Cupcakes for my Wingman

My littlest guy turned two today.   He’s come such a long way from his almost-three-month-early birth and 3 ½ pound weight to the happy, healthy and hungry toddler he is today.  To celebrate I made carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese icing.  The icing (Martha Stewart’s recipe) is luscious and rich, made with cream cheese and butter.  The cake, on the other hand, is a much lighter version of the traditional cake and is moist and flavorful with spices.  The recipe comes from Sunset’s Vegetarian Cooking, contains no eggs and uses a unique method of cooking the carrots and raisins in a sugar syrup before adding the dry ingredients.  Here’s the recipe:

Carrot Cake

• 2 cups lightly packed, shredded raw carrots
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 ½ cups each sugar and water
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• ½ teaspoon each salt, ground cloves, and ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon each ground nutmeg and ground cinnamon
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Place carrots, raisins, sugar, water, and butter in a 3-quart pan and bring to a simmer over medium heat; continue to simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and let cool.

In a bowl, sift together all-purpose flour, baking soda, salt, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, and cinnamon; stir in whole wheat flour.  Stir dry ingredients into cooled carrot mixture until flour is moist.  Stir in vanilla and walnuts.  Spoon intoa greased 9-inch square baking pan.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Cool on a rack for 10 minutes.  Serve warm or at room temperature.  Makes 12 servings.

Note:  I added ½ teaspoon of ground cardamom.  Omitted the nuts for little children.

The cupcake wrappers and picks are a Wilton product that I purchased at Michael’s.

My DIY Wedding

Tomorrow is my 9^th wedding anniversary.  I was married in late September 2001, a very emotional time in this country.  The Washington, DC area had not recovered from the terrorist attacks earlier in the month and a number of people were unable to come to our wedding because of travel difficulties created by airport closures in this area.  But we felt that it was imperative that we forge ahead and celebrate life and love in this very unsettled time.  One story I will always remember:  one of my DIY projects was to make fabric tissue covers which I stuffed with heart-printed tissues.  I remember my then-fiance watching me fill a basket with the completed covers and saying, “make more, make more”.  I think he had a good idea that there would be a few tears shed during the course of the day.

Being a lover of all things handmade I determined early on that I would take on as many DIY projects as I could for my wedding.  I started with the invitations which I created from beautiful handmade paper overlaid with vellum sheets and tied with a ribbon.  I love the look of hand lettered envelopes but didn’t want to spring for the expense.  Instead, I printed the addresses in a beautiful script on my computer but at only a small % setting for the ink, making the letters barely visible.  I then used a large-nibbed gold metallic pen and traced over each letter, giving the appearance of hand lettering.

I also decided I would do all of the flowers.  I have had a wee bit of experience making wedding flowers in the past, mostly artificial flowers back in the 1980’s when those were popular for weddings.  After a lot of research and searching I found that a local grocery store had the best price on roses; I think they were $6/dozen.  I went to six or seven different stores of the same chain and bought up all of the roses they had in my chosen colors as well as dozens of bunches of alstroemeria lilies.  I used all warm shades from gold to red and everything in between.  I decided that what I lacked in variety could be made up in sheer volume.  I made all of the boutonnieres, corsages, and venue décor.  I decided to wear a wrist corsage instead of carrying a bouquet as we had planned to have a cocktail hour before the ceremony and I did not want to be encumbered by a bouquet.  I used simple vases from Ikea filled with roses on the tables and also filled a milkglass urn for the top of the cake pedestals I used to hold the cupcakes, as well as two standing candle holders.

The cupcakes were another thing I did myself.  My husband does not particularly like cake so I thought it would be silly to spend a large amount of money on a cake he would not enjoy eating.  I considered pie (his favorite) but couldn’t image how messy it might be to feed this to one another so we went with cupcakes.  To this day people still tell me these were the best cupcakes they had ever eaten (including my husband).  It’s no surprise considering the name:  Whipped Cream Cake with Italian Meringue Buttercream.  Both recipes come from Martha Stewart’s 1987 Weddings book.  I flavored the buttercream icing with Frangelico liqueur which gave it a wonderful flavor.  I piped the icing on in a swirled pattern and sprinkled the tops with edible glitter.

My biggest project for the wedding was making my own dress.  I took a series of classes at G Street Fabrics in Falls Church, VA, working with a wonderful woman who became my sewing mentor.  Starting out I made several dress muslins attempting to create the wedding dress I envisioned wearing.  Finally realizing that the styles I was choosing were not appropriate for my figure I changed my plan and decided to find a flattering silhouette and learn to love it.  Which is what I did.  I used a Vogue pattern by Vera Wang (#2118, now out of print) which featured a fitted empire waist, princess-line bodice, and flared skirt.  I piped the empire waist seam and added self-covered buttons down the back.  The fabric, was a champagne-colored silk matelasse with an embossed floral design.  The center back of the skirt was left open and designed for layers of tulle to peek out.   I substituted a flounce of lace which I hand beaded with gold and ivory pearls.  I loved making this dress and hope it will be passed down one day as an heirloom to someone in my family. 

I loved all of the hands-on work I did for this wedding.  It not only allowed me to achieve certain looks that I craved (and appealed to my budget mindedness) but also fed my soul like only working with my hands can do.  My wedding really was “from these hands”.

I'm sharing this post today with the folks over at Today's Creative Blog on their Get Your Craft On feature.  Check them out.

