Define: Irony... and is ethical eating really more expensive?

"A. . . perception of inconsistency, [usually but not always humorous], in which an apparently straightforward statement or event is undermined by its context so as to give it a very different significance. . ." (source: writing2.richmond.edu/jessid/eng216/216terms.html)


This morning I sat on an airplane on my way to a work meeting and I picked up the Airline's inflight magazine and had a bit of a chuckle when I realised that the entire magazine was dedicated to the theme of "GOING GREEN". In it, there was a run down of the different types of petrol cars use and the carbon footprint, changes top business men have made in their personal lives to go "Greener" etc etc. All very superficial (concentrating on the "Being Seen to be Green" as opposed to actually "Being Green") and all very ironic given that there was no mention (at least what I can find during the 30 mins I spent reading the mag) of the carbon footprint of this airline or even air travel in general, and steps towards offsetting it.

Another article on that magazine was about a reporter who decided to "try out" being ethical in their eating habits for a weekend. In the end, she concluded that ethical eating was "too expensive and too time-consuming". Okay, so no suprises there given the whole superficiality of the magazine and the superficiality of her commitment to ethical eating.

Having said that, her conclusion is no doubt a common opinion amongst many many people. The thing though is that changing consumption habits (whether its food or things or whatever) takes time and commitment before one can start seeing that it doesn't *have* to be expensive or time-consuming.

I recently talked about the concept of time before so I won't repeat.

Expensive ethical consumption happens when you try to fit a lifetime of consumption habits and try to make it fit an ethical framework. It is no doubt the reason why so many people get taken aback the first time they venture into a fairtrade shop - immediately you can see them thinking "well, geez, if it costs this much, then I wouldn't be able to buy X and Y or buy ten Xs". I think the fallacy of this thinking is not the cost of the item but the second part of this thinking - the I wouldn't be able to buy X and Y. Ethical consumption is not just about buying ethical items but actually looking at your whole life and realising that we are over-consuming. And that it is over consumption that has lead us down the path of exploitation. It is what has made our lifestyles unethical in the first place.

Curbing over-consumption, is actually the first step and hardest step towards ethical consumption. The rest then falls from that. By curbing our over consumption, then we are able to afford the things that really do matter to us... that is the things that we would buy joyfully as opposed to to buying them because its what we've done and what those around us have done for so many years. And as part of joyful consumption we would be able to buy those things that were produced/manufactured and retailed in an ethical way.

But yes, curbing over-consumption is hard. We have built our identities, our relationships with others and our society on this habit. Breaking it would involve (as I have found) questioning our identities, and finding alternative ways in relating to others. It may even mean (at first) feeling even more isolated from the rest of our over-consuming society. But then the rewards at the end of the long road are worth it. Instead of feeling helpless against the problems of exploitation, we are now empowered. Instead of feeling frantic and pressured to buy, we are now buying (or not buying) joyfully and on OUR terms.

Since I made the preserved lemons and sour oranges, I thought I'd post the first recipe that I will be using them for. I would LOVE to find other recipes though, so please share if you know of any recipe using preserved lemons.

Moroccan Chicken with Preserved Lemons

Ingredients

* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 3 lbs chicken thighs, skinned and rinsed
* 1 large chopped onion
* 2 teaspoons paprika
* 1 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
* 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 1/2 cup kalamata olive (optional)
* 2 1/2 moroccan preserved lemons, cut in quarters
* 1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro (optional)

Directions

1. Pour oil into a 10-12" frying pan over medium-high heat.
2.Add chicken and turn pieces often to brown on all sides, about 15 minutes.
3.Lift out chicken and set aside.
4. Remove all but 1 tablespoon oil from the pan.
5. Add the onion, stir often over medium-high heat until tinged with brown, about 5 minutes.
6. Stir in paprika, ginger, turmeric, and pepper.
7.Add 1 cup water, chicken, olives, 6 preserved lemon quarters, and 1 tablespoon preserved lemon liquid.
8.Cover pan and simmer, turning once, until meat is no longer pink at the bone (cut to test), about 20-25 minutes.
9.Skim and discard fat.
10. Transfer the chicken and sauce to a wide bowl.
11. Garnish chicken with remaining lemon wedges and cilantro.

