"We can Pickle That"

Happy Preserving Day!!

After a fabulous summer of growing, a few of my friends and I decided to pickle and preserve the best of our summer crops!

We made a zucchini and capsicum pickle, pickled onions and tomato passata....

We also purchased some Tomatoes from the the green grocer, and as a bit of an experiment, decided to preserve them in separate batch to our home grown tom's...

Our store bought toms.. peeled and ready to 'get saucey'...

The mix of our garden toms - heirlooms, black russians, truss, roma's and then some other random ones...

The different smells while cooking was quite noticeable, with a much richer flavour coming from our home grown batch. The other noticeable difference was the colour, a much bolder, darker red.. On tasting the home grown batch won hands down!

Zuchinni Pickle simmering...

The Zucchini pickle was a particular favourite for the day - tasting amazing on crackers with some cheese, still warm from the pot!

The recipe is my aunt's - which I have attached. 

Because everyone needs Zucchini pickle in their lives..

And pickled onions... Traditional pub style, with pickling spice and vinegar!

They look tasty.. but fingers crossed in four weeks that is how they taste!

Our 'recipe' for the passata was VERY simple and pulled from about 30 different references.. Being first time saucers, we didn't want to go getting to fancy.. 

We simply de-skinned our tomatoes - we used about 8kg. 

First coring the top and marking an x on the bottom, a 45-60 seconds in the boiling pot and then into the ice bath to slip the skins off...

Then blending - we did ours in the food processor and then  straight into the pot to cook for 45 minutes... 

After 45 minutes we added just under 1/2 cup of red wine vinegar per batch (4kgs in each) to get the acidity right for preserving..

At this point it looked a little separated - so in went the stick blender for a quick whiz up.

And then our spoons for sampling.. we all agreed it was tasty at this point... high fives all round.

Into the pre-sterilized jars (which we kept warm in the oven post boiling.. Jars only.. we lost a few lids learning this process...)

And then boiled in the preserving pot until sealed - about 30 minutes! As we recycled our jars, we just waited until the little poppy bit had been sucked down, and bingo! They were ready...

We made 2 big batches (store purchased vs. home grown)

After sampling our fine preserves - making a tasty prosciutto, buffalo mozzarella, basil, chilli, garlic and onion sauce, on fresh pasta, we were some very happy preservers!

Our pickling and preserving efforts...

Photo credits:

Rhi & Karzi.

On another note - I spent the preserving day thinking about this..

Portlandia - "we can pickle that"..

Floral Flora - BHL.

Yah! Wedding Season... So many weddings, so little time for new frocks!

I made the By Hand London - Flora for a lovely couples wedding back in December. However, I have since worn it as my christmas dress and to another wedding this weekend. 

The pattern is a really simply sew up, and really rewarding as it looks so clean! The genius behind the lined bodice and closing it all up to be nice and tidy on the inside - is all done on the machine!.. I love machine sewn garments. 

The Fabric is from Tessuti - purchased in about November, and is a nice and heavy cotton sateen. Not still in stock, but you can find some of similar weight and drape here. It was an exxy purchase, but a leftover voucher from last christmas, and the fanciness of sewing a dress for a wedding made it worth it!

The dress is a flattering style, and I have fallen in love with the tank top with the pleated skirt... I am imagining tank crops and solo skirts! I added a lapped zipper to the dress - my go to finishing now! No fiddly invisible zips giving me grief at the waist join! Zooooooom - straight up!

Excuse the wrinkles! This was following the wedding.... So it had already been worn for the entire day! 

It took a little bit of fiddling to get the bodice to fit.. (including some cowboy sewing darts placed in at the last minute!) But I am happy I took the trouble.. Me and the BHL definitely have a different top size, but I am loving their patterns so much, I will commit to the many toiles...

Speaking of cowboy sewing... THIS SKIRT IS HUGE! The pleated action means it eats fabric like no tomorrow... and it needs super wide fabric! 150cm, no less! I thought I may be able to get away with 145cm (which I purchased, from tessuti.. rebel), but alas! No dice... It involved some cheeky cowboy sewing to add some inserts into the corner of the skirt panels. Not the text book solution, but it worked and it hasn't effected the drape of the skirt at all! And with the busy print, you can't tell!

I have plans to make another soon but as a seperates, a two piece set in a gorgeous print, extending for midi length, with a scuba knit top. If you don't see it come across the blog. Shut up. It failed.

Also... Meow glasses. Japan. Awesome. 

The Specs:

Pattern: BHL Flora

Farbic: Cotton Sateen from Tessuti and lined with cotton Voile

Notions: Zip.. It was super long. Now it's not. Thanks scissors.

