Good Resources

Wow, sorry it's been so long since I've posted.  The difficult thing about studying such a creative major is that there are limits on what I can share.  For instance, I've taken two clothing production classes the last two semesters, and I'm now starting an independent sewing class, and I am not allowed to share pictures online.  Privacy policy rules and all that.  Most of the things I've made I've not been able to share because of this.  There have been some things I've made, such as some great handwarmers I made out of rice and minky fabric for my roommates as Christmas gifts.  But let's face it, I am downright awful at remembering to take pictures as I work.

So, since I really don't have anything cute to share, I thought I'd share some knowledge and resources with you.

First, over the Christmas break, I splurged and bought myself the Brother 1034 Serger.  I haven't had a whole lot of practice on it, but so far I really like it!  It's not that difficult to thread, the blades are very easy to lower, and the manual is very easy to follow.  And for the price, it's really quite good for a first serger!  My first project I made with it was a mini boppy pillow for my 6-month-old nephew.  Again, apologies for the lack of photos.  I did make an adjustment for this pillow: I added an inch around the seams, and added 2 inches to the middle of the pattern where the fold is, so that it would fit my nephew.  He's quite the healthy little chunk!

I've realized after the sewing classes I've taken, that sewing textbooks are so nice to have on hand!  I have kept all my books.  I thought I'd share them with you:

Singer Complete Photo Guide to Sewing: This book is really great!  It has a lot of step-by-step photos of how to do simple and more complicated sewing techniques.  It is a must-have!

The New Complete Guide to Sewing: This book is a good complementary book to the Singer book.  What is not covered in the Singer book is covered here, and vice versa.  Again, good step-by-step instructions, especially for zipper applications, smocking, and beginning tailoring.

Unit Method of Clothing Construction: This book takes some patience to get through.  There are not a whole lot of pictures to go along with each guide.  Read it through carefully, and try to envision what you have to do with each step.  Have a ruler, tissue paper, a pin or two, a french curve, and tape handy.  It is really great for customizing patterns to fit yourself.  I've used this book to widen sleeves, shorten pants, lengthen torsos, and change darts and pleats.

Principles of Flat Pattern Design: In some ways, this book is similar to the Unit Method book.  This book works off of slopers, which are the absolute simplest pattern pieces.  This book has you trace the slopers (some samples should be included with the book), and you use the guides in the book to adapt the sloper to the pattern pieces you want.  You can change a simple sleeve to a bell sleeve, a pencil skirt to a circle skirt, and a blouse with darts to a blouse with princess lines.  You can also combine a skirt and blouse sloper to create a smooth-lined dress.  Definitely practice a few methods before you try to work on a big project.

Fashion A to Z: An Illustrated Dictionary: Finally, the ultimate reference to any design you otherwise would never know about.  It not only includes information on designs, but also information on different fabric dyeing and printing processes, fabric types, finishing processes, seam types, types of stitches, and so much more.  Basically a must-have for anyone interested in design, or becoming a bonafide fabric geek.

Of course, these are just books I've used heavily for my projects.  There are many, many more out there.  These are just familiar to me, so I prefer them.  If you decide to purchase sewing books, be sure to read reviews or even look at them in book stores or libraries before you make your final decision.

New Sewing Tips

I am 7 weeks into the semester, and am already learning so much, and it's not even midterms!  I am taking a textile science class and clothing productions class, and a couple others.  In my textile class we have learned how to spin yarn from wool, figure out thread counts in a fabric, and learned how to test fabrics with chemicals and flames.

So far in my clothing productions class we have practiced how to hand-sew hems, machine-sew hems, and do zippers, darts, and use the serger.  When we were practicing hand stitches, I learned some things I never would have thought of:

1)  Beeswax:  How many of us have  tried to hem pants, finish a quilt, or fixed a seam with a needle and thread, only to have the thread snap?  I don't want to know how many times that has happened to me.  That's where beeswax comes in.  After you thread your needle, and before you tie a knot, run the thread from the eye of the needle to the end of the thread through your beeswax. If you get beeswax in a plastic container with slots, run the thread through one of the slots and use a little pressure to get it to go into the beeswax. The beeswax will fill in the tiny grooves in the thread, which not only makes it smoother, but reduces friction when the thread is moving through fabric.  It also strengthens the thread so it doesn't snap so easily by stabilizing the twist ability of the thread. (Another thing I've learned: Staple fibers, or fibers that are less than 3 inches long, make a stronger yarn when they are twisted harder.)