NaBloPoMo and going "poo free"

Alright, I am sheep. Julie from Towards Sustainability has been an inspiration to me and I've decided that since I've followed her and made my own lemon preserves, I really should follow her in a few other things.

The first one is NaBloPoMo (try saying that when you've had a bit to drink)! It stands for "National Blog Posting Month" and is kinda like a challenge - you have to post in your blog every day for a month. The theme for the month of July is FOOD. Since I've been wanting to concentrate on my consumption of food and also to improve my writing, I thought I'd join in. I've sent off my email and now I am waiting my July NaBloPoMo badge. Incidentally, Theresa from Theresa's Tales have joined this month too. Theresa's got the extra challenge of cooking allergen-free foods. I can't wait to see what she comes up with for July!

The second challenge I've decided to take on is to seriously tackle trying to go "poo-free".... that's short for shampoo-free. (For those who have never heard of this, check out this site for the FAQ). Now, I've tried this several times before but have lasted (max) of 5 days, then chickened out. I have very oily hair (thanks to 35 years of shampoo-ing) and after 5 days it gets so oily I get totally disgusted and I end up using the stuff. The best time I had was when I was in my no-buying-brand-new-year and I made my own shampoo. Still, even that lasted only 7 months, then I gave up trying different recipes and ended up buying shampoo again (story to that is here). Anyway, I always felt like it was something left "unfinished" from that year, so here I am again trying to tackle it. This time round I have a different plan:

Step 1: Buy all natural shampoo from local organic shop and use only that - DONE

Step 2: Once bottle of natural shampoo has run out then use bi-carb and water for 1 month

Step 3: After 1 month, be 100% poo-free. :)

The reason why I am doing it this way is that I want to wean my hair and scalp from the chemicals a little slower this time round.... plus I am vain and don't want to look like a oil rag by day 3 of this challenge.

Okay, so that's it for me. Off to think about tomorrow's food post! See you all tomorrow!

Moroccan Lemon Preserves...with a twist

A few days ago, Julie from Towards Sustainability posted about making Moroccan Lemon Preserves. I had a whole heap of lemons here from a friend (who tells me she's drowning in lemons) and so I thought I'd try it out. However, since I was in a bit of an adventurous mood, I thought I'd try to preserve sour oranges (also given to me by the same friend) with it!

Recipe's really simple. Basically:

1. Cut lemons and oranges as you were going to cut them in half lengthwise, starting from the tip, but do not cut all the way. Keep the pieces attached at the base. Make another cut in a similar manner, so now the lemon/orange is quartered, but again, attached at the base.
2. Apply a lot of salt on the inside and outside of the lemon/orange (make sure you get salt on all the pieces).
3. Squish the lemons and oranges inside a sterilised jar.
4. I topped each jar with a little bit of lemon juice and a bit more salt to make sure the pieces are covered.

And here are the results!



Now I don't know how this will go. After I did this I decided to go on the net to see if anyone else has preserved lemons AND oranges in this way. Couldn't find anything specific but did find this blog post from FoodPlayerLinda talking about preserving sour oranges and lemon in salt.

Hopefully they will turn out okay. I was thinking that the sour oranges would be a nice twist to the lemon flavour... I'll post if it it is a complete disaster.

My first upholstering project

This chair was given to me by a friend - it was a Freecycle find.

The chair frame is just gorgeous - its solid wood. My friend told me what type of chair it was but I've forgotten it now. Anyway, I wanted to re-upholster it and luckily found the exact colour that I wanted to get from Ebay (fabric off cut- 2.5 X 1.5 metres so not much to spare had I made a mistake!).

So for the total cost of $18 (including fabric postage), I turned the chair from this:



to this:



The little cushion I made using little fabric pieces given to me by various people (note my 2nd patchwork project!). In looking for fabric pieces for the patchwork, I just went with the colours I love - reds and browns. I love that I used recycled fabric for everything.

