Newly added to our range of Merchant and Mills sewing patterns is The Rugby Dress.

Why not kick off your day with this feminine, semi-fitted, take on the traditional rugby shirt.

You can choose to call out the collar, inside placket and cuffs, in a contrast colour, or for a more under-stated look use a solid colour, or print, throughout.

Suitable fabrics for this style include linenes, our Robert Kaufman Essex Linens spring to find, denims and other light to medium weight woven cottons.

We love the quality of the Essex Linen Range, and particularly like the Yarn Dyed fabrics with the subtle two-tone effect achieved from using the coloured yarn for the "warp" threads and a Light Cream yarn for the "weft" threads. (To read our blog Crossweave Fabrics Explained click here)

When we heard that Robert Kaufman had developed a Metallic version to sit with this Range we had to check it out for ourselves! And we've got to say we weren't disappointed, it's the same quality that you'd expect but with a small percentage of the cotton and linen replaced with 10% Lurex.

The balance of Lurex is just right; as you can see from the photo above, there's a lovely sheen to this fabric without it being too much! And the really good news is it isn't "scratchy" and has retained the soft handfeel that we've come to expect with this fabric.

For now we've just added the Oyster colourway to our current range, it's perfect for summer and will work well with many of our other fabrics.  We're thinking that this fabric would look fabulous in the Zinnia Skirt by Colette Patterns teamed with the Scout Tee by Grainline Studio made in one of the Nani Iro double gauze fabrics such as Lei Nani or Five Senses; or the Linen/Cotton blend Komorebi Old Film, shown below.

This Metallic Essex Linen would work equally well as a top, we're thinking The Camber Set by Merchant & Mills, or again the Scout Tee by Grainline Studio. Below we've paired it with with one of our Handwoven Ikat's Black Zig Zag, which again would look fantastic in the Zinnia Skirt, together these would definitely make a statement!

Or why not go all out and use this fabric to make a dress, The Day Dress by The Avid Seamstress, pictured below, would look really special as would any of the dresses by Merchant and Mills.

Whatever you decide to make you're sure to create a stylish garment that will set you apart from the crowd; and don't forget we love to see what you make, so please send us your photos via the Contact Page.

To make way for new stock arriving soon, we've up to 30% off selected organic & designer fabrics including Nani Iro for Kokka and Robert Kaufman. Shop our sale fabrics by clicking here.

Also reduced by 40% are the Prym sewing accessories, click here to see the full range.

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As we're sure you all know by now, we're huge fans of Naomi Ito's abstract painterly designs! Working for Kokka Textiles, under the brand name of Nani Iro, this Japanese designer has a very distinctive handwriting and style to her work.

The 2016 Collection is, we think, one of her best! Naomi Ito's approach is definitely more artistic or painterly, rather than that of design. The initial artworks are usually painted with watercolours, you can often see the brush strokes within her designs, which create a great sense of movement.

This season's design Five Senses, pictured below, illustrates this beautifully, with its sweeping painterly brushstrokes, is inspired by nature. This particularcolourway in warm tones of grey, looks like it could be a 'cloudscape'.

Next we have the beautifully calming design, Komorebi, with its over-sized floral design and mix of neutrals, popped with coral, mustard and a pale acid green giving it a very contemporary look.

Saaaa Saaa Rondo, below, continues the painterly theme with it's hand painted stripes. Designed 15 years ago, for the very first Nani Iro collection, it's been brought right up to date with this modern mix of royal blue and warm brown colours.

Although inspired by textile fabrics made from dying and weaving methods from long ago, in Ori-Some, Naomi Ito has created a very modern looking print. The base has a subtle tones, created by building up layers using watercolours. Onto this she's then added suggestions of textile patterns, stripes and herringbone designs in Navy and Cream with highlights of metallic silver.

A smaller scale floral, but still with Nani Iro's distinctive handwriting, Lei Nani, shown below, is still a very contemporary design. Hand drawn it's beautifully detailed and the subtle metallic print adds another dimension to this pretty design.

Next we have another small scale print, Birdseye, which has the look of an impressionist painting. Re-coloured for 2016, we love this colourway called Shinsei, with its tones of turquoise on a soft bluey grey.

Finally we have Pocho, this was the very first design that Naomi painted for the Nani Iro Collection 15 years ago. Part of the Pocho Basic range, we love the contrast of the metallic copper spots on the grey base of the colourway Gift Metallic.

We hope you like the fabrics that we've selected as much as we do and that they're helped to inspire you with your summer sewing projects. Shop the collection here

We're eagerly waiting for our latest shipment of Nani Iro for Kokka fabrics from the 2016 collection!

Designed by Japanese designer Naomi Ito, these latest designs do not disappoint; we're big fans of her beautiful painterly abstract designs and know that our customers are too! Due in any day, follow us on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter to find out when these beautiful fabrics are available to purchase online.

In the meantime, you can shop our current range by clicking here.