Navy Upright Collar Dress

Before the weather turned very untypically English, I decided to try turning a summer tea dress pattern into a more sophisticated self-shaping dress, inspired a little bit by Emilia Wickstead's Coat Dress worn by Kate Middleton on St Paddy's Day.

Adapted McCall's Pattern

I already had the McCall's M6503 pattern sitting in my room (which also makes lovely summer dresses, perfect for this time of year), so instead of searching for a different pattern, I thought i'd give an adaptation a try (View D). Making things difficult for myself.... again!

                      

                              














The first thing I did was measured myself and compared my measurements to the finished garment measurements. TIP: Summer dresses often have bigger pattern pieces, because a bit of extra material looks nice and drapey in a soft floaty material. However, I wanted each piece to lie flat and didn't want too many gathers, as in a thicker material it would look too bulky. It turned out the only thing I needed to adjust slightly was the front bodice pieces. I took a little bit off the centre and side seam edges, so that there were less gathers under the bust line.

Next, the fun part, choosing the fabric: I knew I wanted a material that would keep it's shape, but it couldn't be too thick or stiff. A medium weight corduroy would have the type of thing I was looking for, but at my local market I stumbled up on a navy felt/fleece, with a polyester backing - PERFECT! I was so excited to get going. I also chose a contrast chequered material for the waist and collar.

And so I got started :) I didn't have to change anything else, but I would always suggest TIP: to tack the bodice pieces together first to make sure all the sizing is correct, especially when you are adapting a pattern.

The only thing that was a little tricky, because of the thicker material, was the collar. I found that trying to sew that many layers of fabric is best done by hand. The collar on my dress isn't perfect even now, but I don't think it's too noticeable. I'm sure you'll have more luck!

Have you made a different type of look with a different fabric? Post your pictures!

Pinny of the Month

Ok so I admit, this is a little late, but here's June's Pinny of the Month....

I spotted it a few months ago on the Jessie Steele website. It is an american website, but they do ship to the UK, and every single one of these pinnies is a winner, so you won't regret typing .com into your browser!

Apple of my Eye Black Gigi Apron

Loads of the pinnies also come with matching tea towels, gloves and heat pads etc.

Jessie Steele is a family run Mother and Daughter born company, and their love for pinnies, family and femininity really shines through. Most of them have a slightly retro look, and every one is special.

You'll probably be seeing a fair amount more pinnies on this feature that come from this website as they're all beautiful; choosing just one is so difficult! Go and check it out and I guarantee you won't come alway empty handed.

Pinny love -x-x-x-x-

Summery Sundried Tomato Fish

I love eating outside in the evening and the lovely weather we've been having recently means that I've been doing it a LOT. However, I don't know about you but there's only so many times I can eat a BBQ. Last night, instead getting the BBQ out, I cooked a lovely summery fish recipe inside and served it up with salad and new potatoes to eat outside. Divine. It's also such a simple and quick dish.

My absolute favourite fish is Turbot - but it's pretty difficult to come by, so any white fish would be just fine. I used Seabass this time and it worked out great!

Ingredients
2 Fresh white fish of your choice, deboned and scales removed (you can also use fillets if you prefer)
1-2 Fish stock cube
Fresh thyme
1 lemon
Olive oil
3tbsp white wine
Sun-dried tomato paste (TIP: whizzed up sun-dried tomatoes always tastes just that tiny bit better than the paste in a jar)
1tbsp capers
1 handful of cherry tomatoes or 2 sliced up salad tomatoes
Fresh Basil

Serving: 4

Method
1) Preheat the oven to 200degrees (180degrees fan)
2) Make a paste with your fish stock cube and a little water. Add a small squeeze of lemon juice
3) Spread your paste over both sides and inside your fish (TIP: remember to rub head to tail so you don't spike yourself)
4) Place a few sprigs of fresh thyme inside the fish. If you're using fish fillets, just place it in the pan just before you add the fish
5) Choose a frying pan that can go both on the hob and in the oven and coat the bottom with olive oil. A cast iron one works brilliantly if you have one
6) Heat your pan of oil and when it's hot place your fish in. Turn the fish over so that both sides fry for around 25seconds and both sides are sealed
7) Transfer your pan into the middle shelf of the oven
8) Meanwhile make your sauce - Mix 2tbsp Olive oil, white wine, sun-dried tomato paste, capers, cherry tomatoes, basil and half a lemon's worth of juice in a bowl
9) After 12 minutes has past, take your pan out of the oven and pour your sauce evenly over the fish
10) Place the pan back into the oven for another 5 minutes, or until your fish has cooked through
11) And there you go. Remove your fish and serve up with your choice of sides....mine would be new potatoes and a nice simple salad.

