Hooded towels

Every new mom receives more hooded towels than she can use. But the majority of these towels are wimpy both in absorbency and in overall size. Thankfully it is quite simple to make your very own hooded towel using a purchased bath towel and washcloth! There are many sets of directions online, but I cannot find any like the design I use so I thought I would share it with you here. I would be glad to give credit where it is due if anyone can tell me whose design this is!

First you will make the hood. Fold up one edge of the washcloth about 2 inches; pin and stitch wide ribbon or trim over the “raw” edge ( it isn’t really “raw” since washcloths are already hemmed). I stitch along both long edges of the trim as well as the ends, which are folded under to prevent fraying.

Next, fold the washcloth right sides together and stitch across the end opposite the one you hemmed with trim.

Turn the hood right side out and set aside for a moment. Fold the bath towel in half long ways and mark the center point on one long side. With right sides together, match hood seam with center point of towel. Pin together then stitch using reinforced straight stitch.

That’s all! Now find a boy to model your new towel.

No. . .wait until Saturday night to find a little boy and give him a bath so he can try out his new towel.

Or, perhaps, find two little boys in need of baths!

Instant gratification

Okay, so it isn’t quite instant. But it is a quick–and easy–sewing project. I’ve never had a kitchen with any place to hang a hand towel other than on the oven door, so many years ago I came up with this simple design.

For each towel you’ll need a purchased towel, fabric (a fat quarter is enough for 3 towels), about 20″ of extra wide double fold bias tape, and a pair of snaps (I use size 16).

My pattern piece is a rectangle about 5 1/2″ by 8″, with one short end rounded. This makes it slightly narrower than my folded towel and long enough to wrap around the handle of an oven door. I cut it with the short straight side on the fold for durability; leave it folded with wrong sides together and treat as one layer for sewing.

Bind the raw edges with the bias tape using your favorite method. For towels I usually sew it on in one pass. If you don’t have odd bits of leftover bias tape in your sewing stash, another option is to add a seam allowance to all edges. Sew with right sides together leaving an opening, turn, press, and topstitch.

Fold towel neatly and pin your bound fabric piece to the center. Stitch, using a reinforced straight stitch (or stitch the length of the seam 3-4 times to reinforce).

Add snaps–I hole punched the snap placement on my pattern for easy marking. I like to put the female side of the snap on the upper curved edge with the colored cap, and the male on the lower edge with the plain silver ring. . .just make sure they will face each other when wrapped around the handle, or you’ll have to wait for your husband to come home and pry off your mistakes before your new towel is ready to use.

Hang your new towel and go wash your hands!

Cold brew coffee

What do I mean, cold brew? Some time ago, it was brought to my attention that coffee can, in fact, be cold brewed. The end result is a sort of coffee concentrate which is supposed to be lower in acid and thus easier on the stomach; my personal experience leads me to agree. It also can be stored in the refrigerator for at least a week, making it easier to fix a cup or two whenever the urge strikes. If you search online, you’ll find gadgets sold for this purpose, but you’ll also find directions for using common kitchen items. I found those directions vague and so, after a few months of trial and error, I decided to share my own.

1. Choose a container for brewing. I use a half gallon Mason jar: I prefer to use glass and this holds about a week’s worth of coffee for Larry and me.

2. Add coffee. We like a 4:1 ration of water to coffee, so I use 1 1/2 cups coffee and 6 cups water. I’ve been grinding my own lately, but purchased grounds work just as well.

3. Add water–this is where the canning jar comes in handy, since it has measurement markings on the side. Put the lid on, give it a good shake or two, and leave sitting on the counter for 12-24 hours.

4. Filter out grounds. This is the messy part, and I like to filter ours twice to make sure all the grounds are out. In case it’s not clear from the picture, the strainer is lined with a coffee filter. Looks a little crazy, no?

5. Now it’s ready to use! I usually add a teaspoon or two of vanilla extract at this point because we like the hint of flavor. Store in the refrigerator until you need a caffeine boost.

Our house drink is cold coffee. Fill your drinking glass about 1/4 full of the coffee and then fill with milk. Add a pinch of sugar (Angie) or a teaspoonful (Larry). Stir and enjoy.

When I’m in a mocha sort of mood, I use the blender to make what the kids call “fluffy” coffee. I omit the sugar and use about a teaspoon of chocolate sauce (or cocoa mix) per drink. Add a few ice cubes and let the blender do its work. Yum! You can certainly use the blender without adding chocolate sauce, but I have found a spoon is not enough to incorporate chocolate into a cold drink.

If I’m cold, I can also make a traditional mug of coffee. I like about 1/4 mug of the cold brew coffee. Add boiling water, leaving room to add milk to taste.

