Microwave Chocolate Cake

As a bit of a change from the sewing, today I wanted to share with you one of my favourite recipes - a chocolate cake recipe that will have you from getting ingredients out of your pantry to eating the cake in about 20 minutes. I tend to leave off the melted chocolate icing and the almonds, but since it's in the recipe I thought I'd leave it in for you to make your own choice about.

Ingredients
100g Golden Syrup
100g soft dark brown sugar
100g butter or margarine
175g self raising flour
50g cocoa powder
1 egg
150ml milk
100g plain chocolate broken into small pieces
25g flaked almonds

Method
1. grease a 9in/23cm loaf dish
2. put the syrup, brown sugar and butter in a large bowl and microwave on high for 2 mins or until the butter has melted and the sugar dissolved, stirring occasionally
3. sift in the flour and the cocoa and mix together well.
4. beat in the eggs then stir in the milk
5. Turn the mixture into the prepared dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes or until the cake is cooked and a wooden cocktail stick of skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean
6. leave to stand for 5 minutes before turning out to cool completely
7. put the chocolate into a small bowl and microwave on high for about 1 minute until melted, stirring occasionally
8. spread the melted chocolate over the top of the cake, allowing it to trickle over the edges and sides
9. leave to set then sprinkle the flaked almonds over the top.

Try it and enjoy, and then tell me all about it!

Living Vicariously

My friend Vicki got a sewing maching for Christmas and I have been helping her in learning to sew. So far she's made a dress, but I have also converted her to the dark side and persuaded her that quilting is awesome. So yesterday we went fabric shopping at GJs, which is always HEAPs of fun. Vicki has decided to jump in with both feet, and has bought fabrics for not one, but two quilts, one for a little boy and one for a baby girl. Look at the gorgeous fabrics she chose:

(Along the top will be the binding, and the bottom right one is a flannelette for the backing)

(again, along the top is the binding and the bottom right is a flannelette for the backing)

Fabric shopping for other people is just as much fun as shopping for yourself - you have the down side of not getting to keep the fabric, but you get the up side of not spending any money.

I've even persuaded Vicki to come along to the MMQG Sit and Sew Day for a few hours today so she can get started. Fun times!

Inspiration has struck...

...and there's a new project in the works.

(Linen from The Fabric Store, embroidery floss and notions from Clegs)

My Favourite Skirt Pattern

The first ever item of "real" clothes that I sewed (ie not a fancy dress costume) was a black and white gored skirt (below left). There were lots of skirts like it around in the shops at the time so I thought I'd have a go at making my own. I was very proud of myself for my skirt, especially since I made up the pattern myself, however it does have quite a few construction flaws. I had no idea how to put a zip in so I made it up and "winged it", I didn't even think about finishing the raw edges, and I had the idea of adding a black trim near the waistband so I used ribbon and didn't think through that it would have needed to be curved and ended up making the top of the skirt a bit tight.

That was mid-2006, so fast forward 4.5 years to now and I have 5 skirts from pretty much the same pattern with slight permutations of numbers of gores, degree of flared-ness and adding a second "lining" layer to the skirt. (from left to right in order of when I made them in the above picture). (Plus another one that I made for a friend).

The most recent addition to the collection was stitched up on Boxing Day, but I only just managed to get photos of it this week (despite wearing it multiple times).

 

(Yes, the weather in Melbourne was a bit miserable last week - tights were required. Not impressed!)

This reincarnation has the (currently) unique addition of pockets. I added some pockets into the side-front panels, and to make them a bit more of a design feature stitched some grosgrain ribbon near the top of the pocket. I also added some grosgrain ribbon to the inside of the waist to stop it stretching out as the fabric is cut on the bias.

 

The fabric was one of the pieces I purchased in New York last year, with exactly this in my mind. It's a nice quality printed poplin (I think). The skirt also unique among my collection of being a good summer skirt but also a suitable fabric for wearing with tights.



The standing still photos don't really do the skirt justice - one of the best things about it is how floaty it is and we had lots of fun trying to get a photo that captured that quality. And of course, It's great for twirling!

(In case you're interested, these photos were taken on the steps of the Victorian Parliament building)

I made a t-shirt!!!

This post starts with a story. When I was in New York last September I bought a t-shirt. This t-shirt is really comfy, has a nice rounded v-neck with a wide neckband, and best of all was only $3. Sadly, as I was only in New York for 3 days I didn't get a chance to go back and get any more. Fast forward to now, and I decided that since I can't go back and buy more of said t-shirt, I would make one.

 

So that's what I did, and I'm super happy with it. Pictured are both t-shirts - the bought one and the made one - can you guess which is which?

Edit: The one I made is the purple one, the teal one is the one I bought.

