Needlessly Opinionated Recipe: Refrigerator Pancakes

You! Must make these pancakes!

Note well that I do not say "you must spend all bloody morning measuring mixing, frying, flipping, and storing the extra pancakes, taking forever and getting hella crabby by the time you're out of batter, all because there are only two of you in the household and despite your most valiant efforts, your stomach's capacity for flapjacks is finite." 

Whew. No. I like you better than that. 

This recipe neatly sidesteps a lot of the above nonsense. You do all the recipe-concoting the night before. In the morning, you cook exactly how many pancakes you want and put the batter back in the fridge. The batter lasts forever (okay, for about three days) without fizzling out, so you can have fresh pancakes all weekend long with minimal effort.

It's pancake liberation! Follow me!

Finished Project: Red Gingham Dress

Guys. Guys. GUYS. (Ladies.)

I made this dress. Not only did I start with fabric and turn it into a garment-- oh no. I made the pattern. I took my measurements and did math to them and now I can make obsessively personalized clothing. 

I'm overusing italics, but even that doesn't convey how excited this makes me. 

I've been struggling with Jack Handford's Professional Patternmaking for Designers for a couple months. The process to making your own patterns is surprisingly simple. You:

1.  Take some detailed measurements, 
2. Draw your pattern according to the book's directions,
3. and fiddle with your pattern until 
• It fits, or
• The sun explodes and the earth disintegrates into a pile of ash. (Whichever comes first. It was a near thing for me.)

If you've ever tried to develop your own pattern blocks, you'll know that my frock here is certainly not Vionnet-level brilliance. Creative patterning this ain't. The print doesn't match very well. The sleeves still need some rotating and the bodice darts are crying to be fixed.

But I couldn't've dreamt of doing anything like this a year ago. I put the zip into the lined bodice without swearing once. I wore it out of the house. 

This is visible progress and encouragement to keep going. Hooray!

Finished Project: Yet Another Dang Skirt + Cowl

What hail, gentlefolk! I've been seriously neglecting you all this autumn, and I have little to show for all the time I've spent not blogging. But look, at least there is this skirt!

Fabric: 2 yards free cotton sateen-ish stuff from Fabric Mart

Pattern: All drafted by me, right down to the pockets

Year: 2012

Notions: 9' invisible zip, $.25, some interfacing, maybe $1?

First Worn: August 2012

Wear Again: Obviously!

Time to Complete: 3 hours

Total Cost: Less than $2-- hooray!

Circle skirt + Botanical Gardens is totally a pre-Thanksgiving tradition, now-- I made a similar skirt and a similar visit during this week last year! I am delightfully predictable. 

I am an easily frustrated lady. It's easy for me to think that I learn too slowly or can't do things well, so it's an incredible relief to have concrete proof that this year's projects are infinitely better than last's. 

Maybe I'll even show y'all how I did these slanty side pockets! I forgot to grab a photo, but I'm obnoxiously pleased with 'em.

This scarf-- cowl? loop? thing? is an old, old finished project-- from last Christmas, in fact! It's literally the first (and to date, only) thing I've ever knitted successfully. 

If you would like to whip up one yourself or for a buddy, the pattern is Jen Geigley's Gap-Tastic Cowl, available on Ravelry. It seemed like a really fast project, even for a remedial knitter like myself. Make one for the winter, make one for Christmas presents. Hooray!

Now it's your turn-- what are you makin'? Warm things for winter? Christmas presents? Plots for world domination? Inquiring minds (re: I) want to know!

Here is an Outfit: Consignment Store Score

Hello! Here is an outfit!

Dress: Anthropologie Caranday dress (consignment), Flats: Naturalizer, Necklace: InPink.com

It's funny how being a devoted thrifter has skewed my thought processes, viz: "dresses cost $5 at Goodwill, max. You want $15 for this consignment store frock? Ma'am, please cease this madness."

Ah, but this dress. I was slightly mollified when I got a discount for the sticky zipper. I was even more mollified when I came home, Googled the label, and realized that it started off life as a $180 Anthropologie item.

Guys, I know how retail prices work. I know things get crazy marked up so they can be marked down for sales. I know that the whole myth of the bohemian Anthro lifestyle is a cultural fungus, and I know that I'll never have $200 to spend on a sundress. So why do I feel so smug about this purchase?

Because I am ridiculous. Because I have a bad case of The Whimsy. 

But also because this dress is best.

Here is an Outfit: Dinosaurs Go With Everything

Hello! Here is an outfit!

Dinosaur Shirt: Homemade (Sewaholic Renfrew pattern), Skirt: Homemade, Sandals: Gap, Belt: Gift

Gray! It isn't my favorite neutral, so I'm having a hard time matching this skirt with the rest of my closet. Fortunately, dinosaurs go with everything.

Wednesday is our farmer's market/errand-ing/thrift shoppin' day. No fewer than ten folks inquired about the origins of my shirt while we were out and about: I call that handmade success!

Husband requested that I "do dinosaur poses."

Uh...

Tyrannosaurus!

Velociraptor! ("I think that might actually be a rabbit. Or a kangaroo.")

Apatosaurus!

With amazing leaf-eating action!

This post brought to you by HIGH STANDARDS OF ART. That's right, that's me. Contributin' to the internet.