Work with eastern fabric (5)
I believe the answer is:
toile
'fabric' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'work with eastern' is the wordplay.
'work' becomes 'toil' (toil is a kind of work).
'with eastern' becomes 'e' (I am not sure about the 'with' bit.).
'toil'+'e'='TOILE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for toile that I've seen before include "dress material" , "Fabric" , "Worked hard" , "6 [LINEN]" , "cheap prototype" .)