Customised Black Shirt with Lace Cuffs Tutorial

Hi everyone, the last few days I have been out and about with my parents they went back home today so I took the opportunity to try and get some projects finished that I had planned for sometime. The first project I did was customise a black work shirt that I had, I found it a bit too boring so I thought I would add some lace to the cuffs. This is the first tutorial that I have ever done so please bare with me ; ) I hope it makes sense if it doesn't please ask me to clarify.

For this project you will need the following items:

Shirt

Scissors

Lace (at least a 150cms) I used a scalloped edged lace trim

Ribbon (1m in length)

Fray stop

Needle and thread or a sewing machine

Pins

Wonderweb

First step is to remove the existing cuff I just cut this off you may want to hem it to give it a better finish but this part won't be seen as the lace will be placed over it.

Now you need to start pinning the lace to the sleeve I overlapped the lace over the sleeve by about 1.5 cms. I then gathered the lace in a pleat style fashion and pinned each pleat to give it a "ruffle effect" I did this until I got to the end of the sleeve

Once you finish pinning it should look like the image below, I then used my sewing machine to do a straight stitch to hold the lace in place, I then removed the pins and did another straight stitch. 

The shirt I used the cuffs originally closed with cufflinks hence the opening, I decided to leave it open so that it could be closed with ribbon as the ribbon also hides where the join is between the lace and the shirt.

For this next step you will need to cut the wonderweb so that the width is thinner than the width of the ribbon (otherwise it gets extremely messy!) You have to be very careful not to get the wonderweb on your iron as it is a nightmare to remove.

Now you will need to allow enough ribbon to cover the join of the 2 materials leaving excess each side to either tie in a bow or knot (I left about 5 cms for knots)

Now carefully place the wonder web under the ribbon and iron on top of the ribbon 

You can also stitch the ribbon in place if you wish to to ensure it is really secure.

Once you have done this apply fray stop to the edges of the ribbon to ensure the edges don't fray.

It should look like this when you have finished

9 Months Old Today and Coconut Cupcake Recipe

Hi All, I am very sorry for my absence from blogland! I have been away on holiday and have also been extremely busy with the whole house hunting saga as unfortunately we still haven't managed to find anything (we do have 5 viewings tomorrow however so please keep your fingers crossed for me!)

I really wanted to do a post today especially as Zayd is 9 months old today, I cannot believe where the time has gone my little boy is growing up soooo fast! I have taken quite a few photos of him lately and thought it would be nice to share them with you all.

I have also been doing a spot of baking recently and today I made some coconut cupcakes as my parents are visiting at the moment and my dad loves cakes (any excuse for me to bake!) 

I used my Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook but adapted the recipe slightly as I didn't want to make them with pineapple so I added more coconut to compensate.

Here is my adapted Coconut Cupcake Recipe:

Ingredients:

120g plain flour

140g caster sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

a pinch of salt

40g unsalted butter, at room temperature

120ml coconut milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

80g desiccated coconut plus extra for decorating

Frosting ingredients:

250g icing sugar

80g unsalted butter, at room temperature

25ml coconut milk

Makes 12

Oven 170C/325F/GM3

1. Put flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a freestanding electric mixer with paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and beat on slow speed until you get a sandy consistency and everything is combined.

2. Mix coconut milk and vanilla extract in a separate bowl, the beat into the flour mixture on medium speed until well combined. Add egg and beat well. Stir in the 80 grams of desiccated coconut. 

3.  Spoon cupcake mixture on top until two-thirds full and bake in preheated oven for 20-25 mins, or until light golden and sponge bounces back when touched. Leave to cool slightly in tray before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Frosting

Beat the icing sugar ad butter together on medium/slow speed. Turn mixer down to slower speed and pour in coconut milk. Once all milk has been incorporated, turn mixer up to higher speed and continue beating until frosting is very white, light and fluffy (5-10mins).

When cupcakes are cold, spoon frosting on top and finish with a sprinkling of desiccated coconut.

And then Voila there you have it! Enjoy!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!