Make: Basil Pesto

 

My garden is going nuts this summer! I have more zucchinis, cucumbers and basil than I know what to do with. Recently, I gave the hedge of basil a severe cutting back and made basil pesto.

I make my pesto using the following recipe. You can change the quantities depending on how much basil you have, or how much basil pesto you want!

Recipe
Blend 6 cups of basil leaves with 200g pinenuts, 6 garlic cloves, salt to taste and enough good quality olive oil to form a nice consistency in a large food processor bowl. Once blended, stir in 350g finely grated parmesan cheese. Store in fridge with a film of olive oil covering pesto at all times. Makes about 3 cups of pesto.

It lasts in the fridge for about a month as long as the olive oil is covering the pesto. It is very tasty and makes a great weeknight meal with pasta. My boys love penne tossed with this pesto and served with grated parmesan on top. 

What else can I do with excessive amounts of basil??

L x

Sew: Floral Collette Dinnigan Cambie Dress

Another birthday party, another party dress!! Mr N turns 4 tomorrow so we held his birthday party this morning. It was all about Lightning McQueen.

For the occasion I made my first Sewaholic Cambie and used a prized piece of Collette Dinnigan cotton floral that I've been sitting on for a while waiting for the perfect project. A total match made in heaven. I love this dress. The fabric is gorgeous. It feels like good quality bed linen that has been washed a million times, soft and lovely. I used a white silk cotton lining from Tessuti which is my fave fabric to line summer dresses.

I took a chance and did a swayback adjustment without a toile. Every dress I've made in the last 6 months has required this alteration and all my old dresses probably should have had this alteration. I removed a 1.5cm fold (3cm total) from above and below the waistband. To re-align the grainline I removed 1.5cm from the centre back (again 3cm total), which removes the back necline gape issue. I was spot on with this alteration.

The colours of the dress are lovely and soft without being pastel. Here we are "controlling" pass the parcel with a bunch of 4 year olds. It's a good photo of the true colours of the dress.

Project Details
Pattern: Sewaholic Cambie Dress, View A
Fabric: Collette Dinnigan floral cotton from Rathdowne Fabrics, silk cotton lining from Tessuti
Alterations: Swayback adjustment (above & below waistband), size 14 bodice grading to size 16 waistband and skirt

I am so glad I jumped on to the Cambie bandwagon! I am also super glad that our Festive Season is now officially done and dusted for the year. December and January birthdays certainly take it out of you.

Check out the birthday cake I made!!

L x

Sew: Vogue 8552 in Zebra print

Last Friday, Rachel and I took the kids in to see Santa at City Square. We were all done and dusted by 10.20am so we popped in to pick up my order from Tessuti and have a bit of a browse. Thankfully we were the only customers in the shop as our kids "browsed" with us. Trish was just putting a 1.5m zebra print linen remnant out so I snatched it up.
 

Vogue 8552 was fresh in my mind after reading Bloom's Endless Summer post last week on her most recent version. I've made this pattern twice before but wasn't a big fan of either dress. The first version the fabric was too stiff and the second version my binding was all off. I've come along way since both of those dresses, in terms of my finishing skills and adjusting the pattern to fit.

I removed a 1.5cm wedge from both the centre front and back as the neckline is very wide. I also went down a size. I used white bias binding and a plain white cotton for the neckline facing so the zebra print wouldn't show through and also to reduce bulk at the neckline pleats. The alterations completely changed the look and fit of the dress.

 

I love the big pleated pockets. 

 

And the back external pleats. 

 

It goes perfectly with my new Dinosaur Designs necklace. 

Project Details
Pattern: Vogue 8552 view A with pockets from view B
Fabric: 1.5m zebra print linen remnant from Tessuti Melbourne
Alterations: Size 18, removed 1.5cm wedge from centre front and back (removing 3cm total from neckline width), cut armholes down another 1cm 





Our Santa photo turned out alright. Mr H wouldn't turn his back to Santa, he wasn't too sure about the guy with the beard...

Sew: Grainline Scout Tee in Marc Jacobs

I'm back!! We just returned from an epic holiday touring Canberra, Sydney, the Blue Mountains & Jervis Bay. We had an awesome time. More on that later...

I made a few items in the week before we left and got my handy photographer (aka husband) to snap some photos while we were holidaying.

First up is a Grainline Scout Woven Tee in a lovely Marc Jacobs cotton that I picked up at The Fabric Store at our last sewists meet up. I really love this pattern, it is super easy and versatile. Perfect on summer days by itself or layered with a cardigan for cooler weather.

Project Details
Pattern: Grainline Scout Woven Tee
Fabric: Marc Jacobs cotton from The Fabric Store

Perfect with my new Clovers! I see many more Scout Tees in the future...

L x