cookbook addict

Recently I was lucky to come across the following vintage sewing books, one is a 1975 Reader's Digest opus, the other is from Singer, I'm guessing late 60s early 70s. The orange one is pretty thorough, encompassing children's clothes, women's, dolls', furniture -make your own block sofa-, sewing from commercial patterns, etc. All in technicolour Seventies style. The second one has a bit less, mainly clothing, and the pics are B&W, every pattern has a name and a subtitle, all in cheery, enthusiastic tones, and look at those photos, I wish I were that happy ! All the models are in movement and so damn grinning. The downside is that you have to draw the patterns yourself, following a grid system. But such a wealth of things to make and wonder at for such a mall price. And I had a few good hearty laughs too.   The following would find its place in any modern Japanese pattern book:   And the ubiquitous wrap skirt -reversible!- of any beginners' book.   I really l...

I hope to get a bit more regular on this blog. I have made a few things since last year but it seems too much for a single post. Let's focus on the now and then. Today we're going to celebrate the third birthday of a little neighbour so I've made her an elephant. It's my third and it's true that the more you make something the easier it becomes. This one has less faults than its two predecessors. I have used fabric from Tilda, I think they're so beautiful, and the pattern is from this book , which is a great book for beginners. I received two Japanese pattern books this week and am planning on making this skirt first. I have long wanted a denim skirt with a pleat at the front, I'm thinking of making it all denim.     For the sweet tooth, here's a little pic of Jamie's baked chocolate tart out if his first book. Mmmhhh, so good! The recipe is here . I used "only" 100g butter, but it is very rich all the same. I used to make it often when I f...