Jen Beeman is the designer and patternmaker behind Grainline Studio. She loves to sew and make things, and is passionate about sharing these skills with others. 

The aim of the brand is to create modern, fashion-forward patterns all of which have been drafted with a contemporary fit. They believe that the best handmade wardrobe is one you can wear and be proud of on a daily basis. All of the patterns are drafted, graded and digitalised by hand in their Chicago studio.

We've selected six patterns to sit with our current range of Sewing Patterns, including a mix of woven, jersey, nightwear and accessories.

Firstly, there's the Alder Shirtdress, a sleeveless loosely fitting shirt dress that comes in two options as shown above. Both styles have the same bodice with bust darts, a collar and breast pockets, the dress on the left has a gathered skirt at the sides and back, which creates a flattering and fun silhouette; and the dress on the right has an a-line shape and curved hem.

This style would look lovely made in either of our Chambrays and Denims, the Essex Linens and the Organic Crossweaves.

The Willow Tank Dress is a great staple piece for your summer wardrobe. Fitted at the shoulders, it falls into a relaxed style below the bust. Choose from either a top or dress, both of which are a great vehicle for both prints and plains alike.

Next up is the Scout Tee, an easy to make style designed for woven fabrics, it has capped sleeves and a flattering scoop neckline. This is another style which allows the fabric to take centre-stage, the Nani Iro printed fabrics for example, would look fantastic in this tee shape.

The Lark Tee is designed for knit or jersey fabrics, it has a modern slim fit and is another Grainline Studio pattern that is destined to become a wardrobe staple. It works equally well when worn on it's own and also as a layering piece, under shirts, jumpers and jackets etc.

What we really like about this pattern is the fact there are four different necklines: crew, tee, scoop or boat; each of which can be interchanged with the four different sleeve options, choose from cap, short, three quarter and long sleeved; this gives the maker a total of16 different shapes to choose from, making it extremely versatile.

Any of our jersey knit fabrics by Art Gallery Fabrics would look lovely made up in this style, above we've shown Aged Allure Washed Knit; or why not take it to the next level with the 2 ply knit fabric by Nani Iro, Corsage.

We love the Lakeside Pajamas, they're just perfect for summer. The top features spaghetti straps and has a lovely split back detail. The shorts are a gym style, which are very on-trend right now, and both are finished with bias binding.

Ginghams are really on-trend this season and we think these pyjamas would look lovely is any of our Organic Ginghams, or for a more luxurious feel, any of the Nani Iro Double Gauze fabrics would look fabulous too.

And last, but not least there's the Stowe Bag! Designed by Fringe Supply Co., purveyors of fine knitting supplies, this is the perfect project bag, whatever your project may be! This bags has lots of internal side pockets for your to store small tools and notebooks etc, although designed for knitting it works equally well for other projects too.

If you love these patterns as much as we do you can follow Jen and Grainline Studio on her blog.  

We hope these patterns have helped to inspire you with your next sewing project, first up for me has to be the Willow Tank! Whichever one you choose to make, remember that we love to see what you've been sewing, please send us photos via the Contact Page.SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave

We've just added lots of new buttons to our online store!

There are all shapes and sizes to choose from including agoya shell flowers, hearts and stars; buttons with four holes so you can be more creative with how you attach them to your newly made garments; and we've also introduced a small selection of matt polyester buttons...

I spent a great day up in London recently and visited Missoni Art Colour at the Fashion and Textile Museum, in Bermondsey Street. The exhibition cleverly brings together over 60 years of fashion with paintings by some of the leading 20th century European artists plus previously unseen works by Ottavio Missoni.  

Before you see the exhibition, you're invited into the screening room, where three screens give a you a great insight into exactly what it takes to make a Missoni garment - from selecting the initial colour combinations - playing with various knit structures - the yarn spinning of the yarn - the computerised knitting machines in action which produce the beautiful knitted fabrics - pattern cutting - building up the collections - then on to backstage at the shows where you see hair-do's being styled, make up artists at work, dressing the models, all of which culminate in the catwalk show.

The exhibition itself starts with a selection of paintings by 20th century artists, and it was really interesting to see how they had helped to influence the individual style of Missoni. The painting above, by Giacomo Balla, I thought was a really good example of a work of art which had very obviously influenced the Missoni style, you can easily imagine this as a knit structure, and the colours too work beautifully together.

