Instructional: How to make a Quarter Circle template with a straight ruler

This method is helpful for drawing circles of uncommon widths, or whenever you need a circular curve but have no circular ruler.  To jump ahead, here is a picture of the tool I made to draw the curves in this template.

Both pieces of my template, the 'pie' and the 'crust', overlapped to make a full square with seam allowances.

You will need:

• At least one piece of paper big enough for your quarter circle.  
• A pencil with a sharp point
• Scissors
• A ruler
• A pin
• Thick cardboard that's bigger than your circle (corrugated is good)
• Sticky tape (optional)*

To make:

1. Draw two squares that are the width of your chosen quarter circles.  (Having trouble making a square corner?  See **) 

My squares are 4" wide. (This would make 8" circles.)  You don't have to put seam allowances on these yet.  I did, but to remind me of my pivot corners without marking the square itself. 

Two 4" squares ready for quarter circles

2. Cut out a strip of paper that's at least an inch longer than your squares.  Mine is 6" long. 

3. Rule a line down the strip and mark a zero point near one end.  Measure your square's length from that point, as well as a seam allowance before and beyond that length.  My seam allowance is a quarter inch (6mm), so my marks were at 4", 3.75" and 4.25" respectively.

My completed paper compass.  First hole: Pie seam allowance. 2nd hole: Circle arc.
3rd hole: Crust seam allowance. 4th hole: zero, the pivot point.

If you want to use sticky tape, put a strip on the back to reinforce the paper.

Use a pin to put holes in the measured points.  Make the 'seam & allowance' ones big enough to take the pencil tip. (I used a darning needle for this.)

4. Place your paper on your cardboard.  Take the pin and put it through the strip of paper at the zero point.  Now put it exactly through a pivot corner, pinning the strip and paper to the cardboard. (See pic below)

5. Short version: You're going to use the first and second holes (the top two) to mark two arcs on one square (making the pie piece) and the second and third holes to mark arcs on the other square (making the crust piece).   

Long version:
 

5.a  Poke your pencil through the hole for your circle edge (the middle of the three holes) and a draw corner-to-corner arc on your square, using the strip like a compass.  Here are both my squares with their quarter circles drawn.

Two quarter circles.  Note the pin is stuck through the cardboard.

Choose one to be your 'pie' piece - the quarter circle part - and the other to be the 'crust'.

5.b  On your Pie piece, pin the zero point to the same corner as before and use the outer pencil hole to mark your seam allowance arc.

5.c  On your other square (the 'crust' piece): again, pin the zero point to the same pivot point as before.  Use the inner pencil hole to mark a seam allowance inside (below) the quarter circle edge.

The seam allowances marked on both pieces.

6.  Mark a seam allowances on the corners. Using the same pivot point helps keep track of the pieces.  In the picture below, that's
- the lower and left edges of the top square for the pie, and
- the upper and right edges of the bottom square for the crust.

Seam allowance added to the crust piece (bottom square).

7.  Cut out your template pieces along the seam allowance lines. All done!

Both pieces cut and ready to go.

* I know in the US it's call cellotape, and such, but in Australia we call it sticky tape.  Coz it's sticky and it's tape. 
** If you only have a straight ruler, with no grid or right angle, it can be hard to make a perfectly straight square. The corner of another piece of paper can be a good guide.  However, a piece of firm paper (not wrapping paper, which can warp) folded twice - once to create a straight line and again in exactly the opposite direction - can make a good reinforced right angle to guide you.

How to: No-Sew Wet Weather Gear in 10 Steps

Want to get out in the wet weather but haven't a coat or boots for your Little One? Do you have a few meters of waterproof fabric, or even a big garbage bag? DON'T WE ALL??! Well, guess what? Freed from the house you shall be!

This project makes a poncho, a rain bonnet and 'shoe cover' booties that give good* cover in rainy weather.
(The photos are of the prototype, before trimming.  The final product was a lot less of a trip hazard.)

