Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Denim: A Totally Plant-based Fabric

Quote du Jour
     One of the most fulfilling things for me is starting a pair of jeans and seeing it all
     the way to the end. There's a sense of completion, a sense of satisfaction. I am 
     trained as a tailor, every little stitch counts. The inside is as beautiful as the 
     outside. The entire process is intricate. ~ Ryan Grant-Hays, Levi's Master Tailor
This logo indicates
a non-food blog.


VeggieBound Mission: To reduce waste, use biodegradable products, and find creative ways to reuse and upcycle what we already have. 


Update
Denim Pocket Rug
In researching ideas for the denim pocket layout, I continue to be amazed and very grateful for all the wonderful information people and organizations share on the internet. 


Today's Blog: An Armchair e-Tour
Jeans: Totally Plant-based!
From cotton fibers to indigo dye, denim jeans got their start as heavy duty work pants during California's Gold Rush, are now worn around the world, and have risen to haute couture status.

Several great blogs and videos provide excellent information from the making of indigo dye, to sanding jeans to achieve a worn look, to hearing from a Levi's master tailor speak of his pride in a job well done.

Urine, a Myth 
I remember giggling with friends when, in 5th grade, we heard that urine is used in the indigo dying process. 

Urine has not been used in this process since 1897! Chemists determined what it was in urine that helped the extraction process from the leaves of the Indigofera tinctoria plant.

Chunks of Indigo dye, from the blog

Alchemy in Design
Read One: Click this link to Alchemy in Design to read about:

How indigo dye is extracted from the plant

A $40 billion Global Market
Video One: In the USA alone, 450 million pairs of jeans are sold annually. This 10-minute video takes you through the harvesting of cotton to the sanding of distressed jeans, in a factory in Mexico:



Every little stitch counts...
Video Two: Satisfaction and Pride in a job well done. I love this video:


Read Two: More about Tailoring...Masters of the Cloth, a brief article from Conde Nast Traveler:





A Fine Finish
A Rembrandt Masterpiece, Masters of Cloth
Even when I saw this at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, I didn't realize these men were fabric brokers...too bad they had hadn't discovered the comfort of denim...then maybe they wouldn't have dressed like pilgrims. 

Oh my goodness...how would history be rewritten if the pilgrims wore Levi's! 

Actually, don't you feel lucky to live in the age of washable fabrics? Can you imagine?...let's not go there. 



That's all folks!

Friday, March 7, 2014

Tamales Part One: Not Tah-Mail, it's Tah-Molly!

Quote du Jour
      Do you want to make a tamale with peanut butter and jelly? Go ahead! 

      Somebody will eat it.  ~ Bobby Flay

Be honest, now...
How did you first pronounce Tamale? 
I remember one of my children sounding out the word Tamale. Using the "it's a long vowel when followed by one consonant then an 'e' " rule...well, tamale became tay-mail. To this day I think of that pronunciation when I see the word Tamale.

My first batch were 
Not so hot Tamales
My first batch of 20 tamales turned out pretty well, but were much too mild for the likes of my husband. Next time I need to amp up the chili flavors and the heat.

Since I'd never made Tamales before, I did some internet research, looked at Wikipedia, watched several YouTube tutorials, which were mostly in Spanish, and scanned countless traditional recipes. Links to these sources are below.


My first batch of Tamales tasted too bland, but they were fun to make. 
They look somewhat Asian!
Lots of parts, but
Simple to make
Truthfully, they're pretty simple. What takes time is making animal-based fillings the traditional way, if using (and I am not) (you guessed that, I bet) then stuffing and tying the cornhusks. 

Working with cornhusks surprisingly enjoyable - something about the tying and making it look neat, gives a certain satisfaction of a job well done.

As I was tying the cornhusks, it occurred to me how many other cuisines cook items the same way: stuffed grape leaves, en papillote (parchment paper), or banana leaves, etc.

Tamales: A Mesoamerican Food
Wikipedia provides the history of tamales which can be traced back 8,000 years. Tamales were a "portable food" made with a cornflour dough - masa - filled with meat or vegetables which have been cooked in a flavored sauce, wrapped in a corn husk, then steamed until firm. 

The original Tamales had no added fat (lard)
The Aztecs did not add any fat (lard or shortening) as is done today. 

Looking through several YouTube Tamale making videos, I'm surprised at how often a cup+ of melted lard is poured into a perfectly delicious pot of beans. Why? I don't think it's needed at all!

A delightful true oral-history-type story
Feed
To feed their hogs, the young men of a very enterprising and hard-working family would get up at 4 am every morning, and head into the closest big city to pick up food waste from several big restaurants.

