Sewing

Tutorial: Simple Lined Zipper Pouch with Pocket

17:40:00 theskyisstarless 0 Comments

I've made a number of these for friends and family over the years because they are so quick and simple to make and a great way to use those ends of fabric that seem to accumulate. This pouch has an optional pocket and is fully lined. This is the finished pouch being used as either a make-up bag or a pencil case.

• A piece of patterned fabric. I used a Liberty fat quarter.
• A piece of matching/contrasting fabric. I used black lining fabric.
• A matching/contrasting zip. I used an 8 inch long zip.
• Matching/contrasting thread.

1. I started by cutting my fabric into pieces with dimensions 8.5 by 6.5 inches. These dimensions can be altered depending on the length of your zip and how long you want your pouch to be. Add 0.5 inches to the length of your zip to get the width measurement.















2. You should end up with 2 pieces of outer and 2 pieces of lining fabric.











3. Place the patterned fabric right-side up. Unzip the zip so that the zipper is in the middle. Line up the zip across the top of the fabric with the metal/plastic parts at 1/4 inch from the edge.









4. Pin the lining fabric to the zip and to the patterned fabric with right-sides together.









5. Sew using a 1/4 inch seam allowance. When you reach the zipper, leave the needle down and lift the machine's foot. Move the zipper to the sewn part and sew the rest of the zip. Press and then top-stitch the zip as shown.









6. From each of the fabrics cut a piece with dimensions 8.5 by 3.5 inches or adjusted to your chosen dimensions. These pieces will be used to create the pocket.





7. Pin right-sides together and sew with a 1/4 inch seam allowance across one edge. Fold over and press. Top-stitch.





8. Line up the pocket with the edge of the other piece of patterned fabric. Sew all around the edges of the pocket with an 1/8 inch seam allowance.












9. Sew this other piece of fabric along with the lining to the zip in the same way as was done with the other side. Press and top-stitch.











10. Match the right-sides of the patterned fabric together and pin around the edge. Make sure that the zipper is in the centre of the zip and that the teeth of the zip are pointing away from the patterned fabric pieces. Sew all around the edge from the top stitching-seams using a 1/2 inch seam allowance.





11. Pin the lining fabric together and sew from the teeth of the zip around the edge with the same seam allowance but leave a gap to turn it inside out.










12. Turn the pouch inside out.









13. Make sure the corners are fully pushed out. Slip stitch the opening in the lining fabric closed and press the pouch. I hand-stitched 1 cm down the centre of the pocket to prevent things from falling out or you could perhaps use a button.







You can add whatever you like to this pouch. You could try making it bigger for a laptop-case, adding zipped pockets or adding embellishments like lace-ribbon to make it more personalised.
I hope you have fun making this!

Love Rhiannon x

Baking

Let's Bake...Rhubarb and Custard Cake

10:37:00 theskyisstarless 0 Comments

I've somehow become the chief cake-maker in my family so every birthday I have to make the cake. I was spared making my own 18th birthday cake by my mother's attempt at making a champagne cake. Although it tasted incredible, it was one of the ugliest cakes I've ever seen. For my dad's 50th birthday I decided to make a rhubarb and custard cake using the recipe from the Clandestine Cake Club Cookbook which is one of my favourite recipe books. My dad grows his own rhubarb and rhubarb crumble and custard is a favourite in our family. You can check out the full recipe by buying the book. I adapted it by making it into a circular layer cake and mixing the rhubarb in rather than layering it within the cake.

To prepare the rhubarb:









To make the cake:

Ingredients:

• 200g caster sugar
• 200g butter
• 4 eggs
• 200g self-raising flour

Method:

• Mix as you would to make a normal sponge cake.
• Fold in the rhubarb. 
• Pour into two lined circular cake tins.
• Bake for around 40 minutes in a 180 °C oven until an inserted skewer is clean.
• Cool the cakes.

• First prepare a small amount of custard. I just used instant custard to get a stronger custard flavour but you could make a more traditional custard.
  

Ingredients: 

• 200g full-fat cream cheese
• 100g butter
• 130g icing sugar.

Sewing

Tutorial: Drawstring Felt-Lined Sunglasses Pouch

13:40:00 theskyisstarless 3 Comments

The lenses of my sunglasses are constantly popping out in my bag but I'm too fond of them to throw them away so I decided to make a case to keep them in. It is fully lined and should fit most sunglasses. This is the finished pouch:

Cooking

A Vegetarian Japanese-Inspired Three Course Meal

10:05:00 the_sky_is_starless 0 Comments

Since I've been stuck at home recently, I've been cooking more frequently. I've been cooking a three course meal once a week. So far I've cooked a Thai meal , a full tapas spread and an Italian meal with homemade fresh pasta. This week I decided to make a Japanese meal, mainly because my sister kept going on about how much she craved sushi. I trawled the internet for recipes, bought the ingredients and started cooking.