I'm happy with the way its turned out and I'm really really loving the chair!

Human Trafficking

On the Gruen Transfer (thank you Emma for alerting me to this show), there was an ad showing human trafficking (warning may be distressful and has a rating of "M"): http://www.abc.net.au/tv/gruentransfer/episodes/2008_ad_index_Wednesday25June2008.htm (Scroll down to the ad "I am Elena")

After showing the ad, the discussion on the show talked about how helpless it made people feel. There was nothing showing people what to do.

For me, advertising will always be about awareness but never about education. Good advertising will always point towards more information. One thing to note is that while the ad looks at an adult, sadly 50% of people kidnapped or duped into slavery are children (70% are women).

Since this ad didn't do it, I thought I'd put in links where you can go and what to do about it here:

stop child trafficking- note the European Union's Response to Child Trafficking and its recommendations to fight against it.

Amnesty International | Working to Protect Human Rights

From a personal level, I also believe that changing consumption habits is also important. The very systems and organisations that force children into slavery in the cocoa fields (to provide our chocolate and coffee) are the very same systems and organisations that force other children into slavery in the sex industry; and the "war industry"(where the children are forced to walk across minefields to detect or detonate bombs).

It is a huge business and I think that everyone can do their part. For me, I blog about it and I also do not consume goods that were produced using slaves - cocoa industry, textile industry, sex industry or war industry - it is the very same attitudes and networks behind it.

Sexualisation of children - a rant

This morning, trawling through the net, I came across this site selling:


Not sure what it is?? They're heeled shoes for o-6 month old babies.

Now nothing makes my blood boil more than the blatant sexualisation of children through the selling of goods like these. I remember David Jones (a large Department store) back in 2006 releasing padded bras for 3-8 year olds! WTF!! I remember walking through the shop and just being shocked to see these bras hanging on the rack. At the time, all I did was give the salesgirl a dirty look (I'm such a coward). However, bras are probably just one of the extreme examples (along with the G strings/thongs for 8-10 year olds). More commonly, I am seeing a lot of children's clothing featuring hot pants, midriff tops, collar necklaces, and plunging necklines. I'm not talking teens here, I am talking about children aged 10years and under.

This is on top of a number of sexualised items posing as toys aimed at very very young children - girls in particular. (Bratz, and My Scene Barbies being at the forefront of these toys).

The sexualisation of children seems to have become one of the hallmarks of our consumerist culture. While there seems to be resources out there explaining how it is happening and who is instigating it (this paper from the Australia Institute is a good one), to date I have not found a resource or article that tells me WHY this is happening.

However, through my own explorations of consumerist culture (and greatly influenced by my readings: Born to Buy and Affluenza), I have the following theories about WHY this sexualisation is happening:

1. Firstly, let's look at some advertising principles.... Sex Sells. Almost every ad out there has a sexual element to lure people's interests. There is something about sex that seems to draw people to have a closer look at something. Then the other principle - Pester Power Works. Almost every parent (including me) has succumbed to pester power at some point. So sell sex to kids then you have a very powerful combination.

2. Secondly, sell sexual images and concepts to children and you start developing anxious and highly image conscious children. Children (especially those under the age of 9 yrs old) have not yet developed their sense of self and as a result are highly susceptible to mass advertising that tells them how to act and what to look like. However, because they are children, they are unable to attain (physically) that "look". As a result, their anxiety drives them to PESTER POWER for clothes and goods that helps them get that look. By deliberately ramping up expectations of sexual development, including when that sexual development is to occur, you have children who are willing to buy anything just to hurry up that sexual development (or fake it, in most cases). Let's face it, the more anxious the consumer, the more they will buy. Since children didn't really have anything to be truly anxious about, then invent something they can never measure up to.