Me-Made-March - Days 1-7

One week into March and Me-Made March has been going very smoothly so far. I've been making more of an effort to get photos of what I've been wearing (unlike last May when I had zero photos), but since I'm my own photographer in quite a few of them (and I don't own a tripod) I've just made an effort to show off the me-made part of the outfit rather than the whole thing.

       

Day 1 (Tuesday) - Me-Made Boatneck t-shirt with flower (with jeans)
Day 2 (Wednesday) - Me-Made Plaid Pendrell and Me-Made (and refashioned) Black Jenny Skirt (with black cami)
Day 3 (Thursday) - Me-Made JJ (sans ruffles) (with jeans and black vest)
Day 4 (Friday) - Me-Made Leafy Blue and White dress (with navy 3/4 sleeve scoop neck tee)
Day 4 (Friday) - Me-Made Black and white skirt (with purple knitted top, black jumper and tights)
Day 5 (Saturday) - Me-Made Plaid Pendrell and Me-Made (and refashioned) Black Jenny Skirt (with black cami and black jumper)
Day 5 (Saturday) - Me-Made white skirt with black flowers (with black t-shirt)
Day 6 (Sunday) - Me-Made flowery summer dress
Day 7 (Monday) - Me-Made Cream and pink summer dress

Quite a few days almost completely me-made (4 outfits out of 9), although warm weather helps with that as a summer dress can make a whole outfit. And yes, it was cold enough to need tights on the 4th but hot enough for summer dresses on the 6th and 7th - Melbourne weather is that crazy.

Re-made Jenny

If you've been reading for a while you might remember the first Jenny skirt that I made last April:

  

At the time the skirt was a little big, but I have lost some weight since then (including about 2 inches from both my waist and hips) so it had shifted from a little big to very big, exhibited below (and I'm not pulling the skirt tight in the photos below either):

  

Too big in the waist and hips, plus a bit long

Rather than let it languish in my wardrobe I decided to take it in, however after thinking about how to do that I decided that it would actually be easier to essentially re-make the skirt rather than faff around with it all. I unpicked the waistband, centre-back seam (and zip) and hem, but left in the darts. I then remade the skirt, taking in the side seams and shortening it, and as with the version I made for Claire, I made a 1 inch waistband rather than a wide one.

 

Huzzah! A new skirt that didn't cost me any extra $$

Skills trade - Part 2 - Claire's Jenny Skirt

Yesterday I showed you the amazing wrist warmers that Claire knitted me, today I can show you the skirt that I made her as my half of the "skills trade".

I used the "Jenny" pattern that I've used a couple of times before, but instead of making a wide waistband I made one 1 inch wide to give it a more standard pencil skirt look.

(Please excuse the crumples/creases - these photos were taken after a delicious and leisurely brunch)

 

For the first time with this pattern I lined the skirt, with the lining the same as the skirt but hemmed an inch shorter. This has led to a small problem that the lining is visible in the back behind the slit (see above photo). I was hoping someone might have some wisdom of what I did wrong, or what I could do to solve this problem?

Skills trade - Part 1 - Knitted Wrist Warmers

I recently arranged a "skills trade" with my lovely friend Claire. You see, Claire is a knitter and I don't knit at all, so we came up with the idea that she would knit me something and I would sew her something.

She fulfilled her end of the bargain a few weeks ago by knitting me these gorgeous wrist warmers.

A bizarre request to make during Australian summer, I know, but I requested wrist warmers so that I can wear them while ice skating as the fronts of my wrists sometimes get cold on the odd occasion that I skate fast. I've worn them every time I've been skating since receiving them, they're definitely a huge success! Just the right size, just the right warm-ness, and awesome uneven gradiated stripes. Win, Win, Win!

Thank you HEAPS Claire!

Stay tuned for photos of the item that I sewed her in exchange, hopefully I'll be able to get some tomorrow at Brunch.

Pendrell #2 - A Blouse of Firsts

I have now finished my second Pendrell Blouse. This one I went with view B, but since I was still a little iffy about the ruffles I went with just the outer sleeve ruffle. I love how it's turned out, as having just the one ruffle gives it a cute little cap sleeve.

 

If you remember, I cut this pendrell out at the same time as my last one, but it was put on hold because I tested some seam finishes with it and decided that I needed to use French Seams or you would be able to see the uneven seam allowances through the chiffon. I'd never done French Seams before, so I was a bit worried about it, but I practiced a few times and it worked out great.

The French Seams along with the binding on the neck and arm holes means that there are no raw edges at all. It took a long time to carefully pin it all, but it was well worth it.

And with light shining through it the blouse looks really well finished: 

In addition to the French Seams the other firsts with this blouse were that I was using a chiffon fabric, and that I was using a plaid (and that I was doing both for the first time, eek!). I made an effort when cutting to match the horizontal stripes in the plaid, which I think I have been pretty successful with, especially for a first try

.So that's 2 for 2 with the pendrell patten so far! Hooray!