One summery, quick and simple dinner. Enjoy :)

Pinny of the Month

This month I thought I'd show you all some pinnies (or a whole website) with the fun factor! Wearing a pinny isn't exactly a necessary accessory, so why not lighten the mood in the kitchen with something from  Bambino Amore ?

Bambino Amore is an Etsy based shop selling retro inspired pinny's which focus on the large heart shaped stiff front panel... gorgeous.

I haven't been able to choose my favourite from this site because you could use so many of them for different occasions. I love their floral and fun patterned designs....

Secret Garden

Cupcake Delight

....but their whimsical 'party pieces' are real show stoppers, and i'm so tempted to buy one of the designs below....

Harley Quinn

Superwoman

Can you imagine hosting a themed dinner party in them? Even if you weren't going to use them in the kitchen, they'd make a really fun fancy dress outfit.

Help me decide?? Please :)

Cookie Time Saver

Don't you sometimes wish you could have just one (or two) freshly baked cookies without having to make and cook a whole batch?

Here's how you can do it!

Take your favourite cookie recipe (mine is the chewy kind - see this one I have on my blog if you're looking for one) and make more dough than you need.

Form balls of dough, just like you would if you were baking the cookies, and lay them on a baking sheet. Place the baking sheet flat in the freezer for 2-3 hours.

Once fully hardened, you can remove the baking sheet, and place all of the uncooked cookie balls in a plastic bag and pop the bag back in the freezer.

Then, when you fancy one, place one in the oven on a small lined baking tray and cook as per your cookie baking recipe, adding on 1 or so minutes to the cooking time!

And there you go, in a matter of minutes you'll have one freshly baked cookie without all the faff of mixing the dough. YUM!!!

Chewy Cookies - the best kind I think!

I know some people like the crispy kind of cookies, but they're just not for me...well, i'm not going to say no to any kind of cookie actually, but the chewy kind are always far superior in my opinion.

I've searched and searched for a good recipe, but they always spread out too much, go too thin, end up being crunchy, and have a slight taste of burnt sugar. BUT recently I found it, the secret of getting beautifully puffed up chewy cookies... Cornflour!

Have a look at this recipe, try it out and let me know how you get on :)

Ingredients
170g unsalted butter at room temperature
150g brown sugar (I like to use a mixture of light brown sugar and a muscovado sugar of some kind)
50g granulated sugar
250g plain flour
25g corn flour
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2tsp salt
1 egg, beaten - free range please
2tsp vanilla extract, or a drop of vanilla paste
150g chocolate chips
Optional: Add two pieces of stem ginger cut finely for an extra wow factor

TIP: You can have fun with the chocolate chips - white, dark or a mix. Or try substituting the chocolate chips for caramel drops, fudge pieces, dried fruit or jelly sweets (it really works). Have fun with it - experiment.

Serving: around 20 cookies

Method
1) Cream together the butter and both sugars in a large mixing bowl until it becomes light, pale and fluffy. It may take a long time, but getting it to turn pale really is the secret to baking
2) Beat in the vanilla to the butter/sugar mixture
3) Sieve the flour, cornflour, bicarb of soda and salt together into a medium sized bowl
4) Alternate adding the egg and flour mixture gradually until a soft dough forms
5) Now add your chocolate chips, make sure they're evenly spaced in the dough
6) Preheat your oven to 175degrees (155degrees for a fan oven)
7) Take a baking sheet and cover it in greaseproof paper
8) Take a ping pong ball amount of dough, roll it roughly into a ball and place on the sheet. Repeat this until you've used up all of your dough

9) Place the baking sheet into the fridge for 20 minutes to allow the dough to cool. TIP: This step is crucial to getting thicker chewier cookies, as it stops the cookies spreading out as quickly when they cook
10) Take your cookies out of the fridge and bake in the oven for 8-10minutes
11) The cookies are done when they are JUST starting to turn golden around the edges (they shouldn't brown on the top). Don't cook them for over 10 minutes, or you'll end up with crispy cookies. The cookies continue to cook when they're out of the oven, so don't worry.
12) Allow to cool (a little... I know how tempting warm cookies are) and there you go, beautifully chewy cookies for everyone to enjoy :)

Time Saver: These cookies are pretty quick to make, but if you find yourself wanting some cookies but only have 10 minutes to spare, try freezing the cookies when they're still balls of dough. You can bake the cookies in exactly the same way from frozen (adding a minute or so to the cooking time) - have a look at this blog post to see how.