You will need

• A child, wearing their outdoor clothes and shoes 
• About 1.5m of a waterproof fabric.  A cut open garbage bag may work, but I haven't tried it (yet).
• Elastic - about 40cm
• Sticky Velcro dots - 4 pairs
• Scissors
• Wide sticky tape of gaffer tape, or a sewing machine if you're able
• Measuring tape, or string to collect lengths

Priorities for this project, from highest to lowest: safety, speed, accuracy, looks.

PONCHO

1. Get two measurements.

A = child's shoulder to knee x2

B = child's wrist to wrist, +10cm (4")

Cut out a rectangle that is A x B for your baby's poncho.  If A or B is close to the width of your fabric, use that width.  

2. Fold the poncho in half twice, with the back of the fabric showing (so half one way, right sides facing, then half the other way).  You should have a corner that's all fold, and no edge.

3. Measure across the top of your child's head.
If you can find something round that's as big as your child's head, use that to trace a quarter circle on the fold-corner.

Otherwise: Halve that amount.  Measure that amount down the edges from the corner and mark.  (So, if it's about 16cm across the child's head, measure 8cm down each side.) 
Cut straight across from one mark to the other, or if you like it fancy, draw in a bit of a curve to cut along.

3. Open poncho.  
Decide which straight edge is the front.  

Make a 5cm-ish snip from the neck hole pointing straight down the front.

Neck cinching dots.

4. Put poncho on child.

Take a pair of Velcro dots and join them together (i.e. 'Do them up') so you have them connected and with their stickiness exposed. 

At the neck opening, next to the top of the snip, stick your Velco to the inside of a corner.  Then take that corner towards the child's opposite shoulder to close the neck opening and make it fit better.  
Attach the Velcro dot wherever it fits best.

Wrist cinching spots.

PONCHO CUFFS

5. Take one side edge of the poncho.
Find the middle point and hang it over the child's wrist.
Like before, connect two Velcro dots with their stickiness exposed and attached them to the poncho under your child's wrist.
Do the same for the other side edge.

Optional step: trim the corners off your poncho, however you like.

BOOTIES (shoe covers)

6. Get two bootie measurements with shoes on.

A = ankle to ankle, going under the foot + 10cm

B = front of ankle to top of heel, going under the foot + 10cm

Cut two rectangles that are about A x B.

7. Tie some elastic around the child's ankle so that it's snug, but not tight.  

Check you can take the elastic off before you tighten the knot or trim the elastic.  

Make two loops this size.

To put on booties, take the short edge of the rectangle and hold it under the ankle.  Wrap the length of the plastic under the shoe and over the foot and hold in place.  Hook the elastic over the toe and drag it up the back of the heel, collecting the sides of the plastic.  Vwa la!

BONNET

8. Get two bonnet measurements 

A = shoulder to shoulder (bottom of the neck), over the head

B = from eyebrow to back of head (the crown)

Cut one rectangle that's about A x B. 

9. To construct bonnet
With tape: Fold in half, wrong sides facing, so that you have two A edges folded in half.  Hold one edge closed and open the other so you can see the inside of the closed edges. Overlap the closed edges and tape them down.
With sewing machine: Fold in half, right sides facing, so that you have two A edges folded in half. Sew down one folded A. Turn out.

Poncho too big, bonnet too small. Perfect prototype.

10. Put the bonnet on your child with the seam going down the back of their head.  Bring corners under their chin and attach some Velcro spots to hold in place.

Dress your poor child in their travesty of an outfit and admire your work.  Takes a few pics before you head out or Child rips it off.

Go and enjoy your day of floating paper boats down the gutters, searching for pearly spiderwebs, or poking earwigs under bark.

Some children don't like wearing rain bonnets.

*Better than good: good enough.

How to: Personalised Bunting!

I decided to make a birthday bunting for my daughter for her first birthday. Hopefully it'll last for many birthdays to come.

