Day 1 in a New Dress -- Vogue 8553

I finished this dress over a week ago, but I wanted to unveil it today on the first day of Self Stitched September... happy September, everyone!

This is a dress that I really should have read the reviews on Pattern Review because I might have made a few different changes. As it is though, I started with the 12 for the shoulders, and then graded out for the front pieces to size "Ellen". The skirt is pleated, so I just made the pleats a little less deep. I didn't make the self-fabric tie. I hadn't planned to anyway, but looking at the pictures on Pattern Review, all the ties just looked a little sad and limp. I made one other addition... you'll see that in a bit.

Why am I standing in the dirt? Well, to make the SSS '11 pictures just a bit more interesting, I thought I'd take the pics here in the space where my hubs is making a new patio/seating space in our backyard. Right in front of me is a huge pile of dirt that he has dug out of some other spot. You can watch the progress with me. Fun! Wearing heels was a bad idea.


So. Several of the other V8553 makers over on PR commented that the "V" in the neckline is really low. Mine was already started, so I thought of a different solution:

Can you see it? You can click on the picture to enlarge it. I made a thread loop on one side, and added a cute button that matches the light blue spots perfectly. Without the button, I get this:

Va-va-voom! Might be a good dress for a date night!


I think this dress will be a great transition into fall piece, changing it up with different belts and shoes, and adding a cardigan or jacket. Even a pullover sweater would be cute.


If you've read this far, fear not! I'm going to post my SSS '11 pictures twice a week, Thursdays and Sundays. New items will be revealed on other days, and Wednesdays will still be Wilma day.

Wilma on Wednesday -- Pork Chops and Jell-O

Oooh, that does sound gross, doesn't it? Actually, today it's a twofer, as in I made 2 recipes from Grandma's cookbook. But first, I thought you might want to see a picture of Wilma, just to get to know her a little bit.

There she is in 1962, standing in the Gulf of Mexico by Galveston Beach, with me, looking quite cute if I do say so. Um, yes, now you can figure out how old I am. This was the year that she and my Grandpops moved to Seabrook, Texas (about 30 miles from Galveston) from Dallas. She's about 50 in this picture.


So first up: Pork Chop Casserole


6 pork chops, brown in a small amount of oil (there are only 2 of us, and one of us won't eat leftovers, so I only used 2, about 3/4" thick)


Place 1/2 cup rice in casserole and sprinkle with 1/2 tsp of garlic salt (I used the 1/2 cup because it didn't seem like that much. Did use the garlic salt, but did brown a bit of minced garlic when I browned the pork chops)


Place pork chops over rice and add 1 can Beef Consomme, undiluted, and 1 tsp of Worcestershire added to the soup. (That's a terrible sentence, but that's exactly how it's written.)


Cover each chop with 1 thick slice tomato, 1 thick slice of onion and 1 thick slice of green pepper in this order.


Bake covered at 350 deg. F for 45 minutes or until rice is fluffy.


Roland didn't have high hopes, but he was pleasantly surprised, as was I. I loved the veggies on top, he scraped them off and didn't eat them.)

Strawberry/Cranberry Jello-O Salad


There are a lot of jell-o salad recipes in this cookbook, and tonight seemed like a good night to start on them, what with the chicken salad sandwiches we were having for dinner.


2 pkgs of strawberry Jell-O (sizes are not mentioned in the cookbook, but I won't make you guess... buy the 3 oz. boxes)
1-1/2 c. hot water (boiling)
1 pkg of frozen strawberries (small) (10 oz. box)
1 large can crushed pineapple and juice (8 oz. can)
1 large can whole cranberries (the whole cranberry sauce, I think there's only 1 size)
1 T. lemon juice

Leave strawberries out of freezer 30 minutes before using. Mix in order given.


Large pyrex oblong dish. Refrigerate until set.


I used the 12 x 8 size casserole dish, dumped the jello-o and the boiling water. Stir until the jell-o is dissolved, and then dump in the rest. Make sure the cranberry sauce is pretty well mushed in. I picked up the clumps of cranberry sauce with a fork, and then mashed them through the tines with a wooden spoon. I'm sure they teach this technique in all the finest culinary schools. What? They don't use ingredients that come in boxes and cans? Their loss.

