How to make a pillowcase with an inner flap

Remember this cake?

This was the cake I made for my grandson's first birthday, remember?  I made it to look like his much loved teddy bear (which we fondly call "Bearie"). At 2 years and 7 months old now, he still sleeps with Bearie, along with a whole lot of other cuddly creatures.

This post is not about the teddy bear or cake though.  It is about pillowcases! I've been making lots of them lately. 

I've never bought licensed beddings before as they are really expensive. Licensed fabrics are too, so I only buy them when they are on sale. Now my grandson has lots of pillowcases with his favourite characters on them 😍!

I thought you might like to learn how to make these pillowcases. They are great for any level of sewer, even beginners. Simple straight stitches and no serger required. They are fun and super easy to make! Here goes...

HOW TO SEW PILLOWCASES WITH INNER FLAPS

For a pair of pillowcases, you will need:

1 meter (or yard) printed quilting weight cotton fabric (for the pillowcase front)

1 meter (or yard) coordinating plain quilting weight cotton fabric (for the pillowcase back)

coordinating thread

sewing machine

other sewing essentials like ruler, fabric markers, pins, scissors. etc.

Before you begin this project, find a pillowcase that you already have that suits the size of your pillows. You need to base your measurements on your pillowcase because "standard" sizes vary.

Measure the length (longer side) and the width (shorter side) of your pillowcase. (I will be using inches in the tutorial.) Take note of these dimensions as your Length (L) and your Width (L).

1. From your printed fabric, cut two pieces with dimensions: L plus 2" by W plus 2".  From your plain fabric, cut two pieces with dimensions: L plus 7" by W plus 2".

2. With wrong side facing up and shorter side on the top, fold the top of your printed fabric 1/2" in.  Press. Then fold another 1/2" in. Press again.

2. Do the same thing with your plain fabric. After the two 1/2" folds, fold again 5" down. Press.

3. Stitch the 1/2" folds on both printed and plain fabrics.

4.  With wrong sides facing, place the front and back of the pillowcase together. Pin in place.

5. Using a 1/2" seam allowance, stitch down one long side, then along the bottom, then up the other long side.  Do not stitch the top of the pillowcase!

6. Trim the seam allowance to about 1/8". Clip the bottom corners as well. Be careful not to cut into the stitches!

7. Turn the pillowcase wrong side out. Push the seams and corners out well.

8. Turn the flap over to the front side. Doing so will enclose the opening at the top. Make sure the top edges of the two fabrics are aligned well, especially the corners. Pin in place.

9. Sew the bottom and sides as in step 5.

10.  Turn the flap over to the back side (revealing the pillowcase opening), then turn the pillowcase right side out. That's it! Too easy, right? Now go make the other one!

And then some more!

Hope you find that helpful! Next time, I will show you one way you can make use of the excess pillowcase fabrics.

Have a good weekend ahead!

Backpacks

I wanted to veer away from cakes for a short bit and talk about one of my other loves..........sewing!

I am guessing that most of you weren't here from the very start.  Way back before the cakes started, I was so into sewing and those following me were more into crafting than baking.  Not long after I learned how to sew simple tote bags from the internet, I started making bag tutorials myself.  Two of the most visited (non-cake) posts here are, in fact, my messenger bag and city backpack tutorials.  I was and still am, very proud of those bags, because I created them at a time when I was still very inexperienced in sewing.

Shortly before my grandson was born, I sewed lots and lots of things for him - quilts, blankets, rompers, bibs, nappy stacker, jacket, small pillowcases, etc. but one thing I didn't get to make was a bag! Now that he is two and a half years old and going to daycare once a week, I thought of making him a small backpack 😄. I used the same pattern for the city backpack but I changed it a bit to make it more kiddie-friendly.  I turned the slip front pocket into a zippered one and I also added elasticized side pockets.

Here is the first bag I came up with.  The fabric is a heavy Japanese cotton duck with dinosaur prints (Lachie's fixation nowadays is dinosaurs!).

Isn't that so adorable?

I reinforced the fabric straps with polyester webbing.  They turned out very sturdy but was quite thick to sew into and I had to force them into the metal sliders.

Instead of sewing a drawstring from fabric (as with the original city backpack), I used a nylon cord and a coordinating cord stopper.

The bag lining is a pre-quilted fabric.  I have used this kind of fabric with many of the bags I have made in the past.  I like not only the look of it but also it's thickness and softness.

After I finished the bag, I realized that the side pockets were a little short.  It was ok for a small drink bottle but taller bottles might fall out 😞.

For a final touch, I ironed on a label. Everything I make for my little one is made with love, of course!

Although I was very happy with the dinosaur backpack, I decided to make another one because I wasn't satisfied with the side pockets.  Here is the second one, now with a similar Japanese cotton duck, this time with doggy prints 😉!