Crocheted rug

After admiring my new back door rug for a couple days, I noticed just how dingy my bathroom rug had gotten. After all, it wasn’t new to me: I’m pretty sure it is the rug Mom gave, already used, when I went to college and it has been in use ever since. The kids were surprised when I told them the rug is was pink and blue; it’s been white for as long as they can remember.

Some time ago I had purchased a jumbo crochet hook with the idea of making an area rug and I decided this was the perfect time to finally use it! I found several coordinating remnants in my stash, leftover bits as well as short yardages that the kids outgrew before I got them sewn. I used knits but wovens should work as well.

The first step was to create a continuous 1″ wide strip from each fabric. I cut some fabrics with and some across the grain; in general I found it easier to crochet the strips that were cut with the grain even if that meant more “corners.” I laid out the fabric with the fold perpendicular to my cuts, and cut through the fold but leaving about 1″ uncut on the opposite side.

I then turned this into a continuous strip by cutting through every other uncut bit with my scissors. I suspect there is a cleverer way to accomplish this but it eluded me.

I started by making a chain roughly half the length I wanted the finished rug. I then made rounds in single crochet, adding stitches as needed to make an oval shape that would lay flat. On the first few stripes, I did this by making two single crochet in one stitch; later I decided I preferred the look of chaining one wherever I needed to increase. Once I had crocheted the first couple stripes, I found it easiest to work while standing at my cutting table. The rug quickly got too heavy (and hot!) for my lap, and laying it flat made it easier for me to ensure that I was adding only enough stitches to keep it flat.

Because this rug is for my own bathroom, I did not worry when I did not have enough of a particular fabric to finish a round; you can see how some of the stripes are uneven if you look closely. On the backside, I trimmed the ends of each strip, turned them under, and secured with a bit of hand stitching. I hope that holds up in the wash, because my little boys seem to enjoy tracking dirt onto my nice new rug!

From inside to outside: striped jersey left from a Baby Boy romper, yellow rib knit that was too stretchy for sew, birds on white jersey remnant from a Sew Baby bundle, blue jersey left from coordinating sibling outfits 5 years ago, yellow floral jersey left from a nursing top for me, mint pointelle remnant from Sew Baby, and dolls on blue interlock left from a tiny Twirly Girl nightgown.

Seam ripping made easier

The worst part of a sewing mistake is how long it takes to rip it out before you can try again! And if it’s a serged seam, it’s even more frustrating. I can remember there is a certain order to follow to make it easier, but I always have to run to the computer to look up the order on Belinda’s blog again. No, it’s not that I make so few mistakes. . .it’s that I get so little sewing time! Anyhow, today while I was ripping away, it finally dawned on me that it’s the same order as in threading (at least on my Elna): upper looper, lower looper, needle threads. I didn’t bother taking pictures of the process; instead I’ll just send you straight to Belinda’s blog post if you need to know the easiest way to remove a serged seam.

(and now that I’ve written this down, hopefully next time I will remember what to do without having to look it up again)

No-frills ruffle making

Yes, I know they make fancy gadgets that are supposed to make ruffles easy. But it turns out that lost boys don’t wear ruffles, and one twirly girl only needs so many ruffles (her mother needs even fewer), so I’d rather spend my sewing money on things that I would use more. I’m going to share a few ruffling pointers, in hopes that someone else can benefit from knowing how to make ruffles using only thread and pins–sewing machine optional.

1. If needed, seam strips to be used for ruffles. For best results the length of your ruffle should be at least 2.5-3 times longer than the garment edge.
2. Hem one long side now. You can do it later, but it’s easier now. I used a serger-rolled hem on this project but any narrow hem will work. For narrow ruffles (1″ wide or less) I eliminate the hem by cutting the fabric twice as wide as needed and pressing in half after the strips are seamed together (the folded edge serves as my hem).
3. Divide strip in quarters and mark with pins. For a long ruffle, you’ll want to stop/start basting at each pin; but even if your ruffle is short, it’s easier to mark while everything is still flat.
4. Sew two rows of basting stitches (stitch length 6.0) on the raw edge. Stitch the first row just to the left of where your seam will be later, and stitch the second row between the first row and the raw edge. In this example my seam will be 1/4″, so I basted at 3/8″ from the edge and then again at about 3/16″ from the edge.

   
5. Pin ruffle to garment right sides together and matching the pins used to mark the quarters. If it’s a long ruffle like this one I also pin them together roughly halfway between these quarter marks.
6. Working on one section at a time, grab both bobbin threads and start pulling until the ruffle length is the same as the garment between the 2 pins. As I gather, I make sure any loose threads are out of the way of my future seam. This may seem fiddly now, but it’s much easier than trying to remove them from your seam later.