For starters we had sushi with a side of edamame bean salad. This was my first time making sushi so I ended up with a box of 'failures'. These still got eaten though. I followed the instructions on the back of the sushi rice packet to make the sushi rice. I cooked the rice and then mixed it with about 30 ml of rice wine vinegar, a teaspoon of sugar and a teaspoon of salt. I then chopped up my vegetables- I used avocado, cucumber, asparagus and red pepper. I made two different types of sushi. I used this helpful tutorial to make some inside out rolls, sprinkling the rice with some sesame seeds. I also made some basic sushi. These are the ones which turned out okay, I think I still need much more practice though.


I used this recipe to make some edamame salad but I added some fresh chilli instead of chilli flakes. These were really popular with my family. I put them down on the table and when I came back they had all gone. They were also super easy to make. You cook the edamame beans, I used pre-shelled, and make the dressing. I made them a couple of hours before the meal and just put them in the fridge until we were ready to eat.

I found it quite hard to find Japanese desserts which didn't involve glutinous rice flour. I stumbled across a recipe for Japanese cheesecake which sounded much healthier than the cheesecake I'm used to and which looked like a light and summery dessert to finish the meal. I used this recipe which provided lots of helpful tips and tricks. I was very surprised when it didn't sink and had a perfectly flat top because I don't have a very good relationship with my oven. My mum picked up some strawberries from the farm shop and we had it with whipped cream and glasses of wine. It was very different to anything I've ever tasted but it was delicious. It was so light and fluffy that we managed to eat the whole thing between us with another one left in the fridge for this weekend.


I hope you've been inspired to make your own Japanese-inspired vegetarian meal. Let me know in the comments.

Love Rhiannon x

Reading

Let's have a look at...my bookshelf

09:10:00 the_sky_is_starless 0 Comments

I recently finished my A-Level exams and I felt like I needed to clear my bookshelf. I'm a bit of a hoarder but I forced myself to clear out all the books I kept from my teenage vampire phase (so many regrets) and I am now left with books which I intend to keep with me throughout my life. Most of my books have come from charity shops and second-hand bookshops so they are all quite worn but I personally think this gives them more character. I love books with yellowed torn pages which have been loved by many people before me. I love finding forgotten bookmarks; train tickets, shopping lists- I even found a leaf covered in Japanese symbols tucked inside a book. I've ended up with 5 full shelves as well as some more books above my desk, with books which I couldn't find a home for stacked on top.

I decided to group my books by author and also roughly by the time period in which they were written. On my top shelf is my collection of books written in the 20th century.

My favourites are the 'Bell Jar' by Sylvia Plath, George Orwell's '1984' and 'A Room with a View' by E.M. Forster. These are books which provoked so much thought that I think they left a lasting impact on me.


Included on this shelf is 'The Blessing' by Nancy Mitford which I accidentally stole from a library a couple of years ago and was too scared to give back. My next shelf is full of my books from before this era.

I went through a Jane Austen phase when I was around 13 and the gigantic collection of Jane Austen was a birthday present from my parents. The beautiful copy of 'The Picture of Dorian Grey' was a present from my best friend but I bought another copy from a charity shop so I wouldn't have to bend the spine. One of my most prized possessions is a copy of 'Alice in Wonderland' from 1920 which we found under the floorboards of our house when we first moved in. It is fading and falling apart but it is still so beautiful.

My dad gave me my first P.G.Wodehouse novel when I was 13. It was 'Thank You Jeeves' . I was hooked and I now have a collection of over 40 and it is still growing. They are the only thing which can get me through exam season because they just relax me and transport me to a place where the only problems are pigs going missing or not being allowed to marry the secretary.

 My final shelf on my bookshelf is full of my collections of teen fiction including 'Harry Potter', 'His Dark Materials' and some John Green books. I also have some books which I keep meaning to read such as 'The Silmarilion' and 'The Moonstone'. I'll probably never get around to reading them but I still have hope.

Above my desk are my Maths and Science books.
My favourite is my copy of 'Fermat's Last Theorem' which I actually got signed by Simon Singh when I attended a talk by him which he gave in a pub in Leeds. I also enjoy Ian Stewart's books and I have all the classics such as 'Chaos' by James Gleick and 'A Brief History of Time' by Stephen Hawking.



Love Rhiannon x