The food waste was separated into 3 groups, and fed to the hogs according to their age/need

  1. Vegetables: piglets
  2. American food (burgers, etc.): growth
  3. Mexican food: fatten up
Which came first, the lard or the hog?
I hadn't thought of Mexican food as "fattening up" food, until seeing lard poured into pots of beans, etc., in the YouTube videos.

Win-win
Hogware
Any knives, forks and spoons found in the food waste was returned to the restaurants. Many a fine restaurant meal was enjoyed by the family as gifts from thankful restaurant owners...who didn't have to keep replacing table ware that was accidentally tossed out.

Here are a Couple of YouTube Tutorials
The little girl narrating this video is adorable: How to Make Tamales

A Unesco 10:00 video,  Traditional Cuisine of Mexico will teach you more than a few things about the peoples of Mexico, definitely worth watching.

Coming Soon
Plant-based Tamales Recipe
I think I'll try the peanut-butter and jelly tamale, thank you!

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

This little piggy...

Quote du Jour
         As children, we all live in a world of imagination, of fantasy, and for some 

         of us that world of make-believe continues into adulthood.
                                                                                             ~ Jim Henson
My Three Little Pigs
One thing leads to another! When I put together a family cookbook - with recipes revised to be plant-based - my husband encouraged me to take a course in Adobe Illustrator. That led to learning PhotoShop, which led to learning all the ins and outs of setting up a book for print, in this case, putting my own cookbook into Adobe InDesign. I wanted to be proud of the final look of the cookbook.

Hog Wild
Having this opportunity gave permission for my imagination to go crazy!  Themes, titles, language, colors, fonts, tables, graphics - and somewhere along the way, without a thought, my three, now adult-children turned into the 3 little pigs. 

My 3 little pigs, who brought such love into our lives, along
with imagination, fantasy, make believe...may it never end!

The Heart of Life
There is something special about stepping away from our crazy paced adult lives and entering into a child's world. Somehow, children bring into focus on what really is most important in life. It's a joy, a privilege, to experience the magical world of young children. 

Young children work very hard at playing. Well, it may look like play, but it's creative play that will someday transform them into capable, resourceful adults who will work hard to make their world of tomorrow a better place. Give children plenty of time to play. They, you, and our world, will be happier for it.

From the time I kissed my first son's toes, and played "this little piggy went to market," I've never let go of the pleasure of being in that special world of young children.

Too Soon, Little Pigs Grow Up...
Good thing there are still some young folks in the extended family. I had fun with my nephew's toes!

and Marry...Yay!
But, unlike my own children, I will ask permission of my son and daughters-in-law first, before transforming them. 

And now we have a grandchild - a piglet...with a kewpie...oh my goodness. If I was a pig, I'd squeel!


      Clockwise, beginning at 12 o'clock, Happy Piggy,    
        Chop Piggy, Hog Wash, Market Piggy, Saute Piggy,  
       and save money in a bank, not in a piggy's back!        

      
Gettin' serious
Cholesterol has a Face
To illustrate that cholesterol is only in animal-products - and animals have faces - after brainstorming common sayings, pig-out jumped out at me. I came up with a ridiculously simple piggy face graphic, then piggy took on a life from there.


This awesome ornament was under the 
Christmas tree! I can't come up with the
words to say how much I love this gift!






A Miracle
Piggy Morphs into 3
Piggy started to act in ways that resemble each of my 3 children. It soon became apparent that I really had three pigs, one for each of my children, 2 boys and one girl. Thus, you have the story of my own Three Little Pigs.

Now, a DIY Project
I Googled Pig-Out to see what other images are on the internet and found a clever pattern for a knitted dishcloth. This pattern, by Elaine Fitzpatrick shows imagination and skill. Here's a link to her blog, where I found this pattern, Pig-Out!:

It's nice to keep my hands busy when watching TV (otherwise I'll be looking around for toes to decorate) in this case, I knit this Pig-Out! dishcloth while watching the Sochi Olympics.

Don't look too closely
My knitting is obviously not perfect
Hmmmm, it looked square until I took this photo. Anyway, how 'bout you just focus on the really cute pig. (Knit with 100% cotton Lily Sugar 'n Cream yarn)

                Isn't this a cute pattern? Loaded with personality, it's 
                by Elaine Fitzpatrick.   

Thank you, Elaine Fitzpatrick, for sharing this terrific pattern!


