First attempt at dress making

My blog following started because i needed an online tutorial to confirm my suspicions on how to make a plastic bag holder. I then found a lovely blog detailing every step and thus giving me a solid grounding on how to make it instead of guessing the whole way through stitching, that lovely blog was Make It and Love It.

Upon discovering this blog i then needed to find more, i found such lovely blogs that focused more on dressmaking, one of which is Tilly and the Buttons. Since then i have read posts and looked at pictures, even created a board on Pintrest to pin things that i thought i would like to sew. There's a problem however, I'm not really very good at sewing.......oops!!

I went back to Ireland for two weeks while I'm still on my summer holidays from uni and found a lot of things that were lying in the back of my wardrobe that i was never going to wear anymore. It felt such a waste to just throw them out though, especially as i had never worn some of them. I had in particular a summer dress, which in fairness was only from Pennys (Primark) but i really like the pattern it had on it, the only problem was that the top of it was very ill fitting.

I decided that while at home with the availability of a sewing machine and some advice from my mum that i could turn it into a skirt. Thus began a lot of deliberating on how to go about it, what width elastic to use and how to keep it in place. I inspected all the skirts i could find to see how they had their elastic encased and then decided....it was time to cut the dress!!

I just chopped the top part off and removed a band that gathered the skirt in. To be honest after pinning the waistband in place it was kind of easy, and weirdly relaxing whizzing the sewing machine along to line of pins. That was until i saw that i didn't thread my bobin in properly and it hadn't been sewing properly the whole time. Well, i had to put back in all the pins again, take out my tape measure AGAIN and make sure the waistband was the same thickness the whole way around. I'm not going to lie, it tried my patience at this part but i got through it and finally had sewn the waistband into place. I then pushed the elastic through, sewed that into place with four lines to stop it from moving and twisting inside 'it's house'.

The fabric was a little see through though so i thought while i had the sewing machine out i would make a slip to go underneath, because I'm not very proficient at this sewing game a decided to not try and line the skirt with it but make a separate slip altogether. I had a dress that no longer fitted but had a lovely white cotton lining that i needed and so ripped the stitches out and got my slip fabric from there. I then made the slip pretty much the same way as i did the skirt but with a much thinner elastic. I will admit i was pretty worried that i would make the whole thing too tight on my stomach having two elasticated waistbands around it but so far it's been ok.

What i liked the most was taking two garments that i was never going to wear again and turned them into something usable and pretty. It's weirdly satisfying, maybe that's why sewing your own clothing is starting to take off again! 

Have you ever tried to re-purpose a garment of clothing? Do you wish you had better sewing skills too?

P.S sorry for the lack of pictures of the sewing process, that's not really my kind of thing since i am a scarily messy worker and so none of the pictures would have been very pleasant to look at. Also the pictures here are dubious, since i live in a teeny flat that lacks natural light, but hopefully you can see the nice pattern on the skirt! 

Chloe x

Those dang blasted modern thingy majigs

I like a spot of baking every so often, more often when it's cold and I've been looking at all the lovely treats you see on pintrest.

A few months ago i tried to make cake pops, as seen all over the place! I followed this recipe to the T, it didn't work out that well and ended up being a very messy affair. All in all it took at least a day for the pops to set which wasn't enough, i needed to have them that day, so as you can imagine i continued on and covered them in chocolate in the hope that that would work. It sort of did, mostly didn't. They were crisp chocolate on the outside and mushy and soggy on the inside :(

I swore never to make them again, far too much hassle and not enough cakey goodness as a reward!

Excuse the mess, it's a messy procedure making mini doughnuts!

BUT then i was then given a cake pop maker as a birthday present. I had exams around the same time and have actually been preoccupied by other things but i took it out of the cupboard last week, looked at the little recipe book that came along with it and tested it out.

The book has a recipe for mini doughnuts, and who doesn't like the sound of that so i whipped up the batter and proceeded to 'bake' them.

This isn't really a review of the product itself but God it was so tedious doing it. The machine has six spaces for the 'pops' and it does cook them pretty quickly (about 5-6 mins) but because there's only 6 there is a lot of filling and refilling. I can't be doing with all that nonsense to tell you the truth.

I had a whole plate full of doughnuts at the end and sadly they didn't really meet my expectations, i was hoping for light and fluffy, i got stodgy instead.

The result!

I've cleaned and packed it away and think ill be sticking to the good old bun tray instead, after all if people have enjoyed baking this way for so long why mess with it?

Have you ever tried some 'innovative' products that didn't really make life easier? Or do you have a machine that you couldn't live without in the kitchen?

Chloe x

When i was small one of my favourite things to do in September time was walk along the road and fields with my mammy and an ice cream tub all in the aim of getting as many blackberries as possible.

With all this heat we've been getting in the past few weeks it seems that these bad boys are ripening up rather quickly, so with that in mind i've been having a little n on pintrest for some inspiration of what to do with all of my foraged fruit.

Here are some of my favs:

Blackberry Margarita

Blackberrie Smoothie

Blackberry crisp

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Catch up on Life: Adventurous bike rides

Once again I'm not quite so quick at getting around to writing blog posts. I'd like to say it's because I'm massively rushed off my feet but that's not really the case, although I am kinda busy.



Life must go on despite the other 'things' that are happening though and so I'm going to tell you about my newly acquired friend Denise, my second hand bike.

