Black Friday Blitz and Pattern Sale on Etsy!!

The PatternPatter Team is having a Black Friday listing blitz. Several of the team's shops are also running sales from 10% to 50% off !

If you love vintage patterns like I do,

you won't want to miss this event.

The participating PatternPatter shops will either have sale prices shown on the item's listing or the coupon code BFBLITZ. Check out the shop's announcement to see how long the sale will be running and if you will need to put in a coupon code.

Take a peek at this discussion thread where we will be posting our newly listed patterns on the 23rd.

PatternPatter Blitz New Listings

Or just browse through our shops. We have thousands of patterns listed for sale!!

Is It Time To Start Stocking My Shop For The Holidays Already??

Where does the time go?? I'm already working on making Christmas stockings for one of my Etsy shops. I'm trying to get all my costume patterns listed in my pattern shop to catch those that will be sewing Halloween costumes. Meanwhile I'm enjoying the harvest from my backyard veggie garden! That's my hubby tying up some of the tomato plants for me. I really restrained myself this year only 16 tomato plants this year!

Cherry Jam Recipe

The fruit trees are absolutely loaded with fruit this year!  I've made 3 batches of cherry jam and will be making another batch or two today. We've also pitted and frozen enough sour cherries for several pies this Fall and Winter.

I decided to try a batch with low sugar pectin. I have to say it has an odd consistency. So now I'm back to my favorite recipe with regular pectin.

Homemade Cherry Jam
from the CherryCorners kitchen

You will need a canning kettle with rack, jar lifter, tongs, wide mouthed funnel, seven 8 oz. canning jars, the same amount of jar rings and seals, ladle. 

Start with 3 lbs Sour Pie Cherries (after weighing the cherries pit and chop them) I coarsely chop for a chunky texture, but you can chop them finely for a smoother texture. Just remember to pulse if you are using a food processor, cherries are chopped not pureed. Follow the measurements below exactly or you jam may not set.

4 cups of chopped sour cherries

4 3/4 cups sugar

1 box of pectin

!/2 teaspoon butter or margarine

Bring the water in your canning kettle to a simmer. Wash jars, bands and seals in hot soapy water, rinse well. Set empty jars on rack in canning kettle to heat. Pour boiling water over assembled lids in saucepan. 

Measure sugar into a separate bowl.

Measure the exact amount of  chopped cherries into a 6-8 quart saucepan, stir in 1 box of pectin, add 1/2 tsp of butter or margarine (to prevent foaming). Bring mixture to full rolling boil (does not stop boiling when stirred) on high heat, stir constantly. 

Quickly stir in sugar. Bring back to a rolling boil and boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Turn off heat and skim off any foam. (there shouldn't be any foam if you added the butter)

Remove 1 jar from canning kettle, drain the water out of jar and fill to within 1/8 inch of top. Wipe jar rim and threads with a a damp paper towel or cloth. Remove a 2 piece lid from saucepan or water and screw on tightly to jar. Place jar back on rack in canning kettle.Repeat until all jars are full (you should have seven 8 oz. jars of jam). Make sure water covers jars by 1 or 2 inches. Cover, bring to a gentle boil. Processing time varies by altitude. Following chart below, boil gently for recommended time. Remove and cool upright, let stand at room temperature for 24 hours.

Processing time for jam by altitude:

Sea level to 1,000 feet : 10 minutes
1,001 to 3,000 feet     :  15 minutes
3,001 to 6,000 feet     :  20 minutes
6,001 to 8,000 feet     :  25 minutes
8,001 to 10, 000 feet  :  30 minutes

Happy canning!

Recycling Vintage Linens That Have Holes or Stains

The thrift store I buy my vintage linens from rolls them up and tapes them with packing tape. I hate it because I can't tell if they have stains or holes! (if it's a table cloth I take all the tape off and look at it before I will buy it) Anyway I've ended up with some flawed hand embroidered pillowcases. I couldn't just throw them away so I decided to make some sachet bags with the good sections.

WhatGirlsLike

Should I Give Up??

Okay, so you may have noticed that I haven't posted a picture of my wrap around skirt project. Well ... that's because I really can't find any fabric that I like for both sides of the skirt that coordinate well. The tie on the waistband will show with both sides of the reversible skirt. Maybe I should just give up and work on something else! (sighs)

Wrap Skirt Project: Still Shopping for Fabric

I'm still shopping for fabric for the vintage wrap skirt I want to make. It's reversible so I'm looking for 2 fabrics that coordinate well. I found some 100% cotton bandana prints today. Thinking of one side blue the other red. I'm not sure so I'm still looking.

Pillowcases!!

Just got several embroidered pillow cases from the thrift store. I'm going to use them to make more little girl's dresses and such. Right now they are soaking in Oxy-Clean!

Time To Start Sewing Your Summer Wardrobe!

Now is the time to start thinking about what you want to add to your Summer wardrobe. Shop for patterns and fabric (vintage or new) and start creating! Wrap skirts and dresses, sundresses, shifts, shorts, Summer tops and swimsuits are all great projects to get started on right now.

This wrap skirt is going to be my first project. Just the skirt not the romper!

I love that the skirt is reversible. So now I just need to alter it (too small around the waist and hips) and find some fabric that I like. Remember when you are buying a pattern that the sizing is not the same as ready to wear clothing. Always check the measurements on the back of the envelope.

Ideas for Summer Projects! 

Visit CherryCorners for more vintage patterns 

Happy Mother's Day Everyone!!

Vintage Pillowcase Dress and Top

Pillowcases up-cycled into dresses and blouses!

My current project is making vintage pillowcases into girl's clothing. I'm going to try them on Etsy and see if the sell. They took a bit more time to cut and sew than I thought they would. Hopefully I'll get faster as I make more. Too bad my daughter is way too old to wear them! Here are the two I have made so far. The yellow top is a size 4 and the lavender dress is a size 8.

Vintage Slip Pattern Simplicity 3434

1940s Slips, Pretty and Simple to Make!

Simplicity 3503 Formal Dress Pattern

1950's Gorgeous!!

Simplicity Designer Pattern

Isn't this a gorgeous pattern? Simplicity Designer Patterns were produced from 1949-1950.

My 1st new years task: Consolidating my vintage shops.

I'm moving everything out of What Girls Like and putting it all in my other vintage shop CherryCorners. I'm almost done, yay!  Cherry Corners gets a lot more views and sales than my other shop so consolidating seems like the right thing to do. So if you can't find an item that was in WhatGirlsLike it will now be in CherryCorners.

So now that I'm almost done with my 1st goal, I'll have to decide what my next goal is . .  .

What are your goals for 2012?