THE DRAPERY BLOG

We have some lovely 100% boiled wools at The Drapery for this first time this year. The care of these fabrics was a bit of a mystery to us as well as to you, so we've done some investigation. Will my boiled wool shrink if I wash it at home? More than likely, yes. That surprised us, too. One would guess since the fabric is called 'boiled wool' and has a felted, non-fray texture, that it is pre-shrunk and would not shrink further. Not so - please be well aware! Here's what we found: We tried three kinds of gentle washing: - Front loading machine wash 'wool cycle', 30 degrees , with wool wash liquid, rinse, spin. - Gentle hand wash, warm , with wool wash liquid, rinse, press dry in a towel. - Front loading machine wash 'wool cycle' cold , with wool wash liquid, rinse, spin. In both warm washes (machine and hand) the wool experienced 10 - 15% shrinkage in length. There was little to no shrinkage in width. The cold wash showed sligh

We've had our eye on Boston, US-based pattern company Blueprints for Sewing for a little while now. We've admired the designer wearing her newest pattern the Geodesic top , on Instagram for 'Me Made May'. Then when our weather took a turn for the wintry, we were pushed over the edge into action! The Geodesic is inspired by the architectural form of a Geodesic Dome, and you can find out more about it on the Blueprints for Sewing website here .  The pattern is only available as a PDF at the moment, but may be in print by the end of the year. However it's not an arduous cut & paste affair, with only 20 pattern pages. I made up Version 1 in our NZ French Terry in Oatmeal . (Please excuse the self-photography, done in the interests of producing a timely post!)  On front and back the triangular pattern pieces come together in a neat central point, and if you are using a fabric with obvious grain or pattern, this adds to the pieced effect. It's a bit

Ah, black dres ses. So hard to photograph ! After t hree differen t attempts to ta ke photos plus Photoshop tinkering, this is what we have ... and I think it's time to step away and call i t done . I'm sure you get the idea. The R ushcutter is the first pattern release by Emily of In the Folds , and i t's a good 'un. A round necked, raglan sleeved (or sleeveless) swingy, a-line dress with options for a belt and b ack fastenings. But the real star of th e show is those po ckets . E no ugh room for life's necessities and still room to keep your hands warm . S o good!  Overall th is dress was a pleasure to sew . The directions are clear, with photos guiding you every step of the way. The draf t i ng is spot on, to - t her e's plenty of nerdy seams-matching-up-nicely satisfaction to be had here. B oth pattern and instructions have been thoughtfully prepared with lots of attention to detail, maki ng this an appealing sew for

The adorable Ninot jacket pattern by Pauline Alice has been calling my name for a while. When this 100% wool in 'Garnet' arrived in the shop, I'd found the perfect match.  (Long project = long blog post so grab a cup of tea!) Making a jacket can be quite a process, and I wanted to 'skill up' and take my time with this, learning some things along the way. Welt pockets and bound buttonholes were a first for me. The instructions for these were quite good, although I could have used a few more diagrams. I took my time and used a lot of hand-basting to hold things in place. The buttons, by the way, are gorgeous vintage ones from Our Beautiful Pieces on Unley Road. Quite a dangerous place to visit for the vintage button lover! The jacket has a lovely swingy back pleat. There's an optional back button tab across the pleat, which I made. To be honest I ran out of buttons so didn't attach it! I'm still toying with the idea of removing the sle

Welcome back to our occasional Fabric Friday series! This 'Old Navy' mid-weight 100% Linen is an absolute beauty, and since our first bolt of it sold out in no time, we nabbed all the remainder from our supplier. It's unlikely to be repeated since it's a remnant from clothing manufacture. 'Old Navy' refers to the colour  (in case you're wondering whether it's related to the US clothing store, it's not). It's really a deep blue-ish toned charcoal.  The 'right' side of it has a bit of polished sheen, while the back is matte. Old Navy Linen is a pleasure to work with. It's extremely tightly woven and stable so all your pattern pieces will match up beautifully. The thing to watch out for is that the tightly woven linen has little to no 'give'. Bear this in mind if making a garment that requires a little breathing room, e.g. with a fitted waistband! (Speaking from experience....)  This pair of Deer and Doe