Size: graded between 12, 14, 16.

Alterations: Cowboy darts under the arms. These have been transferred onto the flat pattern ready for the next version.

See also: Rosin's wedding dress!, Heather , Marie, Anna..

And wishing Sue and Seb and Stacey and Mat a long and happy married life together!

xx

Yabba-Gabby-Doo...!

So I am swimming beneath a pile of taffeta, tulle and bemberg lining at the present while I plummet into the depths of little people sewing to create some super sweet little flower girl dresses for a wedding at the end of February... nothing to share on this front yet! Stay tuned for these little numbers...

That said... I don't think there will be any time for selfish stitching until after the wedding, so i have decided to share an early summer make - the Tessuti Gabby Dress!

It is an A-line T-shirt dress shape that just hangs from the bust, so a lovely drapey fabric is needed for it to sit well on your lady lumps. The dress is definitely a little shorter than I would normally wear, but it is just so cool and summery that dammit! I will get those pins out :)..

The fabric is a delicious cotton print that I purchased on my very first trip to Tessuti many moons ago. And then I hoarded it. (I am very good at hoarding fabric - especially fabric I think is special, it's like I don't trust my sewing skills yet and have to earn it). Being so long ago - it obvs isn't still in stock - however, here are some similar light cottons prints for your perving pleasure!

It was a little sheer, so instead of the binding around the neckline, I lined it with a plain white cotton - which I have recently run out of after mass purchasing 10m of it over 12 months ago! The perfect lining fabric....

The only down side of this fun Gabby - is the nipple factor. Yup. That print has the potential to look like a big giant nipple. Some considerate cutting came into play to avoid actual nipple print on direct nipple... but I didn't manage to avoid dreaded nipple/butt. Oh well - in the war against nipple/butt you can't always win.... It doesn't bother me enough not to wear it, and everyone else who has commented feels they look like the ends of pencil... We definitely have different thought patterns...

Ahh - nipple butt..

And a final close up/outtake of the fun print!

The deets:

Pattern: Tessuti - Gabby Dress

Fabric: Cotton print from Tessuti

Size: L

Alterations: Nil. However, could probably do with a few more cm's added next time.

See also: Rachel, Anna, Kat

I have also recently finished the bombshell swimsuit from Heather over at closet case files - just trying to muster up the courage and work out how best to blog that little beauty! Because I love her..! 

Tessuti Alice Dress :)

And in the spirit of blogging out of order and selfless stitching (*pats self of back*)-

Heli's Christmas present!

The dress is the Alice pattern, drafted by Tessuti. Her Alice Dress is a shiny navy linen which I picked up from my local fabric shop. Eliza's is a little fabric shop which has some absolute gems around the corner from my work... Many a lunch break has been lost in the rabbit den of Eliza's fabric....

Heli was a good sport and posed for me in her new little number... Thanks Mum!

The linen was lovely to sew and has a really nice drape. The instructions were easy to follow, which I find with all Tessuti patterns. The only change I made was to stay-stitch the neckline instead of using the tearaway vilene. This is always featured in Tessuti patterns - and I honestly have no clue what it is, but have always stay stitched with good effect!

There isn't really too much to say about the construction of the Alice - except that she runs large, and it may pay to size down. I made the XL for Mum, knowing that it would run large, but also that she likes her clothes to be blouse-y and not restrictive

And some photo's of the guts....

This dress has been doing the rounds in the blogosphere- and it was Instagram which inspired the impulse pattern purchase... So many delicious versions - not enough time to steal idea's....

Heli loving her pockets...

Now she's getting into it! :)

I really enjoyed sewing this, and Mum popped it on to wear on Christmas day - can always count on your Mum to be your biggest fan!

I have some fabric which I have washed ready to cut out to make a few of these numbers for me.. A lovely voile from spotlight with little birdies on it, and a black swiss dot lawn from rathdowne remnants. I will make myself the top version, as I don't think the dress version would be very flattering on my shape.

Specs:

Pattern: Tessuti Alice Dress/Top

Size: XL

Fabric: Navy Linen with a silver sheen/stripe from Eliza's fabric.

Alterations: Nil.

See also: Rachel, Bubala, Elizabeth & Amanda...

Finlayson - Thread Theory

I have made a few of the thread theory patterns now, including the newcastle cardigan and the stratchoma tee - but my new favourite is the finlayson sweater.

I made this up for Dad for his birthday earlier in the week. I picked up a really dark navy blue sweater knit fabric from Spotlight to do the job, as I hadn't measured him and was a bit unsure of the fit, I wasn't too keen on breaking out the fancy stash in case it was a fail!

