Carrot and Cranberry Energy Bites (Vegan/Gluten free)

Occasionally I fancy something sweet, not as often as I used before I stopped eating gluten but every now and then I fancy something like that.  About a month ago I made the carrot bites from the cook book Keep it Vegan, and these are a variation on that. In fact I would imagine you could come up with all kinds of variations on these by just adding your favourite fruits, nuts and flavourings, keeping them all natural of course.

These are on a tray but they are not going in the oven as they are raw, just pop them in the fridge to set then keep in a container.

Ingredients

200g pecans

50g cashews

50g cranberries

100g dates

1 carrot grated

zest of 1/2 orange

1/2 teaspoon mixed spice

40g desiccated coconut

Place all the ingredients except the coconut in a blender and blitz, I like to chop my dates a little first as my blender is not that powerful.  Shape  into balls in your hands, about 12 of a good bite size then roll in the coconut, place on a tray and leave to set in the fridge.  If you have ever bought those expensive naked bars you will never do so again if you make these they are much better value.

They go down well with a cup of tea at work and are just enough to keep you going until lunch, so much better than a starchy biscuit.   If you are interested the book I adapted this from it is 'Keep it Vegan' as mentioned above by Aine Carlin.

Fixing Dress Sizing Problems (Tips)

This weekend I was asked to sort out a dress that had been bought for a wedding.  The owner of the dress felt the dress fit but couldn't understand why it was sitting so strangely on one shoulder  and under the arms.  We often buy clothes but forget how very different we all are, this is one of the reasons that I enjoy sewing, it means I am able to make clothes that fit me just right or alter the ones that don't.

Looking at the dress in question I feel it was a bit of a design fault, I think it is unlikely the shoulder should be sitting so much higher than the other.

As you can see here, when the dress had been tried on, the shoulder was off by almost 2cm.

So first of all place your pins on the inside where the new seam will go and unpick.

Stitch your seam in the new position only catching one of the layers on one side.

The reason you only catch one seam on one side is that you are going to let it lap over the seam and turn it under.

Pin it in position then hand stitch taking care to only catch on the underside of the fabric.

Next tackle the side seam

Unpick

Keep the pin in the position where you want your new seam to be.  Sew seam in the new position be sure to taper it gradually, trim away excess, and fold facing to wrong side of dress.   Hold in place and topstitch into the seam on the right side of the dress making sure your stitches stay in the seam.

Once you have had a go at this it will make more sense, why not try it out on something old first of all.  I learnt to sew by doing, trying on my own and I feel no amount of books or courses will make up for just having a go.  If you practise on ill fitting garments that you never wear anyway then you have nothing to lose.  I hope this was of some help.

Autumn Wool Skirt Ideas

A couple of weeks ago I bought a fabulous little remnant of wool mix fabric when I was out shopping for the new lining for my jacket. It is grey and has a tweed feel to it however the cost was only £2, it is a good sized piece and I also bought lining to match which cost me the same as the fabric. 

Usually I just jump straight in and make the first thing that comes to mind and usually this works pretty well but recently I have decided to try and keep track of the items I make. I thought it would be nice to keep some sort of paper record other than this blog so I have decided on a small note book.  I began with my recent apron and I thought I would continue in this vain.  It is a shame that I didn't do this years ago as there are so many things that have been made for myself and others that have now gone forever but here is a start.

Here are my ideas for my autumn skirt...

Now I am no fashion artist so this is purely for my own train of thought but I have seen a few skirts that gather from the waist slightly and I don't think there is enough fabric for that.  I also like the one pleat front (see above but imagine just one centre pleat). Other thoughts were adding a pocket within a placket as I have a zip with heavy metal teeth in my stash or some detail waistband tabs with button detail.

The skirt will be lined as I like my clothes to have some substance and it prevents tights from grabbing on the fabric.  It will also be slightly longer than the one in the diagram, other than that it is still up in the air at the moment but I will be using elements from the picture above I just haven't made my mind up yet.  I hope to begin this tomorrow along with a party dress alteration for a colleague of my husband.

I had a little peak on the Betz white blog and there is a gorgeous little tree ornament stitch along, I am not going to take part but what a lovely idea, I may take a few ideas from pinterest nearer the time and  make a few things.  If you have time maybe take a look you may find some inspiration.