Vacation, sewing and the weather

Hello friends!
Just checking in for a moment to say hello!

Right now I'm on vacation. Well, sort of, because when I go home (to see my parents) it's - going home, not on vacation. :-) The upside is the beach at a 100 m distance. :-) Only, the weather is not cooperating this summer. I have to sleep with a blanket on my bed!! The temperatures are in the 20s (sometimes lower) and it's the end of July!! Not to mention the clouds and rain and storms... Oh, poor turists, they finally got to the Adriatic, only to experience torrential rain and cold.

Today was wonderful, though. And since circumstances are forcing me to stay a couple more days, I hope to get to sunbath and relax properly before going back to Zagreb. Also, someone please remind me to take my sunglasses off! (You know the racoon look,eh?)

Did I mention that I brought my sewing machine? :-D

Yeah, I promised Grandma to sew something for her. I made her two dresses and a blouse. Another blouse has to be recut as the pattern is too loose. Several aprons are in the making. She promptly wore the blose to church.
Oh, she was so funny while I was sewing! At times I would ask her to try a garment on and then she would walk like a model across the living room forth and back. We had some loughs! And I loved seeing her happy. But there are no photos, unfortunately.

Then, my little niece wanted some clothes for a doll. Of course, I obliged. :-) And we had a lot of fun making them. She was very curious about the sewing machine and its parts, and accessories. (Asking a billion times when is the skirt, or blouse, or hat going to be finished, hehe.) She had fun cutting the thread on the corner cutter and counting the needles in their little boxes. At one point she also wanted to sit on my lap while I was sewing. She looked really really interested, so much so that at moments it was hard to keep her fingers off some part of the machine or presser foot. I had to raise my voice a couple of times to avoid accidents. :-(
All in all a fun adventure. :-) For her and for me. Who knows, she may want to learn to sew some day. What do you think?

So, the week went by in a blink. Luckily, it rained most of the time, hehe.

I hope you are having more luck with the weather and chances to wear the cute summer dresses you stitced up! Maybe I will be able to do so in August.

Ciao!

P.S.
Something completely different

by Carmen Casanova

Four seasons panna cotta - Summer Glass recipe

The second project in the Four seasons project from CCS is here!

Bicchieri Estate or Summer Glasses

You will need:

Cherry jam ( I used homemade)

Panna cotta

Whipped cream

1. Put 1-2 spoonfull of cherry jam in the glasses

Then pour in some panna cotta and let cool (best overnight).

2. Whipp the cream and add some jelly from the jam (no fruit), mix well to get a pink tint you like.

Add the cream to the glasses and form a flower shape with a spoon (or any other utensil you prefer).

Decorate with a leaf and some more jam jelly.

Done!

They have this dusty, wavy, icecreamish look of summer. I like it!

Yummm!!!

Sewing related art

By Zhang Wanying.

Via the fantastic The art room plant.

Test garments - part 2

Two tops....

Dress Burda 5/2000-131 FO

Remember this dress? And the swayback issue?
I took the time to unpick the zipper and do the adjustment.



It's not perfect, but much better.



And I loooveee it!!!

Test garments - part 1

As you know, my UFO pile is biiiiig. As well as my unwanted fabrics stash. And most of the UFOs are muslins.
Lately, I've been diligently working to make them smaller. :-))
Proof:

Pattern: Burda 5/2004-115
I like it a lot.

The pattern asks for a knit (which I used to sew this dress last year) but I was curious to see how it would work with a woven fabric. I used two pieces of not so nice fabrics from stash.
I only lengthened the pattern before sewing the muslin. The top is nice. The bottom piece needs alterations. The obvious and usual swayback alteration (so, why don't I do it right away???) and , how strange, some fabric needs to be taken from the front, as well. Then, the back of the skirt needs to be lengthened.

Sigh.. I don't know. This could remain an UFO until I put my new dress form on a proper stand. Or forever. We shall see. I'm not so easily discouraged, but really not in the mood to finish this dress right now.

Pattern: Burda 12/2008-121
Just...bleh. It's in the trash now. I used remnants to make the muslin, so no damage done. I kept the bottom pieces of the pattern, though. They could be used to make a skirt.

Pattern: Burda 6/2003-108
This is the best dress pattern ever, as I am concerned.
I made some basic alterations and used this yellow silk (that used to be curtains) to make the muslin (if wearable could be a nightgown..?).
A couple of issues emerged.

The front was good, but pulled on the sides near the bust. Then I noticed why! How come? Because I'm not particularly gifted in that area, hehe!? This was easy to change on the pattern. The pulling on the left foto is due to my posture. Also, I had to scoop the front armscy a bit.

The back surplus issue got resolved with a little help from Z. He is really getting into pinning, hehe!
Now the pattern is ready for some faboulous fabric!
I'm really looking forward to sewing this one.

More UFOs info in the next post.
Ciaoo!
Have a nice weekend!
Finally it is hot hot hot and I can wear my pretty dresses, yay! :-)))

Four seasons panna cotta - Spring Glass recipe

Back at CCS I joined a group challenge called The Artist's seasons 2011.
And decided to make some cake. First I thought about pies/crostatas, but then I opted for panna cotta.
Here is the Spring Glass or Bicchiere primavera creation (copy paste from CCS method :-) ):

Bicchieri Primavera or Spring Glasses

You will need:

For the lemon cream:

2 lemons

150 gr sugar

3 eggs

50 gr butter

For the panna cotta:

0,5 l cream

1 vanilla bean

10 gr gelatine ( I used unflavored granulated prepared with 4 spoons of cold water)

For the caramelized orange and sauce:

1 cup sugar

0,5 cup water

1 orange

1 lemon

First you make the lemon cream.

