THE DRAPERY BLOG

Looking for crafty inspiration for the school holidays? At The Drapery we have 100% pure new wool felt in a large range of delicious colours. Our customers are using it for all kinds of creative things, and today we'd like to show you some books full of felty cuteness and fun, suitable for crafty kids. Felties by Nelly Pailloux has a bunch of critters that are palm-sized, hand-sewn and tooth-achingly sweet. Instructions are very clear, including step-by-step diagrams and a list of everything you need - mostly just felt, needle and thread and a bit of stuffing. (We have pure wool or corn fibre stuffing in store.) And a little bit of felt goes a long way with these tiny creatures! Too sweet? How about Zombie Felties! Again, the instructions are great and the examples below were sewn by 11 and 12 year old boys. We also have Big Little Felt Universe which honestly has almost an entire universe of felt objects to make, from felt fruit to felt power tools, a laptop

We love Japanese sewing books here at The Drapery, and it seems you do too! We're thrilled to be stocking even more of these beautiful and inspiring pattern books. The styling shows just how effective it can be to take a simple pattern and make it in really beautiful fabric. This 'Sweet Dress Book' has a number of basic pattern shapes which are then altered to make different garments and styles, for example the shirt above and the dress below. The instructions and diagrams are clear and helpful. Patterns are included on full-size sheets at the back of most of the books and simply require tracing off in your size. Seam allowances are not included on the pattern but the instructions show you where to add these, and how much. Some people are very accurate with adding them but to be honest, we generally just eyeball it as we cut. We tried the shirt in a Nani Iro double gauze (sorry, this one's from the personal stash and no longer available!).

Sewaholic Patterns have been on our 'wish list' for quite a while. Thanks to the pattern-buying enthusiasm of our lovely customers, we're thrilled to now be able to have them in stock. If you've not seen Sewaholic before, it's an independent label designed by a delightful Canadian called Tasia. You can check out her blog and smiling face here . Tasia started Sewaholic with the 'pear-shaped' woman in mind but her patterns have appeal to many shapes and sizes. Each pattern is multi-sized from US 0 - 16 (from bust 30, waist 24, hip 36 inches to bust 41, waist 35, hip 47). The unusual pattern names come from street and place names in Vancouver, where Tasia lives . Sewaholic Patterns have a great following worldwide and Tasia's instructions are known for their detail and helpful diagrams. She also shares a lot of sewing knowledge and useful tips on her blog. A couple of patterns we'd like to highlight are the brand new Saltspring Dress, and the