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...