.

So, the dress is thrifted, the cardigan is from Cotton On and the necklace is vintage (a present from my brothers from years and years ago).

Hope everyone is having a brilliant Monday!

My Creative Space

I am getting started on christmas presents today! Luckily I really don't have very many to worry about - and I am not doing a 100% handmade christmas, just a little bit of handmade for each person. As I do not know who reads this little blog I can't show you what I am making but here is a little sample of some of the fabrics.

I must say I am feeling a tad pleased with myself to be starting in October, but when you aren't just running down to your local department store you need to be a little more organised. Now I need to figure out what to get the man, does anyone have any suggestions on what to make men?

Lots more creativity over at Kootoyoo!

Now it is actually the home stretch!

It's almost looking like a cardigan!!

I am up to the last bit of knitting on my cardigan, yay!! Granted, I still have the blocking, assembling and sewing in of ends to do but we will just ignore that for now.

The last knitting involves a thin section of seed stitch that runs up both sides of the front of the cardigan. This section is knitted separately and then sewn with a mattress stitch onto the main sections. I have completed one side so just have the second to do. I think I have got the hang of the mattress stitch, it looks neat enough anyway but I don't think I pulled it quite tight enough as it is not lying entirely flat. However, I think I can live with it as it is... but if anyone has any suggestions for the second one please don't hold back.

I am now thinking about my next project and am leaning towards the vintage pattern on the right from here, in a lovely deep blue perhaps?

But there are so many options I almost begin to feel swamped!

Finally, a top!

Here is the first item I have managed to photograph from my last sewing spree. I still need to get shots of the second top, skirt and belt, but baby steps...

I am pretty happy with this, although the fit is not ideal. It is ok with a belt, or tucked in but otherwise it is a little big. My measurements are all over the show with this pattern maker, I am literally three different sizes according to my bust, waist and hips which is a little annoying, but I know next time I make this that I need to grade down a size at my waist to get a better fit. But I think the keyhole neckline is really cute, although it was a tad fiddly.

This fabric is a really unusual colour, a really subtle lime green (??), that is really hard to photograph but that I think is lovely.

The pattern was the Colette Sencha and the fabric is from Tessuti.

My Creative Space

What I should be doing is having a clean up from last weeks sewing spree. I don't know what anyone else is like out there, but when I get in the swing of things a trail of devastation is left behind. Nothing gets put away, everything gets pulled out, chaos ensues. And the really stupid thing is that I can not work in it when it looks like that so it is completely self defeatist. Hey ho. Please don't judge me, but here is a (carefully selected) picture of the wreckage.

In reality I am probably going to spend the day browsing blogs, knitting and every now and then checking the job websites to see if anything that vaguely interests me pops up.

Lots more people hopefully being much more creative over here!

My first cardigan - short rows

Progress is being made! In fact I almost feel like I am reaching the home stretch (not really but considering the hurdle I have just crossed I feel like the rest will be a cinch). I have finally completed my last set of short rows, which proved to be a mission! The technique advised in the pattern is to "wrap and turn" and then to hide the wraps. I managed the left side of the cardigan without too many issues as the wrap and turn happens on the knit side, and there were plenty of clear instructions on the net for this. But, the right side was another story altogether.

The wrap happens on the purl side, and I struggled to find any information, eventually I made it up myself based on the instructions for the left side (which it turns out was the correct way) but I could not get the hiding of the stitch to work. My work either had big holes in it, or did not resemble a stitch, or just looked really, really crap. I literally spent a week, knitting and tinking that whole section over and over and over. Very demoralising, and had me want to throw it all down and damn knitting for all eternity.

However, after much searching I found this website and it was my saving grace. I don't know why (as I am sure I had been trying the correct procedure but with no luck before) but suddenly it all came together. So, last night I finally finished the short rows, so I am one happy knitter.

A sneak peek and a recipe

So, here is a sneak peek at the outfit I blogged about on Monday. It is finished but needs a mighty good press. I am thinking of wearing the orange top today with a brown skirt, and hoping that I don't look like a reject from the seventies...

And this lovely (or terrifying) pink guck you see is actually a yummy beetroot hummus that I made. We LOVE beetroot in our house, in goes into brownies, salads, sandwiches, stirfrys, the list goes on. So, after seeing a jar of this for sale at some crazy price I thought I would give it a go and you know what? It kind of worked.

1 can chickpeas

2 teaspoons tahini (super easy to make yourself, just google it)

1 or 2 cloves garlic

1 beetroot (mine was roasted but you could also use canned)

1 or 2 tsps balsamic vinegar

olive oil

Combine all ingredients in a blender, and add enough olive oil to get your desired consistency.

