Thursday, January 30

plantain dress.. in wool












dress (deer&doe plantain t-shirt, modified) - self made
leggings - self made

finally decided to join the 'indie patterns' party
well.. crash the party, actually
since this is the free pattern
but yeah.. i guess one day i'm actually going to pay for one of the indie patterns
and then i can play with all the cool kids
..
the thing is
that pretty much all those cool indie companies are way too pricey for me
i live in a country where average month salary is 400 euros
(if you're one of those lucky bastards that do have a job, that is)
so paying 20 euros plus shipping
for a pattern that i might use once or twice would be nuts
(especially when i already own hundreds of patterns
in five year's worth of burda magazines
and have enough sewing knowledge to modify them
into pretty much anything i envision)
..
but, don't get me wrong
i have nothing but respect for each and every one of indie pattern companies
i admire the hard work that goes into every design
and i do believe they are doing a great thing
and should be supported by all means
..
so i did what i could to show my support.. i made a plantain!
not being a t-shirt kind of gal
i turned it into a dress..
also - it's made out of wool!
fabric is not a knit, but has a fair amount of stretch
so i decided to give it a try, and it worked..
it's also a rather thick fabric
and i love the way it drapes, but also allows dress to hold this trapeze shape
..
dress almost never happened..
nikola was printing the pattern at his office
and although i told him 14 times to check that there is no scaling
he didn't
my 5cm test square ended up being 4.5cm square
..
after some measuring and thinking
instead of my planned size 36 i cut 42
and hoped for the best
..
i elongated the pattern
and since my fabric wasn't wide enough
added 2 wedges to the skirt side seams
to get that trapeze silhouette
..
made the neckline a bit higher too
it's a short dress
so i tried to balance that up a bit..
sleeves are short because i run out of fabric
..
love how the dress turned out!
it's really flattering and i feel great wearing it
it's also a really really warm one
(but, in case anyone wonders:
yeah, i did wore a coat over it
it's not that warm)
..
mokosha




Monday, January 27

carrot cake with cream cheese frosting


it was my birthday a week ago
planned to sew a birthday dress
like i did for all the past birthdays that happened in my sewing life
but i failed
..
i'm away from my sewing machines for over a month now
spending time with nikola, at his home up in the mountains
and, although i have a sewing machine here
i lack so many silly little sewing things
that i had to stop my work on birthday dress
before i ruin that gorgeous fabric
..
it's cold and snowing outside
nikola is snowboarding
and that's not my thing, at all
i like snowy white frosting better than real snow
and baking is my idea of fun
so i give you cake!
and i'll show you the dress when it's done
(i believe it might be my favorite one ever)





for the cake:
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine grain salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
finely grated zest of one orange
1 1/2 cups grated carrots
3/4 cup walnuts (crushed)
1/4 cup sunflower oil
1 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup yogurt
2 large eggs
..
for  the frosting:
300 gr (10.5 oz) cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons butter (at room temperature)
1 teaspoon vanilla
..
preheat oven to 180 C (375 F)
butter 20cm (8 inch) round cake pan
..
in a large bowl mix 
flour, baking soda and powder, salt, cinnamon
add orange zest, grated carrots and walnuts, mix to combine
..
in medium bowl mix sugar and oil
add yogurt, mix well, add eggs
..
add egg mixture to flour mixture
gently mix with rubber spatula, until just incorporated
transfer to cake pan
and bake until top is firm, and toothpick inserted into the center
comes out clean, about 40 minutes
..
cool the cake completely
meanwhile, make the frosting:
combine the powdered sugar, cream cheese, vanilla and butter in a bowl
beat with an electric mixer, for few minutes, until smooth
(you may need to add more powdered sugar
to get the right consistency)
..
cut a cake in half horizontally
frost both halves, and stack one on top of the other
(and if you're a bit more patient with all that frosting business than i am
your cake is going to be much more photogenic one)
..
mokosha




Friday, January 17

walnut socks






over the knee socks - knitted by grandma
coat, top, shorts - self made

last november, when i was visiting my grandma
she showed me that new wool she just got
locally grown, hand spun in traditional manner
that she dyed in walnut bath
..
i loved the color so much
and i always preferred how this type of wool feels and looks like
over the commercial wools or those horrible acrylic blends..
it feels real!
can't find the better expression
but i hope you know what i mean..
it's less polished and a bit more scratchy than your regular wool
but i like that 
..
anyways, while i was oohing and aahing over the wool
grandma suggested she knit me a pair of socks
then we talked a bit about what should they look like
and, when i was back in december
these beauties waited for me
..
what i love most about grandma's knitting
is that she never uses any kind of patterns or schemes
but rather creates her own patterns along the way
..
mokosha

Monday, January 13

black sparkly dress








dress - self made

this was supposed to be my new year's eve dress..
but once we arrived to the mountain cabin
and started warming up for the party
it kind of felt silly to wear a proper party dress
accessorized with hiking boots and knitted socks..
not to mention it would be really unpractical outfit
with outside toilet and everything
..
also - this kind of dress
requires a proper cocktail glass
not a coffee mug stand-in
..
mokosha

Sunday, January 5

rust hoodie







this is one of the christmas diy gifts
and the most beloved one for sure
(i've screwed up most of those
making them too large or too small
or wrong color or something)
..
rust is one of my favorite colors
luckily, nikola likes it too
we are rare birds, it seems
peeps proved to be very opinionated when it comes to color rust
..
added some gray topstitching to make it more interesting
still not sure was it a good idea
..
mokosha