Messenger Bag

My brother turned 22 last week!  He mentioned that he could use a new messenger bag.  He has been using the bag I made for myself to carry books and whatnot during college.  I knew I still had the pattern too, which made it easy, Butterick See & Sew Pattern # 4583.  Not sure if it’s still a current pattern, but there are plenty of similar messenger bag patterns out there.

 

Since it was my second time around using the pattern, I figured I would actually follow the directions correctly.  I tend to start with the directions, and then eventually abandon them to figure the steps out on my own.  Not a bad technique, but I’m starting to use patterns more as teaching tools to learn new sewing skills. 

 

I wanted this bag to be extra strong too, because my brother was born for academia!  I’m sure he is carrying around much bigger books than I ever did!  So I used a heavyweight fusible interfacing, and doubled up on it, fusing it to the outside and the lining; whereas the pattern only calls for one layer of lighter interfacing.  It made for a pretty sturdy bag; we will see how it holds up!  I added a zippered pocket inside, and made another pocket into a pen holder, making it a perfect school bag!

Brewing Beer

This Christmas my Dad and stepmom set me up with a complete beer making kit.  I thought about asking for one for Christmas but never did, they know me too well!  I had an American pale ale recipe for my first brew.  The kit had everything I would need already measured out, so it was a good way to start brewing. 

I’m just going to go over the basics to give you an idea of the process, because basically I just followed the recipe in my kit.  It was relatively simple and very rewarding! 

Cooking the Beer

First I poured the grain into a muslin bag and tied it shut, dropping it into 2 gallons of water.  Heat to 150°F, then reduce heat and let simmer for 30 minutes, draining grain bag occasionally to let all the flavors seep out.

 

Remove grain bag, bring to a boil then remove pot from heat and stir in malt extract syrup. 

 

Next add the hops, hops are added at different stages of the brew for different flavors. 

The first hops added are for bitterness, and then the beer is boiled for 45 minutes.

The next hops for flavoring, and boil another 15 minutes.

Another batch of hops is added for aroma, the heat is turned off and the brew sits for 10 minutes.

Remove hop bag and sit pot in sink filled with cold water until it cools to 100°F

 

Fermentation

 
Siphon or pour brew into primary fermenter and add yeast stirring to aerate mixture.

Cover fermenter and put out of direct sunlight and ideally between 65° and 75° F.

 

Within the next day the beer should foam up.

 

After 5 days I added more hops for a dry flavor.

In 6-8 days the foam should disappear, which means the fermenting is done

At this point I transferred my beer into my secondary fermenter (although a secondary fermenter isn’t necessary for lighter beers, it does make the beer more pure by not giving the yeast residue time to taint the flavor. Plus I wanted to learn how to use all my equipment.)

 

After 12-16 days the beer should be ready to bottle.  A hydrometer reading is taken to be sure fermentation is complete.  Apparently bottles can explode if fermentation is not complete!

Bottling

Bottling was easy. I siphoned the beer into a priming container with a spout.

 

Stirred in fermenting sugar, which is what creates carbonation, when the remaining yeast eats the sugar.

 Then siphoned the beer into bottles and capped them with a double lever capper.

 

Pale Ales are good to go 2 weeks after bottling, but best after 3 weeks. 

Edward Scissorhands Skirt Recon for my Sister’s Birthday

I can’t believe it, but my youngest sister turns 16 today!  She, like most young girls I suppose, loves Johnny Depp.  So I looked all over eBay and Etsy for the coolest Johnny Depp t-shirt I could find, and came up with this one….

Pretty cool shirt!  I turned it into a fabulous skirt (or tube top), by added drawstrings to the sides and an elastic waistband.

