This is the story of the photo that almost wasn’t.

It’s about twin brothers, one of whom was in S’s class last year. We love these boys. They’re about as cute as can be, and their parents (who work in the fashion industry) dress them exactly alike every day. In a very stylish way, mind you: identical desert boots, puffy vests, skinny jeans, and newsboy caps, for example. I wish I looked that cool every day.

They’re also two rambunctious boys, and when they arrived at the photo shoot they were ready to have fun.

Sitting still wasn’t part of their plan. I think this is the only shot from the entire bunch in which you can see both faces. And from here you can see how the shoot progressed.

We had a little accident immediately after this shot, when the chair toppled. There were some tears (and a lot of worry on my part), but boys recover from these things quickly.

I knew the moment we threw the quilt over them, that this would be a great shot. It was totally spontaneous, and I think that’s what makes it work.

Have you ever seen such a long skinny kid?

When I was thinking about including a quilt in the book, I wanted to do something different. I decided to create the illusion of two translucent layers of color overlapping each other to create a third color. The book includes information on the specific fabrics I used for creating this version. But that shouldn’t limit you from selecting your own colors. I hope you have fun with it.

I can’t tell you how excited I am to finally be able to share this. Enjoy!

Credits
Animation: Holly Klein
Photographs: Laurie Frankel
Paper Doll Illustrations: Dan Andreasen
Music: “Quixote Dreams of Dulcinea,” by Ergo Phizmiz

This video is also available for viewing on YouTube and Vimeo.

Note: today we continue our occasional series of seam finishing tutorials written by April Henry.

A flat-felled seam is accomplished by sewing two lines of stitching at the seam while simultaneously enclosing the raw edges of the fabric.  This seam finish not only prevents unraveling or fraying, but makes the seam very strong.  It also gives the finished garment a clean finish on this inside.

A flat-felled seam is commonly found on denim jeans and men’s dress shirts as well as on reversible garments.  I’ve even seen this feature instructed in vintage patterns for boy’s and men’s pajamas.  It adds one more touch of professionalism to a hand-made garment.

To begin, stitch the seam with the fabric pieces wrong sides together.

You can determine how wide you want your flat-felled seam to be by how much you trim your seam allowances.  Begin by trimming only one side to the desired width of the finished seam allowances.

Trim the second seam allowances to twice the width of the first. For this example, I stitched a 1/2″ seam and then trimmed the first seam allowance to 1/4″, which means I didn’t need to trim the second seam allowance since it was already twice the width of the first.

Fold and press the wider seam allowance around the shorter seam allowance so the raw edge of the second (wider) seam allowance meets the first seam line.  Then stitch along the folded edge of the second seam allowance.  This encloses the raw edge, and with the second row of stitching creates a very strong seam.

To make my stitching rows evenly spaced, I used a 1/4-inch foot.  The black guide on the right followed the first stitching line while the inside edge of the little toe was a guide for sewing the second stitching line.

Another useful tool is the Felling Foot, because it folds, presses, and stitches the first row of stitches all in one pass.

Using this attachment, while still accommodating a 1/2-inch seam allowance, I trimmed 1/8 inch from each of the seam allowances prior to stitching so that the finished seam would finish with the correct seam allowance according to the pattern.

To begin, space the top seam allowance 1/8 inch to the left of the bottom seam allowance as shown in the photo above.  Finger press and fold the start of the seam so that you can stitch 2-3 stitches to secure the folds in place.  With the needle still in position, maneuver the bottom seam allowance into the Felling Foot so that it curves up and around. Sewing slowly, carefully begin stitching to allow the bottom seam allowance to fold over the top seam allowance so that the folds can be stitched in place for the first stitching line.

Simultaneously, the attachment is folding, pressing and allowing the needle to stitch the initial seam enclosed.

Press the enclosed seam so that you can make the final pass with the attachment.

Using the Feller attachment for the second pass, slip the stitched fold up into the attachment with the right toe set up against the outside of the first row of stitches. Allow the fold to carefully pass under the foot while stitching it in place for the finished Flat-Felled Seam.

The 4mm Feller Attachment makes a dainty, 1/8″ narrow flat-felled seam.

Did your new year’s resolution this year involve doing more sewing? If it did, this is especially for you.

From now through the end of next week, you’ll receive 20% off when you place an order on the Oliver + S website.

