Sunday, September 28, 2008

Lydia top, Autumn 2008

Lydia was the first Burdastyle pattern I tried. It's a simple pattern and I altered the sleeves to make them puffy (they look saggy in the photo but they really are puffed sleeves). The style was too fitted for my liking so I also made it slightly looser.

This top was made over one weekend but it can be done in one day if you have time and are an experienced sewer.

I really liked this pattern and ended up making an identical top in black. I wear both tops quite a lot.

Cotton floral shirts, Summer 1997

I drafted the pattern for these shirts myself, using a block from the now-defunct Making magazine. Making was the equivalent of Mrs Style Book (a Japanese fashion magazine) for young people but was discontinued when Mrs Style Book actually became more fashion forward.
It was a pity since Making promoted local designers such as Milk and Multiple Marmalade and art school graduates.

Tonight's dinner - courtesy of Moro East


Moro East - Sam and Sam Clark

I originally saw this fabulous cookbook in a newspaper review earlier this year, and I'm glad I didn't rush out and buy it on the spot. My hardback copy was recently purchased from the local discount bookstore for $30 (RRP AUD 59.00). So there.

I'm not much of a cook because I'm lazy and rarely buy cookbooks, but the story behind Moro East is interesting. In East End London, there used to be a communal gardening area called Manor Garden where local residents could grow their own fruits and vegetables (Seems to be like Melbourne's own allotment gardens in CERES. Incidentally the photo of the river beside the Manor Garden sheds could even pass for Merri Creek, which runs behind CERES).

When the Clarks moved into one of the allotments, they discovered a multicultural community with its own unique methods of gardening and cooking. The recipes in Moro East incorporate the produce that was grown in Manor Garden and are easy to follow. Several are based on what the Clarks learnt from the other residents, as well as what they experienced in their travels around Europe.

Unfortunately Manor Garden was demolished last year in preparation for the 2012 Olympics and the gardeners were moved onto another allotment.

Tonight I'm going to try the braised celery with tomato, olives and coriander. I didn't have green olives, so I used Spanish black ones instead.
















In preparation for future recipes I also stocked up on ingredients such as harissa paste, preserved lemons, red wine vinegar and various herbs and spices commonly used in North African and Middle Eastern cooking.

Handy measuring spoon

Instead of fiddling with several measuring spoons or trying to guess what 1/2 a teaspoon looks like, I found this handy slider spoon today:

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Previous projects

Grey flannel jacket, 1997
The design came from an old raglan-sleeve t-shirt which I cut up and traced the basic shapes onto paper. It was specifically made to wear over a couple of batwing and leg-o-mutton tops, but it's still a bit too large for me.


















Seam and button details

Not the first post

This is a replacement for my previous sewing blog, which I lost because I don't even remember what it was called let alone which email address it was linked to. I rarely updated it anyway because I was, and still am, stuck on sewing a trench coat. Now with the weather getting warmer, I don't think I'll even get to wear it this year.