At this time last year, we published a free downloadable pattern for a mitten ornament that can be used either on the Christmas tree or to make a non-traditional advent calendar.

Here’s the post from last year where you can download this simple pattern.

Happy holidays!

Next time I do a series of principles like this, remind me to list fewer principles! I feel like we’ve already addressed this principle in the course of covering some of the others, so I’ll make this a quick post.

As I’ve mentioned before, I really like the refreshing look of tonal and two-color prints right now. They’re easy on the eye, especially with the amount of color that has been prevalent in the market in recent years. In the Flickr group, I was able to find several great examples of how you have used tonal and two color prints in your Oliver + S outfits, and I’ll highlight some of my favorites here. I hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I did.

Black and white in a subtle combination (if there’s ever been such a thing as subtle black and white!) make a really elegant but age-appropriate Sunday Brunch Jacket and Skirt.

This Tea Party Dress has more than two colors, but the color palette is tight: brown, gold and shades of blue. This qualifies as tonal in my book. I think this dress is fantastically successful and understated while remaining playful and interesting:

Here is a 2 + 2 Blouse in a really wonderful red and white print from Valori Wells‘s Del Hi collection. I love how simple and clean this print looks.

Here is another two-color print with red and white. This Tea Party Sundress looks great with the addition of a third color, since it’s still clean and not overwhelming.

Yellow and white looks fresh and exuberant, especially for spring and summer. This trendy jacquard-inspired print (another traditional print that’s been updated for today) on a Puppet Show Tunic looks clean and youthful while remaining subtle and not overwhelming.

I like the neutral, muted tones of the print on this Bubble Dress. These colors are great for winter or summer, I think.

And since the next (and last!) principle of fabric selection discusses juvenile prints, I thought it would be nice to include this tonal School Days Raincoat as a teaser. See the little pigs on the print? I love how subtle and whimsical they are.

With tongue placed firmly in cheek, here’s the flier (designed by Heather Ross) for next month’s Modern Women of Sewing event at the New York Public Library.

We hope to see you there. Bonus points will be awarded to anyone sporting feathered hair or a jump suit.

We’re pleased to continue our series of posts highlighting participants in the Boutique Sewer Program by sharing a recent discussion with Meg Lineberger from Durham, NC. Meg sells her work through her boutique sewing business, Nora’s Room, which is named after her four-year-old daughter, Nora Kate. Meg also has a seven-year-old son. When she’s not sewing, Meg works as a practicing psychologist.

Meg, tell me a little about yourself and your background. When and how did you learn to sew? I can’t remember a time when I didn’t sew. I grew up in a one room farmhouse in Kentucky, where we grew our own food, sewed our own clothes, and even kept bees for honey. My mother sewed out of necessity. I don’t think she’s so much as hemmed a pair of pants in the last 10 years, but she always encouraged my creative efforts. For my fifth birthday she gave me a harvest gold sewing box, fully stocked, which I still use today.

As an adult I’ve been a pretty serious quilter, with occasional ventures into garment sewing.

I always imagined I would sew for my children, but the truth is I did very little sewing of any kind while my children were infants and toddlers. When I dusted off my machines last year, I was stunned to discover that sewing had become hip while I wasn’t looking!

How did you first discover Oliver + S patterns and come to participate in the Boutique Sewer Program?
I came across Oliver + S this spring via a parenting blog and fell completely in love. I purchased a boutique sewing license before my first patterns had even arrived. It was an impulsive decision, but one that has really jump-started my creative energy.

How do you choose fabrics for the garments that you make, and what fabrics are you working with these days?
My fabric choices are strongly influenced by my quilting experience. Color has never come easy to me, so I’ve really worked hard to develop that skill, reading books about color theory and dragging my artist husband to the fabric store. My quilts feature mostly batiks and tonal prints, so my boutique sewing has given me the opportunity to use some of the awesome contemporary prints that hit the market while my back was turned.

What initially attracted me to Oliver + S was the fact that the patterns were designed for quilting cottons, but my boutique sewing has turned out to be a gateway for exploring more apparel fabrics. In the past six months, I’ve sewn Oliver + S designs in tweed, twill, denim, wool gauze, corduroy, laminates, wool coating, silk, even knits. I’m already lusting over fabrics for spring and summer. Oh, the linens and the double gauze!

What other crafts do you pursue that you may not be selling on Etsy?
I do have a crafty little soul. I’ve dabbled in cake decorating, hair bows, and doll-house miniatures. I even had a regrettable rubber-stamping period. I love the smell of hot glue. Last month I built a loft bed for my son with a lot of help from my father-in-law and his woodworking shop. I keep meaning to learn how to knit, but where to find the time?

Children’s birthdays most especially bring out my inner Martha Stewart. I just hosted a paper-doll party featuring the Oliver + S dolls and Pearl dog too!