The paintings, lead you through to the main room, where you're greeted by 42 mannequins, all of which are perfectly positioned on a pyramid of stairs, each showcasing clothes designed by the brand from 1953, when Ottavio and his wife Rosita formed Missoni, right the way through to 2014.

Grouped as they are, the mannequins really are very impactful, you need to stop and take your time to take in all of the details in each outfit.

None of the pieces look at all dated. In fact, it's hard to tell which styles are from what decade, as you can see from the mannequins shown above. Factory noises are used as a soundtrack in this room, and the lighting, turns on and off, row by row, both which add to the drama and atmosphere of the exhibition.

Upstairs, there are original sketches for fabric designs and initial colour ideas, knitted fabric swatches, together with works of art by Ottavio Missoni himself.

Definitely an exhibition worth seeing, particularly if you're a Missoni fan, or simply interested in fashion, it runs until 4th September, 2016.

We've just road tested the Colette By Walden Negroni Shirt Pattern, and even if we say so ourselves we're pretty pleased with the end result!

For our make, we chose the short sleeved version, but the pattern comes with a long sleeved version too, finished with a placket and cuff. We decided to made ours in our Organic Cotton Gingham in Navy.

This is the first Colette sewing pattern that we've used and we have to say that we were really impressed. The instructions for the pattern are in a spiral-bound booklet, making it really easy to use, and it has a pocket at the back to store the pattern pieces once you've used them.

We love that the pattern instructions include lots of ideas for customising your sewing project to make it your own. Plus they also refer you to their website for free downloadable variations, such as the pockets for this shirt.

The instructions are really comprehensive, taking you through each step in the process of making a well crafted shirt. The instructions also include handy tips, such as how to make perfectly formed patch pockets by cutting a template out of cardboard to help with pressing, simply make it the same size as your pocket piece, minus the folds and seam allowances as we've done below.

We customised our shirt by cutting the pockets on the bias, as shown below, and we used the Small Check Gingham, again in Navy, for the underside of the collar and the inner back yoke. Even small details like these can take your make to a new level; and give you the chance to get creative!

This was the first time we'd tackled a garment with an inner back yoke, however our concerns were soon put to rest, as the step by step instructions and illustrations are really clear and before we knew it the need was done!!

The other sewing process that we tried before was "felled seams" these give a long-lasting durable finish and they also give a look very professional to your garment. Again, there are really good instructions for these, seperated out in the sidebar, so that they can easily be referred to, so nothing to fear!

These seams are used for both the sleeve and side seams. Once that's done it's pretty straightforward assuming you've made buttonholes before. It's simply a question of hemming the sleeves and body of the shirt, stitching the buttonholes and attaching the buttons.

We stock quite a few different "crossweave" fabrics here at The Draper's Daughter and really like the two-tone look that using two different coloured threads creates when the fabric is woven.

Fabric is woven from two sets of thread (known as "warp" and "weft") going in different directions. Warp is the set of lengthwise threads, which run up and down the length of the fabric; in the manufacturing process they're held in tension on a frame or a loom. The thread that is then inserted over-and-under the warp threads is called the weft. In the image below shows a close up of our Yarn Dyed Essex Linen in Indigo, the warp threads are Navy and the weft are the Light Cream.

Crossweaves then, are fabrics woven with different coloured warp and weft threads which have been yarn dyed before the fabric is made. This gives a softer "chambray" look when compared to an equivalent solid coloured fabric.  

Pictured above are the two Robert Kaufman Essex Linens that we stock in Steel, both made using the same shade of grey. The yarn dyed, crossweave version at the top has been woven with a light cream coloured weft yarn, and looks significantly paler than the solid version of the same colour below which has been woven with the Steel thread for both the warp and weft.

In terms of the crossweaves that we stock, our first collection needs no introduction, pictured above are our Organic Cotton Crossweaves. These fabrics are hand woven in India on small power looms, using 100% Organic Cotton.

Then we have the Yarn Dyed Essex Linens by Robert Kaufman, as pictured above. These are a heavier weight than the Organic Crossweaves and perfect for both dressmaking and soft furnishing projects.

We hope this post has inspired you to use crossweaves in one of your future sewing projects, and we'd love to see what you make, please send us your photos via the contact page.