Madhu Knits and Cooks

My First Commercial Sewing Project - Wrap Skirt by Diana Rupp

I've been slowly learning how to use a sewing machine since purchasing my first in 2014 (a Brother).  I was initially convinced that I would be self-taught through the internet, books, and online Craftsy classes, but as years past, I realized that a pure DIY approach wasn't going to work. 

So I signed up for my first sewing class at the New York Sewing Center in 2016, a skirt-making class at the Brooklyn Craft Company in 2017, and then an alterations workshop back at the New York Sewing Center in 2019.  In between, I made pillow covers, altered some clothes, and tried to experiment with similar small scale projects.

But remaining elusive was a full commercial sewing pattern.  The great New York Sewing Center team recommended I take a longer class with them that would cover commercial sewing patterns, but I couldn't find a date that worked with my schedule.  And so I recently turned back to my DIY attempts, this time successfully using Diana Rupp's fantastic Sew Everything Workshop book and accompanying online class I bought years ago on Craftsy (now Bluprint) to complete my first commercial pattern!

I will caveat that this wrap skirt pattern is from Rupp's book, so it had more guidance than a standard commercial pattern.  But I still had to cut out pattern pieces, figure out darts and other shaping, and put together multiple pieces of fabric.  Eek!  

The project took several days, especially because I watched and rewatched Rupp's videos to master each step.  The most laborious effort was figuring out how to cut the fabric and then transcribe the markings without dressmakers pins and a good sewing chalk.  By contrast, sewing, including my first darts (pictured below), was a breeze.

I couldn't be happier with the final result - with the adjustable tie, I can wear this skirt a few different ways.  I look forward to premiering it outside of my home mirror, and to taking on my next professional pattern!

Panko-Crusted Tofu with Ginger Scallion Sauce - Elevating a Weeknight Meal

At a family Lunar New Year celebration this year, I sampled a tofu dish that somehow stood out from the feast's many delicious offerings.  This tofu was lightly coated in panko breadcrumbs, pan fried, and served with a refreshing and sharp ginger sauce.  I immediately asked for the recipe, which came from Food & Wine Magazine.

When I finally made this recipe, I was really surprised by how quick it can be prepared.  I initially made it on a weekend, thinking it would far more time consuming than it was.  Despite there being many steps, they each take virtually no time.  

I first prepared the sauce, which I modified to be more like the David Chang Momofuko ginger-scallion sauce.  I specifically diced 2 scallions (white and green parts); minced ~1tsp of fresh ginger; and eyeballed rice vinegar, salt, and grapeseed oil.  

I left the sauce sit on the countertop as I then prepared the tofu.  For my first attempt, I sliced the drained and pressed tofu block in half width-wise and in thirds length-wise for 6 pieces.  My husband thought that the tofu could have benefited from thinner portions, so the second time I made this dish, I sliced 9 pieces - one-third cuts along both the width and length of the tofu block.  

I then lightly whisked an egg in one shallow bowl and tossed less than a cup of breadcrumbs onto a plate.  For the second recipe attempt, I added in some sesame seeds, sea salt, and a few dashes of Chinese five spice to the breadcrumbs, all of which added subtle additional flavors to the fried tofu.

After dredging the tofu slices in the egg and then panko, I then immediately placed the slices in a pre-heated (on medium-high heat) nonstick skillet.  I cooked the slices for approx. 4 minutes on each side, until the panko was browned to my liking.

I then served the hot tofu over steamed rice, with some sauce drizzled on each slice.  Yum!  The leftovers were also great, though with a slightly eggier flavor.  I think this will be a monthly treat in our house moving forward!

Modern Blanket for Baby Hayden

Baby Hayden's parents were planning a space theme for his nursery, which made my yarn selection easy - the Cosmos color of Malabrigo's Rios yarn. 

Finding the right pattern was more complicated.  After several hours on Ravelry, I found the modern, simple and yet visually interesting Dutch Tiles pattern by Anne Hanson.  Once a gauge swatch was knit, to the blanket I went.

The result exceeded my expectations, especially because the blanket expanded beautifully post-blocking.  At first, I was frantic by how much the blanket grew post-washing as I expected it to look unnaturally stretched out and thin when dried.  But thankfully, instead it remained plush and soft.

In hindsight, Hanson's use of larger-than-gauge needles was genius to achieve a smooth yet textured result.

Full pattern details are below.

Dutch Tiles Blanket for Hayden

Pattern:  Dutch Tiles by Anne Hanson, crib blanket size

Yarn:  Malabrigo Rios in Cosmos, approx. 2.7 skeins

Needles:  US 9 and US 10 circular

Measurements:  Pre-blocking measurements of 25.5 inches wide by 28 inches tall.  Post-blocking measurements of 29.5 inches wide by 32.5 inches long.

No-Knead High-Gluten Flour Sesame Bread - Saving This Flour for Bagels

During the great (but brief) flour shortage of 2020, I ordered any flour that was available from King Arthur Flour's website.  Some of the new flour types I purchased were fantastic - the Pizza Flour Blend in particular - but others, I've struggled with.  The High-Gluten Flour falls into that category.  The pizza dough I made with it was just ok, and King Arthur's No-Knead Everything Bread, which seems adapted to this flour in particular, also was just ok.  

