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!

SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave

Stripes

The best thing about sewing is choosing and matching fabrics. That's at least what I think. I get ridiculously excited when I see a lovely pattern or colour combination. Browsing through fat quarters and remnant baskets in craft shops is absolute bliss for me. I hardly ever leave my local craft shop without one ir two pieces of fabric. Usually I don't have a project in mind for them: I just like having a stack of lovely fabric around so I don't need to head out and buy fabric when I want to sew small projects. They're also great for inspiration: very often the fabric comes before the project. As it happened with my first finished project in 2017. I was lucky enough to come across a remnant piece of this adorable stripy fabric:

       

It was in a gift shop in Germany on the last day of our holidays. And I just had to buy it. Back home I had the idea to make a bag for Aidans building blocks and within three days I had it finished.

It's a very basic bag with very basic felt applications. I didn't want to make it too complicated as I wanted it finished quickly. And it does the job: the kitchen looks tidier and Aidan likes taking the blocks out of the bag and sometimes putting them in as well.

I really have a thing for striped fabric.

Add some little flowers and it can't get any better:

There is such a nice old-fashioned feel about it. I could imagine making this into an 18th century dress. Unfortunately this is only a small leftover bit that I was lucky enough to find in a remnant bag.

But I also like the comparatively modern pin stripes.

I got this material a few years ago with the vague intention of making a skirt but I never really found the right pattern. Now I decided to make it into this skirt:

This pattern has been lying around for a couple of years as well. I never dared to make it as the instructions warned me that you needed good sewing skills. But you never learn if you never dare to make something challenging. Ignoring the advice to make a trial skirt with cheap fabric first I daringly cut into my pinstripe fabric. I had to change the pattern slightly as the fabric wasn't wide enough for the train of the skirt. Probably another thing you shouldn't do without a mock up. We'll see how it will turn out. So far I haven't found it very difficult.

I'm not looking for a historically accurate look so I won't worry too much if it turns out a bit different than intended.