Dad was fairly happy with the jumper, and popped it on to wear straight away as soon as he opened it. Trying to get photo's of him in it was quite the challenge, but he ended up posing for a few...

I purchased the PDF pattern, and after taping and cutting, it was a fairly quick make. The PDF instructions for a jumper are quite sparse and I found myself referring to the detailed sewalong online, which was clear and easy to follow.

I am pretty happy with the fit, considering it was a total blind trial, and I didn't measure Dad up at all. The arms are a bit long. The only other thing I would change for next time would be to use some ribbing for the cuffs and hem band. The pattern suggests self fabric, which works fine, but I think it would look a bit neater made up with ribbing.

He wore it for the two full days I was home visiting, so I managed to snap these hanger shots early this morning before he put it back on!

My favourite feature by far is the decorative facing and ribbon - it looks so neat and tidy, and it would look fantastic with a label... Must go down the rabbit hole of labels on etsy....

All in all - a quick and fun sew, and Dad was quite chuffed with it!

A last little snappy of Dad in his Colette Albion coat that i made him for father's day last year... 

25 for 2015

I am a mix between a planning and carefully executing sewist, and a manic "need it now" must sew when inspiration strikes type of sewist..

So to embrace both sides of my sewjo, I have compiled my list of 'sewlutions' - or sewing resolutions for the new year... I have narrowed it down to 25 makes I want to complete which will still allow me room to impulse sew when the mood strikes....

Here goes:

1. Ice Cream Dress - Simplicity 0331 - see my inspiration here from Tilly & the Buttons. The fabric has already been washed, dried and cut... now to find time.
2. Hawthorn Dress - by Colette Patterns. Again - I have washed, dried and cut this fabric. But it is a winter weight fabric, so will wait until the cooler months.
3. Green plaid Cami Dress - by Pauline Alice. Fabric was gifted for my birthday last year.
4. Striped Ponte knit Moneta - By Colette Patterns - fabric leftover from my second coco (to be blogged)
5. Three little flower-girl dresses for a wedding I am lucky enough to be a part of in February -stay tuned for this one!
6. Lengthened sleeveless Emery dress - by Christine Haynes, in a striped linen to replicate the gorgeous shape of the Gorman dresses - see inspiration here!
7. Scout tee's - several! I want them all - after a muslin effort late last year, I need to add about 2 inches - I also want to try a hack inspired by Ginger and first blogged byEbony.
8. Pleated self drafted midi skirt - inspired by Mebourne race season! Fabric picked up in Tasmania last year.
9. Stripey hemlock tee - fabric also collected from Tasmania last year.
10. Finlayson sweaters - Dad's birthday.
11. Chiffon Kimono - pattern from peppermint magazine . Fabric collected in Tasmania!
12. Alice tops - rayon and linen version. I also want to try a colour blocked version after spying Anna's.
13. Mustard Charndon skirt - yes it is a direct rip off after seeing the gorgeous Paunnet'sversion
14. Purple maxi cascade skirt - By Megan Neilson. I scored this fabric at the Nth Melbourne Market and knew instantly I wanted it to be a floor length maxi skirt
15. More practical sewing: x2 Hollyburns - a red longer length, and the shorter version in black. Hollyburn is by sewaholic.
16. Black and white plaid Zinnia skirt - I have the pattern, and I have the fabric. But I have been procrastinating on this one for some reason.
17. The Coppelia top - Papercut patterns: I want wrap version and a jumper version.
18. Reglisse - by Deer and Doe - such a sweet pattern!
19. Bruyer shirt - by Deer and Doe. Again, such a sweet pattern and I want to knock one of these up for winter!
20. Belladone - Deer and Doe. Boom. This dress was huge is the blososphere last year - as always I am late to the party, but I WANT IN!
21. Anemone Skirt - Deer and Doe again.. I think I am crushing hard on there patterns. I love the sweet look they draft for.
22. A winter Cape! I am unsure which pattern yet - But I definitely think life would be better with a cape. Superman seemed to think so anyway...
23. Holly Jumpsuit - BHL. I am imagining this made up in a navy linen.. 
24. A winter coat!
25. Colette Patterns Cooper - I have the waxed canvas, I have the notions and I have waterproof red and blue plaid lining fabric. This is one I am busting to make...

And now to let the sewinspo flow... (click on the photo's to link to original posts).

Simplicity 0331

Pauline Alice - Cami 

BHL - Holly!

Cascade - MN

Alice Top 

Finlayson

Deer and Doe - Chardon

Coppelia Cardi - Sewn by Elizabeth version!