Cabbage Rolls

We had those yummy cabbage rolls last night. They are not the ones in which you use a tomato based sauce to cook them in. Nor does the meat have rice in them. Many years ago (1984 I think) a friend gave me her recipe.

Country Cabbage Rolls

Cabbage- simmer in a pot of water to wilt. Drain reserving the 1.5 to 2 cups water. You will need 16 to 20 leaves.

3/4 lb. ground pork	1 lb. lean hamburger
2 medium eggs	1 box Chicken or Turkey flavoured Stove Top Dressing
1 clove garlic chopped finely	1 medium onion chopped finely

Crush the Stove Top Dressing until it coarse. Set aside 1/4 cup for sauce if you wish to. Mix all ingredients into a bowl and let sit to blend the flavours.

1/4 cup butter or margarine	1/4 cup flour
1.5 cups cabbage water broth	1 chicken bullion cube
1 can cream of celery soup

Make sure the cabbage water broth is hot and dissolve chicken bullion cube in it.
Melt butter in a pot. Add flour and cook for a minute or two. Add liquid and stir until thick. Add cream of celery soup. If the sauce is too thick add more cabbage liquid. You can stir in the Stove Top Dressing if you want to.
To Assemble:
Mix 1/4 cup meat stuffing in each leaf. Roll and tuck the cabbage leaf around and place into a large 9 x 13” pan. You might need a smaller pan also. Pour the sauce over the cabbage rolls and cover with foil. Bake at 350F for 1 1/4 hours. Remove and skim off fat if necessary. Spoon on 1 cup sour cream, sprinkle with paprika and bake 15 minutes longer. (We do not do this step – personal choice).
If you feel that you have enough for 2 meals, divide into 2 equal size baking dishes, cook one and refrigerate the other. Do Not Freeze.

Cuff Tutorial

Sunday was cooler than Saturday by a lot. Enough that people in the higher levels couldn’t start their trucks if they weren’t plugged in. We are suppose to warm up some though. Let’s wait and see though as the forecast could be wrong.
Yesterday morning I let out the darts on the blue blouse and shortened them by 4”. That gave Queen Emma more room she needed through the hips.

When I was down in Nanaimo, Ron Collins talked to me about the flap on the pockets of the Spousal Unit’s shirt. I was not to worry about the depth of the seam allowances and to focus on matching the bias to the shirt. I never transferred that thought to the cuffs until I watched Ron do it on the DVD #10 Shirts and Blouses. All my fussing about the cuffs was solved. I made sure the sleeves opening was the same for both sleeves and then proceeded.
1. Pin the cuff onto the sleeve leaving about 3/8 to 1/2” seam allowance on the one end and pinning around.

2. Sew the cuff on, trim the seam and press the seam towards the cuff. Notice I have turned under 5/8” at the other edge of the cuff.

3. Pin the cuffs together so the folded edge is slightly lower than the stitched edge. This is so the folded edge will cover the seam when turned.

4. Using a ruler to help you, mark the stitching line where you have pinned. It should be a couple of threads away from the continuous lap for the turn of cloth.

5. Stitch on the marked line, cut at top on an angle and trim the seam allowance to about 1/4”. Press open.

6. Turn the cuff and press so it is nice and neat. I put Steam-A-Seam on the folded edge and when I am ready to do the final pressing of the cuff, I remove the paper covering and press it into place. Stitch close to the edge using an edging foot.

7. The finished cuff.

I then inserted one sleeve and didn’t need to worry about adjusting the sleeve cap. It looks might good.

Wrinkled and I know I need to do a couple of adjustments to the side seams prior to finishing this blouse.

Until tomorrow..................

Setting in Sleeves

They sky looked like snow yesterday morning when we got up. By the time it was light outside it was snowing. Just enough to cover the ground and disappear in the afternoon. No one was singing “Let it Snow”.

The Spousal Unit sealed the clear plywood ceiling in the master bedroom yesterday morning. He put on the second coat after lunch. Windows were opened and a fan was running but we still smelled some fumes. By dinner time, he had half of the bedroom closet framed in. A good day’s work. He will continue working in there today.

For the first part of the morning I worked on the jacket. I did photograph putting in the sleeves. These are the instructions that Ron Collins gave us when I was in Nanaimo in late September. Here is what I did with the instructions I wrote down after doing this with Ron.

1. Sew side seams of sleeves.

2. Cut Tailor’s Pride (horsehair canvas) 1 1/4” wide on the true bias.

3. Starting at notch, put strip 1/16” from edge and needle about a fat 1/2” from edge of sleeve.

4. Back stitch to hold strip in place. If your pressure foot lifts up like mine does, turn this feature off so the pressure foot holds everything tight when you stop.

5. Pull the strip hard and sew 1 to 1 1/2”. Stop, Pull again.

6. Stop pulling 1/2” before and after the center dot (which I had snipped).

7. Continue pulling the strip and sewing to the last notch. Back stitch to secure.

8. Insert sleeve into jacket pinning it into place. I matched up the shoulder and under arm seams and all the markings I had transferred from the pattern. I used a lot of pins.

9. Stitch the sleeve into the jacket with the sleeve closest to the feed dogs to ease in the sleeve. I start from the shoulder seam and go around. I also use the free arm on my machine as it is easier to control the fabric.

10. Double stitch from back to front notches under the arm. Trim that piece to 1/4”. I stitched a little less than a 1/4” from the seam though I will double stitch the next time. Both ways work.

11. Where the sleeve waves from the gathering

Cut V’s out of the sleeve only so it lies flat.

12. I finger pressed the canvas to the sleeve prior to pressing it with the iron.

I was going to do a sleeve wrap also but ended up not doing it. After asking about it, I thought it would be overkill.

I got to thinking that I had seen a YouTube video on this so I searched for it. Gertie's New Blog For Better Sewing had the video so I added it here.

She is using a wool/mohair fabric and she does not notch the fullness out of the sleeve when she is done. Otherwise it is the same as what Ron showed.

Today I am going to start a blouse that will be worn under the above jacket. I felt some pressure to finish the jacket last night and do the blouse today. But I did not feel stressed. That is good as I do not plan on going down that trail again.

On top of it all, a girl pre ordered her dress for next year’s Miss Rodeo Canada competition. That is one of my limited number of spaces filled.

Until tomorrow.................