THE DRAPERY BLOG

Like many thirteen year olds, my eldest daughter has a burgeoning clothing habit. I've been dropping hints about how useful sewing can be for a clothes-lover - how liberating it is to be able to make exactly what you want to wear or to even replicate a favourite garment or style, but I wasn't sure it was getting through. So when she recently asked me if I could reproduce a ready to wear top she liked, I was all over it. Audrey wanted a simple, lightweight off-the-shoulder top. A couple of Google searches later, enter the Hippie Top by French pattern maker Vanessa Pouzet . A summery top/dress which can be made with or without shoulder straps. The pattern is PDF only, but mercifully the version we were after only needed 3 main pieces so it was printed and sticky-taped together in no time. I decided on the size 36 according to Audrey's measurements (she's 173cm tall, so the smallest adult sizes are usually good for her now). Even though this kind

Jane here! Grab a cuppa, or scroll on down. Musings ahead. Genetically, I was unlikely to ever be the willowy type. I'm 5ft3", decidedly pear-shaped and I've had an on-off relationship with a bit of extra plumpness most of my life. Last ten or so years, it's been more of an 'on' relationship. I'm mostly good with it. During my twenties I maintained a size 8-10 figure with quite some effort. If I knew I was going out for dinner, I'd often starve myself the whole day beforehand. Eat literally nothing. Maybe a few cups of tea. I lived alone for some time and maintained a fridge and pantry that contained pretty much two minute noodles, cheese and beer. Sometimes I'd have half a packet of noodles for lunch and the other half for tea. And I was riding my bike to and from work or walking or doing yoga. So yeah, I looked in good shape. But looking in good shape was a priority for me then and I'd hardly say I had a healthy relationship with food, l

Today we'd like to show you how beautifully our Modal-Tencel-Spandex striped knits make up into spring tops. With 60% Modal, 37% Tencel and 3% Spandex these knits are super-soft and drapey, but also hold their shape and have good recovery. Modal and Tencel are both man-made fibres created from wood pulp cellulose, similar to rayon. They have decent environmental credentials since the chemicals used are contained and recycled or re-used and by-products are also put to use. Additionally, the wood can generally be more sustainably grown than cotton. It's hard to believe a fabric so soft can be made from timber! First I made a simple t-shirt for my 15 year-old Charlie from the blue stripe. I've only ever sewn with cotton or cotton/spandex knits before, so I wasn't sure how I'd go handling something this drapey and soft. However it behaved really well, perhaps just needing a few more pins here and there to keep seams in line.  To achieve the stripe right o

Of course our Spring Top series has to include our beloved Deer and Doe patterns. The  Ondée (pronounced more simply than we had imagined, as just ' on-dee ') knit top pattern has interested us for a while. Here are a few versions from the blog-world that have inspired us: Tassadit of Rue des Renards Clotilde and more Clotilde   The clincher for me was this yellow skirt I recently made, which has a higher waist than most other 'bottoms' in my wardrobe. Thus I found myself lacking in suitably short tops to wear with it. Could I really carry off a 'cropped' t-shirt? Well with just a few pattern pieces and a small amount of stash fabric I could give it a fairly low-risk try! Five Ondées later..... I suspected from the start I'd want to lengthen the Ondée, but for the sake of proper pattern reviewing I made a size 42 with no adjustments first. No-one really needs to see a photo of me wearing tha

  Have you ever disregarded a pattern, thinking it's not for you, only to find it in your shopping cart some time later? For me, that's the Pattern Fantastique Aeolian Tee . A boxy tee-shirt or dress sewn with great success by many in the sewing blog world (most notably Anna , who has made many beautiful versions). I'd dismissed the Aeolian since its release because of its wide sleeves. While I loved them on others, I thought they would resemble wings when coupled with my broad shoulders. But when I saw the lovely Bombazine ladies rocking their Aeolians on Instagram again recently, I threw caution to the wind and was cutting & pasting that PDF print out before I could utter "never say never".   I'd been ogling this Nani Iro print, Pocho ( the grey/copper colourway now sold out, but others available here ), and wanted a simple top pattern for it, so I opted for the tee version of the Aeolian. Because I suspected I'd want to play

We're beginning a series of posts about Spring Tops to inspire some warmer weather sewing. And let's start with one for the blokes, shall we? The Fairfield Buttonup by Thread Theory is a versatile and beautifully drafted men's shirt pattern, suitable for spring, winter and all year around. The classic design comes with many possible variations, including a darted or pleated back, short or long sleeves, sleeve button tabs, pocket and collar options and a regular or fuller-figured body. There is also a full sewalong series of blog posts on the Thread Theory blog which makes this pattern accessible even to those who've never sewn a shirt before. Thread Theory patterns have been on our wish-list at The Drapery for some time, but until we get through that list you can puchase them direct from their Canadian web shop as printed or pdf patterns . Some of my husband Andy's favourite RTW shirts have a very similar fit to the Fairfield, with the fisheye darts at t