No Wheat!

A little update on the new year so far, and I have to say I am feeling good about it. Tired from work at the end of the day but the normal kind of tired that comes from having been up early and done a days work.  I have not had any energy crashes  at 2 in the afternoon which was quite normal for me, sometimes I had to fight to keep my eyes open until it passed.  I have also banished my daily stomach cramps which usually start late afternoon.
I  haven't been able to tolerate milk since my younger son was about 3 and I have been using soya instead ever since, for years that sorted me and I was fine but maybe for the last year or so the cramps have been back.  I have heard about the evils of bread and laughed it off (after all we have been eating the stuff for ever) but Christmas saw me in pain for days but just getting on with stuff so I decided I would just give it a try. No bread, pasta, cake biscuits or anything with wheat, I went out and bought from the gluten free section.  I have to say it is very expensive and not much choice in the supermarket but it has made me think about what I'm eating.
There has been no test I must stress but that was on my list, if this didn't work I was going to go to the doctors and insist on a test to see which food was affecting me but so far this seems to have done the trick.
No pain,  no bloat and surprisingly I have stopped feeling like I need a nap mid afternoon (which I can't have anyway because I'm at work!) I also think my skin seems to have improved and it's only been a few weeks!
Now my lunch did used to be a very lazy and boring affair with pretty much a white bread cake with either humous or quorn on it every day.  Thinking about what I can have means I have taken left over curry, soup, rice cakes, baked potato (cook day before) and salads so the energy could also be due to better food going in.  I have just found this blog Gluten free Girl which is full of information and the author is actually Celiac so she has to watch every label or suffer terribly. However she has turned it into a positive and writes books with her chef husband, she also treats food as something to be enjoyed and to focus on what she can eat.
I think cutting out the wheat actually means you do have to say no to an awful lot of the crap that we normally eat, stodge and confectionery most of it.  I do love dark chocolate though.
So so far it has not been hard and I thought it would be, I suppose it is just a case of getting out of the habit of reaching for the biscuits or toast when you are feeling pekish.
I have not had a go at baking yet as I was confused by the range of flours and that you need specific ones for different things. I will try this out at some point though for now I am managing without baked goods.
I would be interested to hear how anyone else is getting along who is living wheat free.

This past week I have been reading How to fall in Love by Cecelia Ahern and I am enjoying it.

 It is an easy read which is good after I re-read 1984 just after Christmas which was thoroughly depressing! It is well written and a classic but honestly so miserable.
There has also been guitar practise and catching up on Grand Hotel series three so not much sewing going on but I thought I would have a little rest after my Christmas sewing frenzy. Back soon.

Sewing saves you money

First week back at work of the new year out of the way and I have to say I was shattered by the end of it.  You have a couple of weeks off and suddenly you get tired quickly, it just goes to show how soon your body adapts to a different routine be it good or bad. Rushing around getting things done at the end of the day has meant my sewing has slowed down but this will improve as I get back into my working routine.

I like to practise my guitar, read and swim as well as sewing so I want to make sure everything is balanced and sometimes it feels like there are not enough hours (you know that feeling).

Today was intended to be my sewing day but I have had a headache all day which is only just lifting I may get a little done later but for now I thought I would give a run down on the cost of my Christmas sewing.

The fabric for all of the garments I made over Christmas and the the Christmas party dress I made a few weeks before came out of money I received for my birthday.  I ordered it from Minerva Crafts and it cost me £27 for 3 metres of chiffon (various patterns) 1 metre of sweatshirt fabric and 2 metres of Jersey.

Below is a round up of what I made for  that amount...

A party dress.  This would easily have cost at least £30 in a shop, more depending on where. 

This dress which can be worn day or night I think, it is very comfy and a really good weight fabric.

This dress which can be worn  any season as you just add layers under it. ( Which is what I did when I wore it last week)

Same style as the one above but without the sleeves.

This loose long sleeved blouse, needs a top underneath though!

Another top in need of a long sleeved T shirt underneath but that would still have been required had I bought it from a shop.






Finally this sweatshirt, I just made the pattern by laying out a top I already owned to give me an idea of size and measure my arms to get the sleeve length right.




So five garments for £27, I know some of you may be thinking that you managed that in the sale. However these garments fit me perfectly which is what you get when you sew for yourself, also you are aware of the labour that went into these items and also the enjoyment from creating them yourself.  Given those factors I would say that you not only save but also learn and find a bit of peace in the process.

Weekend Sewing

I thought I had better get on here and update quickly as soon as I came home as now I am back at work time is tight.  Saturday afternoon I made up another dress along the same idea as the blue one but this time without sleeves.  This material was not as heavy as the blue and with quite a bit of bounce which always makes for awkward stitching but it was still pretty quick to put together.

It was green in the picture when I ordered it (the lines in the check) but after staring at it it looks brown to me, then at work today I looked down and it did in fact look a bit olive green. So maybe I am colour blind, or I have bought some weird chameleon type fabric. It was worn today with very thick brown tights and a long sleeved brown T  shirt underneath.

I had to face around the sleeves on this one and I have not done belt loops as I have different size belts which I may wear depending on what top I wear underneath this.

Yesterday I made up a sweatshirt , I just used used a top I already had and made it loose, a piece for front and back, sleeves and a bottom extra hem piece.  Again very quick to make up so I really need to source  some more good heavy sweatshirt fabric (preferably with a bit of detail in it so it doesn't look too much like a hoody.)

This fabric had a bit of a fleck in it, a bit more interesting than plain, but quite a lot of fray.

So that was all of the fabric I bought a month ago with birthday money, it certainly gave me more value and entertainment than buying the items.  I have a few fabrics left bought at other times still to be made up so I haven't ran out just yet.  I will break down the cost of these items in a few days and hopefully inspire you to sew, or at least give it a go.