I’ve made some new things…
… including a new Christmas Day dress for myself… the latest subtraction from ye good old stash. So this new dress was made with a piece of lovely border print stuff bought in the closing days of 2019, New York when I went there with Yoshimi… I’m pretty sure it was from Metro Textiles?
I thought I’d make a simple, very plain shift dress and turned to a rather lovely little shift dress pattern I’ve made previously, Burda 07/2018; 118, which is exactly that, but with pockets! Win!
As usual I hadn’t really bought enough fabric and cutting out the pieces was a tight squeeze! I had to cut out those awkwardly shaped facing pieces from a different fabric. I used a pale latte coloured, stiff cotton for this.
Fortunately I also had a zip of the appropriate length in my stash too, although it’s a less than ideal bright white instead of ivory; it’s a little more noticeable that in appears in this picture.
This picture is really just to show the selvedge being used for the centre back seam; I often do this if the selvedge is lying nice and flat, and it does save that little bit extra if fabric is short.
If I’m totally honest with myself I’m not 100% happy with how the print matched up along this back seam but again, I didn’t have enough fabric to do anything about this so c’est la vie.
wearing it here with my crocheted hat…
This really is such a lovely print! and I’m absolutely thrilled it has now become a cute little summer dress that I felt comfortable and very happy in, all day long. I didn’t get any photos from Christmas Day because I was just rushed off my feet all day, but I wore it again today and took these pics. 🙂
Next up! for Christmas gifts, something I always like to do is to make some little edible treat for the whole family. This year I thought I’d make hot chocolate bombs… however, a lot of the recipes I found online were in the form of perfectly spherical, beautifully shiny chocolate shells that you fill with cocoa powder and maybe sugar and/or marshmallows… well such chocolatey artistry was completely beyond my skills! I decided instead to just make hot chocolate “bricks” 😉
These little morsels might not be things of beauty but they do comprise everything that one needs for a mug of yummy hot chocolate. My recipe:
Hot Chocolate Bricks
each brick contains:
- 45g dark cooking chocolate
- 1 heaped tsp cocoa powder
- ¼ tsp sugar
- 4 mini marshmallows
I used double the above mixture, which was an easy quantity to handle, to make two at a time. Simply melt the chocolate in the microwave then quickly and thoroughly stir through the cocoa powder and sugar. The mixture should be sticking together into a self-contained blob, picking up all the mixture off the sides of the bowl as you mix and leaving almost no residue. If it wasn’t, I would add a little more cocoa powder until it did stick together. Divide between two mini patty pans and gently push the marshmallows on top… this means people can remove them before melting the brick and pop them on top of their hot chocolate just before serving.
Each brick is designed to go in 100-150mL milk, depending on how strong you like it. If you like it super rich then you can substitute a little cream for a portion of milk! because they’re quite rock solid little things they actually need a LOT of stirring and occasional re-heating to mix in thoroughly enough. But they are delicious! I used one of the earlier, not-so-pretty ones to check out that they worked ok…
btw I also made a little instruction slip to put in with each pack, explaining the how-to stuff. Actually, I can’t believe I didn’t take a picture of the final packages, obviously I got a bit stressed for time towards the end there!(Later edit: Mum took a picture of hers for me… :). )
However, to describe; throughout the year I’d saved up those little plastic punnets mini tomatoes are sold in… I peeled off the labels and managed to squeeze 7 chocolate bricks in each punnet. I popped the instructions in as well and finished off with tying up the punnets with coloured ribbons.
Finally, and possibly my very last makes for the year? there are just three days to go, so maybe! I made three little garments, for my three little grandsons. Two raglan sleeve T-shirts in different sizes and a little onesie for the newest and littlest, all self-drafted. Each using a mix of white and vaguely Christmassy red plaid cotton jersey, although I didn’t actually make them for Christmas! I bought the red plaid cotton jersey from (I think?) the Fabric Store in Melbourne during a past trip over there… it’s quite thin and was actually not much fun to sew with. Doing the twin needle hems on the T-shirt sleeves was a hideous experience, each one unpicked and re-done multiple times each. I don’t really know what the issue was but it only occurred on this particular fabric, not the white cotton body hems.
The white jersey was from old stash. I think they turned out pretty cute, and if I get a picture of the little guys wearing their new things I will upload it here!
I wore it a few times, but it had one small problem which ultimate led me to my next project…
I agonised on how to put in the zip, finish the raw edges, and eventually bound the edges with matching charcoal linen – the same stuff I used to line the card slots and coin pocket. I hand stitched the linen binding down inside, and then finally glued the outer layer over the top. I wasn’t sure how the glueing would work out, but it has nicely stiffened up the final product in a very satisfactory way.
Item 5; I’m not sure if I’ve posted this before? if not here tis… a baby onesie for our friend’s baby. Design is my own, and yes, I used the leftovers for my Watson set, above!
The pattern is Ghost Horses by Boyland knit works… I bought it through 
I bought the yarn from Morris and Sons in Melbourne, during our Harry Potter excursion over there, last March. Actually, March 2022, hehe; so embarrassed to admit that. I actually started knitting it straight away and got it to final ribbing stage within a few months. Then took like forever to decide on the finishing bands. I didn’t really like the slightly tight look of the finishing bands on the pattern envelope sample and tried multiple variations ie various k/P ribbing combos, stocking stitch, double yarn etc before finally settling on … well, these ones. Mine is same needle size as body, single yarn, 2K 2P rib, very loosely finished.
I made a new underwear set… all from scraps and leftovers! this kind of project is super fun for me, mostly because it is so crazy and silly.
Stuff cut out. Here are the bits and bobs. The leftovers (middle right) are, I’m proud to boast; practically nothing. I did save some of them for another little project, yet to be realised…
I made up the body part of the Maisa jean jacket first, and overlocked the edges of the other red jacket bits, for dyeing.
Hello!
Oh man! I have been unable to post here for quite a while and was starting to wonder; could this be the end of Handmade by Carolyn…? Fortunately my clever husband worked the problem out. Then I wrote a whole post and posted it, and it just disappeared, poof! into the ether. So upsetting! I’m going to try for a second time, so hopefully this time it will not!
