Dressmaker, dressmaker make me a dress...or not

While I generally encourage people to try their hand at any craft that captures their imagination, I have to admit there is a downside to craftiness.  That is, sometimes you get ahead of yourself...way ahead of yourself.  Case in point:  Several months ago, my husband and I were invited to a party to celebrate the first communion of the daughter of a good friend of mine.  Now this isn't an ordinary party, this is an Italian party.  And not just an Italian party, but an Italian party in Florence.  We're talking serious party here.  Did I tell you it was in a castle.

Castello di Vincigliata

As you can imagine, there was a great deal of discussion among the expat attendees about what one would wear to such an event.  The hostess graciously told us we could wear whatever we wanted.  Of course none of us believed her and, after great soul searching/talking to every Italian we knew, we decided to rely on the only one among us who's ever been to such a function, or rather on her husband.  Based on her husband's assessment, we determined that the dress was formal.  Not coronation formal, but close.

Since I had just finished making a jacket I really liked, and because shopping is so difficult here if you are over 5'4", I decided to make a dress to go under it.  And, since I haven't owned a dress in the last 20 years, I decided I would make it while I took an online course on couture dress making.  Don't ask me why I decided to use the most labor intensive dressmaking technique known to man to make a dress of all things, but that's what I decided...2 weeks before the party.  I had some beautiful red fabric that perfectly matched the poppies in the jacket, I had the pattern, bought the course, and then...and then, I learned how much handwork was involved.  But, never being one to refuse an impossible task, I began.  First, I made basic alterations on the paper pattern, made the model out of muslin, made the alterations on the muslin, and finally cut the fabric.  Easy, right?  Wrong!  This has taken me over a week, and now I have 5 days in which to actually sew the dress together, sew a lining, which is just like making the dress again...for the 3rd time, and attach the lining by hand.  I am becoming concerned...

Nevertheless, I trudge ahead, working all day and into the night, until Wednesday night, when I try the dress on for the first time.  It is the ugliest thing I have ever seen.  Not only does it not fit correctly, the fabric is too stiff and forms a huge balloon around my hips, not to mention it hangs completely askew.  The HORROR!!  There is no way I'm wearing this thing.

Clearly, it's time for Plan B.  The only problem is, I don't have a Plan B.  So,  after tossing and turning all night, on Thursday morning I run down to my local fabric store where I find some beautiful cobalt blue silk shantung that only requires a small loan rather than a new mortgage, and I race home to begin a top and pair of slacks.  By Saturday morning, an hour before our train leaves, the top is done, as are the pants...sorta.  I guess you really can't say a pair of pants is finished when you still have to hem them and attach the waistband...

Fast forward to Sunday morning, and with 15 minutes to spare, my clothes are completed, at least as much as anyone can see.  But, when we arrive at the party I discover that not only am I completely overdressed, there are people there in jeans...I own jeans!!!  I could have slept during the last week!!  Not that anyone wears jeans the way Italians do, and of course everyone was beautifully dressed, just not Coronation-ready.

Overdressed or not, the party was fabulous and we had a terrific time in an amazing location.

Misty Florence from the hills of Fiesole

So, what did I learn from this experience?  Well, first of all, and most obviously, don't bite off more than you can chew.  Crafting is fun unless you make it otherwise.  Second, when your hostess tells you that you can wear whatever you want, you should believe her...even in Italy.

P.S.  If this post hasn't completely put you off of couture dressmaking techniques, and you want to give it a whirl, the class I took, which is linked here, is most excellent.  Or, if you're not ready for that, check out the other classes on Craftsy.com.  I, on the other hand, have a red dress to redo.

Rainy Day Pasta

When I think of cooking, I normally don't think of it as "crafting."  But it is most certainly a craft.  And it is one of the few that I actually feel adept at.  I am not an experienced chef, by any means.  Having watched both those formally trained in the culinary arts and those folks who seem to simply have it in their blood, I am well aware of my skill level.  And yet I continue to cook because it is something I enjoy.  You know you love something when even the failures are a good experience.  

