THE DRAPERY BLOG

We have some luscious boiled wools in stock at The Drapery right now, and have put together a free tutorial for possibly the easiest garment you'll ever make! Searching for boiled wool inspiration, we came across this simple and lovely shrug by Manda of Treefall Design, who was inspired by a ready-to-wear piece. We whipped up a couple of prototypes in the shop and arrived at this which takes just a 75cm cut of fabric and three straight seams. Edges can all be left raw because boiled wool does not fray! REQUIREMENTS 75cm x boiled wool , ours is 150cm wide - would also work in wool knit fabric such as this Japanese wool blend (or this one ) and this Merino Rib Gutermann Sew-All thread in matching colour Cut about 50 - 55cm in from each selvedge so you have 2 pieces approx. 50 x 75cm, each with a 75cm fluffy selvedge. The piece from the middle is spare so you can use it for another project, or perhaps to embellish your shrug. Pin your pieces together along th...

When we Facebooked a photo a while back showing a greyhound sitting on some fabric and pattern pieces, it had possibly the most 'likes' of any Drapery post, ever. So we know there are plenty of dog-overs out there! It also started a conversation with the RSPCA Lonsdale Shelter . They need YOUR HELP! Could you sew a coat to keep a large rescue dog warm this winter? They often receive small dog coats but larger sizes are desperately needed. Just make a coat (or several), using the tutorial below or your own pattern, and bring them to The Drapery as soon as you can. We'll see them safely delivered to the RSPCA. (Of course, you can post or take them to the RSPCA directly if you prefer: 25 Meyer Road, Lonsdale SA 5160.) This tutorial is for a quilted and bound coat. If you have some fabric in your stash that's warm enough as a single layer, e.g. polar fleece or felted wool, you could easily use the same shape and skip the quilting layers. If you have a large dog, you...

 Once more this year, we are bringing you twelve days of Christmas ideas - both handmade gifts and gifts for makers. Today we present the simple but beautiful Japanese fabric gift wrapping technique, Furoshiki . Using basic shapes of fabric, you can simply dress a gift. Plus, the gift wrap is reusable, either as gift wrap again or as a tea-towel or napkins or any other fabric-y plan you may devise. So it's environmentally friendly, too - score! For this project, we have cut a half metre of this 110cm wide Japanese linen/cotton gingham . We then cut one piece to 70x50cm, leaving the remainder piece measuring 40 x 50cm) and sewed a double fold hem around all edges. Here they are with bonus Lego man for scale, courtesy of my lovely 6 year old assistant. Since there's plenty of wine changing hands at this time of year, we thought the wine bottle wrap would be a good one to start with.  Take the larger piece of fabric. Turn it to landscape, then fold the bottom t...

For the second year, we're bringing you a bunch of ideas for handmade Christmas gifts and also, lovely gifts for the makers in your life. (Or, gifts for you to hint loudly at with your loved ones!) Today's handmade gift idea is a pillowcase - one of the simplest things to sew - but gussied up just a little with the addition of contrast flat piping on the front.  Here's our sample one looking a bit over-stuffed at the shop, with two 50 x 50cm cushion inserts masquerading as a pillow inside! Materials: 1 metre of 110cm wide fabric to make one standard pillowcase narrow strip of complementary fabric (3cm wide x at least 52cm long) for the flat piping. We think our range of Art Gallery cottons are perfect, featuring some really lovely designs on a cotton basecloth that is particularly smooth to the touch. Our sample is made from a Leah Duncan design for Art Gallery Fabrics, and a narrow contrast strip of Oakshott shot cotton in 'Zug'. I took all sort...