I’m so excited to have been asked by our top distributor, Brewer, to give a talk at the School House Series at Quilt Market this year. My presentation, “Oliver + S: more than just paper dolls,” will be held at 11:00 this Friday in room 372B. We’ve got slides, samples, some materials to hand out, a drawing for some gifts, and a few surprises as well.

If you’re planning to attend the show, I hope you’ll join us for the presentation.

This post from the Superbuzzy blog gives some great tips on pre-shrinking flannel before sewing it.

I’m about to try it for Dr. S’s winter Bedtime Story pjs, which will look exactly like these from our fall trunk show. She can’t wait!

This sample kimono top recently returned from the pattern grader, and I was surprised at how much I like that little bit of contrast fabric that got added to the neckband now that I see it again. I had cut the band too short (it was an early test pattern and I think I eyeballed the neckband rather than create a pattern piece for it), so I grabbed the nearest available fabric to fix the problem.

At first it looked wrong to me, but now I sort of like that fun little pop. I may use this idea again the next time I sew the pajamas.

The Bedtime Story pajamas are designed to be a beginning-level pattern for someone who may have sewn one or two projects before but hasn’t necessarily followed a pattern yet. They would be a good project for for a sewing class, too.

One bedtime last spring, Tsia (the “S” of Oliver + S) was out of clean pajamas, and I happened to have a size 3 pajama pattern cut out. She stayed up a little later than usual, and I was able to sew and finish the pajamas in approximately an hour. They’re that easy. (Well, and I’m a pretty fast sewer, too.)

She needs a new pair for winter. Flannel this time. With that little contrast at the neckband and tie, I think.