I should have taken more pictures of each step, but here is an inside shot of the drawstring.  I basically cut the shirt into rectangular pieces and serged (or use a sewing machine) a 6 or 7 inch strip of stretchy knit fabric to each side of the t-shirt.  Then I folded the strip in half and stitched about 1 ½ inches in to form a “pocket” for the drawstring.  I then pressed the “pocket” down evenly and stitched up the center to form 2 “pockets”.  I made the drawstrings and pulled them up one side of the skirt and back down using a safety pin to guide the string through the “pockets”.  I tied each end; you could also use a bead as a stopper if you can find one with a big enough opening to fit the fabric through.  Then I simply hemmed the loose edges, sewed an elastic waistband to the top and trimmed any excess fabric.

Xmas Presents

For the past several years I have made all my Christmas presents.  There are so many reasons to make things yourself around the holidays.  A handmade gift means a lot to loved ones and helps keep us away from all the over consumerism associated with Christmas these days.

Throughout December I’ve been posting what I’ve been making, but I’d like to compile everything here to give you all some ideas of easy, affordable home made gifts.

 

Simple knit skirts

These are for my Mom.  I used a skirt that I made her years ago for my pattern, which I believe was made with Simplicity pattern #4604 plus an elastic wasitband

 

Bay Rum Aftershave and Soap

 

Smells amazing!  I made these for my Dad, brothers, boyfriend, and male friends. (recipe here)

 

Reusable Muslin Tea Bags and Homegrown Hyssop Tea

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My first batch of tea from the garden!  These are for my step-mom, and a couple other tea drinkers in my life.  I found a nice tin container to store the empty tea bags and made tags with a picture of hyssop and explanation of all its medicinal benefits.  Hyssop is an amazing herb! (tutorial here)

 

 

 

Leggings

 

For my sisters and lady friends (although I probably could have made these for everyone, since boys wear leggings too!) I’ve wanted to make try McCall’s pattern #6173 for a while!  It was super simple and they turned out great.  Never buying leggings again!

Printed Sweatshirt

For my 12 year old brother, who is too young to shave or care about soap, I printed a chicken skeleton on the back of a thrift store sweatshirt.  My brother takes care of the chickens and other birds at my dad’s farm, so I think he will be into this print as much as I am!

I made a silk screen (you can always make a stencil if you don’t have the equipment) and printed on a scrap of a t-shirt, then cut the patch out and sewed it on a hoodie.

Revenge Bot

 

OK, so maybe this isn’t one you could make easily.  We have a Christmas exchange on my Dad’s side of the family and I had my cousin who recently started his own skateboard company, Revenge.  So I made him one my robots with his logo on a robo-skateboard and the chest plate. Worked out perfectly!

 

 

Last year I made everyone food related items; hot sauce, soup, bread, fudge, chocolate covered cherries, peppermint bark, and even dog treats/catnip toys for pets.  I still wanted to make a few sweets this year and just take them to celebrations.  This is what I took….

 

 

 

 

Chocolate Covered Cherries (recipe here)

Homemade Pretzels Dipped in Chocolate

 

I used this recipe here and then melted vegan chocolate chips.

I dipped some in chocolate and crushed candy canes; others were covered in peanut butter, and then dipped in chocolate.

 

 

 

Skittles Vodka

I found this recipe here.  Tastes great, so glad Skittles is now gelatin-free!

 

 

And if you don’t have the time or energy for a diy Xmas, you can always shop locally and buy fair trade goods online.  My boyfriend has wanted a backstrap loom for a while; I found a really nice one here from a fair trade non-profit in Guatemala.

I made him this actual backstrap to go with it!

Chocolate Covered Cherries

I love chocolate covered cherries!  And they make a simple, cheap gift that most people can enjoy. Apparently they taste better after a couple weeks, so this year I actually made them ahead of time.  They are amazing fresh too, but the additional time allows the cherry juices to soak into the candy giving it that sweet, juicy center.  Either way, chocolate covered cherries have quickly become one of my favorite things to make around the holidays.

INGREDIENTS:

60 maraschino cherries (with or without stems, stems just make them easier to dip and handle)
3 TBSP butter substitute, softened
3 TBSP corn syrup
2 CUP confectioner sugar
1 bag chocolate chips

 

Drain the cherries (save the juice for mixed drinks or other desserts later!).  Let the cherries dry on paper towels or in a colander.

