I’ve been explaining how a sewing machine works for years but have never had a visual for it. I just came across this great one (via Swiss Miss via Dossier).

I’ve always wanted to do something a little more sporty with the Playdate Dress. Something that can be worn for a playdate on the swings and while tearing around the playground. Something that’s amenable to serious outdoor activity.

For this version, I shortened the dress (by about four or five inches), removed the pockets, and cut it from chambray.

We’ve been pairing the tunic top with a pair of black leggings lately, but it would look equally sporty over a pair of slim-cut pants.

I cut the ruffles on the bias–a technique that’s been used a great deal in ready-wear over the past few years–so the edges will ravel a bit and soften when the tunic is washed. The ruffles lend the top an understated sophistication and femininity, even though it now has a much more casual feel than the dress usually does.

I suppose this is just another example of how a seamstress’s choices dramatically alter the character of garments sewn from the same pattern.

I’m constantly reminded of the impact that personal choices make when I look at the Flickr group and view your creations. Thanks for posting them. I always enjoy seeing how you’ve interpreted Oliver + S designs to make them your own.

As you’re planning your fall sewing, here are a few additional ideas for you.

Many of you have been asking about wool fabrics for the School Days Jacket and Coat. If you don’t have a great neighborhood fabric store (and you should feel very fortunate if you do!), shopping on-line for wool coating fabrics can be difficult. The people at Fabric.com have kindly put together a special page for us, showing some of their offerings. I think the double face wool melton would be an especially nice fabric to use, and it comes in lots of great colors!

If your options locally are more limited in color, you might be concerned about using the darker, traditional colors that tend to be most widely available because they may seem too boring. Never fear!

Here are a few samples we made while developing this pattern so you can see that traditional colors don’t have to be dull.

This coat was made with a medium-weight brown- and rust-colored wool herringbone. The fabric weight is probably closer to what you might use if you were making a tweed jacket, and we made the insulated lining with sleeves so the coat can be worn in cold weather. The lining fabrics are all from the Wonderland by Momo collection for Moda. But we added a pop of color with the turquoise binding for a little surprise inside the jacket. You can also see the button tab option (View B in the pattern) used here.

This next coat was one of the first samples I made using a really luxurious wool/cashmere blend in a camel color. (I wish there had been enough fabric to use for a coat for myself!) The lining fabrics are all from Joelle Hoverson’s Cake Rock Beach collection for Moda (which is still available at Purl–I especially love the coral seaweed print.) This coat is one of my favorites. I think it’s simultaneously fun and sophisticated.

And this chocolate brown wool twill is also lined with fabrics from Joelle’s Cake Rock Beach. We used microfleece on the back of the quilted insulated lining instead of making a more traditional quilt sandwich with cotton batting. And I wanted to show you the red elastic loops for buttoning the insulated lining into the coat. It’s another fun little pop of color that picks up the red in the print of the insulated lining.

So don’t feel limited by your options. You can do all sorts of fun things with even darker wool colors!

Here are a couple other fabrics you might want to consider in your shopping.

Denver Fabrics has a beautiful dark red wool/cashmere blend as well as a nice selection of other wool coating fabrics.

Our friends at Waechter’s have several coating fabrics. I especially like the sky blue wool.

Can anyone else suggest some on-line options? Leave your ideas in comments, please.

Update: I’ve just been alerted to some terrific laminates at Superbuzzy as well, in case you needed a little more inspiration…

I’m so excited about this post. I know many of you have been eagerly awaiting the release of the new fall patterns, and you’ve been wondering about your options for making a raincoat from laminated fabrics. I’m here to offer a little help with your shopping and planning. I’ll start with teasers about some laminated fabrics that will be coming out this season, and then I’ll move on to things that are available right now. Ready?

A number of the major quilting fabric manufacturers are about to release new laminated cottons. There are some exciting things coming out in the next several months that I’m pleased to be able to preview for you. Here are some details that the manufacturers have supplied to me.

Free Spirit has been doing some lovely qualities lately, and this is going to continue this fall. I really like the finish on their laminates because it is soft, pliable, and easy to work with. You’ve already seen our two versions of the raincoat made from Anna Maria Horner‘s previous designs produced as laminates. But get ready, because two new Anna Maria designs will be released soon, and they’re really beautiful. Here’s a preview.

