Despite having a rather painful back at the moment (sciatica: will be seeing dr. at first available appointment, i.e. next Monday, grrr), I managed to achieve two new (to me) things this weekend, as well as working on a crocheted scarf, keeping up with the washing and tidying up the garden for the first time since Autumn: double-crust turkey and mushroom pie and a rice bag.
The rice bag (of the microwave-and-apply-to-aching-muscles variety) was made to
these instructions from Wise Craft. This produces a long, thinnish bag with plenty of room for the rice (or whatever else you use) to move about, meaning that it isn't too solid and it's easy to shape around joints. Lessons learnt while making it include: pinning and tacking works, even if you're feeling impatient; don't mark the right side of material (oops); leave the decorative stitching until the needle has moved off the corner where the seams meet; remember to count seam allowances on all of the bits of fabric when measuring. That last one is slightly embarrassing, in a failure of mental arithmetic way: I was about to write something about still having my usual talent for being able to measure something three times and get three different results, but I've suddenly realised where the extra half-inch went. I forgot to count the seam allowance on one of the bits of fabric.
I used some unknown woven plain white fabric (I tested a bit in the microwave first, to check that it didn't melt) for the inner bag and a blue-and-white striped cotton that used to be a nightshirt for the outer, with a white stripe on each end because there wasn't quite enough of the blue-and white in one length. I used a decorative diamond stitch (in black, which I am using on white fabric because it means I see my mistakes) for the topstitching on the ends. I was rather disturbed to find, when it was all finished, that this combination of fabric and stitches makes it look rather as if I've amputated one of
Andy-Pandy's legs, but possibly the comparison wouldn't occur to anyone else. Anyway, it all worked out fairly well, considering that this is the first practical thing I've made with a sewing machine in years, and the first completed project with this sewing machine at all.
The turkey pie I made up as I went along, more or less. I wanted a double-crust pie with a fairly solid filling that would stand up to being taken to work, cold. I used bought pastry, I'm afraid - one packet of Jus-Roll shortcrust. One day I will conquer the pastry jinx, but now is not the time.
( Pie! )
