THE DRAPERY BLOG

I have a real aversion to buying new clothes. I try and make most of my own, but I haven’t so far made a huge amount for my partner, Neil. I’m always making promises, so I delay him buying new clothes, but often my intentions don’t match reality so his wardrobe can start looking a little threadbare….I could no longer ignore the little holes in his t-shirts (I don’t know how but they appear in all of them), necklines a bit stretched out, and the odd stain here and there. All looking a bit shabby. Now was the time to come through on my promises, especially as we had the gorgeous 55% Hemp, 45% Organic Cotton Jersey fabrics in store. I am always excited to find fabrics with hemp content as hemp requires no pesticides and significantly less water to grow than cotton and is known for its durability. I decided to give the Thread Theory Strathcona Henley a try, in the t-shirt option (Variation 2). This pattern is described as a slim fitting t-shirt that can be sewn either with a st...

Heckin' fancy! We don't do a lot of 'fancy' here at The Drapery. But sometimes, occasion calls. And fabric and patterns answer. I sing in a choir and as with many similar musical groups, black is the main requirement for performance wear. It's not a colour I wear otherwise, and I needed a new option for our concerts in the Adelaide Fringe. We recently received these very special Hemp/Silk fabrics (leftovers from a local designer/maker). I teamed the black one with the Ravine Dress pattern from Papercut Patterns' latest 'Geo' collection.  Bias cut and backless, in slinky black... who even am I? It was quite out of my comfort zone but it somehow seemed promising. On the roll this fabric has a slight pleated texture. A close look reveals intermittent shiny stripes, which we assume is the silk portion, and the matte part the hemp. I gave it a prewash and the pleating became more pronounced, and the width of the fabric therefore reduced. ...

We're thrilled to have four colours of this beautiful 55% Hemp 45% Organic Cotton Jersey in store at the moment. Even better, it's very affordable (in the realm of hemp fabrics) and particularly sustainable because it's leftovers from a local maker. 'Rose' colourway To demonstrate the loveliness of this knit fabric I whipped up a simple sleeveless t-shirt using the Hemlock Tee pattern by Grainline Studios , a free downloadable pdf. And I really do mean 'whipped up'. A garment could barely be any simpler and this was done and dusted in between helping customers on a weekday morning in the shop. The body of the pattern is quite long, and I shortened it by about 5cm. I prewashed my fabric and it shrank in length (as can always be expected from a jersey) from 75cm to around 70cm. This was barely enough to cut the shortened tee from so I'd recommend using a little more! I also didn't have enough fabric to cut the neck band across the grain...

Hello friends, it's Fabric Friday again and today our feature fabric is one we call 'Tweedy Bird '. COMPOSITION: 55% hemp, 32% organic cotton, 13% wool WIDTH: 145cm WEIGHT: mid, with a lovely soft hand and good drape PRICE: $37.50/m We have had many discussions here about whether the dark threads are black or a very deep 'ink' navy. They're probably black, but it depends on the light. In any case we believe you can wear this fabric with navy or black!  The pinkish cast that may be appearing on your screen in the photo below is yet another trick of the light on this chameleon fabric. Isn't the selvedge pretty?  What can you make with Tweedy Bird? Well, we can certainly recommend it for Merchant & Mills patterns the Dress Shirt and Factory Dress , both seen below. It would also make an excellent M&M Top 64 , Sewaholic Hollyburn Skirt , Colette Juniper Trousers and more. It's a great transitional-season-weight, with the ...

 Hello and welcome to the first in a series of regular posts where we feature a fabric, every Friday! Today's feature fabric is our Hemp and Organic Cotton Denim .  COMPOSITION: 55% hemp, 45% organic cotton WIDTH: 150cm wide WEIGHT: 350gsm  PRICE: $48.80/m This denim is a real favourite at The Drapery and one that we hope to always be able to keep in stock. It's a lovely substantial weight, with none of the stiffness that you sometimes find in heavier weight denims. It is remarkably soft and drapey, and quite easy to cut and sew with regular tools, needles and thread. Yet it retains the incredible strength and durability of hemp. I have made three garments for myself with this fabric and they have been items I've reached for over and over. (Because of this they're not going to look like pristine brand new garments but you can get an idea of how well the fabric has stood the test of time.) Dress A from Stylish Dres...

Winter shorts. They're a Thing.  I've been looking for an alternative to my denim Grainline Moss Skirt that I wear so much, I don't even want to admit quite how much. (Let's just say it's a testament to the strength of hemp in the denim how well it's holding up.) Enter the Deer and Doe Chataigne Shorts. In, um, exactly the same denim .   Hello, new winter staple. Deer and Doe patterns are designed and printed in France on recycled paper. They are drafted for an average height woman of 168cm (5'5") with a C-D cup bust and larger hips . I find their patterns very true-to-size and so far, they fit me right out-of-the-box. If you are a similar shape, you might love Deer and Doe as much as I do! (See Aubepine dress here , Datura blouse here , Plantain top here .) I made Chataigne View A, which has a low waist and cuffs. There's a side zip, for which I used the regular kind rather than invisible as suggested. Due to the thickness of th...

There's not much that can be said that hasn't already been said about the Wiksten Tova . This highly versatile pattern has been doing the rounds of the sewing blogosphere for a goodly number of years now. For good reason, we say! Only available now as a downloadable PDF, this pattern is well worth the effort of an hour or so spent cutting and sticking paper together. There's no option for 'copy shop printing' in this download, so scissors and tape it must be. I first made the shirt length in some of our Indigo Hemp/Organic Cotton (currently out of stock but winging its way to us - it should be back in a week or so). That one fast became an easy-to-reach-for wardrobe staple. So, hot on its heels, I tried out the tunic length in our navy Japanese linen/cotton blend big gingham. The linen/cotton has a lovely weight and a lovely slightly crinkly texture, making it perfect Autumn/Spring frock fare. For both versions, I omitted the collar band and bias-bound th...

A fabric we hunted high and low to source for The Drapery was a good hemp-containing denim. Such a great basic and with the added eco-credentials of hemp. We have two great options: the superb lightweight, versatile Hemp/Organic Cotton Denim and this one used below, which is 25% Hemp 75% Cotton , a substantial 340gsm yet actually quite smooth, supple and a little drapey. At 150cm wide, the dress below was eked out of a 110cm cut. The dress is Style A from the Stylish Dress Book by Yoshiko Tsukiori - the translated and western-sized version which we have in the shop: The sizing is very generous - in fact whilst I measured a size 14, I use the size 10 in this pattern and even still took it in a bit at the sides because the denim sits in a more pronounced A-line shape. The pattern has bust darts and soft gathers at the front for shaping, and for further shape and visual interest I added a button tab at the centre back to cinch it in a little. The tab was made with thr...