Quote

"Being an artist means ceasing to take seriously that very serious person we are when we are not an artist. "
José Ortega y Gasset ( Spanish essayist and philosopher, 1883-1955)

Another brooch

I like this one even more than the one I made a few days ago!


All the material was reused.

Oh, I love being creative again! I still have a bit of trouble breathing and headacke, but I think the injection I got did magic for me! I'm looking forward to fall without allergies.

Do you know?

Hello everyone!

Hi!
Looks like I moved to Blogger successfuly! :-D

This is the first post on the NEW Flowery Skirt blog. I brought over here several old blogposts, in no particular order, that I thought would be of more interest to you, my dear friends and readers. All the contet from the old blog will be still available at the address

http://floweryskirt.typepad.com/the_flowery_skirt/.

Thanks for visiting and come by again soon!

Barbara

Fiber brooch

Today's creation:

One small and one big refashion

Yay!

I certainly accomplished something today as well! Four items taken off the Reuse/Recycle/Refashion pile. All the notion were also reused.

The garments were also WIPs and UFOs, though.

An old boyfriend's shirt became baby pajamas:

And for the big refashion three pieces were used to make one:

I can happily go to sleep now.

Good night!

Bikin details

Just keep in mind that this was my first try and don't expect something spectacular, ok?

So, I finally got around to using the elastic foot on my serger. It was rather easy. Just some tweaking to get the tension right and there was a seam I liked!

Here you can see the front and back of the seam. First, I serged on the elastic (on the wrong side!) and then turned it in and finished with a three step zigzag on the right side.

The top - just triangles and straps. For the triangles I used my old swimsuit. Traced around and added seam allowances - 1 cm at the sides and 1,5 cm for the bottom where the strap goes.

These are the basic pattern pieces used. For the bottom I deconstructed an old pair of panties. After inspecting the swimsuits I own I discovered they had only two pieces, i.e., the front and gusset were cut as one single piece. Although you need the gusset pattern to cut the lining piece in cotton.

Wonky bottom...

I added 1 cm seam allowance everywhere except at the sides because I decided to give it some interest with the circle strap closure.

The sides were turned in 1,5 cm to allow the straps through.

The gusset was sewn in at the front-back seam and left loose on the other side. That's also a method discovered after inspecting my old swimsuits. They are all different so I encourage you to take some time and see what you can learn from the things you already own.

Since the fabric used for this test project were cotton knit scraps it will not be used for swimming. I hate having wet things on.

Yesterday I decided on the next pattern to try. This time I will use lycra remnants and another top (bra) shape. I don't have much to show off and those little triangles make me even flatter. :-(

I'll try to document all the steps so I can share them and, hopefully, help someone. Maybe even using the sewing machine only. For those who don't own a serger.

Ciao until then!

If I was a doll or The croqui

Z took a bunch of photos of me in my underwear. I just wanted "the real thing", no shape wear, no clothes. To see the little cushions in all their glory. After all, I never see myself like that, especially not from behind. And Z had some laughs! Oh man, am I that large??? :-)) Well, that's how it is. And now I have a simple yet effective way to work with it! And plan and create.

I'm not showing you the basic photos. It wouldn't be appropriate here. But here are my little B dolls!

Barefoot and in heels. The photos were taken with my hair up, which was a lucky coincidence. You'll see why later. Maybe we should also take some photos in more stylish poses. Even though I think that these can truthfully tell how a garment will suit you.

They remind me of a toy I had when I was little, with interchangeable parts with which you were able to print girls in different clothes and then color them. I loved that. Now I can do it - with myself!

Like this, for example:

a

Why don't you draw your own fashion croqui? It's fantastic! You can analyze your body shape, see what styles suit you, and also try new haircuts! What a discovery! Anybody thinking "Why haven't I thought of this earlier?"

Just go to "Adonising" for the instructions on how to draw and to dress your croqui!

Thanks ELMO!

There will be more talk about body shapes and clothes styles, soon. :-)))

The other orange polkadot shirt

As always, using remnants - orange polkadot knit and some white from a small pareo.

The pattern is, again, Burda 5/2009 -103A. I changed the long sleeves with more flared small cap sleeves.

Actually, this shirt was finished a few days ago. Still, I was looking at it and was not satisfied. Something was missing.

I tried this and that, and the only thing that seemed to work was this doily. What do you think?

It's just pinned on. Looks lovely to me.

Should I sew it on?