This little piggy...cartwheels all the way home!
     (My daughter cartwheeled nearly everywhere        
                when she was 8 or so years old)                                    

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Threads: From Wedding Dress to Rehearsal Dinner Dress

Quote du Jour
    Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, 
    in the streets, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what's happening.
                                                                                            ~ Coco Channel
What a special joy to re-design such a dress!
From wedding gown to rehearsal dinner dress

Raising our daughters to know who they are and what makes them happy whole people, to be positive, contributing members of their generation...it only makes sense that they get to choose their own wedding dress, duh!

So, how cool is it, that some daughters are interested in using elements of their own mother's wedding dress for their rehearsal dinner dress. Threads of tradition, honor, love...it's all there...along with some happy discoveries!

The story of UpCycling my own wedding dress into my daughter's rehearsal dinner dress is shared in my blog, titled:
Upcycling at its Best: A Story of a Special Dress

A Dress Tells Its Story
My daughter's dear friend is getting married! She's given me the pleasure of remaking her mother's wedding dress - her mother is my friend, too - into her rehearsal dinner dress.

Coco Channel was right

The style reflects what was happening...
I love the design of this dress. It has a gossamer lightness and happiness to it. Perfect for exchanging solemn vows, it has a joy that makes me think the bride, and her groom, must have twirled around in it more than a few times! 


It was a time of granny-gowns, of the Free Speech Movement and Vietnam protests, when we dreamed of saying our vows while barefoot in a meadow blooming with wildflowers... This dress - beautifully - brings to my mind the best of its day. 

Basic description 
lined, floor length dress, with close-fitting bodice, raised waist, flared skirt and back zipper, long sleeves and trimmed with lace, there are only 2 darts; a clue of the designer's excellent skills.
       This lovely wedding gown tells a story, its narrative 
       revealed through its design and skillful construction.

The sun lights up the design
Preparing to photograph the dress - a visual tool to help me with re-positioning the lace and to match sewing techniques - we hung it in a doorway to take advantage of natural light from a window behind it. Then, pop! The subtle design became apparent.

Note the beautiful placement of the lace, especially the way the lace winds around the sleeves. 

Princess lines...
Generally, a dress with princess lines is closely fitted with parallel seams that run from the bust down the length of the dress, to the hem.

...but not a traditional princess!
In the photo to the left, notice how the princess lines begin as vertical placement of lace on the darts of the bodice, then turn into pleats where the bodice meets the skirt. The pleats then continue the princess lines, that gradually blur into the skirt, down to the hem. The skirt is nearly a full circle...with only one seam, centered on the back.

This gown was designed by someone who knew how to use non-traditional techniques to create a princess style, then fit, and finally skilfully construct a dress.

The Story is in the Seams
It isn't until close examination, that the dress provides a snapshot of the way clothes were constructed when the dress was made and worn 40+ years ago.

Unions: Turning the dress inside out, reveals a label we'd find in most ready to wear clothes...well 4 decades ago. I haven't seen an ILGWU label - International Ladies Garment Workers Union - in ages.

#1 Economics, patriotism, vanity, construction skill: it's in the seams!

Size: Look at the size label. It's a misses size 15/16...well 40 years ago it was a 15/16. Today it's probably a size 4 or 6.

Mind you, the dress still measures the same. Clever manufacturers, creating a term "Vanity Sizing," lowered the size designation, that is, gave the size a smaller number, to help us feel that we're skinnier than we we really know we are...

I've always heard that Marilyn Monroe was a size 16. Well, today, she may have been a size 4!


Zipper Placement: Not centered in the seam, that is, the fabric on the label side of the zipper is 1/2 inch wider than the seam allowance on the right. This probably means nothing to most folks, but it jumps out at me. This is how I learned to install a zipper. But gradually, over the years, this changed. Zippers are now centered in the seam. And it's difficult to center one correctly, at least for moi.

Finishing Techniques: My needle graphic, in photo #1, points to how the seam was "finished," meaning the edge of the fabric was turned under, then machine-stitched to prevent unraveling. 

#2 The needle graphic points to a hand stitching 
technique that tacks, then secures the seam in      
place.
Hand Stitching: Though difficult to see in photo #2, my needle graphic points to a hand-stitching technique that tacks, then secures the armhole seam in place

Strap Holder: For the comfort of the wearer, a snap loop conceals bra straps. 

A dress beautifully...Unfinished!
This dress's story is not over. Now that its story has been read - and its wearer has raised a truly lovely daughter - it's ready for editing for its next chapter. This wedding gown is soon to be a rehearsal dinner dress!

Themes in the next chapter of this dress's story include using today's tech-tools used to bring this dress into 2014, stretching, resourcefulness, preserving the elements of the design while making sure that today's wearer feels comfortable and beautiful, including threads of love, happiness, blah blah blah...so, stay tuned! 



Don't worry about size. Go for fit!