Why not use this as an opportunity to pick up a few patterns to get a jump on your spring sewing? Easter will be here before you know it, and wouldn’t it be lovely to see your little one dressed in a School Photo Dress made from a festive fabric like this rose-colored silk dupioni?

Here’s the fine print: this offer is good January 18, 2011 through January 28, 2011 and applies to retail purchases of Oliver + S patterns only. You must use coupon code JAN2011 at checkout to receive the discount.

We hope you’ll use this as inspiration to get a head start on your spring sewing.

One of the great pleasures of writing Little Things to Sew was that I had built-in inspiration and testing.

When I started developing ideas for projects to include, I wanted to be sure that every single one would be interesting, exciting to make, and unique. There are so many sewing books in the market these days, why would you want to buy a book with the same projects as all the other books? Looking back at the book now, I think I succeeded in this goal. I’ll be eager to see what you think, too.

I thought it might be fun to introduce you to some of the book’s projects that have become favorites at our house over the period that the book has been in development. Some of the photos below are shots from the book, others are extras that didn’t make it into the book (we had a lot of terrific photos from which to choose), and still more are snapshots that I’ve taken over the past three years as we’ve made samples, tested patterns, and tried out the projects.

So, without further ado….

The Tutu

Every little girl needs a tutu, right?

I first made this tutu for S in 2008. It’s constructed a bit differently than other tutus I’ve seen, and it was inspired by classical ballets like Swan Lake and La Sylphide. S has worn hers for dress-up, for Halloween, and around town. Last year she wore it when we met Heather Ross at the Metropolitan Museum to do some sketching, and last weekend she wore it to the butcher and the green grocer. So it’s good for lots more than just dancing.

Cozy Bear Hood

Is there anything cuter than a hat with ears?

This project was entirely inspired by our much-loved knitted bear hat, which was worn and adored until it just plain fell apart. Here is the original hat. (Note, please, how well a hat with ears coordinates with the aforementioned tutu.)

S loves to look like her best friend, Bear. I wanted to make a similar soft hood with ears from woven fabric, and the resulting project has been loved as much as the original. People here in New York seem to like it, too. We get amused looks and comments everywhere we go. It must be the ears.

The hood continues to be a popular cold-weather and dress-up item for S. (And these two bears still go everywhere together, as you can see below.) Here is the Cozy Bear Hood as worn last week between our two recent snow storms.

The pattern comes in multiple sizes, as do many projects in the book. So you can customize each project to the size of the child for whom you’re making it, or you can make the project in increasing larger sizes as the child grows, which is what we’re doing at our house.

The Penguin Backpack

If you’re wearing a hat with ears, you’ll probably want a backpack with wings, won’t you?

This project was originally inspired by S’s Paris backpack, which I made when she and Todd took a trip to Paris just as I was about to launch Oliver + S and needed some extra work time. While they were in Paris they pretended to use the map printed on the fabric to navigate the city.

Here is the final project on its way to school last year. This penguin has seen a lot of the city from S’s back, and we’re especially attached to it because of my Dad’s work in Antarctica where, just last week, he visited a real penguin colony. (He reported back to S that penguin colonies smell awful, and she was ecstatic to report this to her class, where they are studying penguins.) You can also make the backpack without the penguin features, as seen in the first photo above. And this penguin is delightfully scent free.

Mittens

The mittens are another popular item at our house.

Here they are last year, getting a thorough wear testing after a big snowfall.

Of course they are getting lots of use this winter, too, with all the snow we’ve had.

The pattern and construction are a unique design that allows easy movement, so they mittens are great for making and throwing snowballs, constructing snowmen and igloos, and the like. If you make them from soft felted wool you’ll be amazed at all the colors that are available (we’ve given some sources in the back of the book), and they’re warm and cozy for little hands. They can also be made from polar fleece if you’re so inclined.

And here is one last project we’ve been enjoying a lot.

The Tea Party Doll Dress

Because every girl needs a matching dress for her doll.

American Girl dolls are an obsession at our house. It’s almost ridiculous, actually. Samantha is our doll of choice, and she’s almost as beloved as Bear. I thought it would be fun to include a dress pattern for dolls like Samantha in the book, so this project is based on one of our very first sewing patterns, the Tea Party Sundress, which has also been one of our best selling patterns. If you have already sewn a Tea Party dress for your daughter or granddaughter, you’ll now be able to make a matching dress for her favorite doll.

We’ve personally tried and tested every pattern in the book at our house, and these are some of the projects that S has been especially attached to. I’ll show you a few more of the projects in greater depth soon.