How to - Reuse the leftover thread in your serger

Many of you that own a serger must have thought of a way to reuse the remnants of the previous thread after you've re-threaded your serger, right? If you didn't, here is a way to do it:

1. Attach the new thread (black) to the previous one (white)

2. Divide the upper thread from the lower

3. Pull out the upper threads by pulling them towards the back (NOT towards the front like in this picture) so that the thread can easily slide through the needles. One thread broke here. Occasionally it does break, if the knot struggles to pass through the eye of the needle.

4. Pull the lower threads out from underneath the foot

5. Cut the the threads after you've pulled out some of the new thread

6. Cut away the knots. Well done! You got yourself some completely useful thread to sew or baste with! In the pic you can see my reused thread spool (also reused). :-)

Orange slippers

Much cuter than the last pair ! Still have to work on them, though. The elastic is not keeping them up properly. I'll have to insert it in a different manner on the next pair.

Blue socks tutorial

Hello, dear readers! How are you today?

It was ironing day around here and while I was at it I took this pair of old and worn out socks to throw away. Then the obvious caught my attention! Why not deconstruct them and get a pattern? And also actually sew a pair of socks with a heel?

Here's how I did it:

1. Cut an old cozy sock around the fold and at the heel seam.

2. Find a piece of knit to refashion/reuse/recycle.

You can see I also matched the hems of the sock and fabric. This one used to be a skirt.

3. I cut the fabric directly around the sock pieces (did not make a paper pattern first) with a margin of 5 mm to serge. Of course, you can hand sew or machine sew them.

4. Pin together the heel pieces right sides in and serge.

Here you can see a serged heel and one turned to the right side.

5.On the long upper part of the sock mark the position to match the heel seam on both sides. I snipped the fabric a bit (over the yellow pin head).

6. Pin the pieces together right sides in and serge.

7. Ups! This pattern seems to have a problem. The heel seam falls under my heel! Which means the old socks were actually too short. Will have to adjust the paper pattern a bit (when I make it) to resolve this little issue.

8. Otherwise, it's a nice little sock.

Ehm, socks! :-)

Quick and easy project. Takes 15 minutes to complete.

Hope you enjoyed this little tutorial!

Have a nice and cozy evening wearing your new socks!

Fusilli with dried tomatoes

Dried tomatoes are a Sicilian invention. They found the way to preserve the tomatoes for the winter months when there was food shortage. So when you visit this sunny island you make sure to bring some home with you. As we did. And pine nuts, too.

Today I made up this recipe (for three). I just went with what I had at hand having in mind what I saw in Sicilia. It is very quick and easy. You can almost literally prepare the sauce while the pasta cooks. Not really liquid as a sauce, but I couldn't think of another word to describe this. Help me if you can, please, to improve my English! Thanks!

One small onion, a clove of garlic, a hand full of pine nuts, some parsley and celery

One chicken breast cut into strips

12 pieces of dried tomatoes

To soften the tomatoes you have to cook them in boiling water for 3 min

Above you can see: left - diced goat cheese (in Sicilia they would probably use sheep cheese or ricotta), center - drained and chopped tomatoes, right - chopped celery, parsley, garlic and pine nuts

Stew the onion and lightly salted meat. Add salt sparingly because the tomatoes and cheese are already salty. When done add all the other ingredients. I also added pepper and a pinch of curcuma. If the sauce is too dry add more olive oil.

Cook the fusilli (or any other pasta you prefer)
Add the sauce

Buon appetito!

Very tasty and unusual. Great with a sip of good white wine. :-)

And, can you think of a nice name for this recipe? I just didn't want to call it "Fusilli alla Siciliana"...

Earrings

I made these at J's house. Whenever I go to her place I come home with something new! And a girl can never have too many earrings. :-)

Yes, it is always better to create in company.

Pumpkin jam and Puff pastry roll with pumpkin and almond filling

I got a nice pumpkin from my mother and since the jam making adventure was successful last year I wanted to try again.I made jam, puff pastry rolls, gnocchi and a crostata.

How to make pumpkin jam:

Cut the pumpkin in slices, peel them and clean from seeds

I got about 1200 gr of pumpkin flesh for the jam and left two slices aside for gnocchi

Grate the pumpkin and put in a large pot with a pinch of salt

Cover the pot and let the pumpkin cook in its own juice

Stir from time to time

When the liquid has almost evaporated add half the weight of the pumpkin of sugar (if you want it sweeter add more)

Stir often

Cook until it thickens

Done!

Puff pastry roll with pumpkin and almond filling:

Peel and grind 200 gr (or more, to taste) almonds

Roll out the puff pastry

Spread the pumpkin jam evenly

Sprinkle with ground almonds

Roll, put in a baking tray, and add some butter on top

Bake 45 min at 180C until golden brown.

Sprinkle with sugar

Serve and enjoy