THE DRAPERY BLOG

This year we're turning the gift-giving attention to the sewists. Perfect for sewing friends and relations, or for you to use as gentle hints to your nearest and dearest! Just in is this beautiful new book, Boundless Style by Canadian Kristiann Boos of Victory Patterns. It's a treasure trove of patterns and sewing information. At its heart is a collection of bodice and skirt patterns that can be combined to make a practically endless variety of women's garments. But more than that, this book has a wealth of information set out with excellent clear diagrams and photos. It's a fabulous resource for the beginner or intermediate sewist. More experienced garment makers will appreciate the creative freedom to create the dresses, skirts and tops of their dreams. On the Victory Patterns website there's brilliant little mix'n'match style creator where you can swap around Boundless Style's sleeve, bodice and skirt line drawings to create your own...

Our twelve days of Christmas ideas continues today with something for the small people. If you're looking for another small tradition to add to your Christmas, how about a handmade santa sack for your kids to put out in anticipation every Christmas Eve? Our sack, pictured, measures 80cm tall, and 73cm wide - big enough to accommodate a large box of Lego! It's basically a pimped-up big rectangle, so you can easily change the size of your santa sack if you prefer. You will need:  40cm Natural Linen (150cm wide) 75cm mid-weight cotton/linen with gold sparkly dots (110cm wide) (in store only, but similar to this ) 1.5m cotton twill tape Sewing machine, thread, large safety pin, general sewing supplies.     Notes: All seam allowances are 1cm. Unless stated otherwise, finish all seams with an overlocker or zig zag stitch for extra strength.  1. Right-o. Start by cutting the dotted fabric in half parallel to the selvedge. You will end ...

The final instalment in our series of Twelve (non-consecutive) Days of Handmade Christmas from The Drapery. And this one is to make sure you don't forget about someone very important at Christmas: you! Have you sewn yourself something special to wear on Christmas Day? The forecast here in Adelaide is looking to be about 30 degrees, simply ideal for a summery dress or shirt made in natural fabric like linen or cotton lawn or voile. For inspiration, here's the gorgeous 'Hazel' dress by Victory Patterns, made up in newly-arrived 100% linens from Lithuania. These two colours were just begging to be used together!  Last week we were delighted to have Victory Patterns designer, Canadian Kristiann Boos, drop into The Drapery. Kristiann was incredibly lovely, effortlessly stylish (and tall!) and you can read about why she was in town on her blog, here (it's very romantic!). We can highly recommend this Hazel pattern: it's rated 'beginner', the instruc...

Number nine  in our series of Twelve (non-consecutive) Days of Handmade Christmas from The Drapery. Handmade Christmas gifts are thoughtful, cost-effective and kind to the earth. And they're just as rewarding to give as they are to receive. So, how are you wrapping gifts this year? Paper gift wrapping can be an expensive and wasteful exercise, but the idea is nice: concealing the presents as a surprise and making them look pretty, too. So how about re-useable fabric bags that can be enjoyed year after year? These are so very simple to sew up, it's probably even easier than cutting paper, swearing at the sticky tape and so on! Fabric Bags for Gift Wrapping Make them in a range of dimensions to fit gifts of all shapes and sizes! Here we have used half of a 40cm cut of linen (this heavyweight olive green is a huge 180cm wide). So this piece is 40 x 90cm. You'll also need 2 pieces of twill tape or ribbon, 1 metre each. Make a narrow double...

Number seven in our series of Twelve (non-consecutive) Days of Handmade Christmas from The Drapery. Handmade Christmas gifts are thoughtful, cost-effective and kind to the earth. And they're just as rewarding to give as they are to receive. Today we're featuring some great - free - patterns for basic kids' clothing. Simple enough for beginner sewists, these practical wardrobe basics would make great gifts for little people in your life. Check these out, download the patterns, follow the tutorials... and buy your fabric from The Drapery, of course! (Click on the linky words, not the pictures.) MADE - Basic Kids' Pants Oliver + S Popover Sundress, Lazy Days Skirt, Ruffle Halter Top and Reversible Bucket Hat Made By Rae Basic Newborn Pants Not free, but highly recommended from two of the pattern designers above: MADE Kid Shorts (12 months - 10 years) Made By Rae Geranium Dress (the little version of the Washi Dress ) Sew, sew, sew.... Previo...

Number six in our series of Twelve (non-consecutive) Days of Handmade Christmas from The Drapery. Handmade Christmas gifts are thoughtful, cost-effective and kind to the earth. And they're just as rewarding to give as they are to receive. Today's idea is one you may choose to give, or make for your own home. Felt Ball Garland So simple. Spend a relaxing time threading these felt balls or get the kids on the job! Materials: Pure wool felt balls from The Drapery Valdani perle cotton Needle with large enough eye for the perle cotton Cut a piece of perle cotton up to around 2m in length and thread it on your needle. Any longer will become unwieldy to work with. Leave a bit of thread 'tail' for tying at the end, and make a single knot where you would like your first felt ball to be. Push the needle through a felt ball (it's easy) and slide it down to the knot. Make another knot on the other side of the felt ball to hold it in place. Then leave ...

Our first seven months or so here at The Drapery have been an adventure, a huge thrill, a big learning curve and, we are delighted to say, a promising success. Thank you to all our lovely, lovely customers who are allowing us to make this dream a reality! As a thank-you we have two special Christmas giveaways.  COLETTE PATTERNS BUNDLE Firstly, we have a set of every Colette pattern we have in store: that's nineteen patterns , people! Approximate value $475, crikey! In fact, Colette accidentally sent us a few more patterns than we recently ordered, so we checked with them, and no-one's out of pocket, and they said we could keep them and maybe do a giveaway. Great idea! So here it is. OAKSHOTT BUNDLE Secondly, we have a gorgeous bundle of 16 'fat 8ths' from the Oakshott 'Impressions' range of hand-loomed crossweave quilting cottons. Two metres total, valued at around $60. These would make a beautiful quilt all together or a great addition to any qui...

The third in our series of Twelve (non-consecutive) Days of Handmade Christmas from The Drapery. Handmade Christmas gifts are thoughtful, cost-effective and kind to the earth. And they're just as rewarding to give as they are to receive. Linen Scarf We have featured these linen scarves/cowls on our blog before and they continue to be a popular option for gift-giving or a simple handmade accessory to keep for yourself! For Christmas we have made up these kits that contain all you need: KIT -  $20  Contains 40cm x 150cm washed linen, ball of Valdani perle cotton, hand sewing needle, instruction sheet. In an hour or so of relaxing hand-stitching, you can have a beautifully drapey linen scarf which can be worn loose or doubled around the neck. We love the look of the hand-stitching with perle cotton but, if you're pressed for time and would like to get a few of these whipped up for gifts (teachers? sisters? friends?), they also look fabulous simply stitched...

Christmas is approaching and we are thrilled that many of you are thinking about sewing gifts for your loved ones. Here's a couple of real stories from The Drapery that show how much handmade can really mean to people. cushion: Hearts in Persimmon by Umbrella prints, natural linen backing, Innergreen 100% recycled insert One day a gentleman called in and asked if we would like some fabrics that belonged to his wife. We started to explain that at the moment we don't deal in secondhand fabrics, but he said he simply wished to give them to us. He explained that his wife had recently passed away. He said she had loved sewing and was very clever at it, and that he just wanted her fabrics to go to a good home. His grief and love were obvious. Of course we would take the fabrics! (And we had a little sob after he had left.) He returned a few days later with a couple of boxes. (And after he left again we had another little sob!) One of the fabrics was this sturdy blue-and-white...