2) Having the right pins:  I never put much thought into what pins I had.  To be honest, most of mine were my Mom's old ones, so they were a bit dull.  There are a lot of different types of pins, including dressmakers and quilting pins.  Pins come in a variety of lengths.  If you are making clothes, size 16 to 20 are best.  When quilting, generally the longer the better, especially when it comes to basting and tying or quilting by machine or hand.  You want to get thin, sharp pins to make sure they can go through multiple layers of fabric, especially heavier fabrics like fleece or denim.  Also, try to avoid pressing with pins in the fabric.  The heads will most likely leave a little dent in your fabric, especially if it resists temperature like polyester does (Proper terminology: thermoplasticity).  The types of heads on pins are important too.  If you don't care about looks, then plain rounded heads are fine.  If you want to be able to grab them easily, think twice about getting plastic head pins--they melt easily!  Glass head pins are better because glass is not affected by heat from irons.  A bit of caution: glass head pins can shatter if dropped.

3) Type of thread: Have you ever read the labels on thread and wondered what the words mean?  Here's one word I had no idea what it meant: mercerized.  This means that the thread was treated with an alkali before it was spun to improve its twist ability and strength.  Sewing thread has a much higher tpi (twist per inch) than threads in a fabric because they need to be stronger because of all the pulling and friction it will undergo.  A cotton-poly blend is best because polyester has higher abrasion resistance than cotton, thus it lends this ability to the cotton.  Natural fiber threads like cotton can break easily.

4)  Scissors vs. Shears:  Do you know the difference?  A good simple way of knowing is the size.  Shears have longer blades.  Your basic 8" sewing scissors are really shears.  Scissors are smaller, like the ones we all used in elementary school.  They are usually up to 6" long.  Shears are used for cutting bigger items, such as quilt squares or pattern pieces with straight edges.  Scissors are for cutting threads, cutting curves, trimming seam allowances, etc.  A good way to remember?  Big job, big blades; small job, small blades.  Easy, no?

Do you have any tricks, tips, or favorite tools you've come up with while sewing?  Please share!

Let Them Eat Cake!

Today was my last day in the cooking lab.  It was a sad day.  I've learned so much, met some fun people, and overall just had a great time.

Just a note before you go on to read about today's project, I thought I'd post a little ditty about cooking.  In the lab, we bake by flour weight.  Meaning, where normally you would measure by scale (cups, teaspoons, etc.), in this instance you weigh ingredients by their weight.  This is because flour is a fickle ingredient to weigh.  Have you ever made bread, cookies, cakes, etc, and one time it will be dense and dry, and the next time it will be very moist and fluffy?  It is because of how you measured your flour.  Flour is less dense than water.  Where 1 cup of water weighs as 8 ounces, 1 cup of flour weighs at about 4.8 ounces.  Also, people measure flour differently.  One person might pack in the flour, another might sift it.  This can make the flour measurement differ by a few tablespoons!  By measuring by weight, you get the same measurement whether you pack your ingredients or sift them.  By using this method of cooking, I have fallen in love with food scales.

Today we made desserts.  I made a white velvet butter cake with a white chocolate frosting.  Here's the recipe:


White Velvet Butter Cake
 (Makes 2-9” layer cakes)

Ingredients:
1 cup milk
½ vanilla bean, split down the middle
6 oz butter, softened
10 oz sugar
5 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla
11 oz flour
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
Berry filling
White Chocolate Fudge frosting

1.  In a small pan, add milk and vanilla bean. Scald milk over medium heat, but do not boil. Set aside and let vanilla steep in warm milk 10 minutes. Scrape interior of bean into milk, then discard the outer pod.
2.  Using the paddle attachment of an electric mixer, cream butter until light. Add sugar and continue to cream until light and fluffy. Add egg whites one at a time to the creamed mixture, blending until completely incorporated after each addition. Scrape down sides of bowl before adding next white. Add vanilla to mixture with the last egg white.
3.  In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
4.  Add ¼ of the flour to the creamed mixture, mixing just to combine. Scrape down sides and blend into batter. Add ⅓ of the milk, mixing just until the liquid is incorporated into the batter. Continue adding alternate portions of flour and milk, mixing just to incorporate and scraping the sides of the bowl often.
5.  Divide the batter evenly (by weight – approximately 20 oz) into two greased and floured 9” layer pans. Bake at 375°F for 20 – 25 minutes, until the tops are golden and a cake tester comes out clean.
6.  Cool cakes 10 minutes in pans set on a wire rack. Turn out layers to cool completely.
7.  To assemble cake, spread berry filling evenly on one layer, avoiding the outer ½” of the cake. Set second layer on top, then frost top and sides of cake with white chocolate fudge frosting


