Sweet Scallops Tote

My daughter saw this Sweet Scallops Tote on Craftgawker and had to have it. 

The link is to the tutorial on how to make it.  I have to say, See Kate Sew is a pretty cool sewing blog.  I made a few changes in the directions and this is what I came up with:

Sorry for my crappy photography!  I just use my iPhone.

My daughter picked out the fabrics she liked for the scallops.  We varied the patterns, colors and textures, but all were cotton.

 The directions called for 1/4 yard of each scallop fabric, but that was enough for me to make two bags!  After sewing the scallops together and trimming, turning and ironing, I arranged them in a pleasing pattern.

I sewed them on the simple rectangular canvas bag and added handles and lining.  I sandwiched my handles between the lining and the bag instead of sewing them on the outside like the tutorial suggested.

For a little visual interest, I added some fabric covered buttons.  The lining is really cute too.

I'll try to get some photos of the bags in action.  They were very easy to make!

Perfect Sausage Cheese Balls

I’ve been making sausage cheese balls for over 20 years.  I have perfected the recipe.  You can thank me after you eat them.  Here are all the tips and tricks I’ve learned, along with the recipe.

As you can see, this recipe has been used a lot!

Ingredients
   2 pounds of Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage (this is the only brand that gives me consistently good results—you can try another brand, but I can’t vouch for the outcome)

·         4 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

·         1 ½ cups of Bisquik baking mix (Pioneer baking mix works too)

·         ½ cup finely chopped celery

·         ½ cup (or more) of finely chopped onion

·         2-4 cloves of finely chopped garlic or ½ tsp of garlic powder (to taste)

Instructions:

·         Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.

·         Form into one inch balls and place on baking sheets (they may be frozen at this point to bake later, but really, why?)

·         Bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees or until golden brown.

Tips to make this job 100% easier:

·        Take the sausage out of the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature (at least an hour or so).   It is almost impossible to mix the ingredients thoroughly if the meat is cold.

·         Do not under any circumstances try to use plain flour instead of baking mix.  You will get golf balls.  Also, check the expiration date on your baking mix.  It doesn’t last that long.  If it is expired, buy some fresh.  Baking mix has baking powder and other additives that flour doesn’t have that allow it to rise.  I keep mine in the refrigerator after it is open to prolong the shelf life.

·         Use the biggest bowl you own to mix these ingredients.  The only way to mix them is with your hands.  Get them both in there and mix it up good!

·         Line your baking sheets with parchment paper.  If you don’t have parchment paper, buy some.  Nothing else works.  Even though they have a lot of fat in them, these will stick to the pan, whether greased or ungreased, they will stick to aluminum foil, and they will fall apart when you try to pry them off.

·         Try to make all your balls about the same size.  They cook more evenly that way.  I make mine about one inch in diameter.  You can use a rounded tablespoon or a melon scoop if you can’t judge the size easily.  Be sure to roll them in your palms to meld the ingredients together.

·         The balls may be placed very close together on the baking sheets as they don’t enlarge much.  I can usually get a whole batch on two baking sheets.  The recipe makes about 70 to 80 balls.

·         After they are cooked, let them cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then remove them to a container lined with paper towels to soak up any grease.

Frugal Costuming, Part I

Most of my sewing revolves around creating costumes for a community theater.  As a non-profit theater in a small town, we work on a tight budget.  I've come up with lots of techniques to minimize the cost of creating costumes without the costumes looking "cheap".   This will be the first in a series of articles about frugal costuming.  I hope some of these ideas will help other community theaters or schools.

