Sewing Rewind: Gifts Edition!

It is better to give than it is to receive, right?  But for us crafters who DIY gifts, it can be a nerve-wracking to hand over a handmade present for scrutiny!

Here are a few gifts that I gave to friends and family over the past several months!

Disclaimer: These are all pictures taken with my phone, prior to the development of my still mediocre camera skills !

The first item I ever gifted to someone is the goggles case that I already blogged about here.  At least I had input prior to its creation, so I wasn't as nervous as I could have been...

Next, came an item for my cousin's kid's first birthday.  I wanted to sew something for a baby so desperately that I searched through a multitude of free baby clothes patterns.  But then I realized that I didn't know his size!

Instead, I decided to sew a monogram taggie that he could use for longer anyways!  I used a few fabric, batting, and velcro scraps along with some ribbon from my mom's stash.  I put in a lot of effort because my fabric & batting sandwich was wrong twice!  However, it ended up costing a total of $0!

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Healthy Banana Muffins (For the Lazy Person!)

I'm writing this as I head home from Las Vegas in traffic. Big mistake! This makes me suuuper hungry, and we're still about 2.5 hours from home...

Anyways, this is a recipe I came up with a few weeks back after making my Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting.  I had some frosting left over and a couple of bananas that were ripening past the point of no return.  Perfect!

I based my recipe off of a "healthy banana muffin" recipe that I found.  It has very little sugar, no butter, no oil, and only egg whites.  Yes, I love my desserts but it pays to curb that sweet tooth.  :)

I was honestly too lazy to dirty two bowls and take my time spooning batter into each individual muffin tin.  Therefore my lazy-person motto came in handy, "Never mix/chop/grate/slice if you can find a machine to do it for you!"  There's a reason why I love my stand mixer, food processor, and blender and could never, ever part with them.  Seriously.

Enjoy!

Healthy Banana Muffins
Adapted from Group Recipes

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Saturday Synopsis!

With the change in weather here in Southern California, all of my sewing projects and recipes have completely turned a corner.  No more capes and jackets, I'm looking forward to summer dresses and flowy tops!  Forget the stews and oatmeal bakes, I'm looking forward to salads and smoothies!

I think I'm going to start with this one because I just love piña coladas!  Yum!

Credit: Averie Cooks

Saturday Synopsis!

Monday: A recipe for Buttermilk Roast chicken to help you conquer your fears!  Well, only if you're scared of bone-in meats.  :)

Tuesday:  Sewing rewind: My first attempts at making clothing.  An elastic waist skirt, vest, shorts, and a dress.  Fun reminders of how far I've come!

Wednesday:  Weekly Wrap-up: Meals at Gushi, Spaghettini, and The Attic, swap meet finds & deals, learning stick shift, crafting with a friend, and shopping errands for Europe!

Thursday:  My new fall cape in pink!  Just in time for spring...  oops.

Friday: I seriously love my Chakoner.  I totally get why it's in the shape of a heart!  Marking patterns is actually fun now, which I NEVER thought I would say.

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Tip: My new favorite marking tool: Chakoner!

For nine whole months, I was completely lost as to how to mark my fabric.  That's the length of a human pregnancy!  (I say human, because elephants and sharks are pregnant for 22 months and 2 - 3.5 years!)

Anyways, prior to class I had read that sewers use tailor's chalk.  I bought the thin triangle of chalk and brought it to class.  It was impossible because it was always breaking, the line was uneven, and it pulled at the fabric!

The teacher suggested whittling a piece of soap to make marks.  She made it look so easy, but I am lazy.  On to the next option!

I found tons of fabric pens, some with disappearing ink, at my local store.  However, I had read horror stories about the ink bleeding through, reappearing, or staining the fabric.  Nope!

Then, I read about this: the Chakoner!

It's basically a rotating wheel on the bottom, which dispenses chalk powder in a fine, fine line!  The top has a brush to dust away the lines, and the brush lifts out for refilling.