Anyway, the whole thing really makes me sick. Now that I have a 5 year old daughter, I am realising more and more how much sexual advertising is aimed at her. At 5 years old, my daughter sees 8 year olds acting like adults. These 8 year olds are her heroes. She wants to be like them. She asked me the other day if she could have a "top that looks like a bra" this summer so she could be like one of the "big kids". This is despite me being vigilant over her exposure to certain toys and TV. I can not parent in a bubble. I must acknowledge that even if I limit my child's exposure to these things, she will always come into contact and see other children who are wearing or playing with these things. For now I have told my daughter that I see those clothes and things as something adults wear and not children and so she can not have it. For now she has accepted this, but I dread the day when she starts pointing out how many children ARE wearing these types of clothes.

I worry that one day she may be teased or bullied because she's not wearing these highly sexualised clothes. (See this older post of mine that shows why I think this will happen.)

To date, my blog has talked about human exploitation that occurs as a result of producing goods. But human exploitation occurs on both sides of the consumerist coin. And the other side of that coin is the exploitation of our children's vulnerability to consumerism.

Recently, Carpe Diem alerted me to this great site: http://www.whomindsthechild.org.
This site has some fantastic resources and information about this issue. I also have the link at the top of my blog that is a good overview of the consumerism and our children.

For those who are also concerned about this issue, I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions. I would also love to hear how you are dealing with it.

ETA: Here is the link to the recent Australian 60 minutes show on this issue: http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=583007 Thank you to all the people who let me know of this segment! As I don't watch TV I didn't realise this topic came up recently. :)

ETA (again): Check out this FANTASTIC blog on this issue!! http://enlighteneducation.edublogs.org/

This is...

my very first REAL patchwork/quilted item!!



Its a large coaster.

Janet (who I met at Bush Babies) had very generously offered her time, her house and even the materials to teach me how to do this. Janet is a fantastic craftster and sewist and used to be a home ec teacher. If you want to see her crafts, check out her blog. I also got a sneak preview of some of the items coming up in her new Etsy shop. For those who see it before I do, just know that the Embroidered Patchwork Matt is MINE!!

Anway, back to the coaster - I know that its not perfect - the corners are not that tidy and there is a fold that I've sewn through on one side, but hey, as Janet said, its not meant to be perfect, and I feel good to have finally learned how to do patchwork properly.

THANK YOU Janet for not only showing me this, but also for the many many tips you shared to help me improve my sewing. And can I please please have your recipe for Anzac Biscuits?? (yeah, yeah, I know, give me a little I take a mile! hehe)

In the meantime, I am now looking for another simple patchwork/quilted project. Anyone have any suggestions or websites for me to get my inspiration?

...oh and while we're at it, because I pretty much write here only at night, it also means I tend to take my pics at night too. Anyone have any tips on how to improve my pics in this scenario?

How to shop at the supermarket...

Have you ever noticed how the supermarkets around you have all the same layout but then periodically would then change things around for no apparent reason?

Have you ever noticed how most of the cheapest items or the ethical/fairtrade items are either at the top or bottom shelves and very rarely in the middle shelves?

Have you ever consciously tried to go against what is "easy" in the supermarket?

Two days ago, I went to the large supermarket in the town nearest to us (so not the supermarket in our little village) only to find out that I had forgotten my menu plan grocery list! (*insert gasp here*) So rather than waste petrol going all the way back to get it, I decided to brave the supermarket without it. Then I thought it would be a good exercise in trying to consciously go against the "flow of traffic" that supermarkets have laid out for us consumers.

Here is the supermarket layout and some of what I did:

Layout (L): Entry is right in front of the bakery/veges section.
Action (A): Walk straight past them and go straight to the SNACK FOOD aisle in the middle of the shop.
Result (R): Suddenly became hyper-conscious of how much snack food (biscuits, crackers, chips etc) I was putting into my trolley. Decided to forego all snack food except for one small packet of chips. Realised that the entry was in the healthier section was probably so people could get their "health food hit" right away and so they can buy junk for the rest of the shopping trip without guilt.

L: Fridge stuff was all along the entire back wall of the shop:
A: Went right along the back wall to pick up what I wanted (this was straight after the snack food aisle.
R: Kept feeling like I should be turning into the middle aisles and looking there as well. In fact going along the back wall just felt "wrong". Fought the urge because I figured *they wanted me* to keep turning into the middle aisles and buy ingredients I didn't need.