Berry Filling

Ingredients:
3 oz mixed berries (frozen works best)
1 – 2 Tbsp fat-free yogurt

1.  Combine berries and yogurt. Mix thoroughly and allow to sit 15 – 20 minutes or until completely thawed if frozen.
2.  Mash berries lightly with the back of a fork, breaking up large chunks. Spread berries and juice evenly over cake.


White Chocolate Fudge Frosting

Ingredients:
2 oz water
1 oz shortening or butter
2 oz white chocolate, melted
⅛ tsp salt
1 lb powdered sugar
¾ tsp vanilla

1.  Bring water, shortening, and salt to a boil. Stir until shortening is completely melted.
2.  Transfer water mixture to the bowl of a mixer. Using the paddle attachment, completely mix in the powdered sugar.  Note:  This frosting does not get fluffy.  It should be thick, almost like fondant or play-doh.
3.  Add melted chocolate and vanilla, stirring to mix thoroughly through the frosting.
4.  While still warm but not hot, center the frosting between two large sheets of parchment or waxed paper (approximately 12" by 12").  Using a rolling pin, roll over the paper, spreading the frosting into a large circle, about a quarter-inch thick.  (If the frosting is too cool, it will be difficult to spread. If necessary, gently warm the bowl of frosting over a pan of hot water until it is fluid enough to pour.)  Carefully peel off the top layer of paper, and lay the frosting over the cake.  Very slowly and carefully peel back the paper, trying your best to not tear the frosting.  Using a sharp knife, cut the frosting around the base of the cake.  Smooth the frosting over the cake and its sides.

Candy Making Tips

With Christmas and New Years coming up, I thought I'd post some tips on candy making.

Tonight I decided I'd make caramels.  I've made them before successfully, so I wasn't too worried.  I didn't have any corn syrup on hand, so I used a different recipe that didn't call for corn syrup.  I put the ingredients in the pan, and while I was waiting for it to heat up, I ran upstairs to get my thermometer out of my cooking kit for my foods lab.  To my dismay, the thermometer I have only goes to 220 degrees, and my recipe said that the caramels would be done at 250 degrees.  So, I thought I'd just hope and pray, and eyeball it.

Fast forward to pullling the caramel out of the fridge, and it's a hard, grainy brick.

 I looked up "how to fix grainy caramel" on google, and I got 3 answers.  One, heating up the grainy mess in a double-boiler can melt the sugar crystals.  I still had a grainy blob of caramel-flavored sugar.  Second answer, adding corn syrup prevents sugars from crystallizing.  *Sigh.*  Now I wish I'd known that before endeavoring to make the darn candy.  Third, and most devastating, was that cooked and grainy caramel can seldom be fixed.

So, I learned that making caramel can be as temperamental as working with chocolate.  I groaned, mourned, stabbed the sugary ball with a wooden spoon a few times to let out my frustration, and with the same emotion I'd use for flushing a fish down the toilet, I pushed the sugary caramel into the disposal and said my goodbyes.  My poor attempt at caramel, may you rest in peace.

And on that same note, I'll post a few tips I've learned while making other candies.

With divinity, it should be made on a day with clear skies and a dry kitchen, since humidity can make it fail.  Also, to get the desired fluffiness of the candy, make sure you whip the egg whites (with no fat or yolk in it!)  to a stiff peak, and ever-so-gently fold in the other ingredients.  How do you fold in ingredients?  Using a large rubber spatula, scrape from the bowl, starting from the side furthest from you and sweeping it clockwise toward you.  Here's a great video demonstrating folding in whipped egg whites:



When working with chocolate, make sure when you are melting it, such as for dipping, that water never comes into contact with the chocolate.  What happens when water touches melted chocolate is called seizing. This can also happen when chocolate is melted for too long, such as when it is melted in the microwave.  Seized chocolate gets hard, becomes bitter, loses its molecular structure, and cannot be re-melted.  It is ruined, and all you can do is scream, groan, moan, cry, and try again with new chocolate.

I hope these tips help you when making candies.  Good luck, and Merry Christmas!