Without a pattern here's how we went about it.  This a long post and includes how I did this bunting, plus instructions for variations.

1. Chose a font

Tip: Keep it simple and sans serif. That is, pick one without tails on the letters, like Arial.  There are a lot of corners and extra bits in fonts like Georgia or Courier.)

On the computer, we used 100% zoom on the screen to view the letters, then folded some paper to an equivalent size and held it up to the wall to see how big it would feel.  Our letters are about 8cm wide and 12cm tall (about 3" x 5").

What to print
I chose to print "HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATE!" because the exclamation mark gave me letter groups of 5, 8 and 5 - nice and symmetrical.

All the letters were printed and cut out.

Reinforce skinny corners with tape. Label your vague letters.

2. Decided on a triangle size

The triangles don't have to be equilateral (sides all being the same length); they can be isosceles (two sides the same length). (Really, they can be square if you like - it's your bunting!)

Our triangles are 20cm wide and 25cm tall (26cm sides).

3. Made a template.

I wanted variety in my bunting, not uniformity.

Uniformity across the front and back of a bunting shows up most with linear patterns, so the template and fabric needs planning to achieve this.

For uniformity with patterns that run in several directions, make a diamond shaped template and align the pattern along the length.
For uniformity with patterns that run only one direction (such as words you'd like to be read from both sides), cut out two triangles, remembering to add any seam allowance.  Align the pattern with the top of your triangle.

If uniformity is unimportant, I recommend a kite shape because it has only one side seam to sew.
Mark your grain to run down the centre of the front triangle.

Remember to add a seam allowance around all the cutting edges.

A step I did later, but should be done now: Mark the space for the letters.  See Step 8 for a picture.

Left: The original template. Right: The kite-shaped template for cutting

4. Bought (more) fabric

When buying the fabric, you need to decide which way you want the pattern to hang and make sure you get enough fabric to fit as many templates as you want.

I wanted a lot of different bright colours and chose three patterns each of blue, green, red, pink, purple, orange and yellow - 21 colours.  My rule for this fabric that the patterns be one colour, maybe with some white.

A fat quarter gave me two kite shapes on the grain, rotated 90° (42 flags). This meant that I was sure to have my patterns varied between flags and across the front and back.

Trace the letters back-to-front

You will also need fabric & stiff interfacing for the letters. I used between 50-100cm of interfacing and two different white-patterned fat quarters.

5. Made the letters

I cut out the printed letters and traced them back-to-front onto interfacing.

I cut the interfacing into a convenient shape that evenly divided the letters into two lots, one for each white-patterned fabric.
Then I attached the interfacing to the fabric.

Once they were securely adhered, I cut out the letters along the traced lines.

Don't cut out the traced letters before you iron them - that's too much work!

6. Cut out the flags

Remember to arrange your template carefully if you care about the pattern directions.  Otherwise it's just important to align the grain with the length or top of a triangle so that it doesn't warp upon hanging or stretch when attached to the bias tape.

I recommend using a rotary cutter and, depending on how long your bunting will be, this would probably justify getting a cutter & mat if you're without.

If you are doing diamonds that will be flopped over the bias strip (one long seam, nice and easy) you might like to use pinking sheers or a decorative rotary blade to make the edges more interesting.

7. Arranged the colour order

To do this I arranged my fabrics in a colour wheel and collected them in a sort of skipping phrase - next colour, skip a colour, next colour, skip two colours, next colour, skip a colour, etc - to create variety.

Then I swapped fabrics so that stripy patterns were separated and so that there was no repetition in the sequence.

There's something soothing & satisfying about rainbows...

8. Placed the letters

I 'matched the middles'.  That is, I found the centre of the colour sequence and the centre of the words and pinned the letters (just one pin at this point) to their matching flags.

Then I laid out the whole thing to check the spelling and see the colour groupings.  I did a bit more shuffling so I was happy with the colours, although it meant the stronger, bolder colours (my favourites) were used for the words and the weaker ones ends up in the ends.