The side pockets are now taller.

It holds Lachie's bigger drink bottle more securely.

The straps are much simpler with just polyester webbing.

The lining is still the same pre-quilted fabric!

And of course, still with the "Made with love by Grandma" label 💓.

Overall, having made these bags, I'm one happy grandma!

I still have one more backpack lined up.  My fabric this time is for an adult.  I will do the backpack the same way.  Let's see how it will turn out!

Updates

Firstly, a very, very belated "Happy 2017!" to all of you. I would have done this post sooner but life has just been crazy busy and stressful since before Christmas.  My grandson Lachlan had been quite sick and had to stay overnight twice in hospital last December due to bronchiolitis. I'm sure you understand how emotionally distressing it is to see a child suffering. He is better now but it seems the cold virus just doesn't want to let go of him ever - he has the sniffles almost all of the time!

I know I owe you all an update on the Bakeoff challenge.  The final results came out last January 11. Unfortunately, although my cake made it to the top 10 (thanks to your votes!), it did not end up in the top 3. 😞 That means I didn't get a share in the $10,000 prize. I didn't tell you this before - if I had won a part of the prize money, I would have used some of it to go to the US for my niece's wedding in October.  I had the chance to meet her American fiance during our grand family reunion in the Philippines last September.  He was so overwhelmed with all the love he received from the family and in true awe of his experience.  It would have been wonderful to be a part of their wedding. Oh well, if it wasn't meant to be then that's that! There will be other opportunities in the future. Thank you once again for the support you gave me!  I really, really appreciated it! 💗

Anyway, because of the stressful time pre-Christmas, I had to turn down a ton of cake requests. At the same time, I also wanted to concentrate on making Christmas day special for my own family and I knew I wouldn't be able to do that if I was too preoccupied with other people's cakes!

The first thing I baked were springerle cookies.

I shared about these cookies and my fascination about the amazing cookie moulds sometime ago.  I haven't made them in a long while and was very happy that I was able to use my Nativity mould again! I packaged the cookies individually and gave them away to guests at my brother's Christmas lunch. They have a battalion of family friends!

Another treat I made were french macarons. I used the recipe I shared here before and once again. it did not dissappoint.  I managed to successfully make nearly 200 shells in red and green!

The plan was to build a macaron tower.  I baked, filled and froze my macarons a couple of days before the 25th but assembled the tower only on Christmas morning.

I know my macaron tower is not perfect but I was still very pleased with it 😃. Christmas day here was super hot and my white chocolate ganache filling softened quite easily.  I was scared all my macarons would slide off even before we got to my brother's house.  Thankfully, it held up until all the macarons were gone!

And of course, there was cake too! How can there not be? Every year, I try to create something different. This time around, I made a Christmas wreath cake!

I started with a 12" round red velvet cake.  I cut off a 6" hole in the center to turn it into a wreath shape and then used the excess cake to make around 3 dozen cake pops.  I used some of the cake pops as baubles for the wreath. The cake turned out really, really pretty. No one dared to cut into it until the last minute! Next Christmas, I'm thinking I would take it up a notch and make a tree. That would be awesome, right?

All in all, it was a good Christmas season despite all the stress and worry.  Difficult as it may, I try to see everything as opportunities to pray and to trust more in the Lord, to hope and to love.  Isn't that what Christmas should be all about? Although life doesn't seem good all the time, all the time, God is good.

I wish you all a great 2017! Till next time.

Food for the gods

My dad turned 90 last September and our family had the grandest of reunions in the Philippines! I say "grand" but not in the sense that it was lavish or anything like that.  It was grand because we have not had a reunion of this magnitude since 2003.  My brothers and I are scattered all over the world and to be able to all fly back to Manila with our families at the same time is one great feat!

Every time I visit family in the Philippines, I always take the opportunity to browse through my aunties' recipe notebooks to see what I can copy and recreate when I get back home to Australia. Most of their handwritten recipes are not very detailed and are more of just a listing of ingredients. The challenge always for me is to be able to sort of fill in the blanks.  I try to figure everything out by myself as I really don't want to bother my auntie (the baker) with questions.  She is even older than my dad at 92 years! One of my nieces who came from the US became very interested in the recipes and asked if I could send her copies.  I promised I would but that I needed to test them out first to make sure everything was in order!

The first recipe I tried out was that of food for the gods.  This pastry was a staple in all our family gatherings but as a kid, I never really liked them.  I didn't like dates.  I didn't like that it was moist and chewy. However, since I tasted sticky date pudding some years ago, that all changed. Now, I love them!

