THE DRAPERY BLOG

No matter how enthusiastic a sewist you may be, there's probably some project you've dismissed with an 'oh, I'd never sew that'. To tricky, too dull, too easy to buy ready-made? I'm pretty sure I've said it about underwear in the past. But Fiona and I are both beginning to pause and realise, 'never say never'! Thanks to the ever-inspiring internet I happened upon a free bra pattern called the Maya Bra by Romanian blogger Ana at her blog AFI. Armed with a kit from Booby Traps (Sydney/online), and AFI instructions and more from Cloth Habit , I ventured in. And my first bra was quite a decent fit and quite comfortable! And a world of possibility opened in front of me (cue heavenly harps)..... AFI Maya Bra pattern in Liberty 'Lady Zadie', other components from Booby Traps online *NB: photo above is not my first attempt! One of the biggest revelations to me was that bras don't have to be made entirely of stretchy fabrics. In fact ma...

Hello, it's Jane here with a rather long and introspective blog post! Those of you following The Drapery on Instagram will have seen that we were posting photos for 'Me Made May', an initiative started a few years ago by blogger Zoe of 'So, Zo... what do you know? '. Sewists pledge to wear 'me-made' clothes - as much as they wish to commit to - and document their outfits for the month of May. Now, I don't know how to link to Instagram since I'm not on there myself but if you are, you can look up The Drapery and have a peek. Warning: possibly TMI to follow Now, I'm kind of putting myself out there in this post and examining my body shape and probably providing Too Much Information, but I hope it's useful to sewists out there! Me Made May is a bit different to sewists posting pretty posed pics of their freshly-made garments. Not that there's anything wrong with that! But MMM shows what really is worn day-to-day, how it's w...

One of the great things about sewing blogs is learning from the experience of others. Good and bad. In this occasional (well, we hope not too often!) series we will share our errors and disappointments. After all, mistakes are okay so long as you learn something from them, right? Friends, I (Jane) made a wadder. In international sewing parlance, that's a project you just want to wad up into a ball and throw across the room. I made a wadder, in silk. Gaaahh! Project: Colette Myrtle in woven fabric. Yes, it's all dodgy mirror photos for this one, which reflects (geddit?) how I feel about this dress. Mistake #1: Deviating too far from the pattern's recommended fabrics. Remember Fiona's Colette Myrtle she made in our Black Organic Cotton Ribbing? I wanted one; who wouldn't? But I thought I'd try a woven fabric. I tried on her black frock and the fit was large on both of us, but the fabric is quite heavy and has considerable stretch. So I made this up in ...