Twas a strange experience indeed. Was so strange I decided to google "supermarket layouts"+"spend" and found this: http://www.whatprice.co.uk/financial/supermarket-save.html No surprises there after my experience. Also found another reason why the bakery is at the entrance... (Thank goodness I ate before going shopping!)

I've also decided that the only reason why they change things round periodically (at least once a year) is to maintain a higher level of anxiety for us... and its been said that the more anxious we are, the more we're likely to spend. (Source: "Affluenza" - forget exact chapter/page)

Oh and grocery bill for this week was $120 - not too good considering that we are averaging around $80 a week these days, but then again not too bad considering I walked in there without a grocery list.

Anyone want to share their "How to *not* fall under the supermarket layout spell" strategies?

ETA: THANK YOU Emma for pointing out the term "Gruen Transfer". I googled it and found out that the ABC has a regular show about it (this is what happens when you don't watch TV at all). Still, its all good because I can watch the show online.

The blurb about the show:

The Gruen Transfer (TGT) is a show about advertising, how it works, and how it works on us. Hosted by the inimitable Wil Anderson, TGT will decode and defuse the commercial messages that swirl through our lives, with the help of a panel of ad industry experts.

Here is the link: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/gruentransfer/theshow.htm

At last a show about CONSUMPTION LITERACY!!

The thing about living in a country town....

is that sooner or later, your perspective on things invariably turns local. Suddenly, vegetables are no longer being provided by some company far far away, they are coming from properties you drive past on a regular basis. The things being sold at the local gift shop were made by your neighbour's friend's friend. The guy who drove the taxi that picked me up at the Airport is the same guy who owns the Post Office and was actually just a friend of the guy who owns the one and only taxi service in town.

...there's something about having these "degrees of separation" so apparent and so close to you that makes you *WANT* to buy local. While buying local has always been something I've strived to do (due to carbon footprint issues), I'm now experiencing something different. I want to buy local because these people are part of *my life*.

Just as how once I would buy something because a friend would've recommended it to me, now I am buying things because it is a friend who is providing it for me.

(and to celebrate my emerging awareness of my new community, I've made some slight changes to my blog. Thank you John Vander for letting me use the image of your painting! :) )

Acceptance...

Those of you who know me in real life know that I've been thinking a lot lately about work/life balance. Now that I have almost reached a place of peace with this issue, I thought I might share some of my thoughts because I have realised it is much more about work/life balance.

Just a bit of a background. I rejoined the paid workforce part-time last year after having 5 years off to stay-at-home with my children. I found the transition very difficult. Prior to having children, I worked full-time in a career that I loved. Coming back, I re-discovered that love and I resented that I could not spend the time I wanted to it. On top of that, I found my life getting hectic and there were days when I would resent the time I spent at work rather than helping the children discover their world. When I was at work, I wished I was home and when I was at home I wished I was at work. To me, spending part of my time at work and part of my time at home felt like I was not doing any of my jobs particularly well.

I agonised over it to the point that I decided to contact my workplace counsellor. We talked about time management, prioritising, etc etc and at the end of it, she suggested that perhaps I should think of my situation as actually being the best it can be.

Since then I've been mulling it over and I realised, my situation IS the best it could be. I wanted to continue to be the primary carer for my children AND I wanted to be challenged professionally.

So why was I agonising? I think it was because in my head I had an image of what it meant to "have it all". To me, having it all didn't just mean actually doing it but also feeling "in control" of my time. The sheer energy it takes to go to paid work, organising child-care for the times when I am at work, and organising work structures for the times when I am at home, did not make me feel like I was in control of my time.

In a consumerist culture, we tend to measure ourselves in relation to each other. Combine this tendency with an affluent society (and yes, most Australians are affluent compared to those in developing nations) where we are not relying and therefore supporting each other to survive, then we tend to experience a pressure to perform.

I had found myself subconsciously comparing my situation to those women our society portrays as "successful mothers and businesswomen".

This was not a healthy situation. I found myself stressed every time I thought of my "work/life balance". My workplace counsellor's comment was probably the start of me seeing the fallacy of feeling the need to perform in my roles. And funny enough it was my post regarding Time that concreted my conclusions on this issue. There is no work/life balance. Balance means equal parts and balance means conscious control of the situation.

What I have instead is CHOICE (aka Freedom). I have a work/life choice and looking back, given all the factors surrounding this issue for me, I realise that I am happy with each choice that I have made. And if I was given the chance to re-make my decision to go back to work part-time, with the same factors mixed in, I would probably STILL make the same choices.

And the funny thing about accepting my work/life choices, I suddenly feel, well not really in control, but certainly empowered. I can now accept that the energy I need to pour into work and family life is part of my choices. I can now accept that I do have the best of both worlds.

...and back on to food...

Just thought I'd share some GREAT websites that has been helping me menu plan, as well as show my favourite recipe books:

http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/
Has recipes for leftovers, as well as tips for keeping food fresher and longer. I've used this site to find out about portion sizes and what dates on food actually mean. I learned that I was serving waaay too much food (I had lost the ability to actually judge what a "normal" size meal was). I also learned that I can eat food that is past its "Best Before" date.

http://www.mealopedia.com/
Creates a weekly menu plan and associated grocery list based on your preferences. There is also a recipe finder where you can search for recipes based on ingredients you may already have in your home. Recipes also come with a suggested wine type (so not label but the type of wine, like Pinot or whatever)and are also rated by mealopedia forum members.

http://www.destitutegourmet.com/index.php
Site containing principles for creating frugal but very yummy meals. This site really is intended to promote Sophie Gray's Destitute Gourmet Recipe Books, but have some very helpful info.

http://www.taste.com.au/
This one has a bit too many ads for my liking but I think my ethical consumption stance makes me hypersensitive to it. I'm sure most people wouldn't notice. This site draws on many recipe magazines that you see out at the shops. You can search for ingredients by recipe categories (eg. slow cooker recipes etc) or by magazine. There is also a "How to" section on this site that sometimes talks about how to make food last longer.

And now my favourite recipe books:



Yep, I got one of Sophie Gray's books and I have to say its fantastic. The recipes are so simple and most of it I had eaten in my childhood! I think somewhere along the way, I had forgotten how to cook simple meals and somehow have ended up thinking simple = takeaway or pre-packaged food. This book has been great for me to get a reality check.



This cookbook is an oldie but a goodie. I've had this from when I moved out of home and I love love trying out the recipes in here. Easy to read and easy ingredients to source.



This cookbook is my absolute favourite. Most of the recipes are complicated and the ingredients are also hard to source (you may have to substitute), but when we want to truly treat ourselves, we turn to this book.

Anyway, that's it for me. I need to go and cook dinner now. Tonight we're having home-made burgers on wholemeal bread with baby spinach, and a side dish of brocolli and cauliflower with cheese sauce.

What are your favourite websites and recipe books?

(Related previous posts: How do I raise my children in a consumerist culture?)

Reconstructed Ball Gown for a Princess

DD (5 yrs old) had been wanting a "proper ball gown" for ages. She is currently right into Princesses, Fairies and Pink (the PFP stage). Since I have no idea how to even start making a ball gown, I've been putting her off until I realised that I could reconstruct one of her old dresses to do it.

2 years ago, she was a flower girl for one of my friends. I had gotten a dress made for her by my cousin's partner. The dress was just gorgeous with some amazing embroidery on it. After my friend's wedding, DD wore that dress at every opportunity (eg. going to the shops, going to friends' places). After awhile that dress got very worn in and it was no longer good enough to give away.

Anyway, she's grown out of that dress now and it had been sitting in a box all this time.

Today, I unpicked the bodice and skirt apart. For the skirt, I added an elastic waistband and a whole heap of tule (from a previous project where I had given a no-sew tutu as a gift). For the top, I unpicked the zipper and sewed in ribbons to use as ties. I then sewed a length of gold/pink material chiffon(??) (offcut from a friend) at the botton of the top.

And here are the results:



I can see now I really should iron it, but DD is happy and will be wearing her outfit again tomorrow for a (you guessed it) a PFP birthday party.

"Time" and answering a FAQ

Sometime back, I got an email asking me "Where do you get the time to do all these things?" Since I've started my journey, this has *got* to be the number 1 most frequently asked question. For new readers of this blog, I am a mum to two young children, I work part-time, I regularly volunteer for many organisations (political and social) and I blog.

You know the first few times I answered this question, I used to say I have the time to do this because I am not buying brand-new/shopping etc etc. And while I think this is partly true, I am slowly realising that perhaps this is not really the reason why I have the time to sew, craft, menu-plan, cook etc etc. I think the reason why I do it is because the more I learn to do these simple things , the more empowered I am and therefore the more time I give to it.

Time is a funny concept. Before I started consciously making the effort to be more aware of my consumption habits, I never seemed to have the time to do anything. At first, it seemed it was all I could do to have the time to work and see my friends and my then boyfriend (now husband). Then much later, it seemed to me that it was all I could do to have the time to raise my kids. For as long as I can remember, it seemed to me that I was always pressed for time.

One thing I've learned is that there is always time. When I look back I can see that nature has proven this to me "time and time" again. (heh).

In the past, I used to say: "I don't have the time to take a day off work/looking after my family to rest/recover from sickness"..... and then I would get really really sick and suddenly that day off became a week off... And somehow work/the family survived without me and I had that time.

Looking back, I can see how disempowered my language was in respect to time. "Time" drove me. It took me gaining confidence - to have faith in myself - to finally say, "yes, I do have the time" and "yes, I can use that time to sew/craft/learn because it makes me happy and that is important."

By having faith in myself, I have given myself the freedom to have the time to do what I want to do.

Faith in myself and freedom.... sounds like that my Joyful Consumption Principles also apply here!

Yay! I finally finished my dress!

After many many mistakes, I finally finished this dress!

The pattern is the Zoe from Burda Style. (Thank you Bec for pointing me in the direction of this great website. The patterns are free and it was great to look at pictures of other people who have sewed this dress.

The fabric is from the fabric shop that I (also) won't mention because they are rude to children. (Thank you Jess for coining this phrase!) I bought this fabric about a month after I had finished my no-buying-brand-new challenge but have been too scared to use it because a) its so pretty; and b) because its a satin-brocade and I had no idea how to sew this kind of fabric.

Some firsts for me:

• different ways to finish the seams
• finally did a zipper!
• use iron-on webbing
  

Anyway, here is the dress!



The shirt underneath is a hand-me-down from my mum and the boots were op-shop ones. The boots are "doesn't-look-like-it-got-worn" Country Road boots - I was so thrilled to find this because a) its in my size and b) it was only $30 (recommended retail $200).

Now, the mistakes and what I did to fix them....

1. First mistake was that I first sewed this dress and I finished the seams using french seams. Because of the way the fabric frayed so quickly, I decided to use french seams. Now, these seams were great but unfortunately made the dress too tight. So I had to unpick all the seams and start all over again. Next time I use french seams, I now know to use a bigger seam allowance. So the seams I've ended up using were: french seams for the drop waist, the sides used the bound seam technique, and the rest was the good old zigzag stitch. I have to say, the zigzag was a bit scary for this type of fabric as it really seemed to tear it apart at the edges but after zig zagging further back from the edge of the fabric, it seemed to be okay.

2. Next mistake was not actually my mistake. My 3 year old son CUT my dress! It was lying there after I had unpicked it and I was ready for the next step, then the phone rang, and while I was on the phone, he cut it! He had cut a 8 cm slit right in the middle of the skirt, on the front. I ended up taking the dress to the above fabric shop and they suggested iron-on webbing to repair the cut. The stuff is amazing and you can't see the cut at all now from the front.

3. Next mistake was that after sewing on the neck facings, I folded it over and discovered the zipper was 1 mm too long! I posted about it on Wardrobe Refashion and Pasha Plum suggested that I fold the zipper over and hand-stitch it.

Before:



After:



What a simple fix! THANK YOU Pasha!