We've been waiting patiently for our delivery of Workbook by Merchant & Mills to arrive, and we're really pleased to say that on looking through, it doesn't disappoint!!

As you would expect, this third book is beautifully photographed and illustrated throughout. However, what's important to note is that it isn't a beginners guide to sewing, it assumes you have a certain level of dressmaking skills to build on.

The aim of this book is to encourage the maker to try out and learn new skills, with the reward being a stylish multi-layer wardrobe which works all year round.

At the beginning of Workbook there's useful information about choosing cloth, The Merchant & Mills way is to work in natural, traditional fabrics - "Choose the right cloth for the job and buy the best you can afford" - and that's something that we wholeheartedly agree with here at The Draper's Daughter. 

They also encourage you to really think about what your own sense of style is, and that when dressmaking you should take time to explore different fabrics and discover which ones YOU really like - "Making your own wardrobe is not about economy but about having something that money cannot buy"

Workbook comes with full-size paper patterns for 6 totally new designs which are neatly packed into a card wallet on the inside front sleeve. Each project pattern is graded from size 8 to 18 with the exception of the Haremere Jacket which, because it's an oversized style, comes in just 3 sizes: small (8-10), medium (12-14) and large (16-18). The instructions, as with the other sewing patterns designed by Carolyn Denham, are really comprehensive and clear.

The new designs within Workbook include the following styles:

The Bantam is a casual, stylish loose-fitting vest with a boxer back detail, bound armholes and neckline; which can easily be adapted to make an effortlessly elegant dress.

The Curlew comes in three variations using two patterns. There's an elegant bias-cut, scoop necked, dress with extra long skinny sleeves and a curved back waist seam to give a very feminine silhouette. A sleeveless t-shirt which you can make from it's own separate pattern, this has a slightly higher neckline so that it can be worn under the dress and is just visible at the neckline. As you can see these styles have been really well thought through! Then finally The Curlew top is made from the t-shirt pattern with the dress pattern sleeves.

Next comes The Saltmarsh, this simple long-line skirt is gently gathered at the waist with a drawstring tie. The pattern has been made as a maxi length, but it can be cut to whatever length you choose!

The Heron is a bat-winged wrap top, with a shawl collar and a side tie fastening. This short sleeved style has an elegant silhouette with deep, open armholes for ease of movement.

 Next we have an oversized drop-shoulder jacket called The Haremere. It has a rolled shawl collar and front patch pockets.By extending the body pattern pieces the jacket can be beautifully lengthened to make a knee length, mid-season coat!

Finally, The Strides pattern makes a pair of straight, wide-legged trousers which can easily be shortened to create a neat pair of shorts!

There are also clear instructions for tracing off the patterns, this is really useful both as a way of preserving the original pattern, and it also means that you can use your patterns for more than one garment size.

We've found this book hugely inspiring, the photography makes it worthy of a coffee table book for the imagery alone, so the fact that you can make yourself an entire wardrobe of unique clothes makes it really good value for money.

We can't wait to start sewing!

With Father's Day fast approaching, it's in just a few weeks on Sunday 21st June, we thought now would be a good time to do our first make! And what better than a set of hankies for you (and your children) to make for dads everywhere, we all know they love a good handkerchief!!

These are super easy to make, but the fact that they're made by you, will undoubtedly make them all the more special, and be much appreciated, by the lucky recipient!

We've brought together four of our favourite 100% Organic Cotton Crossweaves and Woven Ginghams, to create a Fat Quarter Bundle just for Dads - Make Your Father's Day!

You will need:

• Lightweight woven fabrics such as our Organic Cotton Ginghams and the Combed Cotton Poplins by Robert Kaufman 
• Cotton Thread; again we're gone for our Organic Thread
• Dressmakers Scissors
• Tape Measure
• Sewing Gauge - not essential but in our experience it really does make turning a hem so much easier!
• Sewing Pins
• Iron
• Sewing Machine

To make:

Firstly wash and dry your fabric.

Then, cut a square of fabric to the required size, we've made ours 40cm square, but feel free to make them larger or smaller.

Fold over 7mm on all four sides and iron the fabric.

Repeat once more and iron again. You'll now have a double hem.

Once the fabric has cooled, unfold all the edges. Use the fold lines as a guide to trim the corners by carefully cutting a triangle to prevent the corners from being too bulky. You need to be careful not to cut too close to the corner of the handkerchief when the hem is turned as you don't want it to fray.

Re-fold, making sure to tuck in any frayed edges. Pin the corners to secure it for sewing.

 Select your thread for sewing. Depending on the "Dad' that you're making them for you may want to make a feature of this and use a brightly contrasting thread, or select a more muted tone that sits across all the fabrics, we've decided to go subtle for this make and used our Slate thread!

Then using a straight stitch, stitch 5mm in from the outer edge of the handkerchief. 

At the corners make sure you leave the needle in the down position, lift the presser foot and pivot the handkerchief 90 degrees to ensure a crisp corner, sew all four sides in this way.

 And there you have it! One fabulous handkerchief to "Make Your Father's Day"! Though of course these handkerchiefs would make an idea gift all year round, including birthdays and Christmas.

This year saw the Selvedge Spring Fair venture outside of London for the very first time! Firstly to Bath in March, as part of their Fashion Festival, and which we attended as visitors; then on to Stroud last Saturday, this time to coincide with their Select Festival, which celebrates textiles and contemporary crafts. 

We were thrilled to exhibit at the Stroud event. As an online business, and a relatively new one at that, it was great to be able to meet people face to face for a change! We really enjoyed chatting to all the lovely people that we met, and to get so much positive feedback was a real bonus!

We'll be exhibiting at other fairs throughout the year and will let you know where and when via our blog and Facebook.

In the meantime, a big thank you to all the customers and fellow exhibitors that we met on Saturday for making us feel so welcome!

We're pleased to say that we've added some new items to our range of haberdashery goods from Merchant & Mills!

Firstly, we've got the Bamboo Point Turner, this versatile little tool creates perfect corners every time. Perfect for those cushions and collars!

Also new in we've got the Tailor's Thimble. These differ from most other thimbles out there in that they're 'capless' so have an open top which gives the user tactile fabric control! It protects your finger without affecting your dexterity.

 Lastly, we've got the Bodkin & Threader, a pair of neat devices to assist with threading elastic etc.

And finally COMING SOON!!! The new book by Merchant & Mills entitled "Workbook" We can't wait to get hold of a copy of this new book, which comes complete with 6 full-size patterns, available now to pre-order!

We loved making the top version of this so much that we're revisited The Camber Set by Merchant & Mills, this time to make the dress.

As we mentioned in our first blog about making the top, this pattern really lends itself to using a contrasting fabric for some of the pattern pieces. With that in mind, for this make we decided to use Nani Iro for Kokka's Mountain Views in Grey and we've chosen to add some contrasting panels in our 100% Organic Cotton Crossweave in the Dark Grey. As I'm sure you'll have gathered by now we love a bit of grey!

 Initially we were only going to make the front neck binding in the contrasting fabric but when we started to sew the pieces together we decided to contrast the back yoke as well.

This pattern has already become a firm favourite and one which we plan to make again and again. Because of it's simple silhouette and understated panels, it's a style that you can easily make several times in different fabrics, and each time it'll look totally different.

For our next make, we're thinking we'll make it in Robert Kaufman's Washed Indigo Denim, and reverse out the denim for the front neck binding and the sleeves to create a subtle contrast!