The Renaissance Woman

So this weekend was productive, despite a complete loss of Saturday and Sunday morning due to an overnight stay in Seattle. Unfortunately, one of my projects did not turn out as well as I would have hoped.

Project #1 – Finishing my dress form.

A couple of months ago, I purchased this dressform from Jo-Ann’s when it was seriously marked down (over half off when all was said and done). Aside from non-adjustable forms (which are crazy expensive – especially if you et one made to fit), this is probably the best dress form on the market.

However, I had two major issues with the form. I am fairly busty and the form is not. I also have a tummy, which I would like to take into account when making clothing, and the adjustable form really only expands out, not taking into account some areas being poofier than others.

So, being the Cheeky Craft Chick that I am, I went and got myself some batting. Then I took one of my bras (which the underwire had just torn through, making it perfect to donate for this project), and put it on the dressform. I stuffed the chest of the bra to fill out the difference and then added some batting to the stomach and rear end of the form, wrapping it into place with some thin quilt batting. Very often (in costume shops ’round the world), this is how a padded dress form is left to be used.

However, I am a little OCD.

So, to make the dress form look more presentable, I used some old blue cotton fabric I had leftover from my wedding two years ago and made a cover for the newly shaped form. Basically, this simply consisted of draping the fabric on the form, and creating seams and darts where necessary – much in the same way you would design a garment via draping.

Then I marked one of the side seams, unpinned it, and removed it from the form. I serged all the newly created seams together, leaving that large side seam unsewn (well, I serged the edges, but did not sew the fabric together).

Then I replaced the fabric sheath onto the form and sewed it onto the form by sewing that last seam together. the result was a fairly visually pleasing, and Cheeky Craft Chick shaped dressform.

Project #2 – Pie Bites

This project went fairly smoothly, though I was disappointed in the bites themselves, but I’ll expand on that later.

First things first. I love my baking mat.

I only just recently purchased this item and this was my first project with it. Completely worth it. It is larger than a cutting board and easier to clean then the counters (not to mention I just feel a little weird kneading and rolling dough on the counter directly). It’s also silicone, meaning if you wanted to just toss it on a cookie sheet (well, I’d need a bigger cookie sheet), then you can. It also held the flour beautifully and just was a charm to work on.

However, I think I need to invest in a food processor. The “Martha Stewart Foolproof Pie Crust Recipe” probably would have seemed at least a little closer to the cinch it was purported to be if I had the right equipment. Instead, I used my handy substitute:

Which was a real pain in the tuckus and took absolutely forever to do it’s job. I am now convinced I need a food processor.

But I got the pie crust fixed and rolled out. And I cut all the little circles I could:

And laid them out in neat little rows:

And topped them with 4 varieties of sweet goodies:

(as you can see, the sweet goodies tried to escape, but I managed to keep it mostly neat for the picture – a major accomplishment for me)

Then I topped them with another pie crust circle, molded the two pieces together, brushed ‘em with some egg whites and let ‘em bake for about 20 minutes.

And they came out looking like this:

And they smelled so lovely. So I let them cool a bit and popped a few into a bowl for my husband and I to try.

Note: I generally do not like pie. Jeremy was a crucial player as he does, in fact, like pie – so he can tell me if it’s good on the pie scale.

Both of us concluded they had potential, but had waaaaay too much crust to fruit ratio. Kinda like eating a dry biscuit with too little jam. Not a huge fan.

Which means, I’m certainly not going to send them to other people as thank you gifts.

Which means, I still need to think of a thank you gift. *sigh*

However, the pie bite is not completely dead in my book. I am contemplating securing some puff pastry (from the store if lazy, from a Julia Child cookbook if I feel inspired) and using that as the wrapping for the sweet, fruity yumminess.

But first, I have a great idea for a skirt I’m hoping to explore next weekend as my dressform is ready for work.

Stay Tuned! And happy crafting!