Even before we launched, it was an aspiration of mine to promote ethically sourced fabrics. Sourcing them though, has proved to be quite tricky, especially as a small independent business. However we have never given up on our desire to find fair trade fabrics.

So, I'm really pleased that we've just added our first ethical fabrics to the website. These Ikat fabrics were produced in a small weaving village in Thailand. The company we are working with ensure that fair wages are paid to the those producing these wonderful fabrics, directly supporting this community.

The fabrics themselves have been spun, dyed and woven entirely by hand, it takes approximately four hours to weave one metre of fabric. Despite the traditional hand-weave methods used to create these fabrics, the designs themselves are fashion-forward and modern.

Initially, we've added two designs to our collection. Choose from the Navy Zig Zag with it's subtle highlights of red, yellow, green and ochre; or the Chambray Broken Stripe with it's mix of traditional pinstripes and broken stripes in white and light blue.

Both designs are a medium-weight with a beautiful drape. The fabrics have been yarn dyed, which means that the yarns were dyed before the fabrics were woven. The yarns used are fairly thick which gives it a slight texture and you can see the woven pattern really clearly.

The weight and design of these fabrics lend themselves to both dressmaking and soft furnishings, perfect we think, for some summer sewing!

Today is the start of Fashion Revolution Week, an initiative born as a result of the collapse of the Rana Plaza complex in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 24th April 2013 when 1,134 were killed, and more than 2,500 were injured.  

This complex housed garment factories on each floor, most of whom produced goods for European high street retailers.

The aim of this week is to use fashion to bring people from around the world together to bring about change for the people who make our clothes. Fashion Revolution are encouraging us, as consumers, to be curious about "Who Made My Clothes" - who grew the cotton, who spun the threads, who dyed the fabric and who sewed them together. #whomademyclothes

So this week, use social media to show your label and ask the brand who made your clothes - #WhoMadeMyClothes? For more information on how you can get involved visit the Fashion Revolution website.

I know from many years spent working in the fashion industry, that this is a complex issue, and one not easily solved by retailers alone, governments need to take a more pro-active role too.

That said, if a garment only costs a few pounds to buy, as a consumer you have to question how retailers are able to sell goods at such a low price. And this doesn't just apply to finished garments, but to all consumer goods, including fabric too.

Sew your own square woven scarf using our step by step instructions. It's the accessory of the season and perfect for updating your handmade wardrobe...

We regularly use the Glass Headed Pins by Merchant and Mills for our sewing projects but have noticed that these tend slip out when we're working with fabrics such as the double gauze.

For our latest project using Nani Iro's Joy Flower double gauze fabric we thought we'd try out the Entomology Pins, again by Merchant and Mills.

These pins are visibly finer than the Glass Headed Pins, and longer at 38mm compared to 30mm. We've got to say they were lovely to work with, easy to insert into the fabric, and didn't then slide out.

They look good too! These ultra fine pins are black with a brass head and as you'd expect with a Merchant and Mills product, they're beautifully packaged in cardboard boxes, each containing 100 pins.

 Although we've only used them a couple of times they're already a firm favourite and we're sure we'll be using them time and time again!

We've just finished making The Top 64 by Merchant and Mills and we've thoroughly enjoyed making it. 

This style is best described as a work-wear garment, an artists smock or a smart jumper. It features in-seam pockets at the front, along with central seams both front and back and raglan sleeves. It's a feminine take on the style and function of a fisherman's top and we love it!

For this style you need a fabric that will hold its shape, so with that in mind we chose to make ours in Robert Kaufman's Yarn Dyed Essex Linen in Black, shown above, it's the perfect weight for this style but has a lovely hand-feel as well.

As we've come to expect from the Merchant and Mills sewing patterns, the instructions are clearly laid out and illustrated. And this make was surprisingly easy to sew! It's much easier to make than it looks. The raglan sleeves, for example, are much easier than a set in sleeve, and although there are a lot of pattern pieces, they're all easy to sew together. Plus, you can choose whether or not to top-stitch.

Whereas some of the Merchant and Mills patterns have tended to come up a little on the big size, we're really pleased with the fit on this style, the only adjustment made was to shorten the sleeves slightly.

This style lends itself nicely to being top-stitched. We chose to top stitch the central seams, front and back, and the cuff and main hems.You may decide to take it further and top-stitch the bottom panels and the central sleeve seams, or you may prefer not to top-stitch at all.

To get a lovely straight line for our top-stitching we followed Jane, from Jane Makes, advise, and used a low-tack masking tape to mark the stitch-line, which worked a treat!

We love how this top has turned out, and it's definitely a style that we'd make again.

Other fabrics that The Top #64 would work well in, as well as any of the other Essex Linens, including the new metallics! This style would also look good in the 8oz Washed Indigo Denim, and you could top-stitch in a traditional gold colour associated with jeans, and the striped Navy & Cream Railroad Denim would also look good too.

This style would also lend itself well to being adapted, the raglan sleeves are really flattering  and would work well as a short sleeved summer weight top, you might choose to remove the in-seam pockets for this and also possibly the horizontal seam that they're built into.

By co-incidence, Merchant and Mills have been working on a pattern hack of this style and have made it into a short sleeved dress, which we think looks fantastic, the hack for this will be available on their website very soon.

We hope we've inspired you to try The Top #64 for yourselves! And don't forget we love to see your sewing projects, so please do email us via the contact page with your photos!