So....a lovely lady friend of mine had a little bag from me and loved it so much she asked if I could make her one in the same design but out of some Cath Kidston oilcloth.

I of course said yes, which led to a whole world of sewing I'd never encountered. Oilcloth....eek! Of course I had to practise by sewing a little pouch.

Generally I didn't find it too difficult as long as I remembered that I couldn't pin it, iron it or feed it through the machine very easily....good....great.

Mostly it was ok as it was right side to right side so it was the backing cotton that was touching the bottom plate of my machine. Then came the straps.....They needed top stitching.

Fashioning a non stick soleplate (or whatever it's called) took some very big brains (or so I like to think) and a bit of masking tape. It helped the oilcloth to slide through without sticking and worked wonderfully.


I used my magnetic seam guide as I couldn't see the seam guides through the masking tape.


I won't mention the previous attempts of sewing through tracing paper which pulled the stitches when removing the tracing paper....

Anyway, so the bag was finished and shipped off and the recipient claims to love it..... Win win all round!



The pattern was by Rebeka Lambert.

The zipped pocket hid a secret backing :)

If you're thinking about sewing with oilcoth, I'd definitely recommend only making up patterns that don't require top stitching! On a plus side, you don't have to worry about the seams coming unravelled!