Lots more creative spaces right here.

I got my mojo back!

My sewing mojo that is. I have taken a rather extended break from sewing, after the last two dresses I made, neither of which are wearable at this point in time, I needed to step away from the sewing machine and reassess why I want to sew. And I realised that I was making life so hard on myself by rushing right into projects that are way to hard for me, especially after not sewing for such a long time beforehand. So I have been working on much, much simpler projects, using fabric I have found at op-shops, or that were already in my stash. I have nearly finished my version of this outfit.

The actual vintage outfit is available here but I have to say I like my version better. All I need to do is find some buttons for the top and then it is done so will try post pictures later on in the week. It was a much easier outfit for me to attempt, the skirt I have made before and the top is easy peasy (and of course the bow is not too difficult either). And now I am cutting out the fabric for another simple top, one that should be perfect for summer.

Plus, the most important part of it is, I am actually enjoying sewing these projects. I am not getting stressed, or angry when something isn't working, and am taking my time and enjoying the process, a new concept for me when it comes to sewing. So, yay for sewing mojo!!!!

(Now I just need to channel the same energy into finding a job I actually want to do... that might take a little more effort.)

Advanced Style Blog

Has anyone out there seen this blog? The author roams the streets of NY taking photos and talking to stylish older people he meets. It is so sweet and inspiring and I highly recommend it as a pick me up.

Advanced Style

Vintage Sewing and modern bodies

image from what-I-found

A friend is leaving Sydney in a few months and mentioned as her going away party she wanted everyone to dress up and go to some cocktail bar. I thought it might be fun to find a vintage 60's dress pattern and make a dress for this. So I started to search and I have to say have taken something of a blow to my confidence. On What-I-Found they have 6108 vintage patterns, but when I search using my bust size I get 46 results, most of which are from the 80's. That works out as roughly .7%! Most of the patterns from the 60's were for a bust size at least 4 inches smaller then mine.

Now, while I am not exactly small I am also not big, I am well within a healthy weight range for my height, I eat well and I exercise (mostly). But I feel like if I were to be transported back to the 60's I would be considered obese. Although interestingly, given one quote I found on the average size of a woman in the 60's, while I am taller my waist and hip measurements are right on par, but my bust is much bigger (although don't ask me how reliable these figures were, people can say pretty much what they want here on the internet can't they).

So, I wonder, how much have our bodies changed over the last 50 years. And is this fashion for vintage out of reach for a lot of us as we simply do not have the bodies to fit the clothes? One statistic I found (and have heard a lot) is that in the last 15 years alone the average bra size, in the U.S, has gone from a 34B to a 36C. If there can be that drastic a change in 15 years imagine how different women could have looked 50 years ago! And it is hardly surprising with the amount of drugs, hormones and chemicals have been introduced to our lives (but that is another post!).

I guess the best solution, for me anyway, is to take a pattern drafting course and to learn how to resize vintage patterns to fit my modern frame. Because at the end of the day I will take a wiggle dress over a pair of skinny jeans every single time.

image from what-I-found

My Creative Space

involves looking at a large pile of glass and trying to decide if any of it is usable. This time I am thinking there is very little there, none of it has been in the sea long enough to get that beautiful worn look that makes sea glass so appealing to me. This lot might just have to go in the recycling, which is at least better then it littering out beaches! I'll be taking a second and third look just to be sure though.

I have been adding plenty more stock to my store if you are interested in taking a look at some proper sea glass.

And, as aways plenty more beautiful creative people here.

Dreaming

Today I am dreaming of Africa. Dreaming of the rain that you could swear was going to engulf you. Dreaming of the elephants grazing on the side of the road. Dreaming of the children who were so trusting they would fall asleep in your arms. Dreaming of the smell of the plains at 5am. Dreaming of hearing lions outside of a tent. Dreaming of the sound of the Indian Ocean. Dreaming of the amazingly talented, crafty women, selling their wares for much, much less then I would sell mine. Dreaming of the sense of space and freedom. Dreaming of the feeling of a dream come true.

What are you dreaming about today??

Happy, happy!

Wow, two posts in one day, it must be a miracle!

Today, I feel good. After months of dithering about I feel like things are happening. I have opened my store and have enrolled in a Silver Jewellery course (something I have wanted to do for years and years and years). And, while I am not yet earning money (which people seem to put a hell of a lot of emphasis on) I feel like maybe, finally, I am finding a direction.

Also, I have been a whiz in the kitchen this morning making things for the mans lunch this week. Chicken and chickpea balls anyone? Perhaps some homemade muesli bars?