What have you done to market your business that has been successful for you?
Many of my customers are referred by the Oliver + S website. I also get a fair amount of business from friends, relatives, and coworkers. It helps that my daughter is a walking advertisement for Nora’s Room. When prompted, she’ll tell you she got her clothes from “norasroom-dot-etsy-dot-com.” I recently donated a custom sewn dress for a silent auction to benefit my children’s school, which raised a little money for the school and also increased the visibility of Nora’s Room among the parent community. I’ll definitely do that again next year.

How much of your business is custom work vs. ready-made?
All of my work is custom in the sense of being sewn-to-order; I don’t keep an inventory of ready-made garments in stock. The garments featured in Nora’s Room are samples that I’ve sewn for my own children and will sew-to-order in the customer’s choice of size. About half of my sales come from these “two of a kind” creations. The rest are custom work.

I really love working with a client to choose patterns and shop for fabric, and I specialize in coordinating outfits for siblings. I think that’s because I have a boy and a girl of my own. I try to achieve a complimentary look without being too matchy-matchy, you know?

What plans do you have for the future?
Well, my next project is a Jedi cloak for my Star Wars re-enactor husband, using nine yards of wool crepe. Seriously.

After that it’s time to get geared up for holiday sewing. In the coming year I want to be more active with social networking on Facebook and Twitter, and I really need a Nora’s Room blog. I’m also learning to take better photos of my work. All of this will help to keep me busy until your new patterns come out in 2010!

What opportunities has the boutique sewer program made available to you that you wouldn’t otherwise have had?
Besides the pleasure of doing something really well and getting recognized for it? Definitely it’s the relationships with other moms who love Oliver +
S. I’ve made some wonderful friends through the Flickr group and the Oliver + S forums, and I’ve worked on custom sewing for some amazing women who don’t have the time or ability to sew for their own children. The income from Nora’s Room goes back into my sewing studio and has enabled me to upgrade my materials, notions, and tools–which in turn improves the quality of my workmanship.

One Jump Rope Dress has been fully prepped and is ready for demonstration on Saturday at Spool in Philadelphia. Can’t wait to meet some new friends and talk sewing all day!

The fabric I’m using for my dress is from Denyse Schmidt’s upcoming fabric line, Hope Valley. Gorgeous, isn’t it? I can’t wait for the fabrics to be available in stores. And vintage purple mother-of-pearl buttons just seemed appropriate, if I can bring myself to remove them from their card.

Update: Here’s a recap of the day (complete with photos) from the nice folks at Spool.

Live in the Twin Cities area? Chances are that you’re already a customer of one of our favorite independent fabric shops–Treadle Yard Goods.

Treadle is currently hosting a special Oliver + S trunk show featuring eight outfits from our line as well as some other surprises.

If you’re in St. Paul, MN, stop by during this final weekend of the show to pay a visit and receive a 10% discount on your Oliver + S purchase. The show moves on next Monday.

Address: Treadle Yard Goods, 1338 Grand Ave. St Paul, MN 55101. Phone: (651) 698-9690.

When you read the words “traditional print,” do you think boring, dark, and dull?

Actually, a lot of contemporary prints are based on traditional prints, and they aren’t necessarily boring or dull at all. In fact many designers start their creative process by taking a traditional print and altering it in some subtle way. These updated versions of classic prints make great fabrics for garment sewing because they tend to be sophisticated and understated. As a result, they allow you to see the child before the outfit.

I thought it would be fun to show you a few traditional prints, updated to look current and new for today, that work especially well for children’s clothing. As with the other posts in this series, all photos come from the Oliver + S Flickr group. Click on the hyperlinked text in the description of the garment to see the original Flickr photo and to leave feedback for the talented seamstresses who created them.

Polka dots have been around forever, right? Personally, I never get tired of them. Today polka dots are printed in a variety of scales and colors that look fresh, young, and contemporary. I like the small dot in this 2+2 blouse, combined with the printed plaid. (Note that the plaid is also a traditional pattern, and this one is printed to look like it’s cut on bias, which is especially fun!) Polka dots are easy to mix with other prints as you can see from this photo:

Polka dots can also look good on their own, as you can see from this classic Lazy Days Skirt:

Polka dots can be re-designed, too, like this dot with an outline. Nice for a summery-feeling Birthday Party Dress, yes? And notice that printed plaid tab that complements the dot.

This star print used for this Birthday Party Dress maintains the feel of a well-spaced polka dot but switches things around a bit. The print has a traditional style, reminding me of the Betsy Ross craze that happened in 1976 when the U.S. celebrated our bicentennial. But it looks completely current in large part because of all the white space between the stars. Such a fun summer dress!

Also traditional are simple, classic floral prints that are not overly bold, bright, and busy. I like the clear colors and simple designs of these two printed floral Birthday Party dresses (first and second).

Geometric patterns have been around forever, but with a little updating they can always look new and refreshing, like this Jump Rope Dress in a foulard print:

And I’ve been admiring this Lazy Days Skirt for quite a while now. The print reminds me of traditional blue and white Scandinavian (Royal Copenhagen) or Dutch Delft pottery, but the print itself is new and clean.

Classic prints, updated for today’s sensibilities, make a great choice for children’s clothing. Have examples of your own work with prints of this type? By all means, upload them to the Flickr group for all to see.