Bag of the Week 38

Fall Leaves

Fall arrived at 8:09 p.m. on Wednesday but here in Washington, DC it felt more like the height of summer with temperatures this week in the 90’s.  Hopefully those of you reading this post in cooler parts of the world will fully appreciate these little wool bags with appliquéd fall leaves.  For those of us still sweltering, may they bring hope that cooler weather is just around the corner.

Each of these bags is made from a variety of wool, many of which were repurposed from thrift store finds.  The bag design is a simple lined pouch.  The machine embroidered leaf designs, made from cotton batik fabrics, are from Kathleen Parman’s Herky Jerky line.  I featured other designs by Kathleen in my January 20^th and February 10^th posts this year.  Each bag was finished with an I-cord made from a novelty yarn (or two) and each has a twisted yarn strap.

Happy Fall!

Knit Tops from Jalie

This is an article I wrote a while back for my American Sewing Guild Chapter's newsletter.

Several years ago, I took a class with Sarah Veblen entitled Getting Comfortable with Knits.   I considered myself a fairly advanced sewist, but sewing knits had always daunted me.  Immediately following the completion of the class, armed with my new skills, I boarded a bus bound for New York City and proceeded to add several dozen pieces of knit fabric to my stash.   Those pieces have been aging now for over five years. 

When I look at my ready-to-wear wardrobe what I find is knit tops.  But when I sew I usually create more complex garments such as jackets and dresses.  Following the birth of my second son I was anxious to start sewing again but my time was much more limited.  While visiting PatternReview.com I kept coming across rave reviews for Jalie Patterns.  This Canadian-based company, specializing in patterns for stretch knits, is known for easy-to-sew garments with a fashion-forward look.  I formulated a new sewing goal:  create some knit tops for my wardrobe while using up some of my existing stash and practicing the techniques I had learned for sewing knits.  I ordered eight patterns (after all, when you buy three you get the fourth free).  I decided to make each top twice, the first time straight from the pattern, the second time with any needed changes.  Here I review the first two patterns I made. 

Most Jalie patterns are sized for stretch knits and come in multi-size format, typically more than 20 sizes per pattern, 2T through Women’s 22.  The instructions are brief but the illustrations are very clear and you can print an extra set from Jalie’s website.  Most of the patterns include multiple sleeve variations (I found you could mix and match sleeves between patterns) and many include an optional modesty panel.  Seam allowance is ¼”.

The first top I tried was 2787, the Criss-Cross Top.  This shirt featured three sleeve variations (flutter, flared ¾, and sleeveless), can be worn as a maternity top and can be sewn with nursing access. 

For my first version I chose the ¾ sleeves and used a copper novelty knit with multi-colored flowers.  I constructed the top entirely by serger.  I serged clear elastic along the edges of the crossover panels for stability then topstitched with a twin needle.  I loved how this top turned out but alas, the fabric has not held up well to washings. 

For my second attempt I used another novelty knit, a light purple with a puckered surface, fused onto a stable underlining.  I used dark purple foldover elastic to bind the edges of the crossover panels and sleeve hem and liked how this finish highlights the crossover curves.  I substituted a sleeve from one of the other patterns.  Both of these tops are great as nursing wear.

I later made another version of this top and I posted about it here.

Next, I made 2449, the Crossover Top.  This top features a crossover neckline with neckband, optional asymmetric hem and short or ¾ sleeves. 

My first version used a piece of knit fabric which I got at an ASG fabric swap or sale (probably at Jane Selewach’s house).  It was a remnant of black, pink, purple and coral stripe.  I combined it with a black cotton/lycra knit, using the stripe for one side of the front, one sleeve and one neckband, the black for the remaining pieces.  I used the ¾ sleeve (which I felt was too short) and shortened the overall length of the top by 2 inches.  The neckband goes up to the shoulder seams but not around the back of the neck.  A lump tends to form where the band transitions into the back neckline.  One PatternReview-er suggested using fusible bias tape along the back neckline which I did and it helped.  I also used the straight-of-grain fusible tape along the hems and finished with a twin needle. 

My second version of this top was made from a lovely Oriental print acetate/lycra jersey from Gorgeous Fabrics.  I chose the asymmetrical hemline to enhance the Asian flair of the top, and used the flared ¾ sleeve (shortened slightly) from the Criss-Cross Top.   I did not shorten the overall length in order to use the asymmetrical hem and the top turned out too long.  I did not want to sacrifice the asymmetrical hem by shortening so instead I ran gathering stitches along both side seams, creating ruching across the front and back at tummy level (added bonus:  pleats help hide my post-baby belly).  Both of these tops also work well as nursing wear.  They show more cleavage than I like so I layer them over a camisole.

If you want to learn more about sewing knits for yourself, you can sign up for Sarah Veblen’s Getting Comfortable with Knits class.  See Sarah’s website for more details.

Bag of the Week 37

Kimono Tote

This beautiful bag was designed by Nancy Shriber who specializes in sashiko quilting with a contemporary feel.  I have taken many classes from Nancy and she is one of the most gifted and inspiring teachers I know.  She has been featured in Threads magazine and lectures and teaches around the country.  This pattern, described as a tote bag inspired by a traditional Japanese Kimono, is part of her Garment Series line.  I chose a lovely watercolor-inspired fabric for my bag and accented it with contrasting silk dupioni.  The band around the center mimics an obi, and I accented it with a Chinese coin.  I also machine quilted the base fabric, following the natural color pattern of the fabric.  I made this bag for a silent auction several years ago.