 

Combine the butter and corn syrup until smooth.

 

 

Add the confection sugar and form into dough. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chill if necessary to keep dough firm.

Coat each cherry with the sugar dough, using about a teaspoon of dough per cherry.  I usually flatten the dough into a disk, wrap it around the cherry, and then roll the dough around the palm of my hand until the cherry is evenly coated.  (It doesn’t have to be perfect :)

 

Let chill until firm.

 

Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler, or microwave.  Dip each cherry in the chocolate and coat.  Let dry on wax lined paper and store in an air tight container.

Reusable tea and herb bags

 

I made a batch of muslin tea bags for a few people for Christmas.  As I’m growing more herbs, I need to make more tea!  So I figured I could fill a couple bags with my own hyssop tea from the garden and through in some extra tea bags for a sweet, green gift.

A ½ yard of 44 inch wide unbleached, preshrunk muslin made 24 tea bags.  I also bought 10 yards of cotton string that is used in making some type of fancy curtain (available at fabric stores).  But you could use any natural fiber string.

I cut my muslin into rectangle pieces measuring 6 x 4 inches, and I cut my string in to 12-15 inch pieces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Press in half and trim edges with picking shears to prevent fraying.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Press the 2 short sides in about a ¼ inch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Press one long side in about ½ inch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Place your cotton string inside the hem line and sew across the top, creating a pocket for the pull string.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fold the rectangle in half again, with seams facing out.  Stitch along the side and bottom to form a bag.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clip your corners, clean off any hairs or stray threads, and turn right-side out. Tie the cotton string together and make yourself a cup of tea!

 

 

After finishing these, I bought another half yard and made 6 larger bags for storing/drying herbs and spices (I followed the directions above, but used 9 x 14 inch rectangles and 18 inch pieces of string).  You can make the bags as big or small as you want.  Larger bags also work for compost tea!

When doing small, repetitive projects like this it often works best to do it assembly line style.  I cut everything out, then do all the ironing, sew each bag, clean them up and package.  It goes much quicker!

Vegan Fudge

 

I always forget about fudge until the holiday season.  And then I make tons of it :) I thought fudge was so good, because it used real butter and milk.  I was wrong!  It’s all about the chocolate!  I use Earth Balance vegan butter, homemade rice milk, and unrefined sugar to replace the animal derived ingredients in in an old recipe. Tastes exactly the same as when I made it non-vegan in the past.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cup sugar
¼ TSP salt
4 oz unsweetened chocolate (or ½ CUP powder)
1 TBSP corn syrup
1 CUP rice milk
2 TBSP vegan butter
1 TSP vanilla

Using a wooden spoon, mix the sugar and salt together; then add the chocolate, corn syrup and milk.  Turn the heat to low and mix until everything dissolves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let the mixture heat up until it reaches between 234-240°F.  Stir as little as possible, the chocolate will boil over so use a large pot.

 

(If you don’t have a thermometer you can test the fudge by dropping a little in a glass of cold water.  When it’s ready it will be firm enough to form a soft ball.)

 

Add the vegan butter to the fudge and remove from heat.  Do not stir the butter in until the fudge cools to about 110°F (I usually just wait until I can easily touch the outside of the pot).

 

 

 

Add the vanilla and stir vigorously until the fudge loses its glossy finish and looks more matte.  Pour into a butter pan and let sit at room temperature until hardened.

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some fudge repair tips I found in an old cookbook:

To soften fudge: knead with hand until it becomes smooth, and then flatten into pan

To stiffen fudge:  add ¼ CUP milk, stir, heat to proper temperature, beat and pour.

Wish I had known those tricks before; the main thing with fudge is getting it to that perfect temperature.  But even mistake fudge can usually be used for something.  If the mixture doesn’t get hot enough it doesn’t solidify, but it’s great as a fudge sauce for other desserts.  If you heat the fudge over the 240°, it gets too stiff and brittle, but can be used as chocolate shavings in desserts and hot drinks.  You can’t go wrong!