So delicious!

The Matchy Siblings -- Easter Edition

As promised, just a bit more cuteness to fill in while we're all waiting for Self-Stitched September to start! Are you participating? I just placed an order to Gorgeous Fabrics and fabric.com, so fall sewing planning is in full swing. I'll give it to you buy the numbers tomorrow. In the meantime, the Easter edition:


Easter, 1991. This is Kyle's first.

 Kyle's pattern is one called "Allan's Bubble" that was in the now defunct Creative Needle Magazine. Laura's is the Basic Square Yoke by Chery Williams. I used commercial smocking plates for the picture smocking. I think I might have made Kyle's little shirt, too.


I stayed with the pink and blue combo in 1992 as well.

I do not remember at all where these patterns came from, but probably a magazine. You can't really tell from the pictures, but Laura's dress is open from the waist and an eyelet slip peeks out. Kyle's outfit is a shorts romper with the matching patchwork pattern. I know I made his shirt. I made all the piping on all their outfits, and used a thin crochet cotton to make that baby thickness.


I can almost guarantee that Laura was talking as she opened each egg in her basket!


In 1993, I got really fancy! And they didn't really match, but they certainly went together!

Laura's smocking is called Counterchange, and is a type of pleaterless smocking. The design on her dress is called Lydia's Basket by Ann Hallay. The stripes on the fabric are used to help form a grid that makes the pleats as you embroider. I don't remember the dress pattern I used.


Finally, because these are not digital pictures, I can't really manipulate them that well, but I wanted to enlarge Kyle's picture so you can see just how cute he looks.

 

This was taken a couple of months before his 3rd birthday. The pattern is the boy's button-on suit by Ginger Snaps Designs. And his dad told me not to make little smocked shirts with bunnies for Kyle any more. It was a sad day. I did make a few more things for Kyle after that, but things like camo pants and Halloween costumes. No more bunnies.


By the way, I've kept all these special outfits. They were passed on to my sister for her girl and boy, and when they outgrew the outfits, she sent them all back.

The Matchy Matchy Christmas Siblings

Did you know that September is right around the corner? Yep. And since there will be lots of Self Stitched Sept (SSS) pictures, I thought I would take a walk down memory lane a la Carolyn, and show you just how adorable my kids were when they were little. I am just a little biased, I suppose.


I liked for them to match on Christmas and Easter, and so of course, I had to make them matching outfits. Even with a boy and a girl I didn't have any trouble finding what I wanted to make. And so as not to make your eyes glaze over, I'll just do one holiday at a time.


Christmas 1990 was Kyle's first.

I'm not sure what these patterns were, but undoubtedly one of the Big 4. McCall's maybe? Anyway, I used 2 different green cotton checks and red satin ribbon as trim. You can see that Laura's vest has a bigger check than her skirt. Her top is a RTW, and I think Kyle must have had on a long sleeve onesie. Oh, before I get any farther let me apologize for the picture quality... way before digital!


Christmas 1991 I got a little more ambitious.

Yes, navy blue velvet. And Laura's pinafore bib is organza. Kyle's turtleneck is RTW. I'm not sure of her dress pattern, but the bib was from a company called A Garden of Smocking Designs. The applique design was from Sew Beautiful maybe? I'm also not sure about Kyle's romper pattern was, but it had buttons at the shoulders and snaps down below for easy diaper changes.


Apparently, they still fit the next year, and they were super cute, so I didn't bother with new outfits for Christmas 1992. The pictures don't lie. I'm including the 1992 pictures because they show the applique so well.

I'll let y'all absorb the awesome cuteness of these, and do the Easter outfits in another post.

Wilma on the Day After Wednesday -- Blueberry Muffins

I had intended to make these last weekend I think, so I am counting them in last week's "make something from Grandma's cookbook" challenge. But life must have gotten in the way, so today it was! Although in the interest of full disclosure, I did make something from the cookbook, one of the family's favorite. And I'm sure I'll make it lots more in the coming months, so I'll let you in on it later.