Sunday Treats - Shortbread Brownies

Last weekend I was in a quandary ... did I fancy shortbread or brownies? It was like Sophie's choice (I exaggerate....kind of)

So, after spending about 20minutes searching for pictures of each to see if my eyes and stomach could make a decision, I decided... Shortbread Brownies!

I took my favourite brownie recipe, my favourite shortbread recipe and combined the two. I definitely made the right decision - it was exactly what I fancied!!

Ingredients
Shortbread
120g butter, softened
55g golden caster sugar
130g plain flour
40g dry semolina
pinch of salt

Brownies
275g golden caster sugar
190g unsalted butter
185g good quality chocolate (I like to use 80% cocoa) but standard plain chocolate will do the job just fine
90g plain flour
3 large eggs (free range please guys - or even better...fresh!)
Optional: 70g Rice Crispies

The brownie recipe also works perfectly well without the shortbread. My favourite recipe as it's not too rich :)
Serving: 24 triangles

Method
1) Start with the shortbread. Beat the softened butter with the sugar and salt until pale and creamy. TIP: It's hard work creaming butter and sugar together until pale, but it really is the secret of successful desserts :)
2) Sift the flour over the creamy mixture and add the semolina. Beat until combined and it forms a dough - it should just about stick together
3) Line a large baking sheet with parchment or baking paper

If you haven't already, get the kids involved. And if you don't have kids, YOU get to act like one now!

4) Time to take little bits of the dough and roll them into many many little balls. The balls should be around a 1cm across

5) Once you've used up all the dough, place the tray in the fridge for 15-20 minutes to firm up again. Preheat your oven to 150degrees (130degrees fan oven)
6) Place the shortbread into the oven for 30minutes. You don't want the shortbread to brown, so if you can see signs of them turning golden, reduce the heat. Take out the oven and leave to cool

Lets start the brownies!

7) Break up the butter and chocolate into small pieces and place in a Pirex bowl. Half fill a small saucepan with water and place the bowl just inside the saucepan so that the bowl is resting on the edges of the saucepan. Make sure the water isn't touching the bottom of the bowl. This is a type of Bain Marie

8) Place the Bain Marie on a low heat and gently melt the butter and chocolate, stirring occasionally. Once melted, leave to cool

9) Take a large mixing bowl, break your eggs into it and add the sugar. Whisk them together until they form a thick, pale, creamy consistency which is about double its original volume. This may take around 5 minutes - if you want to cheat a little, use an electric whisk on a medium speed for 2-3 minutes

10) Slowly pour in the chocolate mixture into the egg and sugar mixture. Gently fold the chocolate in, until everything has combined. Fold instead of mix to keep the air in - this way your brownies will stay light and airy

11) Sieve the flour and cocoa powder into the mixture. Gently fold together until a glossy gooey mixture forms, but don't fold too much or you'll loose that lovely airy texture

Everything is about to come together... eek, can't wait!!

12) Fold in the cooled shortbread - or the shortbread you have left... I can guarantee quite a few of the little drops of heaven have already been consumed! TIP: Now is the time to add those optional Rice Crispies. The Rice Crispies go soft and make the brownie a little more chewy.Turn up the oven to 180degrees (160degrees for a fan oven) once the shortbread has been removed

13) Line a brownie tin (around 24x20cm) and pour the mixture in. Place in the oven for 25minutes. If after 25minutes the middle of the brownie still feels wobbly, pop it back in for 5 minutes

14) Remove from oven. Once it has cooled slightly, take a knife and mark out your brownies

15) Now this might be the hardest thing in the world, but you SHOULD allow the brownies to cool completely before turning them out. I'll leave that decision up to you

YOU'RE DONE! Eat, enjoy, freeze some (yer right), take them to a picnic and give some to friends (again, yer right)



Time Saver: I must confess that this is definitely a 'Sunday Treat' and isn't the quickest thing to make... BUT both the shortbread and brownies on their own are pretty quick and simple. PLUS you could double the brownie mixture, cook them all and then freeze the ones you don't want for another day - simple pop them in the oven for 10minutes to warm through. OR make double the shortbread mixture and freeze the other half - I recommend freezing the dough in the shapes you like (cut out biscuit fingers for example) rather than the cooked shortbread, as it turns out much better







TIP: If you want to use the shortbread recipe on it's own to make thicker shortbread fingers, leave in the oven for around an hour and sprinkle them with brown sugar once they've just come out of the oven. Mmmm tasty!

Have you combined two recipes to make one giant success? I'd love to know!