Also, it's in a super cute heart because it's made in Japan.  They looove cutesy stuff.  Oh, and so do I.  :)

Check out this perfect dart I marked!

It was just a couple of swipes, and perfect lines without pulling at the fabric!

Very helpful for situations where you have tons of pleats to mark...

Side note: This skirt had five separate panels to pleat (this shows just 2.5 because I folded the top one).  I was all ready to mark my pattern through the entire Downton Abbey finale, but I finished in 20 minutes!

Honestly, I'm super excited about this tool because my two least favorite parts about sewing are cutting and marking.  I'm almost more excited to mark my patterns than I am to sew.  Wait a second... no, I'm not!

Do you have any favorite sewing tools out there?

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A Study in Fuschia - Sherlock Holmes' Pink Cape

Remember the cape that I made for my friend's winter wedding?  It was simplified from Simplicity 2285 (the irony!).  I removed the gunflaps, omitted all of the buttons, and removed the confusing pocket/hole detail (more on that later).

For the complete version of this cape, I found a really interesting fabric at the swap meet ($2/yard), which I thought would be fabulous!  Remember last week when I asked for some advice on button choice?  Well I ended up going with the fabric buttons, which were about 50 cents total.

Here's the final result!

Overall, I'm feeling just okay with the results.  Why?  First of all, it's a pretty bold piece and it kind of scares me!  Second, I accidentally put on one of the gunflaps the wrong way...  Oops, but it's actually difficult to tell in real life!  Third, it was such difficult fabric to work with that I still have some ill feelings towards it.  Not fair I know, but I can't help it!  The fabric shredded up like crazy.  Not fraying, but the fibers completely pulled apart like monkey bread!

Fourth, these pockets almost sucked the life out of me.  I couldn't figure out how they worked because I haven't done welt pockets before, which would have been helpful.  The most annoying part to figure out was the diagram that showed the hole that you leave for your hands to poke through.  I definitely stitched once and ripped twice and possibly more times than that...

A peek inside the pocket/hole combination...

Fifth, I feel like it's a little overwhelming for my frame since I'm so short, but maybe I just feel that way because of the bold print.  Lastly, the weather here has certainly warmed up to the 70s and 80s, so I probably can't wear this until next fall!  Boo.

Enough complaining!  Here are a few things that I actually love about the cape.  The gun flaps (or storm flaps)!  I didn't know they even had a name, but I think they're awesome looking.

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Weekly Wrap-Up: Food, Fabric and Fun (in a stick-shift car)!

This week, I ate a lot (per usual), bought fabric at the swap meet (yay!), learned how to drive stick shift (finally!), and was a very good consumer by visiting a shopping mall (yet again).

Precap: (I thought I just made this word up, but I didn't!)

• Sights: Gushi, Spaghettini, The Attic
• Eats: Swap meet finds, learning stick shift, crafting with a friend, shopping errands for Europe!

Wednesday

I found myself in my old college neighborhood just before 10 pm, and I couldn't resist grabbing some food for a late night dinner/next day's lunch.  Gushi is probably the most hole in the wall place that you could ever find.  Strictly a plastic chair kind of place where you order from a window that's practically on the sidewalk.

The kitchen is tiny, the seating area is tiny, the parking is nonexistent, and the food is enormous!

There's a reason why they stay in business even when college kids are fickle and could easily deem a place "over."  It seriously looks the same and tastes the same, but costs about twice as much.  Totally worth it for a bit of nostalgia!

Side note: While I was waiting for my food, the police handcuffed a rowdy homeless man who was bothering the college kids.  That's L.A. for you!  They looked so young and scared when they cleared us out of the area, it made me feel super old compared to them because I didn't bat an eye.  Ah, youth and innocence...

Friday

It was the end of a very tiring week, so the whole family headed out to dinner at Spaghettini.  For some reason, I hadn't eaten lunch and I was famished.  I had a delicious Cioppino to start.  My man said it was the best he's ever had!

Other people at the table had Calamari and Sweet potato fries as appetizers.  Yum!

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