Racer back tank top

The finished top! I went with a light fluro yellow ribbon instead of the blue. I think it works well. The hem is a simple scoop - shorter at the front and longer at the back. I think next time I would make this top even a little longer and wear it with leggings.

The back is a slight racer back - there is no reason why your couldn't make this even more pronounced, in fact next time I might. I also included a centre back seam so I could adjust the fit but I think next time I would leave this out and cut the back on the fold. All in all, very happy. Print out the pattern and have a go!

Racer back tank pattern

So, I have finished my tank top just in time for the weather to cool down. Oh, well. I think the pattern will also make a great longer version to wear during the cooler months with opaque stockings and boots. Check out the pattern below. You just need to print it on A4 paper, cut and glue it together. You need to match the little letters together and the grey shaded boxes are for the glue. Hope it works and I will keep you posted on how to sew this together as well as some pics of my final top - I went for a bit more of a fluro look rather than the blue - still think it strikes a nice balance of grandma vintage!
click here for the pattern

Racer back tank top

It has been hot hot hot lately and I have been churning out different versions of a scooped hem tank top. My latest attempt is going to be a racer back top out of this lovely light linen denim - it has a slight glittery sheen to it in the right light.

More importantly I love this doily like flower. I think it is the right side of grandma vintage. Still undecided on the blue ribbon but I think it needs something to tie it together so it doesn't look like I have stuck a doily on my top....

Lemon Polenta cake

Almost the perfect lemony cake with a bite of polenta - yum! This delicious recipe comes from (in my opinion) the queen of baking - Nigella Lawson. I love that she is unafraid of butter and sugar and combines them with abandon.

The original recipe can be found here, or I have reprinted it below.

Ingredients

200g unsalted butter

200g caster sugar

200g ground almonds

100g polenta (or cornmeal)

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

3 eggs

zest of 2 lemons

(for the syrup)

juice of 2 lemons

125 g icing sugar

Method

1. Line and grease a 23cm spring form cake tin (I forgot to line the bottom of my tin and regretted it as the syrupy dense cake stuck a little to the bottom - next time I will line the tin!)

2. Preheat oven to 180 degrees

3. Cream buter and sugar.

4. Mix together almonds, polenta, baking powder and zested lemons

5. Mix some of the dry ingredients into the butter-sugar mix. Add an egg and mix well. Alternate dry ingredients and eggs beating all the while

6. Pour mix into prepared tin and bake for 40 mins or until just set in the middle

7. Make the syrup by heating the lemon juice and icing sugar until sugar has dissolved.

8. When the cake is cooked, gently prick all over with a cake tester. Pour the syrup all over the cake and allow to cool completely in the tin

DIY single doona cover

Annoying doona cover fact #1 - it bunches in the corner.
Annoying doona cover fact #2 - the doona gapes through the fasteners
Annoying doona cover fact #3 - it is made of cheap, nasty fabric

When you make your own doona cover you can deal with all your annoying doona cover gripes. For this single doona cover I am using a lovely cotton fabric - prewashed and dried - #3 dealt with - no balling poly cotton here!

To make this cover I first cut three 220cm lengths of my fabric. From one of the pieces I cut 4 strips 20cm x 220cm. I then attached these pieces either side of each of the larger pieces (see diagram in previous post). This meant I now had a front and back for my doona - now to work on the fasteners.

Fold over the top edge of one of the sides - I did this 2cm and then 2cm (to create a nice sturdy base for your fasteners)

I then created two little tags and added some button holes - innocent looking but I think they will be the answer to doona gripe #1 - the bunching doona.

I pinned these to my folded edge (10cm from the corner on both sides) then sewed down my folded edge.

I then attached the fasteners - I used some metal press studs (found at most fabric shops and easily attached using a hammer). I spaced these at 10cm intervals - starting 20cm in from each edge. I attached these fasteners to the right side of the fabric because when it all comes together the fasteners will be hidden (goodbye #2 - ugly fasteners)

I repeated the above for both sides of the fabric. Then, I sewed the front and the back together. I also sewed along the edge with the fasteners for 20cm from each corner (before the fasteners) but you don't have to. Easy - and when the fasteners are done up, they are hidden!

Finally I sewed a button to two corners of the doona - matching up to the button holes on the tags - #1 gripe, bunching doona fixed.

That just leaves one happy doona owner.

DIY single doona cover tutorial

Miss S is about to move into a big girl bed so I went looking for good quality bed linen that did not cost  over $100 or include some variation of purple/ pink princess, heart, pony..... Anyway, no luck so I decided to make some! Was lucky to find some lovely stripy fabric from my fav fabric haunt, Darn Cheap Fabrics for $4 per metre - bargain! The dimensions for a single bed doona are 140cm x 210xm but my fabric width was only 110cm. So, I have decided to keep it simple - one large panel down the middle and two side panels.

This meant I needed 3 times the length of the doona - so 6.5 metres of fabric all up! Such pretty fabric too - can't wait to get sewing.