I initially thought the issue may be my continued use of a large Dutch oven to bake high-hydration no-knead doughs instead of a smaller bread pot which would allow the bread to rise more than spread.  This problem plagued me with Jim Lahey's No-Knead Bread recipe. The fridge-rise, less-hydration Jeff Hertzberg approach and its variants generally produce must better loafs.  However, I tried this flour with the King Arthur-version of Hertzberg's approach and also ended up with a slightly (but not that much) lower rise bread.

So the issue seems to be the flour or more likely, my unfamiliarity with it.  In any case, this recipe, which I halved and used just sesame seeds instead of an everything spice blend, will probably not be a repeat. 

While the bread dough was easy to prepare, as all no-kneads are, I really don't like handling gooey, non-fridge rise doughs like this.   

These doughs are just far messier to shape and transfer to a baking pot.

The upside of this bread is that it tasted wonderful - yeasty, slightly crusty on the outside, and soft in the middle.  It was gone within the day!

Alice Waters Fruit Cobbler - Following the Recipe...Works!

With summer emerging, I've been buying a lot of early season berries.  Strawberries have been a favorite, and I've been running out of ideas on how to eat them.  Yes, there have been lots of strawberry smoothies and plain sliced strawberries, but I recently wanted to try some baked strawberries as well.  I decided to adapt Alice Waters's blueberry cobbler to fit this craving.

Unlike my preparation of the blueberry cobbler years ago, this time, I actually followed the cobbler recipe.  The result was fantastic - smooth and lightly sweetened cream biscuits coupled with a sharp acidity from the baked strawberries.  With a scoop of vanilla ice cream or dollop of whipped cream, this is a perfect early summer snack.

I did make some modifications to fit the amount of fruit I had.  I used approx. 3/4 of a pint of strawberries, cut into 1/4-inch pieces.  I sprinkled 1/2 tsp. of sugar on top of the berries and lightly tossed them in a baking dish.

I then prepared 1/2 of The Art of Simple Food cream biscuits recipe, though I ended up with 7 biscuits instead of the expected 4.

I brushed heavy cream on top of the biscuits before baking in a 375 degree oven for 40 minutes (turning once).  The brushed cream on top  led to a beautifully baked biscuit and a more moist dough than the first time I made this recipe.


The best part?  It takes no time to prepare because the biscuit dough comes together so easily.  This is a highly recommended last-minute dessert!

Japanese Souffle Pancakes - First Try...Wasn't Terrible?

I finally attempted those Internet-hot Japanese souffle pancakes, inspired by my friend Nate's great Instagram picture of his matcha souffle pancakes.  Nate was kind enough to send me his recipe and lessons learned, and off I went to the kitchen to try these beauties.

As you can tell from the above picture, my final result wasn't quite beautiful.  Or presentable.  BUT they were tasty, I am proud to report.  Eggy, fluffy inside, and lightly sweetened.  

My critical mistake seems to be temperature - my pan was too hot to properly steam the pancakes before they burned.  I cooked the pancakes on low-medium heat, but even lower heat would have been better.  I also think a heavier bottom pot would help more evenly distribute the heat v. my thin enameled steel pot.

Otherwise, the pancakes were relatively easy to prepare despite the hype around them.  Basically combine the wet ingredients, add the dry, and finish the batter by folding in whipped egg whites.

(at this point I realized I forgot to add the heavy cream to the wet batter - oops!  Added now with the remaining egg whites)

I spooned the batter into pre-made parchment molds to prevent the batter from spreading.  I followed Nate's approach of spooning one-third of the batter in the mold, letting that batter steam, then adding another third to steam, and then the final third before flipping.

The pancakes cooked way too fast because of the pan heat issue.  It was just a few minutes on each side before their edges completely browned.  But thankfully they were fully cooked in the middle by the time I removed them from the pan.

While this attempt was far from ideal, it was a pretty fast recipe so I will probably make them again this summer.  They were different enough of a treat in our house to keep at them!

A New MadhuKnitsandCooks.com Category - Sewing! (Face Masks)

I'll skip over the perfunctory introduction of my inspiration for this project, and just get to the topic - face masks.  I've started making them.  Lots of them.  On my sewing machine.  And I've declared sewing a permanent hobby, so I've created a new MadhuKnitsandCooks.com category - sewing (!).

My first face mask pattern was Bluprint's, which was linked in an email I received.  The pattern seemed easy enough, but you really needed bias tape or a bias tape maker.  I didn't have either and wasn't inclined to order either, so modified the pattern to use t-shirt cut ties instead.  

That worked fairly well because of the density of t-shift material, but the sides still felt weak and I didn't have confidence that this mask would survive multiple wears.  While I think that is largely a material issue - the t-shirt material is too dense and flexible (not rigid enough) - I think the pattern flaw is more fundamental.  The side ties not only secure the mask to your head, but they are also hold the pleats of the mask together, which I think is too much for these thin ties to do.  

Ok, so on to another pattern.  I am not sure how I found the Sarah Maker pleated face masks pattern, but I have really enjoyed it so far.  The construction of the mask is more complex than the Bluprint version, but it has far more reinforcements across the tension points of the mask.  You can also easily make the fabric ties from strips of fabric without a bias tape maker.  I haven't tried this pattern with elastic ties yet, but I have some elastic coming so will be giving that a try too.

The pattern also has a slit in the middle of the mask for putting in an additional filter, which adds to its versatility.

Masks are here for the near future so I look forward to making more and more of these over the coming months!