Soft Toy Elephant

As you probably already know by now I like making toys and last month when I found a book about making soft toys I knew I had to start planning for some serious toy making! The book is from the 70's but these models doesn't get out of fashion which is great.

The pattern pieces for these toys were drawn in miniature size on squared paper in the book and I had to do my own squared paper were each square was 2,5 cm *2,5 cm to get the natural size. Then I tried to copy the drawings of all pattern pieces the best I could on my own natural sized squared paper.
It was a new way for me to get the pattern ready, I have only used Burda patterns before and there you don't have to re-size anything or draw by hand, so this was exciting and fun!

I chose the elephant pattern because I thought it was so very cute. I calculated how big the final toy would be and thought it might get too big so I chose to make my squares 1,5 cm instead of 2,5 cm. That resulted in the little elephant you see in the pictures. It was a little tricky to sew and then turn the fabric inside out, especially around the trunk area, so I decided to make one more elephant in the original size which resulted in the big elephant in the pictures. I think they both turned out good and I am pleased with them both. The filling is a white fluffy 100% polyester fuzz, but according to the book small pieces of cloths is good to use too.

Tosca Cake

One of my grandmother's classic recipes was the tosca cake, a soft spunge cake with a layer of caramelized almonds on top. I remember as a child I found the topping was the goodiest thing so I ate that first :)
I haven't baked this cake before, and I haven't eaten one since my grandmother made it maybe ten years ago, so I experienced a flashback when I took a bite of this :) A good flashback! The almond topping is the best! Try it, you won't be disappointed :)

Tosca Cake
100 grams or magarine or butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 dl sugar
2 dm flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 deciliter milk

Topping
100 grams of margarine or butter
1 deciliter sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons milk
100 grams chopped sweet almonds (peeled or unpeeled)

1. Put oven to 175 Celsius.
2. Grease and bread a round cake tin with removable rim, aproximately 24 cm in diameter.
3. Melt the margarine/butter and let it cool for a while.
3. Whisk sugar and eggs until the mix is light and fluffy.
4. Add the flour mixed with baking powder, the melted margarine/butter and the milk until you get a smooth fluffy batter.
5. Pour the batter into the cake tin and let the cake bake in the lower part of the oven for about 20 minutes.
6. While the cake is in the oven you can start preparing the topping.
7. Mix all the ingredients into a saucepan and let it warm slowly while you stire carefully.
8. When the mixture has started to thicken it is ready.
9. Spread the topping on the cake.
10. Let the cake bake approximately 15 minutes more in the middle of the oven until the color is nice on the topping.

Simple Jersey Tank Top!

Hello! I took a little summer vacation the past two weeks and I am now back on the blog with a very simple and cute sewing idea! Tank tops are one of the most popular garments but even if they often are made of very small amount of fabric they cost quite much. Also, I have the problem that when I need a tank top I seem to be the only one looking for COLOUR because the shops are always full of black, white and grey garments... So, I thought to myself that I probably need to fix the tank top I want by myself. I went to my favourite store in my town, Ohlssons Tyger, and found some lovely jersey fabric. The fabric was actually knitted like a tube and had the perfect diameter for my body so this tank top model didn't need very much sewing!

I bought the fabric in the three colors light pink, yellow and purple so I could make three tank tops. The final cost for these three tank tops is about 160 Swedish crowns (20 USD) together and when I look in the stores I can't find three tank tops in the right colors for less than 300 Swedish crowns (35 USD) together so I think I made a good deal :)

How to...
The easiest way to make your own tank top is to take measurements from a tank top you already have and like. Measure the body length and width of the tank top and then transfer them to the new fabric you want to use. If you don't have a tube-knitted fabric like I had, just cut out two rectangles in single sided fabric and sew one seam in each side to make your own "tube".  Remember to add about 0,5 cm on each side as seam allowance before you cut out your rectangles. Make sure to get the rib vertical so the fabric works along your body.

I wanted my tank top to be 45 cm long so I cut it about 50 cm and fold the upper and the lower edges about 2,5 cm each to get the final 45 cm length. The two stripes you see at the right in the picture above, are the two shoulder-straps in double fabric. You can of course make them how wide you like but I made them 3 cm wide and fold the long edges in about 0,5 cm on each side so they became about 2 cm wide in the end.
To get the right length for the shoulder-straps I measured on a tank top I had at home, you can also measure the straps on your bra. 

The piece in the lower part of the picture I used to make a headband to match with the tank top - super cute!

Pizza Buns

Sometimes you just need something good for lunch, or for the picnic or just a snack that is more than just a sandwich. A great candidate for that mission is the pizza bun. It is simple to bake them and they are both delicious and fills the stomach good. Today I paired these lovely buns with a bowl of fresh water melon, pear and milk - a very tasty combination!
These buns are fast to bake and you don't even have to let them raise anytime before sending them into the oven. Perfect for those of you who think you may not have the time to bake.
I baked these with dryed yeast and therefore I used 40 degrees Celcius water in my recipe. If you use fresh yeast you should use maximum 37 degrees Celcius water.

