14 June 2011

Fun With Sewing Machines & the Very First TricotChico Gourmet Recipe!


I've been enjoying getting to know my new sewing machine. All it took was a few free patterns from various parts of the netterwebs, some old t-shirts that (valiantly) sacrificed themselves for the advancement of my creative endeavours & some fabric I had on hand for other projects that I no longer want to work on.

I made Kanani's dress from a Pleasant Co. pattern (Molly's Party Dress--sans sleeve ruffles) that is a free PDF download & Josefina's tee shirt is from the Liberty Jane "Trendy Tee" pattern. I didn't originally download the pattern for Kanani's dress from Liberty Jane, but I believe the "Historical Character" patterns they have for free on the site are the same ones I downloaded.

So I made Kanani's dress from some fabric I bought back in 2009, intending to make some blue gingham dresses like what Dorothy wears in the quintessential Wizard of Oz movie. The lighting in the tiny shop was pretty bad, though, so what I thought was cornflower blue gingham turned out to be the blue-green business you see here. I held onto it, though (clearly) & when I got my machine off layaway, I realised this fabric would be great for making 'practice' projects.


Practice is key, too. Josefina's tee shirt was one of the first things I made--I think it was the first, in fact. You can see an example of what I call "decorative stitching" that I created inadvertently in a few places. All in time, though; I can see my technique getting better w/each piece I make, & I'm learning how to manipulate fabric to get it to do what I want it to, so it's all a win, I think.

Now, for the special BONUS recipe! It's not fancy & it's kinda tacky actually, but it's pretty tasty. ...well, I mean, I enjoy it.  ;o)


YOU NEED:
1 box of your favorite Macaroni & Cheez dinner (& whatever you need to make that)
4 little tubs of Papa John's nacho cheese sauce (I think you could probably use nacho cheese dip, too. Like I said, not fancy, kinda tacky.)

Make the Mac'n Cheez according to package directions. Add the nacho cheese sauce after you've mixed in all the usual cheese sauce flavoring food product. And look! It turns into food!


Ok you should probably eat this very rarely & I make no claims as to the nutritional value of this tomfoolery, but y'know... file under "things you never knew you never knew", eh?  ;o)