The painting shows in some detail a sailmaker’s shop, with an attractive use of light and shadow and an unusual sense of composition. One can clearly make out most of the essential tools and materials used for the process of making and repairing sails, including a sailmaker's sewing machine, mast hoops (seen hanging in various positions) scale drawings and sail plans, yacht club and racing burgee flags, rigging equipment including blocks etc.

Little is known about the artist John Mills but he seems to have been a local of the Isle of Wight: two paintings by him at the Brantwood Trust are linked to Bembridge School. On the back of this painting, a label indicates that it was exhibited at the National Society and Paris Salon in 1955, and in 1956 at the Russell-Cotes Museum, Bournemouth, and in Bradford.