For some reason, particularly gloomy rainy days always make me want to cook.  On this particular day, I decided it was too stormy to get out of my pajamas and there was no way in hell I was willing to run to the store for supplies.  But one of my favorite things to make is what I call Rainy Day Pasta.  It is an ever-changing, yet reliably tasty dish that incorporates whatever the heck you want it to and doesn't take long to make.  What could be better?  

I made this particular dish with you, whomever you are, in mind.  Which is to say that since you're reading a blog called Crafts for the Uncrafty, I felt free to (1) cook with ingredients that were not in their prime and (2) cook my sauce in a wok, which I'm sure will horrify many (it was the first pan I saw and I wondered if it would make a difference - it didn't).  

Here are the ingredients I used:

A few cloves of garlic, 20 or so cherry tomatoes (that were a bit wrinkly, but tasted fabulous just the same),  about 10 basil leaves (straight from the garden, by which I mean the planter on the back deck), some campanelle pasta (they look like little ruffled lilies), a couple tablespoons of olive oil, some red pepper flakes and some coarse salt.  Basically, you can take a standard recipe for Aglio et Olio (garlic and olive oil pasta) and add things you happen to have lying around in your pantry/fridge to it.  But this is a simple dish and should be kept fairly simple.  Maybe keep it under 10 ingredients?  Maybe not.

First, we prep.  Well, first we put on a big ol' pot of salted water to boil, then we prep.

Smash the cloves of garlic by placing your knife flat over each one than giving it a good whack with the heel of your hand.  The skin peels off easily after a good smash, but if you prefer one of them fancy peelers, you go do your thing.  Mince the garlic so it will be spread throughout the sauce.  If you don't want to chow down on it in every single bite, you do not have to mince the garlic.  You  can have the flavor alone by smashing it (to release the flavor), removing the skin, cooking it, then removing it from the pan before it browns.    

My brother won't touch cherry tomatoes if the skin has begun to wrinkle at all.  I prefer to cook them in something (with eggs in a scramble, as sauce for a pasta, sauteed with garlic then slathered on toast).  I halved these ones, but there's no need to chop them up further as they'll break down in the pan.

I usually do the basil chiffonade (this prep style) toward the end, but if you don't want to have to worry about it later, just do it now.  Stack up your leaves (if they're store-bought, they'll probably be significantly bigger than mine) and do NOT stack up as many as I did here - use this video instead.  You see down there how there's a lot of dark green on my basil?  That's because I bruised the hell out of it.  Why?  Because I didn't care.  I was being heartless.  Don't be heartless with your basil.  To be honest, I minced it after this, so really just do whatever you want - you're the one who'll be eating it, after all.

I like to make lots of dirty dishes, so I put all the different ingredients in separate bowls (I would have done that even if I weren't trying to make it look pretty for you).  At some point, your water will have started boiling and you should put that campanelle (or whatever pasta you have lying around) into the water.  Remember that you want that pasta to be just barely al dente - it's going to finish in the saucepan (or in this case, the wok - ah ha ha ha!) and you don't want it to be mushy at any point.  You know that idea some people have to throw spaghetti on the ceiling and if it sticks, it's done?  Please don't do that.  Unless you really like ceiling art.  Also, my mother would like you to know that the oil you see in the wok (see below) is too much oil to start with.  

Use a regular pan (don't heat a nonstick pan on empty) and let it heat up without anything in it.  Use low to medium heat to start, but be careful on the higher end of the spectrum (we don't want to burn that garlic).  Once the pan is hot, add the oil, then add the garlic for about thirty seconds.  Turn up the heat (medium to medium-high) and then you can add those tomatoes.  Once they break down a little, add the red pepper flakes (once or twice around the pan, depending on how spicy you like it) and season with some salt.  Or you can do what I did and add everything at the same time over medium heat.  

If you want to get the most flavor out of it, you should really take the steps and avoid the dump-it-all-in method.  That was incredibly lazy of me.  Also remember to "season as you go."  You won't want to add more pepper, but check the flavor to see if the sauce needs more salt a couple of times while it cooks.

