The Weeping Gingerbread House

This year we made a 'Gingerbread House' (from a new recipe and template). The young man requested one and he designed all the windows in the house himself...

You know the saying 'Too many cooks spoil the broth' well that's exactly what happened when we all decided to decorate the house. It was a free for all, we each did a side each using a non-functioning icing set. I was into totally 'overkill', I just put marshmallows everywhere, especially on the roof to try and hide the bad snow job!

Even though the Gingerbread was very tasty and moorish, it went way too soft on the house the next day. The Lollipop windows melted also. I blame the rain and humidity...In the end the Gingerbread House looked like it was a house of tears...

This mixture smells divine. You can find the recipe here.

Firstly though I'll show you how we made the windows...

Making Stained Glass Windows For A Gingerbread House
You need boiled sweets to do this, they have to be crushed, this bit gets messy...But we have found the perfect solution to this, just use wrapped boiled Lollipops. Pam's is the brand used here, they were just perfect.

The job of crushing Lollipops was given to the young man...

Once crushed carefully snip the corner of the wrapper and pour into the cut window...

Use a new Kebab stick to push the crushed lolly into the corner of the windows...

Mixing the crushed Lolly colours is fun too!

Two toned windows....

Baking the Gingerbread House

Windows baked....

Imprinting the roof tiles and cutting with a knife the
hot Gingerbread House pieces to straighten up....

Because we didn't do the base for the Gingerbread House,
their was plenty left over for biscuits

Icing and Decorating The Gingerbread House

Royal Icing
3 eggs whites
1/2 tsp cream of tarter
Icing Sugar  approx 500g. Use as much  or little as I needed

Whisk the egg whites and Cream of Tarter until stiff. Then fold in Icing Sugar beating as you go until consistency you need is reached.

I must admit this Royal Icing is very good for gluing the house together and covering the board. But I  personally prefer a Royal Icing like the one below for decorating my Gingerbread House... Next Christmas I'll know better.

Royal Icing
1 egg white2 ½ - 3 cups Chelsea Icing Sugar1- 2 Tbsp lemon juice

 Refer to Chelsea Sugar for more detail.

Beating the glue icing....

So busy beating the icing I forgot about the rest of the baking.....
Too late... I BURNT it!

Who will help decorate the gingerbread house? The Granny, the Mother and the Child!

This part was easy as this Royal Icing glued the sides easily...

Excuse messy Muffin tin I need a new one...Lollies chopped
and ready for decorating!

Now perhaps we all should have stopped here....Less is more they say!

No we never stopped, the icing was went everywhere,
 especially where you didn't want it to go!

Who will help eat the Gingerbread House?

The children never ate all the lollies....just what they wanted!

The Weeping Gingerbread House

Halloween

My ghost and witch for Halloween...

Both are made with a balloons for the head, one black, one white. I used a permanent black marker pen to draw the face on the ghost, then Voile (I was de-stashing) was used to cover the balloons. Then I used matching lace to tie off the fabric from under the balloon head. Next I went looking for the witches hat in the dress-up box to complete the faceless witch...

It's daylight savings here so it's not dark till really late...

Lets Make a Cushion Cover

Are you new to sewing, or just a kid who wants to sew his mum a cushion  Do you want to use an invisible zip? Making a cushion cover is fun and fairly simple. The tricky part is the invisible zip...

There are plenty of invisible zip tutorials on the Internet. But I learn best by pictures, and so do a lot of children, so this video a good one for a beginner to learn from.

Materials Needed

Approximately 1 metre of fabric if fabric has a nap

1 cushion inner/ or make your own from an old pillow

Thread to match fabric

Pins

Tape measure/ quilters ruler

1 Invisible zip 30- 35 cm. Size will depend on cushion cover

Newsprint/paper to make pattern

Sewing machine

Overlocker/Serger a zig-zag stitch

Sharp scissors

Quilters cutting mat

What Does Nap Mean?

Nap is fabric that has a pile like velvet. This makes the fabric look different shades of colour from different angles. Hence you need to cut the fabric in the same direction, or the garment you are sewing will look like you have used two different fabrics.

Cushion size

Is approximately 46 cm. Cover size is approximately 43cm.

Okay Lets Start Sewing

Firstly choose the fabric, check for one way designs and nap. Make sure the nap is going the right way if you chooses something like velvet, fur, etc. The big one is to check for flaws in the fabric, there is nothing worse than sewing up your creation and you spot a flaw.

Oh no a flaw, I didn't check  the fabric before I cut out the
cover so now I have one flawed cushion!

Make the pattern out of newsprint. I used a 43x43cm  (17") pattern
for a 46x46cm  (18") cushion inner.

Purchase a invisible zip to match the fabric. Mine is 30-35cm long

Using a iron, not too hot. Iron the zipper teeth flat on the wrong
side, one side at a time. Refer to video above. 

Three pairs of cushion covers ready to sew out of 1 1/2 metres
fabric. Fabric bought from Spotlight

Overlock the edge of fabric you are sewing the zip on to. Make
sure you have the design and Nap of the fabric going the right
 way. The zip is at the bottom of the cushion.

Pin zip approximately 5/8" from the overlocked edge

Use an invisible zip foot start to sew the zip. 

Get ready to start to turning the zip to pin to  the other side.
Refer to video...

Zip turned over now. Pin it to sew. Excuse the messy
sewing mat...

The inside/ wrong side of  zip finished

Using a zipper foot sew up to zip stitching and stitch a little bit over.
 It doesn't matter if you stitch a bit below the zip stitching.

This is how the zip will look on the out side of the cover.

Pin 5/8" seams around the cover on wrong side.

Change machine to a straight stitching foot and sew seams.

Next overlock/serge the rest of seams

You don't need to tie off overlocker stitches because you are
going to cut them off.

Cut straight across the corners and beware of the seam. Use fabric
 glue where you have cut to prevent fraying. This is optional.

Use something pointy/or a tool designed for poking out corners.
 This makes the sewn corners nice and square

Place the cushion into the cushion cover. 

If you want a tighter cover just subtract  measurements when
drafting the pattern. If you want a looser  cover just add measurements.
 Don't forget your  seam allowance though.