We were in Bath last weekend for Bath Fashion Festival so took the opportunity to check out the latest exhibitions at the Fashion Museum.

Dressing for Polite Society includes over 30 original 18th century outfits, pulled together from the fashion Museum's collection and features gowns made of intricately patterned woven and embroidered fabrics.

This exhibition also includes work by leading designers including Anna Sui, Vivienne Westward and Alexander McQueen showing how the details of Georgian dress continue to influence and inspire today's fashions.

By contrast, Great Names of Fashion showcases some of the many major fashion designers whose work has shaped the look of a generation from the early 20th Century up to the present day.

The beautifully appliqued silk organza bodice shown above is a section from Dress of the Year 2011 by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen, this dress is rumoured to have been the practise run for Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge's wedding dress.

Raf Simons for Christian Dior, Dress of the Year 2012

Tom Ford for YSL Rive Gauche

We also got to see Dress of the Year 2014, selected by Katie Grand, which is a Gareth Pugh plastic coat and wrap ensemble worn with tied kimono-style belt and twisted calico boot trousers.

A fitting finale to a very inspiring exhibition!

It's not always all about making beautiful new clothes! So today we thought we'd take you through the process of shortening bought garments with a straight hem, such as trousers or jeans, in our easy to follow step-by-step guide.

 You will need:

• Cotton Thread, you'll want to match this to the colour of your trousers or for jeans to the colour of the top-stitching
• Sewing Pins
• Dressmakers Scissors
• Sewing Gauge, this gadget is so useful for hems, so much easier than working with a tape measure

 To alter:

First of all mark the desired length, when worn, at the back of the trousers using pins, as shown below:

Add 3cm to this measurement for the hem. Measure this distance from the bottom edge of your garment, and pin all the way around. Carefully cut off the excess fabric.

Next, on the inside of the garment, turn up the hem 1.5cm, pinning all the way round and then press well.

Then fold this hem over again turning up the balance 1.5cm, as shown below, again make sure you press well, this will make it easier to stitch.

Thread your machine with the required colour and then top stitch on the outside of the garment making sure you backstitch at the start and finish. Ideally you want your top stitching to be 2mm in from the second fold-line, i.e. 13mm.

Give the hems a final press and that's all there is to it!

We've just completed our latest sewing project, the top from The Camber Set by Merchant & Mills and we're thrilled with the results. This pattern includes a simple dress and top, both with a tapered a-line silhouette and short fitted sleeves, they're both easy to make and easy to wear!

With Mother's Day this weekend, it's that time of year, at least here in the UK, when we think of our mums. This is particularly poignant for me this year, as my mum was very much in my thoughts when we were deciding on the name for our company The Draper's Daughter. 

Learning to sew with my mum is one of my happiest memories; she was a huge inspiration to me, and it's something that I'm now really enjoying teaching my own daughter.

We spent ages researching and choosing a name for the business. I really wanted the name to have a link with my mum and my daughter. I had thought it would be really exciting coming up with a name, however I soon realised the enormity of the task in hand! Like our product I wanted it to be different, and to stand out from the crowd. It also had to resonate with our customers, as well being a name that we were proud of.

After a lot (and by that I mean weeks!!) of deliberating we finally landed on The Draper's Daughter. Of course we then only needed to use the name for a couple of days before we couldn't imagine it being called anything else!

So there you are; looks like my Mum continues to inspire me even today!

Wishing all mums a very Happy Mother's Day this weekend,

Karen

We thought it might be useful for our customers to be able to see physical swatches of the fabrics that they'd like to buy before purchasing.

Select any FIVE of our fabrics. Choose from our range of carefully selected Organic Fabrics including Cotton Cross-weaves and Woven Ginghams, Japanese printed fabric by Nani Iro for Kokka, or Robert Kaufman Essex Linens, Chambrays & Denim.

Postage is free for this service and the cost of £2.00 is refundable against your first fabric order with us.