.MIP Pattern Parade: THE DRAPERY.

Jane from The Drapery is the next lovely lady to join us on the Pattern Parade. Jane has a personal blog at Lempo Bee where she shares lots of sewing projects and a bit of her family life at home as the mother of three lively boys. She is also the co-owner of a beautiful fabric store based in Adelaide, The Drapery. If there is one fabric store in Australia that I would like to visit, The Drapery would be that store! It specialises in natural fibres like linen, hemp, wool and organic cotton as well as a range of selected designer fabrics too.d

 

I love how Jane has lengthened the Essential Shorts pattern to make herself a pair of linen pants. Something that I have talked about doing but never managed to try, don't they look awesome?! Visit The Drapery to see more, win a pattern, and read about Jane's experience with lengthening the pattern.

The Make It Perfect Pattern Parade Virtual Catwalk introduces...

A Happy Stitch // A Lemon Squeezy Home // Behind the Hedgerow

Craftiness is not Optional // Craftstorming // Cut Cut Sew

DoGuincho // Film in the Fridge // Girl Like the Sea

Horris & Deedle // Glitter + Wit // Imagine Gnats

Janelle Wind // Made with Moxie // Miss Matatabi

No Big Dill // Noodlehead // Probably Actually

Sanae Ishida // Sew Charleston // Sewing in No Man's Land

Skirt as Top // Stitched Together // The Drapery 

Things for Boys // Zaaberry

.MIP Pattern Parade: NOODLEHEAD.

Entering the Pattern Parade today is a girl who always inspires me...every time I read her blog I get that "ooh, I want to make that" feeling!  If you've been reading my blog for awhile you'll know who Anna from Noodlehead is. Everything she touches turns into a work of art. Anna designs great bag patterns too - a few of which I've tried out over the last few years. Here, here and here.

Anna has chosen to sew herself a pair of Essential Shorts for the Pattern Parade - aren't they the cutest? And in double gauze too, I can only imagine how lovely the feel on. Ah...all these photos of people wearing Summer clothes while we are in the middle of Winter are making me jealous! Visit Anna on her blog to see more great photos of her Essential Shorts - I love them!

The Make It Perfect Pattern Parade Virtual Catwalk introduces...

A Happy Stitch // A Lemon Squeezy Home // Behind the Hedgerow

Craftiness is not Optional // Craftstorming // Cut Cut Sew

DoGuincho // Film in the Fridge // Girl Like the Sea

Horris & Deedle // Glitter + Wit // Imagine Gnats

Janelle Wind // Made with Moxie // Miss Matatabi

No Big Dill // Noodlehead // Probably Actually

Sanae Ishida // Sew Charleston // Sewing in No Man's Land

Skirt as Top // Stitched Together // The Drapery 

Things for Boys // Zaaberry

.MIP Pattern Parade: CRAFTINESS IS NOT OPTIONAL.

Our next participant on the Pattern Parade is Jess from Craftiness is Not Optional. Jess' blog name says it all...if you haven't visited her before then you have to - she sews everything, bakes the cutest cookies, pulls off amazing parties and has recently finished the most detailed dollhouse I've ever seen.

Today Jess is sharing her Essential Shorts on the Pattern Parade runway. She made her shorts out of chambray - the perfect fabric choice to coordinate with everything. Don't they look great on her? Go to Craftiness is Not Optional to see more!

The Make It Perfect Pattern Parade Virtual Catwalk introduces...

A Happy Stitch // A Lemon Squeezy Home // Behind the Hedgerow

Craftiness is not Optional // Craftstorming // Cut Cut Sew

DoGuincho // Film in the Fridge // Girl Like the Sea

Horris & Deedle // Glitter + Wit // Imagine Gnats

Janelle Wind // Made with Moxie // Miss Matatabi

No Big Dill // Noodlehead // Probably Actually

Sanae Ishida // Sew Charleston // Sewing in No Man's Land

Skirt as Top // Stitched Together // The Drapery 

Things for Boys // Zaaberry

.Essential Shorts + Kollabora.

I've got so much to blog about lately but don't seem to find the time for it! Today I want to share with you some awesome Essential Shorts made by one of my pattern testers (and friends!) Marnie from Horris & Deedle.

Marnie is a skilled seamstress and her feedback is always valued. She has tested just about all of my patterns in the last two years and is one of the fastest sewers around!

Marnie has recently blogged about her experience with my Essential Shorts pattern and she has some great variations on her blog.

I really love these chevron ones, I thought I had gone off chevron after the sewing world went crazy for it, but these shorts revive my interest!

These floral shorts are gorgeous too, I would never have thought to use a floral print for shorts, but you can totally pull them off on a hot Summer day paired with a plain tee and pair of sandals.

And then she went a little bit further, pulled out some rayon challis and did a bit of pattern hacking incorporating a favourite Harem Pants pattern in her stash and made a gorgeous pair of pants too. Love them!

It's too cold for shorts weather down here at the moment but I'm sure that someone, somewhere in the world is waking up to beautiful sunshine and might appreciate a bit of shorts inspiration!

While I am actually blogging, I wanted to make you familiar with Kollabora (if you haven't already been over there for a look.)

