Burda Women's Shirt Pattern

This weekend I have been getting on with a couple of jobs that have been sat around a while.  The first was a small rip in a friends dress that needed some invisible stitching ( I say invisible but it was actually a very fine mesh so I did the best I could). There was also a replacement zip and a shirt for me that I have had the fabric for for quite a while.

The reason it has been so long waiting for me to get started is that I knew it wasn't going to be a quick make. It is fitted but very structured and  lot of bits and detail that needed to be spot on.

Here it is...

I really like the middle fabric on the front of the pattern but they didn't have any like that so I got this which is a dusky pink. Not  a colour I would usually go for as I tend to suit bolder colours so I hope I wear this! 

The fit turned out to be very accurate but I did feel the collar was too deep so after I had stitched it all on I thought that it would just bug me, that would probably mean the garment wouldn't get worn.  With that in mind I unpicked the whole collar snipped about a cm off the bottom and put it back in.  It took longer to put back in as everything was not as crisp but it got there.

When making the shirt next time I may also make it shorter as it is quite long.

This has inspired me to try more of the Burda patterns for more detailed stuff, I make lots without but it is good to work from one occasionally, my way of doing things  usually involves trying on repeatedly and tweaking things as I go. Working from a pattern is more like doing a puzzle so it can be a relaxing way to work.  ( Just buy them on offer, make sure you can reuse and adapt)

Here you can see it is long, but that is the style.

Now that I know that this pattern works and is a good fit I may see if I can make it in something heavier for the winter. 

Gluten Free Blueberry Pancakes (frugal and quick desert)

I really wanted some pudding today after my lunch and while everyone else was eating banoffee cheesecake and cream I had to go without.  I did try a bought lemon cheesecake from the supermarket's free from range a couple of weeks ago but it was awful, expensive and everyone complained!  So back to letting them have the regular deserts as why should everyone else suffer.
After about an hour my sweet tooth got the better of me and I decided to make something using what I had in the fridge.

Blueberry Pancakes.

 I didn't measure anything out as it is not necessary with stuff like this I feel, so here is what I did.

I used one egg and cracked it into the jug, added a splash of soya milk and whipped it up a bit.

I added one teaspoon of sugar and about five level desert-spoons of  GF flour (plain). Next I chopped up a handful of blueberries, heated some olive oil in a pan and poured in the batter.  I waited until the bottom had caught a bit then spread out the blueberries, turned after a short while and it was done.

To serve I added some plain Alpro yogurt, a few more blueberries and a drizzle of syrup, it was very nice.

It was a decent size serving so you could use this amount and make four or five small thin ones to have with ice cream if you can eat that (I can't).  There is a really good cheats ice cream though that you make using frozen bananas and peanut butter. You can find it here Dairy free ice cream

Pancakes are quite useful as you can put savoury fillings in them and they are cheap to make and a bonus is they are one of the few GF recipes that taste just like the regular version.

Frugal Bathroom Blind revamp/makeover

I redid the bathroom blind last year or was it the year before? Using a bit of fabric from Ikea but as we have recently redone our bathroom it no longer went with the colour scheme.  As it was so easy to do on the cheap last time I had no intention of paying out a ridiculous amount of cash to get the look I wanted.  Lets face it a roller blind is just a bit of fabric with a channel in one end for a bit of plastic and it is attached to a mechanism on a cardboard tube!

Here it is...

This is what I did.
As the bathroom is a damp place and my window is right next to the bath I decided that this time I was going to use the coated fabric. You know the kind you use as wipe-able table cloths, so we went and had a look and found this...

It has little pebbles all over it which will go really well with two pictures I have in my bathroom.

This is the lovely orange one I took down, but don't worry that fabric will be washed and pressed and I am sure it will come in useful for something in the future.

It is a great design but it does not go with the current neutral colours.

All I did was remove the old fabric by taking out the staples from the tube, I lay the new fabric over the top to get the right size and then stitched a new channel at the bottom for the plastic to go in (the bit that weights the bottom down).  If you are starting from scratch you could just make this from a bit of dowel.  I didn't even need to hem the sides this time because the fabric being coated it does not fray.  We just made sure it was lined up straight on the tube and stapled it with an electric stapler.  I'm sure strong glue could probably be used for this bit.

I showed my mum the fabric and she said she could do with something like that as things get splashed on her blind and she has a hard time keeping it clean. I told her to have a look for something she likes and we will do her blind up next.