You can use any other citrus you prefer.

Zest and juice the lemons.

In a metal bowl wisk together 1 egg+2 egg yolks and the sugar until light.

Add lemon juice and stir.

Cook on bain marie (double boiler; over until boiling water) until thick. It takes about 10 minutes. When the cream thickens, add a pinch of lemon zest (or more if you want a stronger taste) and cook a bit more to release the flavour.

Remove the bowl and add the sliced butter. Stir until melted and well combined. You wil get a smooth, thick cream.

Let cool.

The cream can be made a day in advance.

Basic panna cotta method:

Cut the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds.

Combine in a saucepan the liquid cream, sugar, seeds and bean.

Prepare the gelatine. (You can use the type you prefer)

Place the sacepan on the stove and bring to boil. Remove the vanilla bean and cook for a couple more minutes.

Remove from the heath and add the gelatine. Stir until well combined.

Put the panna cotta into cups, glasses, or any other container or mold while it is still hot because it thickens and hardens as it cools down.

After it cools at room temperature refrigerate it for 4 hours.

To remove panna cotta from a mold insert the mold in very hot water (the outer layer will melt) and then turn onto a plate.

Caramelized oranges and caramel sauce.

In a pan combine water and sugar and stir well. Put on stove on low heat to melt the sugar.

Wash the orange, slice it crosswise into 0,5 cm slices and then cut away the peel.

Put the slices into the pan and cook. The liquid should simmer.

Turn the slices over a couple of times.

When the caramel sauce is very thick and the orange slices "transparent". Take out the slices and put them on a piece of backing paper or oiled surface to cool.

Juice the lemon and add the juice to the caramel sauce, stir until well combined. Remove pan from the stove.

Now, to recap:

1. make the lemon cream

2. make caramelized oranges and caramel- lemon sauce

3. make panna cotta

How to assemble the Bicchieri Primavera:

1. Pour hot caramel sauce into glasses (while it is still liquid)

Let cool for a while in a cold place an meanwhile make the panna cotta.

2. Add the lemon cream.

When I inserted the lemon cream the sauce was still warm but thicker, so I got the "sinking" look of the cream into the sauce.

3. Pour hot panna cotta into the glasses carefully.

4. Let cool and refrigerate overnight.

5. Decorate with caramelized orange slices and melissa (or mint) leaves.

YUMMMM!!!

A little postcard from the fridge ad a note...

I think I should have used less gelatine. I wish the panna cotta was softer.

But you can try and adjust according to taste.

:-)))

Anyone wants to try?

All packed up!

Hmmm...Going somewhere? What do you say?

I'm ready to fly!
The spaceship is hovering above! See?

Taking off!!!

Adventure! Weeeeeeeee....

The nightgown to top refashion - Burda 12/2005-111

Another UFO down!

I realised that most of the UFOs on the pile are actually muslins. Which is a rather good news since I don't have to finish them completely. Unless they are wearable. Or I want to. There are several dress patterns I really want to get right, but that's for another day...

The after: top Burda 12/2005-111 (without the band and slightly lengthened).

I find it lovely. But the fabric is too crisp for this pattern. The front should drape softly,and here it sticks out if you don't flatten it down with your hand. Ah, well.. Next time I'll use some silk. Maybe even make a dress.

This is the before:

Coming back soon with a fun fun post!

I hope your weekend was fun and relaxing!

Ciao!

Chiffon dress based on Burda 2/2008-119

Whipped this out incredibly fast!

I had no idea what to do with this fabric. Well, I bought it to sew a maxi skirt but I just had a lightbulb moment during the construction of the top from the previous post. A simple pattern like this is the perfect base for a gorgeous fabric, isn't it?

The dress has a slight 60's feel to it, and looks also great worn with a skinny belt(my mother's).

One less piece of fabric in the stash, one gorgeous dress inside the closed. And something to wear with the golden sandals... :-))
I wish it was warmer autside! Where is summer?? I still wear socks!

If you have some extra sun warmth around, pleeease, send it our way!

Hugs
Barbara

A couple of test garments - top Burda 2/2008-119 and shrug La mia Boutique 5/2009-5

Hello everyone!
Sorry to be missing, but, as you already know, I've had some technical issues lately...
The good thing is one can actually make something instead of browsing around the web.

Two of the finished objects:

The shrug pattern La mia Boutique 5/2009-5 was extremely small. I couldn't believe it. I had to redraft it all over based on a fitting t-shirt pattern. The second muslin (you can see in the above picture) works fine. I bought some yellow knit to make the real one. :-)

The top is the lovely Burda 2/2008-119. I wanted to make it for a long time. Here you can see the first muslin where I only lengthened the pattern. It is just fine like this. I don't think I will be altering it any more.

Both fabrics (three actually...) are from stash. You can call these "ugly fabrics" project really, hehe. Z says he likes the African fabric. I think those colors don't suit me, but both garments are actually wearable, and they are also coordinated (accidentaly). Work well with jeans.

So, I have less fabric in the stash and many things to show you. What I don't have is the camera...I took some pictures while I had it last night, though. Thus, you'll have to forgive the bad quality of the pics. :-)

Ciao!