THE DRAPERY BLOG

I've never made a coat before. Not only does it seem a dauntingly large undertaking, I think the Grainline Cascade is the first coat pattern that's really jumped at me as a ' must make! '. And it seems the perfect project to try out some of our beautiful new Japanese wool . I'm opting for View A, but with the hood instead of collar. I am hoping this will be a jacket I'll have and love for some years, so although the fit is simple and boxy enough, I thought it was definitely worth making a quick muslin of the critical parts. The first thing you'll notice is a LOT of pattern pieces. Straight up I decided to do the usually-unthinkable (for me) and cut right into the pattern tissue rather than trace. I think I'd rather pay for a brand new pattern than ever have to trace this! According to my measurements, I graded out from a size 12 at the upper to 14 at the hips. The pattern sizes have been deliberately 'nested' to make this easy. I chos...

Wool. Who'd have thought it would be so hard to come by in Australia, the country that once 'rode on the sheep's back'? At The Drapery, we've hunted high and low for suppliers of quality wool fabrics. Fabrics that are beautiful, but reasonably affordable for us to stock, and you to buy. The woven wools we have stocked for this winter are from Japan , via one of our favourite suppliers whom we trust for excellent quality and service. They are beautiful quality, gorgeous colours and very soft. We believe the prices represent very good value: not cheap, to be sure, but quite approachable for the kind of 'investment pieces' you might want to make with wool. Most of them also contain an amount of synthetic fibres. Gasp. We thought long and hard about this. How did it fit with The Drapery's 'natural fabrics' philosophy? With our environmental concerns? With - let's face it - our aesthetic concerns? Here's what we con...

We are nothing if not tireless in our testing of new fabrics for you all. Selfless I tell ya. And then of course we have to wear and wash and wear garments to test how they last over time. So when you see us wearing the fabrics and patterns that we sell, it's all in the name of research. Ultimately, it's for the good of you, our customers. You're welcome. The print is actually quite straight, it's just how I'm standing to hold the camera! This is my sixth version of the Deer and Doe Plantain top . I'm sure getting value out of that free download! Having made it using cotton interlock twice before, I wanted to try to refine the fit. The softness of interlock can make it tend to stretch out a bit more in width. I went down one size in the body, grading to two sizes down in the shoulders/armhole/neckline. I also narrowed the fit of the arms just a little. All in all, I'm pretty happy with it. Perhaps ultimately I need to perform some k...