I ran a few errands. I stopped to pick up the last ingredient I needed for a long planned recipe to make my own creamy coffee liqueur. My mother in law used to do this and her versions were always quite tasty. I am not a big drinker at all, but occasionally, on a hot summer day, a glass of beer or a light bubbly wine is just the thing. In winter, just a wee dram of Baileys or Kaluha in a cup of cocoa or Sunday morning coffee turn a regular day into something special.
But have you looked at the price of Baileys or Kaluha lately? I bought one bottle of liqueur last winter. That was it. One, and it wasn't the big one. It seemed like a lot of money to invest in something I only wanted to sip twice a month. So, I decided to make my own, where the base alcohol is a bottle of vodka or a rum. Both still are pricey, but the amount you use in making the liqueur means you double your end beverage. I would also be interested in trying a non alcohol version just to see what they would be like though I do have to admit, that seems a wee bit pointless in a way.
So while I am in the kitchen today, brewing dye colours and testing yarns, I am also going to be brewing coffee liqueur.
The next errand yesterday was a stop at the fabric store. I had to stop to get a longer zipper for Cassie's sweater number two. I also stopped at some of the vast array of fabric displays and took a serious look at what I liked.
I had not sewn for a few years, when I did that sewing in July. My fabric stash is just a bunch of navy and black, solid base colours. Most of what I used to sew was skirts and jackets for work wear and my stash shows it. What I really could use right now, is a few shirts and blouses, with a bit of colour and pattern. After I got the zipper for Cassie's sweater, I picked out a couple of fabrics for me.
Both are just good old fashioned plaid prints, reminiscent of plaid work shirts for guys. I have always liked them and wondered why there was never an equal amount on the market for women. Plaid, particularly flannel plaids, bring to mind warmth and cozy in the same way that cocoa, and afternoon tea and knitting do.
And the price was more than decent too. The full price for the heavier fabric, was 20 dollars a metre, and the other lighter weight flannel was 12 dollars a metre. I bought 3 metres of each so the full price is still what a shirt would cost in a far inferior fabric from the stores I buy from. By making it myself, it will actually fit in the shoulders and at the hips in a way I cannot get from a store and I do not have to compete with the rest of the market of desperate women for the 2 garments they may have in stock in my size for the whole season, across the entire country of Canada.
The real bonus here is that I did not pay the listed price. Both fabrics were half off, so my cost was 30 dollars for one piece and less than 20 dollars for the other piece. Both shirts, including buttons and other sewing notions, thread, interfacing and the like, I already have on hand. None of that will add more than 5 dollars to the final cost.
What was the common thinking that sewing clothes was more expensive? Turns out not so much. If you have to buy a pattern, perhaps. Patterns are pricey, but most of the time, you are buying a pattern that can and will be used multiple times, or like mine, and so old but such basic wardrobe pieces that style and fashion don't really count.
When I started knitting, it was during a huge revival of interest in knitting. From what I have seen over the last couple summers, there has been a huge revival in sewing practical everyday garments for ourselves. Perhaps I am riding the cresting wave. No matter. I just want clothes that fit.
It isn't that I had no adventures yesterday, it was that I had different adventures than I planned. Today, back to the plan. Dyeing adventures begin.
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