At this point, you're really just waiting for your pasta to be done.  Once it is, drain most of the liquid - keep maybe a cup of pasta water.  I keep that on the side, in case my sauce is too dry, but I also don't dump my pasta into a colander.  Instead I drain off most of the water, then dump the pasta and remaining pasta water into the pan with my sauce.  Won't your sauce be thin?  Yes, yes it will.  I like to actually taste the pasta - it tastes good!  Once you've added the pasta and combined it with the sauce, add all or most of the basil and let it marry in the pan briefly.  If you see that your sauce isn't coating the pasta, add a little pasta water.

Heat all that together for no more than five minutes, once you've added the basil.  Then plate that puppy.  If you're lucky, you'll remember at the last minute that you have some pecorino romano in the fridge and you can finely grate some over the top of this.  I started making this dish only hoping it would turn out okay.  I ended up enjoying it with a glass of  Prosecco because I just really wanted a sparkling wine and didn't care about wine pairings at the time.  The pecorino romano (much saltier than plain ol' pecorino) helped because I forgot to season the sauce early on.  Season as you go!  Buon appetito!

Recommended Reading:

Onesie For You, Onesie For Me

For TamTam, who had the great idea to use Mary's design-your-own-tee post for baby gifts.

Ode to the White T-shirt

There are few superior canvasses for the beginning painter than a white t-shirt.  They are easy to find, cheap and plentiful.  That is, unless you live in Italy, where they are hard to find, expensive and few and far between.   Plus, having the dual problem of being tall and not a size 2 (a problem shared with many American expats),  availability is almost non-existent.  Thus, I make my white t-shirts by the armload even though the fabric is more difficult to find than the t-shirts.

Keeping my t-shirt in mind, and in order to inspire you to try a craft you might never have considered, I want to show you how to do something that requires neither talent nor skill.  It doesn't cost very much and it's easy, but more to the point, it's fun and creative.

I'm going to show you how to paint and personalize a t-shirt.

So what do we need to get started?

• 1 white or light colored t-shirt.  It can be new or old,  cotton or cotton-polyester blend.  The only requirement is that it needs to be washed and ironed.    I'm using only the front piece from a t-shirt pattern.  I'll sew it together at the end.                          
  
• 1 jar of fabric paint in your favorite color.  I recommend Jacquard Textile Colors, if you live in the US, and Deka Fabric Paints, if you live in Europe.  They're both easy to find at your local art supply store, not necessarily at a craft store like Michaels.  A word of caution, make sure you don't buy the Jacquard Silk Textile Colors or Dye-na-Flo.  Wonderful products, but not for our purposes.  Notice for this project I'm using Jacquard Lumiere.  This is a metallic textile paint because I'm a magpie, I like shiny things....                                                              
  
• 1 roll of masking tape, or an assortment of masking tape in different widths.  Don't use Scotch tape or even consider using duct tape...you will regret both.
• An applicator.  This can be a paint brush, a sponge, a feather, even a half a potato.  Anything you have laying around that can hold a little paint.  
• A flat dish to hold the paint.
• A piece of cardboard to place inside the t-shirt.  This is to stabilize the shirt and keep the paint from seeping through to the back.
• Some newspapers to protect the surface of your table.
• An iron.  You'll need this to set your paint after it has dried which in turn allows you to wash your fabulous new garment.

The first thing you want to do is securely tape your t- shirt onto your work surface.

I've only taped the top half because I'm only painting the top half.

Then layout strips of masking tape in a pleasing design.

I used alternating thick and thin tape in one direction then the same in the other direction.

Using your applicator of choice, apply a small amount of paint to the surface.  You can brush in long or short strokes, stamp the brush or sponge on the surface, whatever you want to do.  Just make sure you build up the paint slowly so the fabric stays soft.

I used long brush strokes with a 2 inch wide brush.

Allow the t-shirt to dry thoroughly (usually 24 hours) then, using the manufacturer's directions for your particular paint, heat-set the paint with an iron.

And...e' qui (or voila if you prefer)

And here are a few ideas if you want to try this but don't already have the supplies: