My amazing new website is live!

     My stylish new website is live at www.charisse-sayers.com and mobile responsive too, so Google should love it even more now! I’ve refreshed the text and the whole design has been given a revamp courtesy of front end web developer Edward Ellis and technical support from JonGor Software.

     I love the new design and more intuitive layout and want to know what you think too! Please have a browse, all feedback welcome.

All blog content and photos are Copyright of Charisse Sayers Proofreader & Copywriter www.charisse-sayers.com I welcome all feedback and would love to know your thoughts so please get in touch, comment, share, like and generally get involved – you can also find me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!

My top five Christmas foods

      I’ve been very busy the last few months starting a new job and working on an update of my website, but with Christmas approaching it’s time to slow down and appreciate the really important things in life, like food, and how best to stock my kitchen for that perilous one day of the year when (nearly) all shops are shut and everybody panic buys nine loaves of bread in case there’s a shortage come the 26^th of December.

     Part of my new busy routine is that I am hardly ever the one pushing the trolley for our weekly food shop these days, and as such my favourite treats might not always make it through the checkout, so here’s a little reminder for anyone who wants to keep me happy over the festive period.

1. Cheese

It’s not Christmas without cheese. As a child it was standard to get a jar of Stilton in my stocking, the idea being that we had one each and we could tuck into our individual jars with a spoon, much like Americans eat giant tubs of ice cream alone in all those paltry rom coms that Channel 5 will undoubtedly wheel out over Christmas. 

Definition of a balanced diet

2. Christmas pudding that is on fire

It has to be on fire. I nearly set the kitchen (and my hand) alight last year attempting this when friends visited but it was worth the warm tickle of blue flames up my fingers to eat the tasty, boozy scented, flame grilled pudding. Finger burning good.

3. Mince pies

I don’t really trust anyone who doesn’t like mince pies, despite the fact logic tells me they are precisely the type of food that I can understand people not liking. I didn’t discover the joy of warm mince pies with melted brandy butter until my early twenties and now it’s a winter favourite. Yeah that’s right, a winter favourite, I eat them until the Easter eggs come out. 

'Deep filled', words to warm my heart

4. Chocolate yule log encrusted in buttercream

You may be seeing a theme here, food that would make a dentist or cardiologist wince, but tough – it’s Christmas! I love these and demand one every year. Despite the fact they are nearly always completely dry and inedible, and I might as well eat a roll of sugar paste given the overpowering sweetness but hey, who cares, nobody wears those paper cracker hats because they love disposable fashion, they wear them because it’s Christmas and that’s what you do.

5. Selection box of chocolates

Now call me a heathen if you must but I’m not a fan of those giant tins of Quality Street/Heroes/Roses/AllTheOthers. I prefer a nice selection box of truffles or pralines to sit and ruminate over while gradually shoving the whole box in my mouth until I can’t sleep due to cocoa poisoning. 

Always a welcome gift

     So there you have it, my top five foods for Christmas, which I now realise means my top five foods for January will probably all be vegetables and pulses as I’ll be sick of stodge and sugar by then. On the plus side, if you’re invited to my house over the festive period, you now know to wear elasticated trousers.

Merry Christmas and a full-belly new year!

All blog content and photos are Copyright of Charisse Sayers Proofreader & Copywriter www.charisse-sayers.com I welcome all feedback and would love to know your thoughts so please get in touch, comment, share, like and generally get involved – you can also find me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!

Awesome and easy toddler skull print shirt

     One of my nephews had a birthday coming up and I knew that a homemade gift would be expected so I set about trying to design an easy to make toddler shirt. I bought the fabric several months ago when I saw it in my local Abakhan shop, it was specifically bought with the idea of making a toddler shirt in mind as it’s a solid but lightweight fabric with a little stretch too.

The finished shirt

Abakhan haul

     Trying to decide how to make the pattern as easy as possible I had a look at a conventional shirt and determined to reduce the basic shirt shape into as few pieces as possible. I concluded that really only three pattern pieces would be needed: a back piece, a single front piece (that could be used for both sides), and a sleeve piece. Originally, I was going to add a collar but decided later on that it wouldn’t add anything to the design and might even make it more uncomfortable.

     After collecting basic measurements from my nephew I made a very simple, quite square shirt pattern, and then used tailors chalk to mark my fabric – it was crucial at this stage to make sure the pattern matched up across all the pieces. Using my new rotary cutter and cutting mat I’d got for my birthday I quickly cut out all the pieces I needed, being very careful not to let my hand slip!

I love this new rotary cutter but it's very sharp

     My first step for sewing was to attach the front pieces to the back piece. This was easy, I positioned the pieces right sides to right sides and stitched across the shoulders and down the side seams, which left the two arm holes ready for the sleeves to be inserted.

The cut fabric

     To construct the sleeves I folded over each sleeve piece and then straight stitched the seam that would eventually be under the arm. To hem the end I simply turned the edge of the fabric up and used a straight top stitch along the edge. Now to insert the sleeves, and ensure that the side seam of the shirt matched the underarm stitching on the sleeve, I tacked the sleeve into position before securing it with my sewing machine.

     The neckline was tackled next, and I was incredibly lazy and decided to simply fold the fabric over and run a top stitch along the edge to secure it. This worked really well as the slight stretch in the fabric meant it folded really easily and lay flat once complete. The bottom hem was then finished with a basic roll hem, as were the two overlapping edges of the front pieces, ensuring there was enough overlap left to affix the buttons.

Basic roll hem

The neckline

constructed but no buttons yet

      As normal I chose acrylic buttons, but to keep the shirt looking in scale I used smaller 15mm buttons, as usual I bought them from eBay. Once again the button hole setting on my sewing machine saved me lots of time, and I can honestly say I don’t miss the days of hand stitching every button hole like I had to with my old little sewing machine!

I buy buttons in bulk

      I loved the final result, the way the skulls matched up on the front worked out far better than I could have hoped and the simple design means it’s a loose and comfortable shirt, ideal with a little long sleeved top underneath when it’s cool or light enough to be worn on its own during the summer.

The inside

I love the pattern matching

      Despite my reservations it was very easy to make, and undoubtedly will become a favourite design, much like my beloved tab top dresses – because style is important, but for children comfort and simplicity will always win.

All blog content and photos are Copyright of Charisse Sayers Proofreader & Copywriter www.charisse-sayers.com I welcome all feedback and would love to know your thoughts so please get in touch, comment, share, like and generally get involved – you can also find me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!