www.sewcraftcook.com.au

Welcome!
You have found my old blog, which I created for myself to keep a record of my projects, you are very welcome to look through if you like...

The actual website link is here...and it also contains the new blog (this one will be removed as soon as our Google status is more stable, new websites take a  while)

www.sewcraftcook.com.au

If you want to tell your friends about us, please kindly ask them to type www.sewcraftcook.com.au into their main browser rather than Google search just for a little while longer as now and then it disappears on Google...


Thank you, hope you enjoy the website!

Love

Kate x

Cupcakes - Cake Decorating for Seatheme Kids Party Idea

 Starfish cupcakes

A cute idea for a little girls mermaid party.... cupcakes with baked fondant starfish.

Using a basic vanilla cupcake and coloured butter icing, these cupcakes are finished off with lovely puffy starfish and cachous. 

For the starfish, cut out the tinted fondant into start shapes and pull the fondant a little to shape more like a starfish (unless you are lucky enough to have a starfish cutter).  Place on a baking sheet in the oven and bake at 60 degrees (very, very low warming temperature) until the fondant puffs up (about 10 minutes), remove and cool completely before popping into icing. 

Easter Hat Parade

Easter Hat - The Fascinator Nest

Our traditions in Australia are not as grand as they are elsewhere in the world and the Easter Hat Parade (called the Easter Bonnet Parade in many countries) is often handed over to the local discount store full of bright yellow pom pom chickens and large sun hats.

hmmmm....

thinking outside the square I decided that a fascinator was more the go. 

I made this one from a simple fascinator base, a lovely nest with eggs in it and I clipped a bird on top to finish it off - a stylish offering for the parade.. Maybe this easter you can enjoy doing something out of the ordinary, that's tasteful and fun for the kids to wear. 

ps. the products for this fascinator were sourced from Bed Bath 'n Table (nest and bird) and Lincraft (fascinator base)

How to make a Library Bag

Library Bag - made from a tea-towel

 

Have you noticed the lovely tea towels around at the moment?  As much as I like my kitchen to look good, some of them are too cute to wipe up the dishes. 

This is a quick and easy way to make a library bag using one such gorgeous set of tea towels.  It contains two tea towels, one for the outer fabric and one for the lining.  It has been trimmed with a pink ribbon around the top then the same ribbon added as a handle. 

To make fold the outer fabric in half  and sew sides together (creating a front and back) then do the same with the lining fabric.  Place the fabrics together as they will finish up (lining inside with right side showing out and outer fabric right sides showing out).  Pin them togeher and do a basic wide stitch around them to hold them together.  Place the ribbon (go for a width around 50mm) around the top, with most of it on the outside of the bag and a small amount inside (to cover over the top seams), pin into place and then sew with a matching thread.  Cut a length of ribbon long enough for the handle - I prefer it to go over the child's head and hang across from one side of the body to the other (crossing the chest and back - like a market bag).   Sew on the ribbon and you have your quick and easy upcycled library bag.  Don't forget to sew or iron on a name tag! 

Japanese Handcrafts

Japanese Embroidery and Homecrafts

As I wandered around the little ski village today where we are staying I popped into the local store and found some lovely handcrafts made by one of the local girls.....

 

Little 'Pocket' Holders - to hold gifts or small items

using Japanese straight embroidery stitching

 

Little bags and a pot style carry bag

 

 

Coasters



Gorgeous Coasters - really cute and made out of fabric scraps

 

 



 

A really cute piece of Muslin with an edging

Soba Noodle Soup

Japanese Soba Noodle Soup with Wild Vegetables

Yes, I am a fan of Japanese soups - especially when today it's only -11 degrees!! After a morning of skiing this is so great to warm up with... 

This soup contains Soba noodles which are made from Buckwheat - really great flavour and readily available (like the Udon noodles from yesterday) in Australia in nearly all supermarkets these days. This delicious soup also contain local wild vegetables, so tasty and I can only assume are really good for you too!  Wild cabbage, wild broccoli, root vegetables and mushrooms - so good!

Art Smock

Art smock - upcycled from a man's shirt

It's that time of year when your school will want your little one to have an art smock... a simple and cheap idea is to upcycle a man's shirt.  

This one is for my little girl, the first picture is the front of the smock (previously the back of the shirt) with a pocket and embellished flower in a gorgeous contrast fabric and the next photo is the back of the smock.   I have cut away the button section and the collar and sewn a seam into the back of the smock. I sewed a ribbon on the back to help pull it in to the right size so it can be easily undone to take off the smock for those particularly messy art sessions. 

The sleeves have been cut down so they are three quarter sleeves and I have put elastic into them so they stay up and out of the way.  To adjust the shoulder width I have put a pin tucks in each side of the smock across the front and back.