Bags of room

My shoulder seems to be improving quite well, so if I'm careful I can sew in lots of short bursts (with breaks in between), meaning I have been sewing more in the past week than I have in the past six months!  I have two finished items this week - a shopping bag and a casual shirt.

 Shopping bag made from a vintage seed packet print cotton drill.  It's already been used twice since I made it earlier this week.

 Casual, dartless shirt for summer.  I used the same pattern I drafted back in 2011 for a shirt, but added a full length front button placket.  Technically this shirt isn't finished as I have to hand sew the buttons on, but I'm not sure if my shoulder is up for hand sewing just yet.  It is also much bigger on me than the other shirt I made using this base pattern, not sure why...  It is so big I think I'm going to add some waist darts to reduce the shirt billowing quite so much.

 The back seam - this is the shirt I cut in two pieces instead of on the fold.  In the end I just sewed a small (6mm) back seam and the pattern almost matches.  Yes, even with that extra seam the shirt is still too big!

Close up of the button placket (minus button holes and buttons!).  The fabric is a light cotton, with an almost seersucker type texture, bought in Cleggs (Melbourne) last year.

My next plans are to finally finish the 'Blue Dress' and I'm starting an ambitious long-term plan of making a jacket for my husband.  I'm basing it off a jacket in the Burda Magazine (01/2013) I received recently and we will adapt it into something more my husband's style.  I've traced the basic pattern but am expecting to have to make lots of fit changes before we can even think of changing the style, so it is definitely a long-term project!