Guess who's back?!

Hello?

...

*cough cough*

...

Anybody there?

Mind you, I wouldn't blame you. 7 months without a post! But I'm back now, and although I've spent some very intense seven months (training to become a webdeveloper, and now I've found a job in the same place where I've done my internship, woohoo!), that doesn't mean I have been without making!
What have I been making, you might ask?
Well...here it goes.
I've knit socks. A fair few pairs. Some for me, some not. And I'm not done with socks yet, so you can expect MOAR sock pictures on this blog!

Tardis Socks for my boyfriend...

Hermione's Everyday Socks for me...

...and the same for my sister...

Broken Seed Stitch socks...

Plus 3 other pairs I haven't photographed yet!




I've knit mittens.

I've knit a snood for my Gran...but unfortunately she didn't even have the time to wear it :,(

I've knit a Chuck sweater. And an Aiken dress.

I've sewn a Negroni for my boyfriend. That took me a looong time, mainly due to poor fabric choice I think. This sort of double cotton gauze/voile is sure to be lovely to wear in hot weather, but it was a real pain in the ass to sew!

I've also made myself a Moneta (this is my third, btw).

And I'm currently making a Kim dress and a Vianne cardi for the Outfit Along 2016.

Soooo...I guess you could say I'm back in the saddle, making-wise!

Gimme Some Rock'n'Roll : Washington Dead Cats (plus a few random bits)

Hi folks...long time no see!

So...what have I been up to these last weeks? Well, I went to Paris where I saw the best French psychobilly band - aka the Washington Dead Cats. This specific gig was given to celebrate the band's career's 30s birthday...and boy, what a gig! Salads and leeks fight, a balloon release, and even a burlesque performance by Juliette Dragon...we had it all! Here's a little video from this concert (not mine though) for your enjoyment.

In other words, I've been quite busy this last month and it's not going to stop soon. I've started a training course to become a web developer, so I don't have much time left for sewing these days (I'm still working on my boyfriends Negroni and I've just made a muslin for my future Ceylon...), and I have even less time for blogging. But I hope I'll soon be able to use my newly-acquired coding skills to try and develop my own website! And I can still find some time for knitting!
In the meantime, I think I might be more active on Instagram than on this blog these next months...so come and have a look if you feel like it!

Fall/Winter (and FESA) sewing and knitting plans

Hi all!

A Negroni in the making...

I'm currently working on my boyfriend's Negroni, but already thinking about my next selfish makes for this Fall/Winter and for FESA (go check Sarah's blog if you want to know more about FESA!)!

- I've started making a knit dress based on A. Satterlund's Aiken pattern. I'd like it to have a slit in the back (maybe I'll have to reinforce it with grosgrain) and I still don't know how I'm going to finish  the border. I don't want to make ribbing because I don't want it to look like a giant sweater... Well, I'll see what I can make!

- I'd like to make a Ceylon dress. This was one of the first ever Colette Patterns I bought back in 2012 and I've never made it yet because I was a bit afraid of so many pattern pieces. I have a rather heavy viscose, with a nice drape, which I think would pair well with this pattern. The only thing is, it has a directional print which runs diagonally to the grain, so I think I'll have to cut some of my pieces (such as the midriffs and yokes) on the bias if I want to maintain some symetry and sort of break the pattern at the same time. Also, some of the pieces would have to be cut twice instead of once and on the fold...Well, that sounds like a fun project, doesn't it?

Planning for my future Ceylon...You can't see it from there but the fabric is actually a dark navy blue, and there are small, dark red triangles next to these little arrow thingies.

 - I'm not sure I'll have the time to make them before the end of the year, but I also have my eyes set on this blouse from Tonje Thoresen's Couture Vintage book, which I'd really like to turn into a dress, and on Gertie's shirtdress from her first book. What? You think I'm obsessed with shirt dresses? Noooo...no I'm not. *cough cough*

-I'd also like to make a BHL Anna dress, probably in a wool plaid, and with longer sleeves (alteration explained here).

-I've seen some thick knit poly grey and black houndstooth fabric at Toto which I think would make a nice wintery Moneta;

-Finally, as far as knitting is concerned, I haven't decided yet what I'm going to make once I'm done with my Aiken dress. Maybe knit a Mary Mead cardi, and/or a pair of socks?

Well, that's more than enough to keep me busy till the end of the year, don't you think? Some of these projects might get made, others...well, I'll see. I'd like to make stashbusting projects a priority, but I'm not sure it's going to happen!

Some Cuisine : Black Sesame Cake

I went back to my local organic supermarket recently and was intrigued to find some black sesame butter.