My aunties' recipe is pretty straightfoward and it is not too different from other recipes you will find online. What I noticed though is that it had only half the amount of butter than other recipes and rather than melting the butter, it is creamed with the sugar.  It doesn't make it less tasty though.  It is still moist, just not very wet and sticky as other food for the gods are.  If that is what you prefer (like me), then this recipe might be for you!

FOOD FOR THE GODS

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon honey
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (about 150g) pitted dates, chopped
1 cup (about 110g) walnuts, chopped

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 170C. Grease and line an 8x8 or a 6x11 pan with baking paper.

In a small bowl, sift together the plain flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar and honey until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract.

Add in the dry ingredients and beat mixture until just combined. Lastly, fold in the dates and walnuts.

Pour batter into prepared pan then level off with a spatula. Bake for about 35-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the four corners of the cake comes out clean. (It's ok for the centre to be a little moist just as long as the top surface is already dry and uniformly brown.) Transfer pan to a wire rack and let the cake cool completely before cutting into bars.

PS.  Before I forget, thank you so much for those who voted for my cake in the Lifestyle Food Bake Challenge.  Thank you even more for those who expressed their support in the comments section of my previous post and for those who emailed me personally.  I appreciate it very much!  And just to let you know, WE ARE IN THE TOP 10!  Hope you can keep on voting for my entry till the 13th of December.  After that, I'm praying Matt Moran and Maggie Beer will vote for my cake too!

Lifestyle FOOD Bake Challenge

I know I have been gone for a loooong time.  And to come back just to ask for a favour is not the best thing in the world but I'll take my chances for whatever it's worth.

You see, I entered a cake of mine in an online competition just for fun.  It's mostly a popularity contest. However, Australian Bakeoff judges Matt Moran and Maggie Beer will choose their top 3 bakes from the 10 bakes who receive the most votes.  Only the judges' choices will get prizes.

The cake I entered is the birthday cake I made for my first grandson.  Yes, you read that right!  I have a grandson.  His name is Lachlan and he is 15 months old now!  I have not shared this part of my personal life with you although without you knowing, I've actually shared some of the cakes I made for him for his baby showers (here and here) and baptism.  Maybe someday soon, I will tell you more about him and what it's like being a rather young grandma.

On Lachlan's first birthday last August, I made for him a 3D teddy bear cake which I so painstakingly made to look like his favourite teddy bear.  He loves his bear and doesn't go to bed without it!

His daddy (my second son) turned 21 just 5 days before his birthday so we held their party together.

To be honest, carving cakes is not my thing.  Never did it before and so it really took all the powers in me to pull it off.  I was so happy that I did!

Anyway, back to the contest...

Again, the goal here is just to get my entry to the Top 10.  From there, it will be up to the judges.  I have not seen any teddy bear cake entries yet so I sort of have high hopes for my cake to win.  But I do need your help for this to happen. Pretty please?

You don't have to sign up for anything.  All you need to do is go to my entry page and click on the VOTE button.  That's it.  You are allowed to vote once a day.  If you vote for me once,  I will appreciate it very much.  If you will take the time to vote for me everyday till the end of the competition on the 13th of December, then I would love you for it :)  And I would love you even more if you share the link with your friends and ask them to vote as well.  Is that asking too much? Hope not! :)

Thank you very much! I will surely let you know how it goes!



PS.  Just to let you know too, I am working on a second book.  And I am working on new cakes as well.  Being a grandma just takes too much time away from baking and sitting in front of the computer that's why it's taking so long to finish. I love being a grandma though!

Watercolour buttercream cakes

Over the weekend, I had to make the cakes for my niece's big 18th birthday party. Just as with her older sister's cake, I was given free rein with everything, from the cake flavours down to decorating. Sometimes I find it hard when I am not given any idea of what I exactly need to do.  When this happens, I always look for inspiration from the invite design.

Unfortunately, I can't show the actual invitation here but to describe it simply, the background had splashes of watercolours in violet, electric purple and olive green. I've seen watercolour cakes on Pinterest, so I thought, why not do that! Admittedly, although it seemed easy enough, I was afraid to try this technique because I've never done it before.  What if the colours don't blend properly? What if it turns out messy? What if my niece doesn't like it?

Well, after all that was said and done, I'm soooooo happy that I decided to it.

Instead of doing a 3-tiered cake, I made three separate ones, all in Neapolitan flavours of vanilla, strawberry and chocolate, and frosted in Swiss meringue buttercream.

Here is the 6" cake...

...the 9" cake

...and the 12" cake.

All in all, it was a great experience doing these cakes and I won't hesitate to do something like this again in the future.  The three cakes looked beautiful together and everyone loved them!

If you'd like to try this technique, there are loads of tutorials on the web.  These are the ones I found most helpful - here and here.

A good week to all of you!