Both recipes from this (rather excellent) book.

And the winner is...

Kate, from Foxs Lane!

Congratulations Kate, I have sent you an email so if you could email me your address that would be great!

Thanks to everyone who left a comment, I really appreciated the feedback. My store is now up and running and can be seen here.

Have a great day everyone!!

My Creative Space - GIVEAWAY!

After my last post and some encouraging words I have decided to just jump in with the madeit store, so today I am taking photos and setting it up. So, I thought to celebrate I would have a little giveaway and send one of my sea glass pendants to one of you lovely folk, the glass was picked up off various beaches so these are also good for the environment (recycling and all that)! All you need to do is let me know which of these necklaces you prefer in the comments and follow my blog, I will then randomly pick a winner on Monday. Easy peasy. Hopefully, it will be smooth sailing, but I have never done anything like this before so be kind, although you always are :-)

As always, plenty more creative spaces here!

Decisions, decisions...

So, I haven't worked in about 18 months. My husband and I travelled for a year and then moved to Sydney so I spent time finding us a house, making it a home and generally trying to make life as easy as possible for my man who had to go back to work. But, that time is now well and truly up and I should be off looking for work again. But I just can't make myself do it. Somewhere along the line I totally messed up the career part of my life and the only work I am skilled to do I so do not want to do. What I have loved is spending the last few months getting in touch with my creative side again, and I don't want to give up my making. But, that is not fair for my husband. So what to do, what to do?

I have toyed with the idea of setting up a madeit shop selling embroidery and jewellery but it is hard to know if anyone would be interested in buying my things. Should I just jump on in and see how it goes?

I have also toyed with the idea of heading back to university to do another undergraduate degree but after doing it once (and still having the debt to prove it) I am not sure if I can commit to another four years and at least another $20,000 in debt.

Or should I simply suck it up, and start earning money again so my husband does not have to take the full burden of supporting us (he does stress, needlessly I might add, about our finances).

So, today I am filled with indecision and doubt, wondering what will become of this life of mine. So, here are some photos from our travels, just to finish this post on a high note. Thanks for listening :-)

Sewing for men

This is a post I have wanted to write about for a while as the issue arose about a month ago. My husband doesn't really go for the handmade goodies (he still has nightmares about the super itchy homemade jerseys he had to wear as a child) but he did ask if I would be able to sew him some shirts. He is quite slim and so really needs to wear fitted shirts which are surprisingly hard to find (unless you want to spend hundreds of dollars, which we don't). He even went so far as to come into Lincraft with me and sit looking at pattern books trying to find something. And we came out with nothing, nadda, zippo. There was maybe five pages of mens clothing, with at least 2 of these being for scrubs, 1 for a halloween costume and the rest were for boxy shapeless shirts. It seems like the modern pattern companies have given up on the men, they seem to be able to stay on top of women's fashion, providing thousands of lovely patterns, but when it comes to the men there is very little out there.

So I have had a bit of a browse at the vintage patterns, but I doubt this is what he is thinking of:

Image from What-I-Found

So, is it because the majority of home sewers are women that this demographic is not catered to at all? I think we all know from experience that it is not because men don't care how they dress. I for one would love to find someone out there producing patterns that are modern and fitted and classic, all at the same time, so I can make something for the man I love.

Of course, I could just make him the always popular jumpsuit? What do you think??

Image from What-I-Found

My Creative Space - trying to be about the process not the product

Knitting a cardigan has been a real learning experience, and not just for all the new techniques and skills I am learning. I have figured out that I am an immediate gratification kind of girl and tend to focus on the final product. I tend to make things that are quick, at the most a couple of days and that I rush things that should not be rushed (ahem, a dress that does not fit at all and that now needs the 3 hours of hand sewing to be unpicked is a good example...). So knitting a cardigan has gone totally against the grain for me, I have been working on it for weeks already and have still not finished the back (nearly there though!). I have found this quite frustrating, I just want it done. now. But, you can't rush knitting so I am having to learn how to just enjoy the process of knitting. Hopefully it is also teaching me to take my time on other projects as well, particularly my sewing.

Lots of other people hopefully enjoying the process here!

My Creative Space

Vaguely inspired by this necklace from Anthropologie I am trying to use up some of my seed beads, purchased in a large quantity from the Rozelle markets. I had however forgotten how very boring it is to thread seed beads, especially in the quantity I am trying to do, need a good movie to watch at the same time really. My necklace won't look anything like the Anthropologie, but the colours are pretty similar and that was what drew me to that particular necklace.

Anyhoo - loads more going on over at Kootoyoo :-)