As I had already tried - and loved - black sesame ice cream, I thought "Hmm...Why not?"...and so it came back home with me!
And here's my first try at cooking with it - a black sesame cake! And guess what? It's also vegan-friendly!
I made it totally from scratch, so I tried to write the proportions, but I'm not sure they're perfect - there's a bit too much flour, making it a bit compact for my taste. Anyway, here it goes :

• 140g flour (a bit less flour - something like 100g - might actually be better);
• 1 pack (11g) baking soda;
• 60g brown sugar;
• 2 very ripe bananas;
• 100g almond butter (or any other, like cashew for example) + black sesame butter (I put something like 2 tbsp almond and 1 tbsp black sesame because I was not sure I' d like it if it was all black sesame);
• about 10cl liquid (I used coconut water because that was all I had available, but almond milk, soy milk or rice milk would be fine too).

Mix the flour, sugar and baking soda together.
Squash the bananas - if they're ripe enough, a fork should do the trick, no food processor needed.
Add the bananas and butters to your flour/sugar/soda mixture. Then add the liquid until you get the same texture as muffin dough.
Transfer to a baking pan lined with baking paper and put into the oven at 180°C.
Let it cool, then...enjoy!

You can also make a non-vegan version if you replace the bananas with 2 eggs, part of the butters with regular butter (but still, keep the black sesame...otherwise it would take out all the fun!) and regular milk instead of almond or soy milk, and maybe a little more sugar (I didn't put much of it because I was using bananas and they're already sweet). And do feel free to change the proportions if you want something a bit lighter or a different taste!

What's been on my sewing table...

I haven't been posting a lot here lately, but believe me (and you would know if you follow me on Instagram ;) ), that was not for lack of sewing!
It's not always fun to be unemployed, but I must say that having more spare time is a change for the best...all the more so when it allows me to be more productive in terms of sewing! However, what I've sewn lately is more suitable for cooler weather and I haven't had the opportunity to take photos of me wearing those garments, so proper posts about these will come later.
So here's what I've been up to lately : 
I've made this Sencha blouse ...

Embroidered neckline...

And fun vintage square buttons!

 And this Chataigne skirt, which I think will be a great match for the above top...

Admittedly, the right side may look a bit plain...

But look at this wrong side! Sacred hearts, polkadot bias, lace-trimmed lining, oh my!

I've also ordered fabric for a Bombshell Swimsuit, which I may (or may not) start this week or next week...

And I'm also planning to make a Negroni shirt for my man.

And also, in other words, this is post #100! Woohoo!

Finished : An unplanned Moneta

Here's another sewing project which wasn't part of my plans for this summer/year, but it still happened!

Sorry for this unglamorous grocery bag! Although, I hadn't noticed until now, but it's got stripes, like my dress - and in that crappy artificial light, you could almost think the stripes on the dress are the same color as the bag's! So...not so unglamorous I'd say!

This is Colette Pattern's Moneta, made in a cotton jersey I got at Toto for something like 3€.
It's going to be nice to wear in this hot weather, but let me tell you folks...this fabric was a BITCH. As it's super thin and shifty, it took me hours to try and match stripes on my folded fabric, until I finally decided to cut it flat. As I thought it would be too much trouble to try and lay the skirt's pieces on my fabric and keep the stripes matchy, I decided to just cut two gathered rectangles. Even that, though, was not easy ; as I couldn't match my stripes at the selvedge (no matter how hard I tried!), I tried to make them match at the fold and in the middle of my fabric, by sticking random pins in the middle of my fabric (see picture below).

Can you spot the pins?

The final garment is a bit short compared with what I'm used to wear, and I think there is a thread tension problem around my sleeves and skirt hem - the upper thread - or should I say, one of my upper threads (how weird is that, seriously?!) - looks like it's too loose. 

Ugh, that's an ugly hem...

But I like it anyway, and I hope it's going to last the whole summer...at least! If not, I can still redo my hems!

Outfit Along : all done!

You've already seen my dress...now here's my (almost) finished cardi!

This is a Hetty. Nothing particular to say about the construction. I put loads of markers to mark the lace repeats and everything went fine. As I often do with Andi's designs, I just added one lace repeat so the length fit me better. It took some time to finish because of the heat wave - not the kind of weather that makes you want to knit!

I used these gorgeous black glass buttons which I got on A Little Mercerie. They're beautiful but quite fragile - I broke one as I was sewing it, thankfully the lovely lady who sold them to me added 2 spare buttons just in case. I'll try to be very careful, but I hope they'll stand the wash!

And may I say, I think Hetty really pairs perfectly with a dress that's meant to show off a bit of skin!