Pizza Buns (~24 pieces)
Dough
50 grams of dryed yeast
2 1/2 deciliter 40 degrees Celcius water
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons oil
420 grams of flour

Filling (here you can choose your favourite ingredients)
400 grams of crusched tomatoes
1 decilter chili sauce
1 tablespoon dryed oregano
400 grams of sliced ham
400 grams canned muschrooms
400 grams grated cheese

1. Put the oven to 250 Celcius.
2. Mix water, oil and salt into a bowl.
3. Mix the flour with the yeast and add the flour little by little to the water mixture.
4. Knead the dough for five minutes until it is smooth and easy to work with. If it is sticky, add flour carefully, you do not want the dough to get too much flour.
5. Roll out the dough to a rectangle, approximately 40 cm wide and 30 cm high.
6. Mix the crushed tomatoes with the chili sauce and spread all over the dough rectangle.
7. Add ham, muschrooms, oregano and cheese on top of the tomato mixture.
8. Finally, start rolling from the 40 cm side to the other 40 cm side until you get a nice big roll.
9. Slice the roll into 2 cm thick pieces and put them with the sliced side up into paper cups.
10. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 8-10 minutes.

Pink and White Plaid Kilt

For some time now I have had a pink and white plaided fabric I think is very pretty but I didn't know what to make out of it... until last weekend!
When I was in high school (no, we will not think about how many years has past since then...!) I wanted to have my own unique style and luckily I have a mother who is very talented seamstress. One type of garment that became my special feature was all my different kilts I had. When I count in my head how many different kilts I had (I still have them stored in a box somewere) I count to six and all of them were different from eachother in both length and style. I have thought about them now and then but last weekend I decided to try to make one myself. I studied one of my old kilts and tried to make a copy. My old kilt had about 3 cm deep pleats but I decided to make 5 cm deep pleats instead.

I am very pleased with the result and I was actually surprised that I could make it look so good and alike my mothers old kilt model.
I lined the kilt with a thin polyester fabric because when the kilt is so short it has the bad habit of "climbing" up the legs when I walk. I love this style and I will definately make several more kilts in the future. I think it could be my special feature again, I forgot how comfortable this garment is :)

Marbled Cake / Tiger Cake

Grrrr! Hello friends, this week I will show you a recipe for marbled cake, or as I have always called it, Tiger cake :) This classic cake is basically 1/3 chocolate batter and 2/3 vanilla flavoured batter, but you could of course use two other flavours if you want, I guess the variations can be unlimited :)

Marbled Cake / Tiger Cake Recipe
200 grams of butter or margarine
2 1/2 deciliter sugar
3 eggs
4 deciliter flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 deciliter milk

Flavours:
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 tablespon vanilla sugar (or 1/2-1 lemon zest)

Put oven to 175 Celsius.
Grease and bread a baking pan size about 1 1/2 liter.
Stirr the margarine and the sugar white and smooth and add one egg at the time while continuing stirring.
Mix flour and baking powder and add to the egg mixture along with the milk little by little to avoid lumbs.
Put 1/3 of the batter in a bowl and add the cocoa.
Flavour the rest of the batter with vanilla suger or lemon zest.
Pour half of the vanilla batter into the baking pan, and then pour the coca batter on top. Finally add the last of the vanilla batter on top of the cocoa batter.
Use a fork and draw it around through all the layers a few times so the layers mix into each other.
Bake in the lower part of the oven for about one hour.

Have a great week folks!

Blue and White Summer Dress

Last Friday, the 19th of June, Sweden celebrated Midsummer's eve. For swedish people this holiday is almost as big as Christmas. We eat smorgasbord as lunch, which includes pickled herring, sour cream, potatoes, chives, eggs and crispbread. Later in the evening we barbecue and for dessert we eat cream cake with strawberries or strawberries with unwhipped cream or ice cream. During midday or early afternoon it is a tradition to gather loved ones, dress a maypole with flowers and leaves and then dance around it together with the children to violin music or accordion music.
We celebrated together with my husband's brother's family and for this occation I sewed this dress I will show you today!

The pattern is taken from BurdaStyle magazine no 6/2014. I wanted a dress with simple lines and few details and I liked the fact that it has two hidden pockets in the side seams. When I was finished I was a little unhappy with the neckline because I thought it was a bit too deep. When I leaned forward people would see more than I wanted to show so I sew the two front parts together were they crossed. However, that was not enough so I used a white tank top under so it covered as much as I wanted. Maybe I will add a white or blue patterned piece behind the two front pieces so I won't need a tank top in the future.

The fabric I used is cotton fabric with not much stretch. However, there is no need for much stretch because the zipper in the side seam is long enough to make it easy to get the dress on without trouble.
The fabric is called "Twelve Oaks" from the collection of Judie Rothermel for MARCUS Fabrics (see picture below)