Author Archives: Samantha

Bathing With Dragons—repurposing a flannel sheet

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Recently I went through the stuffed linen closet with the goal of getting rid of extra sheets and towels. In particular, I needed to inventory the flannel sheets, which had multiplied for the simple reason that flannel sheets gradually go bald with use and then we end up getting a new set.

However, the top sheets—the flat sheets—take much longer to go bald than the fitted bottom sheets. So while I had several fitted sheets that were worn enough that I didn’t want to give them to the thrift shop, the matching flat sheets were still pretty nice.

Having a big piece of still-usable fabric sets me thinking about what I can make out of it. Flannel—I don’t want flannel pajamas, because flannel pajamas plus flannel sheets equals difficulty turning around in bed. Flannel pajama pant bottoms? I know people are wearing them, but to me they look like someone didn’t bother to get dressed yet.

A bathrobe! I have three bathrobes already, but I could use a lightweight summer robe. Plus, it wouldn’t be too complicated. I was going to use the sheet with the multicolored sheep, but the sheep were scattered too far apart for the best effect. Instead, I would use the sheet with the dragons.

After browsing some of the simple patterns available that were made mostly of rectangles, I decided that as long as I was going to sew a robe, I might as well make one with more shaping. I chose the Arbutus robe from Helen’s Closet. I downloaded the file, decided on size 8, and printed out the I-forget-how-many pages of pattern.

In future, for any pattern with large pieces, I think I will have it printed at Staples on big sheets and then transfer it to pattern material. I hate piecing together all those pages, even with the nifty Scotch tape runner adhesive that let me quickly overlap and stick sheets together faster than regular tape.

Then I needed to adjust the length. Oddly, after a section on lengthening/shortening, the pattern had a heading “How much should I add/remove?” in which it said “Generally, you want to add/remove the difference between your height and the height for which the pattern was drafted divided by two.” I puzzled over this—surely I should just shorten it by the difference?—and unfortunately decided that maybe I was missing some subtlety and went ahead and did as instructed. It was only after I was halfway through sewing and draped the robe over my shoulders that I discovered I could barely touch the pockets and it was ankle-length. On puzzling some more, I noticed that the section in question was next to a picture of the sleeves, which also needed shortening, but not as much as the body. Of course!

I do think the pattern should have been more clearly worded in that section, but I should also have had the basic sense to realize that I needed to shorten it the full five inches difference. D’oh!

So I had to unpick and re-place the pockets, and unpick the facing so I could cut 2.5 inches off the bottom. At least I discovered it in time to fix.

That wasn’t my only mistake, but the others were basic stuff like putting the wrong sides together before sewing. The shawl collar was particularly confusing for me, but in the end it worked out.

I also dislike the interfacing I used. It was pellon sheer-weight, and I thought it would be light enough, but it came out feeling very stiff compared to the very limp feel of uninterfaced flannel sheet. Next time, I’ll test the combination of fabric and interfacing ahead of time.

I took notes as I went, so if I sew another bathrobe, or use the pattern for some other purpose (there is a jacket version), I will hopefully not make the same mistakes. And I’ll know to make the sleeves even shorter than difference/two, so I don’t have to roll up the cuffs.

Here is the finished bathrobe. I like the dragons!

Till next post.

Why I Like the November Postcard Swap

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It’s November! Every November for the last… hmm…more than fifteen years, I’ve taken part in National Novel Writing Month. I’ve started November with an idea, and attempted to write a 50,000 word rough draft of a story before December 1st. Sometimes I’ve even succeeded.

The NaNoWriMo website is no more, sadly. I signed up for the Novel November website sponsored by Pro Writing Aid, but I don’t like their dashboard or much else about their version. But none of this is really relevant to my post, which is about swapping postcards with other writers who are also writing in November. I have participated in that swap for… I really don’t know, but I’m sure it’s been at least five years.

Why do I like swapping postcards with other writers? Getting a postcard in the mail is like getting a little surprise package. There’s a picture on one side, and a message on the other, and no knowing what either will be like. I’ve gotten antique postcards, travel postcards, art postcards. I’ve gotten a postcard of people lounging aboard a ship, a postcard of paths diverging in a park, and a postcard of a cat riding a unicorn.

A sample of postcards I’ve received

And then there’s the message. There isn’t much space on a postcard. Since we’re all writing madly, or hoping to, there’s usually something about writing. I find I’m very curious about other people’s writing projects. So many ideas, so much potential. Sometimes there’s something about why they chose that year’s story idea, which is also fascinating.

Often we send each other encouragement. “Just keep putting down words! The ideas will come.” Maybe we’re both writing mysteries, or fantasy YA, or something middle-grade. When I can, I like to choose my postcards based on whatever the writer said about their project in their sign-up info, hoping that the card may be extra inspiring that way.

Another thing I enjoy about postcards, strange as it sounds, is seeing people’s actual handwriting. How do they write–big or small, cursive or print, in colored ink or plain black? It reminds me that there’s a real person at the other end of the swap, who sat down to write me this message. Sometimes people add stickers, or washi tape, for extra decoration.

And finally, people who sign up to write postcards are always so nice in their postcards! It makes me feel good about humanity when I receive one.

And so, if you are swapping postcards with me this year, thank you! I hope you enjoy your card.

Till next post.

“Fresh Fruit Cream Cake”–even the name sounds delightful

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The kittens rampaging through my house knocked an old issue of Cook’s Illustrated off a shelf–May/June 2024. I flipped through it, on my way to reshelving it, and stopped at a recipe for Fresh Fruit Cream Cake.

Something about the phrase “cream cake” just sounds irresistable to me, so I read (or re-read) the article and discovered the author Andrea Geary started with a cross between a castella cake (which I hadn’t heard of) and a chiffon cake. The technique sounded different–and interesting! I decided I must try it and find out what it was like.

I suspect the reason I didn’t make the cake when I first got the issue is that I am not really a fan of fluffy things with fruit on top. I have always looked dubiously at recipes for pavlova, for instance. But I do like strawberries with shortcake and whipped cream, and I thought that the right cake would be just the thing for strawberry season.

(It isn’t strawberry season now, obviously. I’m just thinking ahead.)

So I tried making a half recipe. This was a bit complicated since the cake is meant to be tall, but I worked it out by using a 6″ round instead of a 9″. It was close enough. I also didn’t bake it for quite as long.

Yes, it’s so tall it needs a collar.

I’m not going to give the recipe, since I don’t feel right copying out a recipe from a magazine. However, I’m going to tell you that there is only a cup of cake flour per six eggs. The recipe relies on whipped egg whites, uses a water bath in the oven, and bakes for around an hour. The result is a very fine-grained, fluffy, spongy cake (all those eggs). Not dense like pound cake, and not crumbly-delicate like most butter cakes. This one is flavored with vanilla.

I’m also going to tell you that the whipped cream that fills and tops the cake is made with 5 tsp instant pudding mix (it MUST be instant) per 2 1/2 cups of heavy cream. There is also some sugar, and I added vanilla extract as well because I didn’t think the pudding would add enough vanilla flavor. I found the pudding mix did not incorporate as well as it should have–there was a yellow sticky smudge on the side of the bowl–but I think it did help keep the whipped cream from oozing.

I could have taken more time with the frosting…

I enjoyed trying something new. The cake was pretty good and will probably make a really nice strawberry cream cake come April. But I’m pretty sure it isn’t going to displace any of our preferred birthday cakes.

Blueberries taste good with whipped cream, but are not attractive when cut in half.