I'd heard about and had a little look around the website a few times in the last month or so but tried to stay away from another place to get lost on the web! Curiosity got the better of me and I ended up signing up and think that it is the BEST place to share crafty projects and gain inspiration for your next project. Seriously, if you like to make ANYTHING, get over there and sign yourself up...to sum it up it is kind of like Pinterest for crafty stuff only. You follow makers and brands that you like, add projects to your favourites, form collections of different themes and basically get inspired! I'm loving it and spend way more time there than on Pinterest now. 

You can see my personal page here - It took me awhile to add all of those projects, but I think it's pretty cool getting a snapshot of everything on one page.

And my Make It Perfect brand page is here. Yep, you can even purchase PDF patterns on Kollabora!

If you join or are already on Kollabora, send me a link to your page so I can follow up and keep updated on your crafty endeavours!

.The Drapery Linen for Essential Shorts.

This blog post has been a long time coming...I've been corresponding with the girls at The Drapery for months about sharing their store and beautiful fabrics on my blog, but things seemed to keep popping up (how long can I use Harvey as an excuse for my email slackness?!) and we didn't seem to get it together. I think that it was one of those "meant to be" moments though because as soon as I designed my Essential Shorts pattern, I knew that The Drapery would have a great selection of linens for me to try out with the pattern, and I wasn't wrong!

The Drapery is a real, bricks-and-mortar store in Adelaide, South Australia. I haven't been there before, but don't you think it looks lovely?

If you live in Adelaide, make sure you go and visit the shop for me. For the rest of us, The Drapery also has an online store so that we don't have to miss out! 

The Drapery was opened in 2013 by two very talented sewers, Fiona and Jane. Check out their blogs, they sew some A-mazing things! I love the selection of fabrics that Fiona and Jane stock. They have an eye for sophisticated style and specialise in natural fabrics, particularly linen, hemp, wool and organic cotton. As well as stocking a big selection of designer sewing patterns and high-quality notions.

For my shorts sewing, the girls sent me a couple of different linens to try out. 

The pea green linen at the top is a linen/cotton blend - found here.

And the blue is 100% linen, found here. Both are made in Lithuania.

 

The thing you need to remember when buying linen is that they soften with washing and wearing. These two fabrics were quite stiff and a little starchy feeling when they first arrived so I overlocked the raw edges and threw them in the washing machine and dryer and they came out super soft and drapey.

These shorts are soooooo comfortable. Usually by the end of the day I'm hanging out to change into pyjamas or a pair of trackies, but I'm in no hurry to take these shorts off. The linen is so lightweight, but not at all see-through and it isn't itchy like some linens seem to be. They are a bit wrinkly in these photos after a morning of wear, but that's what linen does and I quite like the crushed look that is characteristic of linen fabric.
Make sure you pop back tomorrow...I've got some goodies to give away from The Drapery!

SUPPLIES:
Make It Perfect, Essential Shorts Pattern
Blue 100% linen from The Drapery 

.Navy linen Essential Shorts + winner.

Here's another pair of Essential Shorts I made using a dark navy linen. The dark colour was difficult to photograph and still capture the details of the shorts. This fabric was bought from my local quilting store quite a long time ago, they do have a lovely range of coloured linens to choose from though.
I received some gorgeous linens from The Drapery during the week and am hoping to get another pair of shorts made using some of it this week so I'll be back to share!

Thanks a million for your excitement about this new pattern, it's always hard to predict what you are going to think about them, so I'm happy when I get such encouraging comments.

The winner of the pattern giveaway is Abbe from Copper Patch. Congratulations! I'll be in contact to grab your details :)

SUPPLIES:
Make It Perfect, Essential Shorts pattern
Navy blue linen (locally bought)

.Essential Shorts.

It's a breakthrough since childbirth...I finally got my act together and produced a new pattern! Life feels semi-normal again!

 I wanted to sneak in a Summery pattern before the weather turns so was motivated to get to work on this new pattern for some easy-to-wear Women's shorts.

ESSENTIAL SHORTS

 Essential Shorts are a wardrobe staple, the pair of slim-fitting shorts you will find yourself choosing over and over again.

 Whether you choose to dress them up and have a fun night out or keep them casual for a relaxing day at the beach, Essential Shorts are a Summer must-have.

 Essential Shorts feature a flattering front waistband, elastic back waistband and drawstrings for a perfect fit.

Sitting on the knee, they are easy and comfortable to wear for all of your daily duties or night time adventures!

 I've got to say, I love wearing these shorts. The elastic in the back waistband means that they are super comfortable but the fit is still very flattering. Essential Shorts are suited to most mid-light weight fabrics. I've used mostly linens in my versions so far, these ones are made using Yarn-dyed Essex Linen in Denim from Robert Kaufman.

Essential Shorts are an easy fuss-free sew for any sewing level. You can easily make them a little shorter or longer if you feel like changing it up a bit and making a various pairs with different fabric choices will give variety to your Summer wardrobe.

Essential Shorts is avaliable in women's sizes 2x-small - 2x-large, catering for a wide range of sizes. You can purchase an Instant Download PDF Pattern from my website now or paper versions of the pattern will start hitting stores soon. Check out my list of stockists here.

If you would like to win a copy of Essential Shorts, simply leave a comment on this blog post!
(Please make sure you leave an email address with your comment. Giveaway will close Thursday 27th February and winner will be drawn at random.)