Apparently, unbeknownst to me, Oliver + S has been publishing patterns for a really long time. I mean, look at this:

Uncanny, right? The hair, the shoes, the outfit. My Mom clipped this from the newspaper and sent it to me a few weeks ago. You’d think we had modeled our little S doll and her clothes directly from the photo!

So I confess; I’m actually 125, and although you may have just discovered our patterns, we’ve been publishing them for almost 90 years now.

We just tweak them a bit, every 88 years or so, I guess.

I’m thrilled to share some recent online reviews of our patterns with you:

Sew Mama Sew is an web-based fabric shop based in Oregon, with a wonderful selection of sewing patterns and fabrics. Rachael reviewed the Tea Party sundress pattern for their blog. And how cute is her daughter?

Molly of Purl Patchwork made an adorable Tea Party sundress for the Purl Bee. I love the mis-matched buttons especially. And what a great idea to use two fabrics for the skirt!

Lyra posted a thoughtful review of the Tea Party playsuit at Sewing Pattern Review. We haven’t really called much attention to the playsuit yet; it’s a great pattern for both boys and girls and is included with the Tea Party sundress pattern.

And finally, Amy of Angry Chicken is about to sew the Puppet Show tunic and shorts for her daughter using Liberty fabric, my favorite. Can’t wait to see how this turns out!

Check out the Oliver + S Flickr group for more photos of the Oliver + S clothes!

Remember that paper doll we were handing out at Quilt Market last October?

Well, how cute are these? Miniature versions of the paper doll, in postcard form! We’re sending these to shops who book our trunk shows as a promotional tool; they can send the postcards to customers or keep them at the counter as a takeaway to announce the show.

I haven’t tried to cut out the little doll and her dresses because they’re awfully small. Or, as S would say, they’re “teeny-tiny.” But if you had a lot of patience and a steady hand they could be lots of fun.

Paper doll number two (A boy! Hurray!) is on his way to the illustrator today. I’m sure he’ll be just as adorable as the S doll, and he’s based on a playmate and downstairs neighbor. We’ll call him “Oliver,” I suppose, although the real Oliver lives just a few buildings away. Eventually we’ll have all our friends and neighbors involved in this company in one way or another.

My weary husband plays a big role in the running of this little operation as well, although he probably won’t be showing up as a paper doll anytime soon, cute as he is. Today while he was attending to a potential computer problem he referred to it as a PICNIC error. Want to know what that is?

“Problem In Chair, Not In Computer.”

Unfortunately I was the one sitting at the time.

When I worked as a designer at Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger we spent loads of time putting together “rigs,” or inspiration boards, every season. These were never simple tear sheets pinned to a wall; they were elaborate combinations of artwork, mannequins dressed in vintage and new garments, carefully selected props and furniture, and swatches of fabrics we had developed or selected specially for the group we were designing. The idea was, essentially, to express the mood or theme for the season in an unmistakable way. It wasn’t conceptual; it was nearly literal.

Now that I work for me, my inspiration boards tend to be located more in my mind than on a wall someplace. (That’s the great thing about being your own boss; I still work with a theme or inspiration every season, but I don’t really need to explain it to myself. The down side of the be-your-own-boss arrangement, however, is that the boss never leaves and lets you slack off a bit during the day.)

Lots of different things inspire me in my design: my daughter, things I see on the streets or in photos, various books and ideas, or a particular print or fabric. It’s always changing.

But one inspiration that’s stuck with me for years now is the old ads and mood of Esprit back in the 1980s. There was something so fresh and fun about that company and their clothing, and I still return to that mood when I’m designing. In a large part, the Esprit spirit (ok, that’s repetitive; Esprit is French for “spirit,” I know) has inspired the fall collection we’re preparing to show at Quilt Market in May.

I had the good fortune of doing some work for Esprit a few years ago, and part of my work involved travelling to the company headquarters in San Francisco. The building is still standing (actually it was re-built after a fire a number of years ago), but the company itself was merely a shadow of its former self when I visited; large portions of the building sat completely empty, and the beautiful Amish quilts that Suzy and Doug Tompkins collected were long gone, leaving bare walls behind.

In a way, I suppose it was better for me that the building sat nearly empty. I was able to project my own memories onto the empty structure and to imagine it in its glory days. And I suppose that keeping my inspiration boards in my head is especially appropriate when it comes to Esprit; although still a clothing company today, the old Esprit exists only in my mind now. If I tried to pin it to a wall it probably would not live up to my memories.

So I’ll just keep it conceptual. After all, the boss knows exactly what I’m talking about when I try to explain it to her.

As much as we love our own illustrated paper doll packaging at Oliver + S, we think it’s also nice to see how the actual garments will look when finished.

To that end, I’ve just created a Flickr group where everyone can post photos of garments made using Olvier + S patterns. I love to see how fabric and trim choices can completely change the appearance of a garment, and seeing how other people have interpreted a pattern is great way to be inspired to try something different in your own sewing. Plus, sometimes it’s just fun to show off something you’ve made!

In order to help shops do a little showing off of their own, we’ve created two trunk shows that will be travelling all over the country, accompanied by an Oliver + S supermodel to meet crafters and to show off the spring/summer collection.

You can see the S girls here, posing for a quick shot before a rainstorm. Poor little Scout back there in the navy floral Bubble Dress (all the S girls have names that begin with S, of course) is actually a size 12-18 month baby, but two of her sisters were out on a photo shoot (seriously) and she gracefully filled in for them.

These supermodels are showing off the Moda trunk show:

Sari is sporting the Tea Party Sundress in Moda’s American Jane “Wee Play” collection, available right now: the polka dots print, item #21083-15, in light blue, and floral daisy #21080-14 in light blue.

Dear little Scout holds her own in the Bubble Dress in “Wee Play” floral daisy #21080-14 in navy

Samantha shows us the Swingset tunic in Moda’s Urban Chiks “Swell” (#31030-17) in Cherry and skirt in Purl Patchwork’s Cake Rock Beack “Net of Jewels” (Moda #12551-13) in Ruby.

And Stephanie adores her Puppet Show tunic with a polka dot print from “Look and Learn” #21073-21 in red, and solid red fabric from “Net of Jewels” (#12551-13) in Ruby. Her shorts are made from a natural linen but would also look adorable in a print or solid fabric.

Our models will be back soon to show you their second outfits, part of the Michael Miller Organics collection. Stay tuned. Because supermodels don’t like to be kept waiting.