Lesson: Trust your instinct

Lesson: Trust your instincts, I had seen the beautiful Airforce Blue glamour satin so luxurious to the touch in my local haberdashers and so before the close of Saturday business I rushed in to get a few metres. I was so eager to transform the fabric but I knew I did not have the correct interfacing material(interfacing is something you iron on to stabilise areas of the fabric) I had forgotten to buy the correct fabric interfacing for this piece. I tested a piece of the fabric and I knew deep down that it wasn’t that ok but my eagerness got the better of me! I also knew I should not put pockets but again I did not trust my instincts! I hung the piece up at midnight on Sat feeling very happy. It looked alright on the hanger! On Monday I tried it on and I saw the ripples of the wrong interfacing and the lines of the pockets! I did not want to post this unclear pic but I followed my instinct. Instinct must never be discounted 

 #womenempowerment #womeninbusiness #girlboss #nevergiveup #digdeep #instinct #women #lifelessons #womenentrepreneurs #womenempoweringwomen

How to sew an invisible zip

Fixing a zip right is one of the major skills you will need as a DIY sewist I like to use invisible zips for skirt and dress closures. I use normal zips for trouser fly closures Invisible zips gives a nice and professional finishing. In this short video, I show you three sewing feet. One for straight everyday sewing, one for fixing normal zips and an invisible zipper foot. You can use an ordinary zipper foot to sew an invisible zip but you would have to either iron open the zip groves or hold them down as you sew to get as neat a finish as possible.

How to sew a Skirt 2 Sewing

This is the sequel to How to Sew a Skirt (Cutting) here I show how I put this circular pattern skirt together. I fix the invisible zip and sew in the lining

Cutting An African Inspired Bomber Jacket

Here is one of my first attempts at recording a video which I did with my iPad
I decided to make a bomber jacket with African print which is cotton.
To make it meaningful for Autumnal Winter weather, I decided to put a wadding interfacing
To make it warmer.

How to sew a Circular Skirt 1: Cutting

So I finally decided to get my videoing act together instead of using my iphone or iPad to record as I had done before.
attempt at using my Nikon DSLR 3400, no extra lights! Watching the video back I realise that it was not high enough and so it did not capture all I was doing!
I now need to teach myself to use a video editor. In this new age of the internet and social media marketing, an entrepreneur must master all the areas and multi task, as the business grows one would be able to employ others to do the areas they are not too good at.

70s Silhouette Lace Dress

I love the babydoll A Line Mini late 60s early 70s silhouette with the bow detail. 
Mary Quant was a great influence in the late 1960s psychedelic fashion .
Her style moved away from “grown up fashion” to playful “youth” driven. Her shift dresses were short, very short, and her prints were bold and colorful “mod” prints. Her fashion, her personality, set the tone for the rest of the 1960s as “fashion-is-fun.” Mary Quant takes credit for the "Mini" and "Hotpants"

Shop this look

 I have a nostalgia for this era as my Mum and Aunties wore them in mini and psychedelic colours. I made my piece in a more sophisticated corded brown lace and lined the bodice with chocolate coloured acetate. Dress is a mini at 36" but could be made into a micro mini if  desired. I made trendy  fluted sleeves which are here to stay. 

Mixed Gingham Shirt

It is speculated that the fabric now known as gingham may have been made at Guingamp, a town in Brittany, France, and that the fabric may be named after the town. Some sources say that the name came into English via Dutch. When originally imported into Europe in the 17th century, gingham was a striped fabric, though now it is distinguished by its checkered pattern. From the mid-18th century, when it was being produced in the mills of Manchester in England, it started to be woven into checked or plaid patterns (often blue and white). 

I went to the haberdashers to buy a simple zip and this fabric (ordinary gingham I call it ordinary as i is fabric we use for summer school uniforms here in the UK) started crying for my help! I usually close my eyes but my zeal got the best of me so I rushed home cut it and made a smart casual shirt. I used purple for the button stand collar and cuffs, yellow for the collar stand and yoke and navy blue for the body.Happy with how it turned out. I have made it in various configurations ever since

See more of this Shirt here

My Curly Kale Smoothie

I try to have a Curl Kale or a Spinach smoothie every week day morning in keeping with my lifestyle change of sitting at a sewing machine hours on end. What I like about this recipe is that it gives me enough energy for the job (bananas & iron) 

 and I am getting the benefits below:

• Great fibre content so aids digestion and elimination
• Kale has more iron than beef! 
• Kale is high in the K vitamin which can help fight various cancers
• Kale is great for your cardio health it helps lower cholesterol its also a good anti inflammatory food

Recipe:

1. Curly Kale (put as much as you like I usually use one bag for 3 smoothies)

2. 2 Bananas

3. Half a Cucumber

4. 1/3 of zero fat Yoghurt

5. Coconut Milk

Blend to your desired smoothness, if you like it a little thinner be sure to add half or a whole cucumber to your recipe.You may not have Kale in your part of the world but you will have Spinach or Water leaf as it is called in Africa you can use this instead I prefer Kale

FitFam Jollof Rice

Instagram was lit with various Jollof Rice recipes in the past few days it was world Jollof day I wonder who started this trend! Anyway Jollof Rice is a main meal eaten in the West African countries of Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Gambia, Mali, Cote D Ivoire, Benin, Togo Sierra Leone, Cameroon and Liberia. It is derived from Senegambia word "Wolof" or one pot. I decided to make a FitFam variation with less oil and an accompaniment of a whole meal salad

Ingredients
Jollof Rice:
1. 2 cups of Easy Cook Basmati
2. 8 tomatoes or 2 cans of Plum tomatoes
3. 1 tube of tomatoe purée (find this in your nearest supermarket)
4. 2 scotch bunny peppers
5. 3 medium sized onions
5. 4 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
6. Sea Salt
7. Bay Leaves

Chicken
1. 1 pack of Chicken drumsticks
2. Garlic, Ginger, Black Pepper, mixed herbs and salt

Salad
1. Quinoa
2. Green peas
3 Black Eyed peas
4. Edamame beans
5. Broccoli
6.Nuts
7. Honey and Mustard dressing


Method

Cook your peas, beans, broccoli and Quinoa and set aside to cool (I usually have this already prepared in the fridge)

Season your Chicken and put in the oven

Blend Tomatoes, peppers and Onions add chicken stock if you have some or water. If you use chicken stock then do not add oil but if you use water add the oil.
Add your seasoning and tomatoes puree and bring to the boil. Add your washed rice and lower the heat to the lowest point, close the pot and leave to cook until the liquid is absorbed and rice is tender to your taste. Use your spoon to turn the rice around to to loosen all grains and to ensure it has the same colour all over.

Something different: Hand Embroidered Peplum Top

I thought to try something different this week, so off to my local haberdashers I go, to get some satin floss. Floss or fancy thread is used for hand embroidery and cross stitch I also purchased a small embroidery hoop as the others I have are for machine embroidery. I used a compass to draw 3 circles for each of my flowers, one full flower and 2 (wind blown away my petals) flower. With Red Floss I carefully chained stitched around the circle leaving 2mm in between each stitch. Then in the 2mm spaces chain stitch with the bright yellow floss.

Finally do some French knots in the middle circle with the brown floss. For the branches I chain stitch

3 rows each to connect my flowers.

The Fabric I used for this piece is 100% Pure linen. I made a princess seamed bodice and a

Handkerchief Peplum. 

see more here