   
7. Wrap the threads around the pin so your gathers stay put until stitched.

   
8. I use my thumbnail to help distribute the gathers evenly across the whole section. Use as many pins as needed to keep your ruffle where you want it.

   
9. Repeat steps 6-8 until all sections are gathered and pinned.
10. Now it’s time to make this permanent! Your main goal here is to keep your needle between the two rows of basting so that one row of basting can be removed and the other will be hidden in the seam allowance. I’m using my serger on this project, so I just watch the markings on the front of the foot as I stitch, letting the machine trim any excess (including the tails of my basting threads, as well as any ravelly threads!).

    
11. Now comes the fun part. . .assuming I didn’t stitch over my basting threads! I keep my seam ripper & thread snips handy just in case. Again working with the bobbin thread from the first row of basting (the one that’s not in the seam allowance), wiggle an end loose (at the quarter marks where you stopped/started basting). Pull firmly but gently; if it hasn’t been stitched over it can be removed in one piece!  

    
12. Flip ruffle to right side and remove the needle thread. Wheee!! This is also a good time to take care of any naughty loose threads caught by the seam.

    
13. Press the seam towards the garment and topstitch in place (stitch length 3.5) using edge of presser foot as your guide.  You could skip this step, but the topstitching helps the ruffle lay much better after washing and wearing (read: less likely to need ironing).

    

And there you have it: ruffles in 13 painless steps. There are, I’m sure, easier or faster methods. But this always gives me the satisfaction of good results with no extra tools required.

Happy ruffling!

Easy as Pie(crust): a photo tutorial

Disclaimer: If you have ever made a pie crust from scratch, you probably don’t need this tutorial! I am an otherwise very good baker who is still intimidated by pastry. My hope is that at least one person who reads this will be inspired to try their hand at baking their own pie, rather than serving the family another cardboard-crusted concoction from the store. In other words, if I can be brave enough to share the following pictures, you can be brave enough to bake your own pie behind closed doors!

***Edited on 4/24/2008 to add: I have been told that cold, flat 7Up or Sprite work well in place of the water; see Glenda’s comment for details. I never have this on hand to try, but it was also suggested to me to subsitute vinegar for 1 Tbsp of water. I have tried this & find the results quite flaky!***

1. Combine flour & salt. Cut in butter & shortening with pastry blender; both fats should be cold. Pastry is about the only time I use shortening, so I buy it in sticks & store them in the refrigerator so they are always cold & easily measured.
2. Add just enough cold water to make pastry hold together. I usually set a cup of ice water in the refrigerator to chill until I am ready for it. I use a fork to toss/mix in the water; be careful not to overmix or use too much water.
3. I probably used a little too much water when I made this crust, but you can see how it’s just barely sticking together in a loose ‘ball’.
4. Shape pastry into a disc and wrap in waxed paper; chill 30 minutes up to 24 hours. Since I was making a double crust pie, I divided mine into 2 discs. They don’t have to be perfectly even; just use the larger disc for the bottom crust.
5. Once chilled, knead lightly for maybe 2 seconds! Then roll out on floured surface. Typically you’ll want a circle a couple-three inches larger than your pie pan. If your circle isn’t perfect (mine never is) you can trim & patch just a little to even it up. Just be careful not to mess with your pastry too much or it will be tough.
6. Use your rolling pin to help lift the crust into the pan. Try to lift rather than stretch the crust if you need to make any adjustments to get it centered.
7. Add a yummy filling (this one’s Rhubarb Custard) and then add a top crust or skip to #8 for a single crust pie. You can roll out and position the other disc the same as the first (using a sharp knife to make several slashes in a pretty pattern for venting) or you can make a lattice crust. This was my first attempt at a lattice. . .if I can do it so can you!! I used my pizza cutter to make the strips, which should have been narrower. Lay out however many strips fit going in one direction. Then, either lay the other strips all on top, or try your hand at weaving them in, starting in the middle and working your way out to one side and then the other. If your filling should be dotted with butter, it’s easier if you do that before putting the top crust on (guess how I figured that one out!).
8. Trim off any excess pie crust and then fold the edges to the inside and crimp to seal. On this pie I didn’t leave quite enough excess, probably because I didn’t roll my pastry quite thin enough. Anyhow, there’s more than one way to crimp; my mom taught me a nifty little trick using my knuckles but there was no way to photograph myself doing that! 8)
9. Assign a short person to make wiggle worms from any leftover pastry. Okay, so this step is optional~but my kids seem to love them as much as I did!
10. Bake pie according to your recipe, and wait for your family to follow their happy noses to the kitchen and start looking for the forks!

That’s the Rhubarb Custard Pie I made a couple of weeks ago; here is the Peach Pie I baked today:

I share these pictures to encourage you that although homemade pies may not always look as pretty, they most assuredly taste much better than purchased pies!