How to make a skirt fit and How to hem pants

This skirt is too big!

I "took in" what I needed to at the back while I was wearing the skirt, to ensure a proper fit. I pinned it in place.

I measured how much I had pinned off, and then flipped the skirt inside out and re-pinned.

I sewed the waistband at the new fit. I didn't go all the way down the skirt because of all the ruffles, but if there were no ruffles, I'd sew the whole thing!

This is what it looks like right-side-out. By hemming the waistband only, I created a "pleat"

I decided I needed to flatten out my pleat. I stitched this in place.

I decided to "take in" the skirt directly at the back because the skirt's zipper was at the side. If I took the skirt in on the other side, it'd be lopsided with all the ruffles. If the zipper had been at the back, I would have taken in both the sides instead!

Ah, how it fits so well now!

Here's a picture of the back view. See how ruffly that is!

Here's an example of how I'd wear this skirt in an actual outfit, and not just with the Star Wars t-shirt I happened to be wearing while altering.

Hey this looks good! With some black tights, this is definitely a wearable fall outfit.

How to Hem Pants

If you're short like me, you probably know all about hemming pants. Maybe you pay someone to do it, maybe you do it yourself, or maybe you just roll up your pants! Here's how I hem my pants.

I put them on, and then roll in one pant leg to the right length.

Inside-out, I mark this new length on both legs. I use a super-fancy Crayola pencil crayon for this.

Since this was a rather large hem (lots of length to remove!) I cut down the fabric to be  1.5" from the "new" length.

I folded up 0.5" and pressed. I sewed that 0.5" hem.

I then folded up the 0.5" hem another 1", and pressed.

Here's the fun part! I slip-stitched the new hem.

Look at how neat my stitches turned out!

This is what it looks like on the outside- you can barely see the hand-stitches.

Well, maybe you can see them a bit!

And now they fit just perfect!

Eat A Rainbow! (Recipes)

Nothing but watermelon

400-800g of watermelon. Blend. Drink.

Matcha Almond Latte

1tsp Matcha green tea, whisked into 1/2c 80 degree water in a bowl

1/2c unsweetened almond milk, steamed

Pour almond milk over matcha. Swirl it up if you like!

Chris's Birthday Cake

(Vegan/Soy Free, easy to count carbs)

Crust:

Whole wheat flour + coconut oil + water. 

Use approximately the same proportions that you would use for regular pie crust .

Filling:

Cashews, soaked overnight
Water

Maple syrup

Vanilla bean!

Blend it up on high until it's creamy. Use a 1:1 ratio of cashews to water. Less water=thicker! Maple syrup to taste. I used 1 tbsp, which was not much, but served the cake with maple syrup for those who wanted it sweeter!

Toppings:

All the delicious berries of your choice

Nothing but Pineapple

I didn't make what is pictured, but this is essentially what it was: 

Pineapple, inside removed, blended with some coconut sugar,

and served in the pineapple. 

Enjoy!

Things that make me smile

Having a whole bunch of my family over for dinner!

This skirt from American Apparel

Going on a "cleanse". Well, not really! I just love making smoothies

Doodling

Running a half marathon for the first time!

Weird coloured smoothies and flowers

Peek-a-boo!

Here are some photos of some of the sweet things I've been up to these past few months. 

Drinking green smoothies and reading light.

Making my own pesto

Performing in concerts

Steaming almond milk with our new espresso machine to make tea lattes

Walking across the Don Valley on nice days

Playing Ticket to Ride

Eating colourful things

Absolutely crushing at Ticket to Ride...

Running!

The Best Banana Bread I've Ever Made (so far...)

Since the beginning of February, I have been aching to bake banana bread. Last Sunday, I finally had the time and all of the necessary ingredients to make it happen.

If you're friends with me on facebook, you have probably figured out that this banana bread turned out so well, I had trouble not eating it all at once. It turned out so nutty and very flavourful. 

I made this banana bread dairy-free, but it still has eggs and flour, if you care about that kind of thing!

I adapted this recipe from Canada's 150 Best Diabetes Desserts and I will list all of the dietary information after the recipe!

Banana Walnut Bread

Makes 20 half-slices (1 half-slice per serving)

What you need: 

- 2 ripe bananas, mashed. I keep a container of frozen SUPER RIPE bananas in my freezer, to be used in smoothies and such. I ended up nuking two of them for this recipe, but if I was more patient, I would have just let them sit out for a couple of hours to defrost.

- 1/2 coconut oil, softened

- 1/2 raw or brown sugar. I may have only used 1/4 cup. I can't remember now. :S

- 1 egg

- 1 egg white. (I feel weird about using only egg whites. I bought a carton of egg whites specifically for this recipe. What do they do with the yolks?)

- 1 and 1/3 cups whole wheat flour

- 1/3 cup chopped walnuts

- 1 tsp baking soda

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 1/4 cup hot water

What to do:

- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

- Spray or line with parchment paper a loaf pan, young jedi

- Beat bananas with coconut oil. Beat in sugar, whole egg, and egg white until fluffy

- In another bowl, combine flour, walnuts, baking soda, and salt

- Stir in banana mixture along with hot water just until blended

- Pour mixture into prepared loaf pan

- Bake for 35 to 45 min (Mine took exactly 35 min!) or until a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean 

- Cool in pan for 5 min

- Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack

Nutritional Information:

Per 1 serving:

Calories 100

Carbohydrate 14g

Fiber 1g

Protein 2g

Fat 4g

If you use butter instead of coconut oil:

Calories 115

Carbohydrate 14g

Fiber 1g

Protein 2g

Fat 6g

Inefficient Packaging

Some back story:
In January, I signed up to do the Sporting Life 10k here in Toronto on May 11th. With the early registration, I received a $35 gift card for Sporting Life. The catch with the gift card was that it had an early expiry date, February 15th. On the evening of February 14th, I was so determined not to lose my $35 that I decided to buy something online. The only thing I could afford was a (clearance) sports bra. So I got it.

Fast forward to today, when I just received a package in the mail! Hurray, sports bra!

It came in this gigantic box.

11"x10"x15"

For one sports bra. 

I do not see the point of this at all. 

Oh well, free box for meeeeee!!!

Origami Galaxy Box

 This is what I did with one page of my 2013 calendar (Images from Hubble Space Telescope).

A cute little origami box! I haven't made one of these in a while. 

When I was in my fourth year of undergrad, I used to make several of these per day. It was my way of dealing with stress. I didn't make this one out of stress, but out of boredom! 

This tiny box only holds five ginger chews!

Yumm. Now, go make a tiny galaxy box! And if you haven't tried Chimes ginger chews, you must! 

Destroy This Magazine

This Vogue magazine has been haunting my living room since September. I bought it for kicks, read through it once, and instantly felt horrible about myself. I won't go into detail. Today, I decided to destroy it.

 Sorry Ralph Lauren.

 "She's Sporty. She's Sexy. She's ..."

So many strips of vapid paper! 

I decided to try out my weaving skills. 

It was hard to figure out what to do with this awesome thing.

Here's a good place!

To be continued...