Took a visit to the newly refurbished Merchant and Mills last month, and couldn’t resist buying some more of their delicious dry oilskin. Worst thing about the new shop is that everything is better displayed and so you can see all the fabrics and other goodies so much easier. Which means its so much more difficult to resist! Came out of there having spent a small fortune, oops!

Happily though I made myself a lovely new bag, from said dry oilskin. I bought a metre each of three different colours, so I can mix and match. And as the fabric is 150cm wide I can get quite a few bags out of those. I love bags and love being able to make myself new ones. Or sometimes, I’ll make for friends.

I used a template I’ve used before for a sort of shopping/tote bag, but this time I added a longer strap too for cross body carrying. I like the versatility of having carry options.

As you can see I added some of the webbing to the bag for a little bit of decoration. Very pleased with how that turned out. I’ve the lined this bag in a contrasting green. Gives the bag a bit more sturdiness. The outside is a gorgeous colour, M&M call it Midnight, which suggests to me shades of blue, but I see a hint of green too!

Its a fab bag, even if I do say so myself. Can fit quite a lot of stuff in it, and its water resistant, which is very useful this time of year. Sorry there aren’t more pictures of the bag itself and the details, but this time of year there is such a small time frame when the light is right for taking pictures and I usually miss it! If I remember I’ll do some more pictures in the New Year, with more of the detail, but don’t hold your breath…

I wish you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR! :0) xxxx

One for my Mum for Christmas, yes I said it, Christmas! And one for me. My Mum really liked the last one I made for her and asked for another one for Christmas. So I found the fabric I wanted, bought it, and made it.

I’ve been meaning to make myself another for the last few months, so making one for my Mum spurred me on to make mine.

Very happy with it.

Now I’m very aware that I’m not posting much lately, but I’m also not making as much either. Partly down to my hormones, and not being in the mood for sewing. And partly down to trying to wear what I already have. My wardrobe is pretty full of lovely things I’ve made, so I’m trying to get the wear out of them. So maybe I’m not feeling a gap in my wardrobe right now. so I don’t feel the urge to make stuff.

anyway it was nice to make the aprons, both finished in a day each. So a nice easy and fun make.

Don’t hold your breath for the next make…

Made this to wear to lunch at the Shard in London with a couple of girlfriends. Thought it was smart and stylish, yet not as smart or stylish as the waitresses/hostesses at The Shard. Wish I’d taken pics, as I felt underdressed!

Anyhoo, I’m still very happy and pleased with this make, and have worn it many times since!

This time I used a beautiful Brodarie Anglais in navy. Blue and variations there of, it would appear is my fave colour!

I plan to wear it with a nude slip underneath, as it is a little see-through.

And here with heels…

I really am loving these dresses in this hot summer we are having.

I love this dress, yes its another Marshmallow, I don’t care. I love it! this time I used a gorgeous cotton block print fabric from Merchant and Mills. I was a little concerned when I first got it ( ordered online instead of going to shop) that it might be too corse/stiff for a dress, but the fabric has softened up with wear and wash and ironing. Also it was a dream to work with.

I decided also to do a proper facing this time, and not cut corners, where I usually do and simply fold the neckline over. I have learnt this doesn’t give a very neat finish. And I’ve also learnt its actually easier to just do it properly!

Pictures follow now!

Look at that neckline…

I felt really good wearing this. Husband says I look funky :0) And thats a good thing.

I’m not doing as much sewing at the moment as I have done in the past. Other things are a priority right now. Life gets in the way of the fun stuff! However when I do get a chance to sew, I grab it with both hands and enjoy. It really does help take my mind off the other stuff.

One of my Nieces is getting married next May, and I’m trying to decide on what to wear/make. I want to wear a Marshmallow dress, but can’t decide on length. So I’ve made a wearable toile. I quite like this length but can’t decide if its too casual. But then again I’m hoping the fabric I’ll end up making it in for the wedding will make it more formal, so to speak.

And of course I won’t be wearing it with Birkenstocks or bare feet!

Cropped my head out of the pictures as had really bad bed hair!

Here’s a pic with good hair!

Came this

I do love this fabric, its so pretty. And its lovely and cool to wear too.

I bought 2.5m of this fabric. Very happy about the fact that Fabric Godmother now sells their fabric by the half metre. And I was able to get two tops out of it, happy about that too!

I don’t know why I only ordered a metre of this fabric, I never only order a metre, as its rarely enough for what I want to make. But for some reason I ordered a metre. This was October last year, and when I decided I wanted to make a Marshmallow tunic top I tried to order another metre but it was out of stock! I thought that might be the end of that idea.

I thought I’d have a look and see what I could get out of it, so I laid the pattern pieces on the fabric and happily I could get a sleeveless version from it. Also had to make the frill piece much smaller, think I ended up folding it in half.

No sleeves, no facing and no pockets. But I love it!

This is such a happy, colourful fabric. I love all the details in it, so much going on.

And I’m really really happy with the length of this one too.

And I remembered to make all the seams with a 2cm seam allowance.

For christmas my lovely hubby gave me a voucher for Merchant & Mills, and I’d been looking at the Jack Tar bag pattern for quite a while, but hadn’t gotten round to getting it. then they started doing a  kit, which includes everything you need to make the bag. So armed with my voucher I trotted off to Merchant & Mills and bought it.

Its taken me a couple of months to get round to making this, but I’ve finally done it. I have to say it was a rather pleasant experience. I did things I’ve not done before, like snap closure, and used D rings. Also a facing on a bag, which I’ve not done before. And turning a bag right side out through a hole in the lining. That was an experience I can tell you.

This was also quite a painful make too! The outer fabric I believe is a dry oilskin and the lining is a sturdy canvas, both fabrics were quite tough to get my pins through at times, and I managed to stab myself on many occasions.

I also want to say, that whilst the pattern is supposed to be beginner level, Merchant & Mills can be quite frugal with their instructions, and If I hadn’t already known how to attach a base to the main body of a bag I would have been a bit stumped at that point.

Base of the bag pinned to the top. Above ^ and below

It was quite tricky getting it through the sewing machine, as the fabric was quite stiff. And this was one of the areas where I would get stabbed by my pins!

Picture of the lining, before I’d sewn the base.

All finished. Inside view of the pockets.

Another inside view, with the shoulder strap. The bag kit comes with a leather strap, but I decided not to use that, and opted for a webbing strap instead, same as I used for the handles. There is an option to make the handles yourself out of the same fabric as the bag. I like the contrast the webbing straps give though.

This is a pretty big bag, I think it will be really useful as weekend bag or carry on bag for flights, as well as being a great everyday bag for town and shopping. The 3 inside pockets are the perfect size for your purse, keys, sunglasses and phone. Plus any other small items you don’t want to lose inside the main compartment. the pockets are also ideally placed for good access whilst carrying the bag crossbody, but I reckon would be tricky for someone to try and pinch your purse.

Carrying options, are as follows.

My favourite is crossbody, so comfortable.  So there we have it. What do you think?

Here you go, another Trapeze in the lovely quilted ponte roma fabric. I do love this fabric!

Not gonna say much about it, its all been said before.