Our main road has been closed and remains closed all summer, stopping the buses and cutting us off from the easy ways to get to places locally. Since about Christmas time i have been hoping i could get a bike but there was a worry that we had no where to store them if we got them, then we found a secret nook where we could chain them up and Ta Dah we could start looking for bikes.

So a couple of weekends ago myself and the boyfriend decided we would grab the chance and get some second hand bikes from the local bike shop, in the end we had to slightly overstep our budget but it was still a pretty good deal and it gave us the chance to tell all the family that we had spent our birthday monies on something specific and give our business to a local, independent shop with excellent customer service instead of the chain bike stores.

That weekend we cycled a little bit, i completely forgot how tough it can be when you're not used to it!

Old and new contrast

Then we did a little biking adventure, from Greenwich along the Thames to the Thames Barrier, it was so much fun, it's a cycling and walking path the whole way and was such a good way to spend the scorching hot Saturday it was without feeling too hot and bothered. Of course there were multiple stops for hydration, and picture taking but what was most surprising was what a stark contrast that side of the Thames is to Canary Wharf, directly opposite!!

The Thames Barrier

Interesting Sculpture at the Emirates Air- Line

 It was such a good way to see that part of London, i would definitly suggest it to anyone who wants to get out for a couple of hours, even if you don't have a bike, it has some lovely areas with benches to stop and catch you're breath if you fancied walking it.






Since then we have been discovering our area more locally and finding out that there's a lovely cycle path from our local park all the way along the railway track to New Beckenham. We haven't quite gone that far yet but it's a nice way to get out after work and enjoy the bright evenings.

How have you been enjoying the chance to get out and about in this amazing weather?

Chloe x

A day for inspection

I may or may not have said what i do, who i am, why i'm here. I am a full time postgraduate student, in a course that is described as 'full on', 'intense' 'hell'....the last one i added in myself....oops!!
 It is intense and it is full on, it's hell because there is always something that needs to be done, is due in, or something that I'm going to get examined on. Sadly the later is fastly approaching and instead of having the motivation to crack on with the work needed to do it I'm writing this....

I have been on placement for the last 6 weeks, 1 week after finishing a month or more of revision and the worst exams i may ever have come across. I'm a little bit drained to say the least but happily buzzing along like a bee to pollen. I'm on a misson. A misson to pass all these exams so i can get on and enjoy the summer, the sun, and what may possibly be 2 months of relaxation, craftiness, baking and crochet learning....fun right?

Now i don't want you to think i am entirely lazy, even though i confess that although i am a hard worker when needed, i am a lazy soul. I just don't like to feel pressure, stress or in a rush. That's why i get up a good hour before i have to leave the house in the morning because I'm too lazy to want to hurry up so i could get an extra 20 minutes in bed. BUT i have done the bulk of the work for this exam, session plans, a session, creation of a DVD (even if it wont play), and now, tonight i am faced with the task of repeatedly having to watch and listen to myself on video and make notes and create a presentation on it...ugh!

My laziness is not the only thing that has held me back from doing this so far. My casual and laid back manner has also interrupted my progress. Every time i think about starting i think to myself 'does it really need that much work, you know what you did and why, you like to talk in general, why prepare so far in advance?', well stupid brain you are not as laid back as you would like to think, no when it comes to it you're going to forget everything you need to say and get all shaky. Shaky does not lead to good marks.

I've got one more day of placement, three whole days to think about this exam and tonight to make a start on this presentation. Through writing all this down i have managed to get that ol' grey matter of mine thinking, getting used to self inspection and hopefully, ready to start this work.
Fingers crossed i don't bail out of it now!
x

Whats for lunch?

I'm not sure about everyone else but I spend too much time in my evening trying to think of what to have for lunch the next day. Usually my lunch consists of a sad, warm sandwich but lately I've been trying to come up with nicer choices. Flavoured couscous has been my recent lunchtime treat but last night I made a new pasta meal. I had some leftover so i decided to bring it with me for lunch......its was yum, both times, hot and cold! 

This is super easy to make, light, and full of veggies (although if i had some more they wouldn't have gone astray).

I had a rummage in the fridge for this recipe and had some red pepper and aubergine. Chop them up into chunks and put into an oven proof dish/ tray. Cover in olive oil and roast until soft, and slightly charred. Once the pasta has been cooked add the roasted veg to it, along with the lovely olive oil that's left in the pan (this really helps to keep it nice and moist then and when u eat it cold). Chop some sun dried tomatoes and add them in along with a couple of teaspoons of pesto, (i used 2 dessert spoons but i LOVE pesto). Mix it all up and serve with some fresh basil leaves. Enjoy.

What's your favourite re-heat lunch?

Chloe x

Life in fast mode

View from Glastonbury Tor

Life has been a little bit busy (by my standards) for the past few months, probably since April.

Lectures in Uni finished, I went back home to Ireland for a well deserved break, catch up with family, a wedding and some resting. Then my birthday sprang up and I got a super treat of afternoon tea in the Hilton....scrummy! Has anyone else found the 'ordering' of afternoon tea a bit tricky though???

Afternoon tea

Exams then dominated my life for well over a month, but a lovely break in Somerset was my post exam treat. We ventured to Glastonbury Tor, sampled lots of PROPER cider, had lots of fun at a country fair and best of all.....breathed in that lovely fresh air!

Back to London and I'm bang in the middle of clinical placements  but some more birthdays were celebrated, sun soaked up for a few days at least and now I'm in full summer mode even if it is raining most of the time!!










Here's a few pics into a glimpse of whats been going on

Chloe x