Scraps and a new Bread Recipe

When you first start out sewing, you might find it hard to come by materials without spending a lot of money. Yet after a few years most crafters find themselves with an ever growing stash of fabrics, some still sizable enough to be used for future projects, but the bigger mountain is always made up of those scraps of fabrics, too big to throw out but to small and cut-into for most projects. Yet if you throw them out you can be sure that you will need tiny amounts of exactly the scraps you've just thrown away in the near future. I'm always hovering between my tidy minimalistic side that wants to get rid of all those tiny unmanageable bits and my thrifty crafty side that shies away from throwing out anything the might come in useful. So I ended up storing my fabric scraps in various boxes, out of sight and out of mind, which meant that I never really used them at all. After doing some internet research for storing ideas I found this metal basket in a local shop.

It doesn't look the tidiest, but I can just throw the scraps in and they are stowed away but still in sight. And the basket at least is pretty. It would help if I got another one as it's always overflowing. But having the basket in full sight means that I occasionally do feel the urge to sew something with some of those beautiful scraps. Again the internet is great for getting ideas, but my latest idea came from something I've seen in a shop in a town while looking for some birthday presents. They were tiny fabric dogs with a chain and key ring. It's not easy to sew something that small, not for me with my basic sewing machine skills anyway, but I tried some heart shapes, not too small, that came out decent enough. So I did a few different shapes. They're far from perfectly sewn but look alright from if you don't look too closely. 

I used a different kind of scraps (paper) to decorate a folder for my recipes. It was good to cut up some old magazines that could throw out afterwards. While making lots of recipes from the internet I don't like having to use my phone or the computer while cooking. So I usually copy the recipes in handwriting (we don't have a printer), which gives me the possibility to note down all the changes that I might make. My newest addition is a porridge bread recipe that a friend has mentioned when I told her of my decision to make our bread myself. Her mother is making it all the time and after trying it out yesterday I think I will too. The recipe can be found here.

                          

The whole home-baking business is going surprisingly well. I expected to cave in after a week and just buy bread in the supermarket but so far I haven't. It's getting addictive and I find myself looking forward to baking the next bread. Though I have to say that this wouldn't be the case if I had a job. It's easier when you're home the whole day even with a toddler to mind. In fact, baking bread is a way to keep Aidan busy. He loves kneading the dough and always manages to sneak some into his mouth.

The sourdough starter worked out as well after a few difficulties at the beginning. I hated the idea of having to throw out half of the dough at every feeding, so I only fed it a little flour and water every day, but that was wrong. Eventually I followed the instructions here and it worked wonders. Well, that is to say my starter dough was certainly ready for baking.

 

And when I made the bread dough it rose beautifully... only to turn into a brick in the oven.

It wasn't as bad as it looks though. When I cut the loaf, it looked spongey like it should on the inside and it tasted ok. Adrian, who loves sourdough bread, gave it the thumbs up. So I won't regard it as a failure. I haven't baked since and store the starter dough in the fridge. Hopefully my next attempt will make a fluffier looking loaf!

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Tutorial: Felt Teddy Bear

Last week I needed a little gift that was quick and easy to make. Looking through some magazines I found instructions for making a teddy filled with rice to use as a heat pad. I liked the look of the teddy but wanted to simplify it as I needed to make three teddies for three kids. That's why I decided to use felt which has the advantage of not fraying at the edges and simply sew front and back parts together with a blanket stitch. It only took me about an hour and a half to make each teddy so I thought it would be nice to make it into a tutorial.

These teddies are an easy beginner's project, requiring only basic sewing skills and a minimum of materials. They make nice little Christmas gifts and are also a great way of using up scraps of fabric.

You will need:
paper pattern (I adapted mine from one I found in a magazine. It's easy to make your own: you won't be turning the teddy inside out after sewing so you don't need to worry about seam allowances)

Felt for the body of the teddy
Scrap of black or grey felt
Scraps of contrasting material ( I used printed cotton, but felt will work as well)
Stuffing material (or some wool yarn; you could even use left over bits of felt)
matching sewing thread
embroidery yarn
scissors
sewing needle
embroidery needle
pins

Cut out two identical pieces of felt by pinning your paper pattern on a double layer of felt and carefully cutting around it.

Using contrasting fabric, cut out an oval shape for the belly and two half circles for the inside of the ears.

Pin onto one of the felt pieces and stitch around the edges using blanket stitch. If your contrast fabric is felt you could use running stitch instead of blanket stitch.

Cut the nose out of black or grey felt and stitch onto teddy's face with a few running stitches.

Embroider the eyes and mouth: Make two French knots for the eyes and stitch two little lines for the mouth with another line connecting the mouth to the nose.

Pin the front and back of the teddy wrong sides together and stitch all around the edge using blanket stitch or running stitch. Leave a gap on one side between ear and arm.

Push a little stuffing through the gap and using a pencil push it into the arms and legs. Stuff the rest of the body.

Sew the gap closed.

All done!

They make nice little gifts in their own right or you could use them to spruce up a gift wrap.