• Always check your costume inventory.  You may have something that can be adapted or reused.  For example, I made a jacket for the Grasshopper in James and the Giant Peach by adapting a ladies green blazer I had by adding long green tails in the back made with matching fabric.
• Thrift stores are your best friends!  I spend a lot of time in Salvation Army, Goodwill, and other local thrift stores.  I always go armed with a list of what I need (including sizes).  Some of the thrift stores that I shop frequently will even sometimes send an employee to search the racks to see if they have a particular item I'm looking for.  They will also call me if they get in vintage items (which I always snap up if the price is right).
• Develop an inventory of sewing patterns.  I wait for the sales and then buy up dozens of patterns that I think might be useful.  Joann Fabrics frequently puts one brand of pattern or another on sale for 99 cents or $1.99.  I rarely pay list price for a pattern.  Especially look for costume patterns that are frequently used.  Sometimes I get them in several sizes.  If I'm only going to buy one size I get the larger one.  It's easier to make a pattern smaller than larger (in my opinion).
• Keep a stash of basic fabrics that you find on sale.  We have several area Wal-Mart stores that sell fabrics for $1 or $2 a yard.  If you find a nice men's suiting fabric or a crushed velvet or a nice satin in a good color, buy it!  Muslin can be used for lots of things (including costumes that you paint) so buy it up when you find it super-cheap.  When I'm buying fabric that I don't have a particular use for at the time, if it is really cheap, I buy a lot--at least 5 yards.  I've been known to buy a whole bolt of particularly nice fabric if it particularly cheap.  Of course, always check your stash to see if you have something that will work before you go out and buy fabric for a particular costume.
• E-bay is also your friend!  There is an amazing amount of clothing available on E-bay.  Search for what you are looking for and you are likely to find it.  I only buy things that are cheap.  I only deal with reputable dealers who have tons of positive ratings.  Don't forget about the E-bay stores.  A search for auction items might not find things that are available in E-bay stores, so search them separately.  
• Enlist the help of your actors and their families.  Especially for our children's productions, I request that the actors provide certain basic items (e.g., black tights, black or white t-shirts, black shoes, etc.).  I always give them written instructions on exactly what they need to bring with suggestions of where they might acquire the items if they don't already have them.  Ask if anyone knows how to sew and might be able to help.  You might be surprised at how much help you can get.
• When using costume web sites, be sure to comparison shop.  There are dozens of web sites that sell cheap costumes and most of them have very similar, if not identical, items.  Bookmark several different sites and search for your item on each of them.  You will find prices vary quite a bit.  Don't forget to factor in the shipping costs--those can make a big difference as well.  I don't buy much from the costume websites because the quality is usually quite poor and the costumes look cheap and don't stand up to the repeated wearing that is required when your show runs two or three weekends.
• Garage sales and church rummage sales are another good source for inventory.  Usually what I look for there are accessories like hats, purses, scarves, belts, ties, gloves, jewelry, and the like.  Look for things that are vintage or look vintage.  You will get a lot of use from them.

I hope you find these suggestions helpful.  I plan to start posting photos of productions we have done at our theater so you can see how our costumes look on stage.  I will also be posting detailed tutorials on how to make certain costumes.

Happy sewing! 

Ear Bud Case

So my daughter loves Craftgawker and Pinterest and she got me started perusing those sites as well.  Usually she finds something she likes and says--"can you make this mom?"  Then I do!  She saw this ear bud case that you can hang on your key chain and had to have it.

I followed the tutorial found at Dog Under My Desk and created something very similar.

We used fabric from a pack of coordinating fat quarters that we bought at Wal-Mart.  It was easy!  I think you can do it too!

Welcome to my blog!  I hope you like my totally generic title.  It will have to do until I come up with something creative.  The generic template will have to do as well until I can get my computer-genius son to help me spiff it up.

As I said in my introduction,  I've been sewing for over 40 years and making costumes for community theater for the past ten years. I've made or adapted literally thousands of costumes over that time. And because we are a "community" theater, we don't have much money, so everything I do is done as cheaply as possible. I thought there might be others out there who could benefit from some of the tricks I've learned to create beautiful, professional-looking costumes on the cheap. I also like to sew things other than costumes, crochet, craft occasionally, and cook when I have time. I'll try to blog about all these things on a semi-regular basis.

I'll be happy to try and answer questions anyone has about any of my projects.  Sometimes I will just post a photo of something I've made with a link to the instructions or inspiration I used.  When I have time, I'll post detailed tutorials for particular projects.  I hope to be able to link my posts to Pinterest and Craftgawker, my two favorite sites for inspiration these days.

Here are a couple of photos of costumes I've made.  These are Captain Hook's coat and vest.

Happy blogging!