I used the template to centre the letters on each flag and carefully pinned their parts so that they wouldn't shift during sewing.

Using the template to mark the centre-top of each letter.

9. Sew the letters

I like to put my start/end point in an inside corner, should I have one.
For example, I began the A in the corner of the bar as you can see in the photos below.

I used a zigzag set on 3.5 wide and <0.5 long. (The stitch length was rotated off zero about a quarter turn.)

To create square corners on zigzag edgings

1. Sew begond the end of the edge for about 2mm (no more than the width of your zigzag). 
2. Lower the needle to the outside of the turn.  If it's turning left, lower it in the right; if it's turning right, lower it into the left.
3. Raise the foot and rotate your fabric.
4. Lower the foot and resume sewing.

This creates a square corner on your sewing line rather than a dint. (See the H in the third photo below.)

Stitched beyond the edge;
the needle lowered on the right, ready to turn to the left.

The needled lowered on the left; foot raised and fabric turned.

Some finished letters. I began with some nice easy ones - K, A, T & E!

10. Sewed the sides of the flags

You don't need to do this step if you've cut diamonds and plan to flop them over the bias strip.

For both two-triangle flags and kite shapes: Sew the side(s) of your flag with right sides facing (inside out).

Regardless of how you aligned your grain, be mindful to not stretch the edge when sewing.

11. Trimmed and pressed the flags

For kite shapes:  Trim the tips by snipping a long triangle off the end.  It doesn't need to be right up against the point, you just need to remove the bulk from the tip for turning out.

For two-triangle flags:  Carefully trim on both seam edges.

For trimming that was too close: A stop-fray liquid, or even a dab of glue, can help keep fraying at bay.  Apply this when the flag is inside out.

Turn out your flag and use something pointy to push out the tips.

Press your flag so that it lies symmetrically and flat.

For diamond shapes that will be hung over the bias strip:  Fold and press your diamonds in half with wrong sides together.  This step is important if your fold is not on the grain (maybe for pattern reasons) because it will help prevent stretching.

12. Prepared the bias tape

I used two packs of 5m x 12mm white bias tape.  It comes with the raw edges folded over and pressed.

To join two lengths of bias tape

1. Open out the ends of the two strips of bias tape and press flat.
2. Cross the ends so that they are perpendicular (90º to each other - one up/down, the other left-right).
3. Sew across the widest part of that overlap.  Your sewing line should go through the two points where the fold lines cross and should be at 45º to the edges.
4. Trim off excess tape.
5. Press open the allowance and re-press the folds.

My apologies for not providing pictures.  This site does a nice job and begins with making your own bias tape.

From http://www.sew4home.com/tips-resources/sewing-tips-tricks/bias-tape-how-make-it-attach-it

13. Attached flags to bias tape

I began attaching my flags from the middle of the tape, starting with the middle of the words (between the T and H of birthday) and worked my way towards the start and then in the other direction, towards the end. This way, I knew the flags would be centred and I'd use the tape economically.
The middle of the tape was already marked by the join I'd made in Step 12.
It was also easier to seal the ends of tape as a finishing step rather than at the start.

For made flags:  Fold your bias tape in half, length wise.  Tuck the top of the flag into the fold of the bias tape.  Use a pin, if you like, to hold the start in place.  Sew along the length of the tape at an appropriate width.  For a 12mm bias tape, it's about 4-5mm from the fold, which should collect the back of the tape too.

For diamonds: (I would recommend pressing your bias tape in half, the way it will be sewn, so that it doesn't push itself out of the flag fold as you sew.)
Fold over your bias tape and tuck it into the fold of the diamond. Sew along the fold, catching the bias tape in the stitch.  The colour of the bias tape will be hidden.

How you space the flags is up to you.  I intended to put a bit of space between the words, but realised I wasn't sure of how much tape I had spare at the ends.  It's not that important with familiar phrases like 'Happy Birthday', though.
A gap of about 1cm to half an inch is sufficient.
I thought that if the flags were very close the bunting might become stiff and not drape easily.

14. Admire work
Check the back of your flags to see that both sides of the tape were stitched.  Re-do any sections that need to to avoid wear and tear from catching.  Use a needle to hide thread ends in the bias tape.

Hang your bunting somewhere obvious and remember to take a photo of it in action!

D143: Well, well, well... if it isn't the old alphabet...

I've had it in mind to make bikkies of ones, exclamation marks and the letters of Bub's name for her first birthday, and ice them too, of course.  A few weeks ago I bought some Fred & Friends Letter Pressed Cookie Cutters and Letter Pressed Numbers.  The cutters and the boxes were full of promise and I was delightedly keen to go.  

Tomorrow were seeing our family for Bub's birthday, so I'm doing a test run for next weekend when we see Hubs family and aaaaaall our friends (well, many of them).  I'd like for the biscuits to be the party favour, but I'll skip it altogether if they don't come up to scratch.

Below are some tips for working with this product.  

TLDR? Roll out the dough, and cut and stamp the biscuits before chilling. Stamp the biscuits deeply, chill them for a full 30mins, bake till browned (for me, 12mins).

I'm familiar with the CTAW biscuit recipe (which rises quite a bit) so decided to try the one recommended with the stamps.  Here it is, somewhat summarised.  I had to make changes anyway, so am taking liberties with the presentation*:

Fred's Favourite Sugar Cookies*

• 1 cup (250g) butter
• 1 sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 cups flour

1. Cream the butter and sugar till fluffy
2. Add egg and vanilla, mix thoroughly
3. Sift together dry ingredients
4. Add dry ingredient to mixture in two batches. Ensure it's thoroughly mixed.
5. Split sought in two and roll out each between two sheets of parchment or grease proof paper. 
6. Chill for 30mins.
7. Use stamps to cut and impress dough.
8. Bake for 8-10 mins, or until biscuits are browned around the edges.

Steps 5 - 7 are where I had concerns.

The stamps have rounded edges and are not that sharp. Even if I was to create a rectangular shape, and even if I could perfectly tessellate the stamps into that rectangle, there would still be off-cuts at the corners and under the stamp edge.

I wasn't sure of the purpose of the chilling.  Was it a binding/resting step? Or was it to control the spread and rise of the biscuits?  If so, that progress would be lost when the offcuts were kneaded, re-rolled and cut again.

So, I experimented. I rolled, cut and pressed all my biscuits and lay them on parchment in three batches.

The first batch was not chilled.  Also, I was still learning how deeply to press the stamps.

It was doing the 1 when I realised how much deeper I should be pressing.

The second batch were well pressed and chilled for 10mins.

See the slight bulge on the sides? That's how hard you press.

The last batch was well pressed, chilled for the full 30mins, and baked 12mins.

Finally, she figures it out.  Hope these ones are crunchy too.

So there you have it!  Press well, chill well, bake well.
I wonder if chilling the CTAW bikkie recipe would have the same effect...

In other news, I won't have my sewing project ready for my family's gathering.  If you've been reading for the last few days you've probably figured out that I've been sewing a birthday bunting for Bub.  I'm really pleased with how its going, but I've only done three letters of 18 and some flags.  This makes me a quite sad really, but I should spend the morning making a second thing for the arvo tea and icing these bikkies (more practise for next week). I won't have time to sew on the rest of the letters, the rest of the flags and sew the bunting together.  I don't know where the day went :(

--------

*It's worth mentioning, the recipe on the Letters box was wrong.  It listed "1 egg" twice and didn't list flour at all.  If I hadn't bought the Numbers box - with a recipe that was the same in every other way - I couldn't have used their recipe.  Admittedly, this did not bode well for the quality of the product, but Bub slept for 7hrs in a row last night so optimism lined the day.

D135&136: Construction & notes - A Shawl Collar Sweater

Yup.  I'm not particularly experienced in knitted garment construction, so was a bit lost on the skeletal instructions provided in the book.  Here are some notes on the different parts about what I did and the results.  For tl;dr go the blue text.

Since this gift should be being delivered right now (brain is calling you Hub - give the gift! Give the gift!)  I can reveal all and use proper pictures.

Pattern: Shawl Collar Sweater
Source: Debbie Bliss Essential Baby
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Chashmerino Aran in charcoal (decorated with leftover DB Baby Cashmerino in Light Blue)

Body neck edge

I was worried about the neatness of this area.  I used a slip-stitch edging to create a smooth edge on the neckline of the body front.  You can see in the images below that one of the edges is a smooth knit-style pattern, which is the slip-stitch edging. 

For a slip-stitch edge, knit the last stitch of the row and slip the first stitch of the next row.  It will create one 'knit' stitch for every two rows and does not affect the row tension.

I left long tails when casting on or off near the shoulders.  I used one of these to sew the neck on the right side as well as back & forth across the neck front.

Shawl collar - Side seam

Below are two angles of the same work - sewing the right-side neck edge to the shawl collar.  To manage the ease, I pinned and held the shawl collar and neck edge and stretched them while I worked.

I used a whip stitch and picked up two 'beads' of the slipped stitch from the neck and whichever shawl collar stitch matched it best, while under tension.

Picking up the slip-stitch from the neck edge to whip-stitch it to the shawl collar.

Same again from another angle

My goal was to ensure a neat and pleasing line on the front, which was a little tricky with the decreased rows.

The inside of the shawl collar side seam - whip stitching.

The outside of the shawl collar side seam.

Shawl Collar - Front seam

The pattern says to place the right collar in front of the left.  I chose to attach them one at a time rather than sew through three thicknesses.

On the body front edge, there's a little purl bump behind each bound-off stitch.  They sit at the back of the work and I used this purl row of stitches when attaching the left collar edge.

Picking up the purl bump behind the cast off edge.

To attach the left (rear) edge, I pinned the point of the collar of the opposite corner and stretched them gently to match the lengths.   I began at the pinned end and whip-stitched towards the left side.

The left collar edge whip-stitched to the body front.  Note the row of cast-off stitches in front.

To attach the right edge, I pinned its corner to the opposite side stretching the lengths even and I whip-stitched the collar edge to the upper 'bead' of each cast-off stitch. I did this for two reasons:

1. I felt this way would create the least bulk and was most likely to provide a flat seam. 
2. I liked the idea of the lower bead creating a border that was consistent and neat. 

Whip stitching the right collar edge to the front using the upper bead of the bind-off row.
Note the lower bead is exposed. I like how that pattern leads from a rib in the front all the way to the right.

The completed shawl collar

Shoulder seams

The book's directions describe how to join bound-off and selvage edges (p.33), which is what's required when joining the bound off sleeve to the shoulder's selvage.

The length of the sleeve that's joined to the body goes a few stitches beyond the bound-off edge on both sides.  I aimed to get the corners of the sleeves into the corners of the bound off rows.

To manage the ease into the shoulder, I skipped every fourth stitch (a purl) from the sleeve. The skipped stitch was always a purl stitch because it tucked into the seam better than a knit stitch.

Sewing the sleeve to the body.

Sleeve and side seams

The side seams were the easiest to sew because they matched and have no increasing or decreasing.  Conversely, the sleeves were hardest because of their irregular edges.  I have no advice here - just do your best to match up the changes on each side! :)

Cuff seams

The cuffs on this garment are turned out.  I've written before about being aware of this during knitting.  When sewing the cuff seams, you must work on the opposite side for any seam that will be turned out.

I recommend giving yourself a long tail when casting on the cuffs.  This can be used to neatly join the seam and you can easily hide the end near the elbow, or wherever if goes.


So there are my tips for constructing this garment!  I hope they have been helpful.  :D

D96: Making the Most of Your Jaffle Toaster Part 2: Apple Jaffles!

Mmmm, supper!

These ones are super duper easy and ding dong yum! (Apologies in advance for the povo photography.)

Apple Jaffles!

You need:

• 1 good sized apple of any type; 
• 1 sheet of puff pastry; 
• cinnamon; 
• a squeeze of lemon juice; 
• sultanas if you like.

To make:

1. Peel, cut and grate the apple.
2. Add as much cinnamon as you like and the lemon juice.
3. Prepare a sheet of puff pastry by cutting it into square quarters.  Cutting it into triangles - as described in step 3 of the French Toast how-to - would be fine too.  Create cutting lines by pressing the pastry onto sandwich maker before it's warmed - the pastry will melt very quickly upon contact with the hot surface, so no do-overs here.  
4. Warm toasted sandwich maker and smear butter on the surfaces.
5. Lay down the bases in the sandwich maker.
6. Roughly divide your grated apple into four. Squeeze out the juice before you put it in each sandwich triangle.
7. Sprinkle some sultanas over each sandwich triangle if you like.
8. Lay over the other two squares. 
9. Lower the top of the sandwich maker. (Consider putting some paper towel or some such underneath, to catch apple juice.)
10. Do the dishes.
11. Check on the jaffles.  Simply wait until they're as brown as you like, but make sure the pastry is cooked through on all edges.
12. Prise out with a knife and present.  Some cream on the side would work.  Some folk might like to brush with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Tip:
Wipe down the surfaces while they're still hot - much easier to get off the sticky apple juice.

This recipe doesn't really work with bread.  Maybe some croissant-like pastry-ish bread would do, but with regular bread it just soaks through.  I think I recall trying something like this with a shortcrust pastry and, in general, it worked but was very difficult to get out of the toaster - lots of breakage.

I think this would work okay in a flat sandwich press, or a rippled one, if the lid was not heavy and you sealed the edges of your sandwich before putting it in.  I don't think I'd recommend it though...

So I hope you're somewhere comfy, enjoying some steaming apple pockets, wondering what else you can do with your marvellous sandwich maker... :D

D94: Making the Most of Your Jaffle Toaster Part 1: French Toast

Bon appetite!

Hub received a jaffle toaster - or an old style toasted sandwich maker - for his 21st birthday (I think).  It was an inspired gift and a must for every household, in my opinion, especially share houses.  My favourite toasted sandwich is banana, and sometimes just plain jam, but I'm a little limited by my lactose intolerance.  For instance, I can't really enjoy Hub's patented egg, cheese and chill sandwich*, but it is glorious to watch.

This model, which attempts to cut each sandwich into two triangles, is what I would call a toasted sandwich maker.  I grew up thinking a jaffle was only ever made with a jaffle iron in a camp fire, but everyone else seemed to say "jaffle" for all the toasted sangas.  As you can imagine, it took me some time, and therapy, to adjust.  The modern ones, which use flat hot plates, are things I would call a toasted sandwich press.  You're welcome to try this recipe in a press, but you must share your pictures.  Good luck.

So, pros and cons of using a jaffle toaster?
Pros: 

• It's generally neat.  Mess is usually wipe-able. 
• It's quick, or it'll wait, depending on how soon you need food.
• It cooks evenly and I can't remember ever burning anything.

Cons:

• Everything is a right-angle, scalene triangle.  So if that's not your favourite triangle, shit be hard.  Major con.

It's clean on the inside, and that's what counts.

Here you can see my French Toast in progress.   Yes, the toaster is showing it's age, but it just strengthens and affection I think.  And adds to the flavour.  
Hopefully I'll share my other jaffle recipes with you over the winter months.

Jaffled French Toast

1. Heat your jaffle toaster.
2. In a bowl or some such - preferably with a flat base - beat two eggs with a slosh of milk and shake in some nutmeg and cinnamon.
3. Take two pieces of bread (or whatever will fit in the toaster) and press them into the open toaster to mark where the toast will be divided into two.  Cut along this line. Remembering which piece went where is handy, but not really important.
4. If you like, put a a bit of butter in each toasting segment and enjoy the sizzle. Wiping the whole thing with a buttered paper towel is also effective. Usually these appliances are 'non stick' so the butter is mostly for crisping and flavour.  Our toaster is old, so buttering every now and then is helpful.
5. When the toaster is hot, dip your pieces of bread into the egg mix and tuck them into their triangle.  (If your bowl will fit all the pieces flatly, put them in, turn them once, and let them soak up the egg mix.)  Pour any remaining egg mix over the pieces once they're positioned in the toaster.  Close the lid. (Rinse the bowl and wipe up spills - raw egg is like plastic once set.)
6. Don't bother opening the lid until sometime after you can smell it cooking for the next room.
7. When you do open the lid, the French Toast will probably deflate.   It's not done yet.
8. When your toast finally holds it's form, gently prise the prices from the toaster and arrange on a plate with your chosen condiment.
9. Enjoy.

*Butter four pieces of toast. Spread sweet chilli sauce on the lower pieces of bread, put them in the toaster, buttered side down; lay down sliced tasty cheese on both; crack an egg over the whole thing and swizzle the yolk around a bit; lay down the top piece of bread, butted side up. Attempt to close the toaster; its a bit dangerous to clamp it shut but a heavy item like the honey jar might help control it. Goes best with Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture.

D76: Run

The Run For the Kids happened today so we were occupied for a good chunk of the day watching loved ones, and strangers, run themselves ragged for a good cause.

I managed to squeeze in a bit of sewing around the edges.

And I looked at some reverse engineering and memory games for a skirt pattern. I have pattern making books in the garage but couldn't be bothered digging them out. Skirts are generally the easiest garment to draft... I should be able to get an A-line skirt right, right? I might chuck in a tutorial one day if I feel I've remembered it accurately.

The stats of a few skirts I own and a basic skirt plan for me, like for a toile.

My reminder effort. Skirts begin with a right angle like this,
with your widths and lengths marked out.

Baby's First DNA Toy

It is what you think it is; a DNA toy, which is knitted. The sugar-phosphate spine (the ribbons that swirl on the outside) are tubes filled with hobby fill. They naturally twist because the 30-stitch has an increase and a decrease on opposite sides.

Then the base pairs (joining things that go bw the ribbons) are made separately and sewn in place to connect the spines.

I'm keep imagining I'll use a knitting Jenny to do the base pairs, but I suspect they're thicker than that... Wonder if I can find a thicker knitting Jenny...

This is the pattern that I'm using, by Kimberly Chapman and I think it's pretty awesome:

I began this project... Um, before. Before Bub was thought of and before Swedish nephew was born but I think I originally started it for him. In the end I made a sleep sack for nephew and chose to keep this one for Bub.

Day 5: Photo cubes - part 2

Steps 1 to 9 of this project are here.

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10. Insert the cube

Align the edges to the seams as best you can.

With cube inserted. Align the edges with the seams.

11. Hand stitch your last edges.

I used a ladder stitch and two thicknesses of thread. I folded the sided panels over the top of the cube (rather than tucking them down) and closed the lid on top. I recommend working with about a ft or so of thread at a time because things tend to tangle when they're longer.

Ladder stitching the pinned panel.

Here is as far as I'm able to go today. The cube is complete the my photos are at the in-laws after a ships-in-the-night thing with the mail. But the last parts aren't mysterious...

Complete!

12. Insert the photos 

Trim the pics if necessary. You may need to squish the cube a bit and curve the photo to get it in. Stand back and admire your work!

13. Hand over all your hard work to someone with very little coordination. Let it go.