Westminster, the parent company of Free Spirit, will also be releasing new laminates by Kaffe Fassett. Here are previews of three of the prints from that collection (the image quality isn’t great, but you’ll get the idea).

Westminster will also be releasing a few prints from Amy Butler’s new Love collection as laminates. I don’t have details yet, but be on the lookout for these as they’re sure to be good.

Moving on to what’s available on the market now, Michael Miller has been producing laminates for quite a while now. Our original raincoat sample is the Dumb Dot pattern in the “Chocolate” colorway (a brown field with mint-colored dots). That print is also available with pink dots (called “Cocoa”) as well.

This turquoise field with red dots is a newer Michael Miller laminate that will be available soon.

The coating on the Michael Miller fabrics is a bit heavier than some of the others I’m highlighting in this post, so it might be a little trickier to sew. But those dots may just be worth a little extra work, no?

Japanese fabric manufacturer Kokka has a number of laminate designs by Etsuko Furuya, as well. You can find these at Purlsoho.com.

I also have a few additional treats for you that I’ve found while shopping here in New York. Ready? Give your wallet to someone you can trust before you continue reading.

These are my current favorites. The hand on these coated linens is very light, and the texture of the linen shows through the coating beautifully. B&J; Fabrics, $32.95/yard, 58″ wide, color/order number: Clay/V3368, French Rose/V3391, Green Apple/V3370, Periwinkle/V3372.

And here’s where the pushing and shoving starts. Settle down, everyone! Custom laminated Liberty of London lawn. (Yes, it’s true!): B&J; Fabrics, $42.95/yard, 54″ wide, V3368.

One last word about laminates: most manufacturers recommend that you don’t wash these fabrics. Instead, use a damp sponge to clean them. Check with the manufacturer or the retailer for exact care instructions.

The wait is over! Our two new styles–the School Days Jacket and Coat and the Jump Rope Dress–are now available for purchase on our website.

The positive responses are already coming in. The School Days Jacket and Coat is the Sewing Examiner’s pattern pick of the week (“Designer Liesl Gibson and company have outdone themselves again with this sweet and wholesome pattern”), and one very busy blogger who has already sewn two wonderful Jump Rope Dresses–one in view A and another in view B–reports that “these patterns have given me so much confidence in my sewing ability.”

Don’t forget that while supplies last every order ships with a complimentary copy of Pearl, the new spool dog.

Every kid needs a pet, right? Even paper doll kids need a pet. So this season the Oliver + S paper dolls have adopted a new friend. Here’s Pearl.

Pearl is a dachshund. We’re not sure if Pearl is a boy dog or a girl dog, but that doesn’t matter much because Pearl is a great companion to the Oliver + S paper dolls.

And here’s the exciting part. Pearl can be a faithful desktop companion for you too. More on that in a minute. But, first, some credits are due.

Have you heard of John Martin’s spool pets? We hadn’t either until April, of April 1930s, sent us some reproduction postcards a while ago. In the early 1930s, John Martin (1865-1947) illustrated several animals for a series of Coats and Clark promotions. Each animal was printed on card stock and featured a rhyme along with instructions for cutting out the animal and gluing the front and back sides to an empty spool to make a stand up, paper doll-like pet. Martin did a dog, a pig, a cow, a cat, a bunny, a horse, and possibly a few others.

We loved the idea and decided (in honor of Martin’s originals) to update the concept. Dan Andreasen, the illustrator of our paper dolls, painted Pearl’s front and back sides which we’ve turned into a new Oliver + S postcard featuring Pearl. (Dan illustrates some interesting things, but this was the first time he has been asked to do a dog’s rear end!) Like in Martin’s originals, there’s a poem on the card that tells a bit about Pearl, and then Pearl provides instructions for cutting and gluing the images to a spool to create a standing pet.

Pearl has been designed with Gutermann’s long, thin spools in mind. (Remember, Pearl is a dachshund. Get it now?) Here’s what Pearl looks like with our paper doll friends.

Starting next Tuesday, while supplies last, all website orders for Oliver + S patterns will ship with a complimentary spool dog postcard so that you can make your own standing Pearl. Postcards will also be available on a limited basis at select retailers who are carrying our new Fall 2009 patterns.

We hope you’ll stand Pearl up on your worktable to watch over you while you’re busy sewing the new Jump Rope Dress and School Days Jacket and Coat.