Somewhat belatedly, I've got a moment to jot down my latest sewing antics.  We've been away to Kent for the weekend, so no chance to 'get my blog on' there, although it was lovely and I may well share a few photos later on. 
I had a good time last week making things for the boys in my life, namely Roan my son and Matt my current husband (!!).  A few months back I bought some bi-plane fabric on ebay and had it earmarked for pyjamas, but with this sudden blast of summer, it's far too hot at night for that, so in half an hour I quickly knocked together a pair of shorts (using same Sewing for Dummies pattern of last week).  Honestly, they're so easy and Roan was able to put them on just half an hour after he'd selected fabric.  Now THAT's my kind of sewing!  I've made a few pairs of trousers in the past, so the structure was straightforward and of course given only half the material, they whizzed through my machine with no drama.  Only problem now is trying to wrench them off him to put them in the wash!
So on to the next TGBSB pattern, the Men's Waistcoat, which looked so stylish and simple.  I used a navy pinstripe wool mix for the outer fabric and lined it with a cotton twill as that was all that was available to me at the time.  Again it was a simple pattern to follow, with darted front and 3 back panels.  I hand-sewed the lining openings but even that hasn't ruined it!  Unfortunately though, the sizes they use in the book are supposedly standard sizing but their Large is not the same as my husband's so it's a tight, almost risque look for Mr T and I'll have to find one of his smaller, skinnier mates to offer it on to.  Still, project ticked off and I'm happy with the results, especially some lovely huge vintage buttons that finished it off.  Nancy looks good in it, hey?
As promised, after the Tea Dress I said I'd have a go at invisible zips and the Girl's Dress in TGBSB looked so pretty I rummaged around and made it up using some leftover Ikea fabric & some stripes for the bodice.  A splash of ribbon here and there with a vintage ribbon gathered trim seemed to work ok BUT my zip is not invisible and my school report on this would definitely read 'must try harder'.  I've actually used this method of zip insertion when making cushions, purely by fluke though, so even though I don't have an invisible zip foot, as they recommend in the book, I'm sure I could get closer next time.

For my Maggie Moo brand, I almost always come back to making bags.  I do lots of other things too, but there's something very satisfying about bags.  I think you're either a shoe girl or a bag… lady, and I fall into the latter.  Can't be bothered with stilettos and peep toes, but come over all of a quiver if I see a snazzy clutch purse or an oh so functional messenger with just the right number of compartments!  Most of my range is made of oilcloth, because having mastered how to sew it, I really enjoy using such a sturdy and practical material.  Anyhoooo, back to bags, because they're such a personal item, when you find one that you like, you can use and abuse it until one day it may well, give one last breath and say ENOUGH already!  That's what happened to Jan's bag.  It was well loved alright, but could no longer reciprocate and she brought it to me to clone.  This is the result, she was bold in her choice of fabric, this Ikea design is one of my faves, and hopefully theirs will be a partnership that will go on and on…  Now you can't always say that about some killer heels that almost killed you at the end of the party and end up tossed to the back of the wardrobe in disgust...

This week I got down and dirty with jersey.  Yep, and I can fairly safely say I will not be doing that again!  I found this gorgeous brown/pink/orange jersey fabric recently and when I saw The Great British Sewing Bee's (TGBSB) pattern for a tea dress, I though they would make a perfect combo.  Cutting out was ok using a rotary cutter, but sewing was, well, not without frustration.  I'd read up on tips on how to sew jersey and I thought that having mastered oilcloth, I'd get a handle on this stuff easily enough.  Using my ball-point needle and walker foot I began cautiously in the appropriate stretch stitch and whilst some of it went ok, most of it was very messy indeed and prompted rather a lot of swear words that filled the shed.  I carried on regardless, desperately not wanting to add to my pile of ufos and actually, in the end, not peeking at inside seams at all, it has turned out fine and only took about an hour and a half to put together as it has only a few pieces (front, back, facings and sleeves).  It fits, it's comfortable and I still LOVE the fabric.  This is Nancy showing it off above, named by my daughter and I think it suits her.  Said daughter is a little perturbed by her not having a head and begs me to give her the blue one that lives in my shed… relax it's polystyrene and generally just looks dandy sporting a venetian mask as I don't find myself at many fiestas around here.
Anyway, I digress… someone very kindly gave me an overlocker last year but I haven't yet tried it out; I'm sure that would have whipped through jersey without a hiccup, but I haven't yet plucked up the courage to use it. The GBSB pattern instructions were very clear but since I made the dress from jersey I avoided the need for an invisible zip, so I'll tackle that with my next project.  Job done!

I also made these in the week, they're my hi-top bags in matt black oilcloth with deckchair and pink geo linings.