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...

Friends, meet pattern G from Stylish Dress Book 2 - Simple Smocks, Dresses and Tops . It's described as 'Midi-Length Jumper Dress' (in the American meaning of 'jumper'), but I think of it as The Apron Dress. For obvious reasons.   Yep, it's this book again, from which we are always banging on about the Box Dress (pictured on the cover, and featured on our blog here , here and here ). And here is pattern G: It could hardly be simpler (much like the Box Dress), yet has that particular Japanese style: very simple lines in precisely the right places. That little back pocket? Perfect! (I'm not sure if it has a grubby mark on it in the picture below or if that's the result of tweaking the lighting, but please excuse for the sake of actually getting this blogged!)  This is made up in our Stretch Denim - the 'black' colourway, which is still quite blue, but not as blue as the indigo. It's a great mid-weight denim and the litt...

Are you familiar with the Alabama Chanin books and distinctive style? Natalie Chanin's second book, available at The Drapery, $44.95 They're the creation of Natalie Chanin, who hails from, clearly, Alabama USA. Her signature style is hand-stitched garments made from organic cotton jersey, with various embellishments including reverse-applique and beading. You can buy her beautiful hand-made-in-the-USA ready-to-wear garments, at understandably substantial prices ( oh look here's one named for me ), or you can read her books and tackle the projects yourself. I've been wanting to try this for ages... oh you know, the never-ending project list? Anyhow the planets aligned and I had a go at a fitted top. I just used the most basic construction method and no embellishments since this was really just a test for fit. I used a double layer of fine cotton jersey that was a gift from a destashing friend. It's not perfect but I'm rather liking it all the same! You...

Um, apparently, no. The Box Dress, pattern D from Stylish Dress Book 2 , is just so good, shortened into a top too! We love its simple form as a showcase for a stunning fabric like this: It's one of our new Cotton + Steel cotton lawns, in this irresistible Octopi print from the 'Tokyo Train Ride' range by Sarah Watts . All the Cotton + Steel fabrics are made in Japan and this lawn is an absolute delight to sew and wear.  This top was made without the sleeves (since the bodice makes such a lovely little cut-on cap sleeve anyway), with the neckline finished with visible self-bias and armholes with bias turned to the inside.  I made a 2-inch-deep facing for the bottom to give the impression of a deep hem. The whole top was cut from 1.2 metres of this 110cm-wide fabric. You can find some other beautiful Cotton + Steel lawns here ... it's tempting to make a Box Top in every one! - Jane & Fiona xx

Once more this year, we are bringing you twelve days of Christmas ideas - both handmade gifts and gifts for makers. If you have any little people on your Christmas list this year, why not make them a toy? Handmade toys make relatively quick projects, and are such a special, lasting gift. We've got lots of great toy making resources at The Drapery - from wool flannel s and wool felt, to natural linens, wool and recycled PET stuffing, plus loads of fun books & patterns. Our Christmas Penguin above, is Arnold. The pattern for Arnold, along with 19 other toys, is in the book Hop Skip Jump , which we have in store. (If you were following our Twelve Days of Christmas last year, you might remember our tutorial for a penguin ornament too.) We've also got a few single paper patterns, including this one: Poppy Doll. As well as the actual doll, this pattern has instructions to make Poppy a veritable smorgasbord of clothes including trousers and a couple of ...

For the second year, we're bringing you a bunch of ideas for handmade Christmas gifts and also, lovely gifts for the makers in your life. (Or, gifts for you to hint loudly at with your loved ones!) Today we're sharing a gift idea for the young makers. These cute little 'Felties' are very appealing to young ones. The instructions are very clear and from about age six or seven, kids should be able to help trace, cut, sew and stuff the little characters. By about age ten kids can probably achieve these all by themselves! Pair the Felties book ($19.95) with one of our Rainbow Bundles of 100% pure new wool felt ($22.75) for a great gift. We also have an assortment of wool felt colours at $6.50 per 25 x 45cm piece. Add a bag of stuffing - we have pure Australian wool tops for $12.50 a 250g bag or wonderfully springy recycled P.E.T. (from plastic drink bottles) at $4 a 200g bag.   For the stitching, we have a range of coloured embroidery threads at 70c a ske...

We're celebrating FROCKTOBER at The Drapery,  to kick-start your spring and summer sewing! When you buy any dress pattern plus the fabric to make it, we'll take 10% off the price  (in store or online using code 'FROCKTOBER' at checkout).  Plus, we've teamed up with the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation ,  and for every pattern + fabric combo sold we'll donate $2 to this great cause. Today's Frock We Love is a pattern that seems too simple to be true. It's one we've found ourselves reaching for again and again when summer is so hot you just barely want anything touching your skin (but don't want to run around naked in public). The pattern book is the second Stylish Dress Book by Yoshiko Tsukiori , which has been translated into English. View D is the dress that features on the cover, and it lends itself to many different fabrics and improvised variations. With just three or four pattern pieces (front, back, sleeve and neck...

Looking for crafty inspiration for the school holidays? At The Drapery we have 100% pure new wool felt in a large range of delicious colours. Our customers are using it for all kinds of creative things, and today we'd like to show you some books full of felty cuteness and fun, suitable for crafty kids. Felties by Nelly Pailloux has a bunch of critters that are palm-sized, hand-sewn and tooth-achingly sweet. Instructions are very clear, including step-by-step diagrams and a list of everything you need - mostly just felt, needle and thread and a bit of stuffing. (We have pure wool or corn fibre stuffing in store.) And a little bit of felt goes a long way with these tiny creatures! Too sweet? How about Zombie Felties! Again, the instructions are great and the examples below were sewn by 11 and 12 year old boys. We also have Big Little Felt Universe which honestly has almost an entire universe of felt objects to make, from felt fruit to felt power tools, a laptop ...

We love Japanese sewing books here at The Drapery, and it seems you do too! We're thrilled to be stocking even more of these beautiful and inspiring pattern books. The styling shows just how effective it can be to take a simple pattern and make it in really beautiful fabric. This 'Sweet Dress Book' has a number of basic pattern shapes which are then altered to make different garments and styles, for example the shirt above and the dress below. The instructions and diagrams are clear and helpful. Patterns are included on full-size sheets at the back of most of the books and simply require tracing off in your size. Seam allowances are not included on the pattern but the instructions show you where to add these, and how much. Some people are very accurate with adding them but to be honest, we generally just eyeball it as we cut. We tried the shirt in a Nani Iro double gauze (sorry, this one's from the personal stash and no longer available!). ...