Until then, here ya go with the muffins:


Blueberry Muffins


2/3 cup shortening (I used Crisco)
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
3 cups flour
2-1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries


Cream shortening; gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Stir in blueberries. Spoon batter into greased muffin tins, filling 2/3 full.


Bake at 375 deg F for 20-25 minutes.


I made these exactly as instructed, except for 2 things. 1) I used paper muffin cups and silicone muffin cups and 2) I only baked for 18 minutes and they were perfect. They could have used more blueberries though.


And look at the giant pile of muffins!

I've frozen most of them for future enjoyment!

A Little Bit of Sewing Planned

Well, where is Wilma on Wednesday? This is a sewing blog after all, so tonight... some sewing previews. No cooking. I'm not quite organized enough to have a "fall sewing plan", but I do have a few things lined up. At least in my mind.


The first show and tell is a UFO that I started 2 years ago. It's 99.9% finished. Just some thread clipping and some minor fixing on the binding.

I think I'll be listing it the Jenna Belle shop, unless I decide I want to keep it for myself. Oh, and get this. It was apparently about 95% finished when I put it away 2 years ago. It needed about an hour's worth of quilting (maybe less), and then the binding. Do you do that? Get almost finished with a project?


Is anyone interested in learning how to make a continuous bias strip? I think I'll do a quick tutorial (not today though).


Now, back to some sewing for me. Self stitched September is kind of right around the corner, and I don't just want to wear all the June stuff again. First up, a knit dress. Still sleeveless, but it will still work here in the south. It's been cut out. Hmmm, can't really read the number. It's Vogue 8553.

Then, I'm using one of my vintage pattern finds. It has some pieces missing... the back facing and the armhole facing, and the Peter Pan collar. I drafted a new back facing, I'm using bias tape for the armholes, and no collar. Oh, and I'll be grading it up just a few sizes. It might end up just being a top, too. Creative license and the fact that I might not have quite enough fabric. Almost positive there won't be any ruffles!

The fabric is a vintage madras that I've had in my stash forever. And that's it. Even more patterns are lined up, and including 4 or 5 I just bought in the last Big 4 sale that are winging their way to me.


Fall sewing... here I come!

Wilma on Wednesday -- Mississippi Mud Cake

These weekend, our son will return to being college boy, and we head south to Macon to move him and his belongings into the dorm. He'll be a junior, so we've done this before, but it's a new school for him, so some of it will feel like the first time. Plus, he took this past year off (a "super fun gap year" in his words...do you hear the sarcasm?). Of course, it was not really super fun as he came to grips with his diagnosis of bipolar I disorder and how to live with it successfully.


Anyway, that explanation is the long way of saying that it was time for a special dinner. He's definitely a steak and potatoes guy (as is his dad), so that was the main course menu. For dessert, I had him choose something out of his great-grandma's cookbook. Well, he doesn't really care that much about sweets, and was kind of annoyed by the question I think, and so... he just picked one.


Usually, I think this is known as Mississippi Mud Pie, and I suspect there are as many recipes for this as there are cooks in Mississippi. Nevertheless, my Michigan born and raised grandmother had this in her collection. Basically, it's layers of yumminess, and I've done this as kind of a pictorial recipe. Enjoy!


In a 13x9 inch pan:


1st layer:
1 cup flour
1 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)
1 stick of margarine (that's 1/2 cup, or 8 oz. or 8 TBSP)


Mix and pat in pan. Bake at 350 deg.F for 25 minutes:

2nd Layer:
8 oz. cream cheese
1 cup cool whip
1 cup powdered sugar


Whip together and pour (or spread) on first layer:

3rd layer:
1 3 oz. package instant chocolate pudding
1 3 oz. package instant vanilla pudding
3 cups of milk


Mix and pour over second layer (I used a hand mixer, and beat the mixture 2 minutes as suggested on the pudding package):

4th layer:
Spread cool whip on 3rd layer and grate 1 Hershey bar on top (I used a Cadbury milk chocolate bar and only needed the first row of 3 squares... I kept in the fridge to make grating easier):

Keep in refrigerator (covered) until ready to serve.

A side view:

Sooo delicious! But very sweet.