notches

Save pens; use Garamond: Flowing Data

How to report the news on TV: You Tube

How a counterfeit bill fights corruption: The World Bank


Ever seen a Gandhiwarmer?: Hi Low & In Between

White on white: Erasing

Moving a giant sculpture, by helicopter: ArtBabble

Protectors of art, Sentry and Guardians: Andy Freeberg Photography

Bulletproof fashion, "I shoot all my employees": CNN

boutique sewer profile: Jeanie Taylor

We're continuing our series of posts highlighting participants in the Boutique Sewer Program by introducing Jeanie Taylor from Cape Cod, MA. Jeanie sells her work through her boutique sewing business, The Pea Green Boat.

Jeanie, why don't you tell us a little about yourself and your background. When and how did you learn to sew?
I live on Cape Cod in a magical house in the woods. It was created by and for a local potter on the grounds of his pottery, and every time I drive home through my own sculpture garden, I feel very lucky. My home is temporary, but one of the things the last year has reminded me is that everything is temporary.

I grew up on the coast of Texas in Port Arthur, hometown of Janis Joplin and Mary Karr. I climbed trees and hung upside down on the trapeze in my backyard, and I read and read and read. My mom sewed a lot, and my job was hand sewing the hems. The first real garment I made was in junior high in home ec, and I am pretty sure I never wore it. It was turquoise, some kind of tunic, and to my eyes really ugly.

When I graduated from college I worked for a year as a newspaper reporter, and one day I found a Singer treadle machine in the classified ads before they went into the paper. It cost $10, and it served me well for a long time. As a reporter I covered the Miss World USA Pageant, and for the ball (where the winner was escorted by the police chief dressed in a too-short brown suit) I made my escort beautiful wool formal bib overalls with a cummerbund and silver buckles. I also made my wedding dress, a sweet 1970s cotton dress, perfect for a simple wedding in the yard.

Over the years I made all kinds of things for my kids and myself. During a year spent in Scotland I got the chance to use Liberty fabrics, viyella, and other fabrics that weren’t available in my local store. I did smocking and used Folkwear patterns to make clothing for family and friends.

In addition to making clothing I used my imagination and fabric to decorate our world. Our 1920s house had a sleeping porch that we used as a playroom. It had lots of windows and yellow walls, and I made soft, puffy, satin clouds to hang from the ceiling. For Christmas I made smaller versions of the clouds with hanging ribbon rainbows to hang on the tree and puffy satin hearts to add to the evergreen garland that twisted down the banister.

One of my part-time jobs when my kids were small was working in a fancy gift store that carried beautiful yarns. After months of looking at it and touching it, I decided I had to learn to knit, so my co-workers taught me. I loved knitting, and I made lots of sweaters for my kids and myself, doing very little sewing during those years.

Then I went from being a part-time worker with kids to being a full-time worker with kids to being a full-time worker with kids and a full-time graduate student, and all my crafting was put aside.

I took knitting up again a few years ago hoping that the occupation would help me stop smoking. I did stop smoking, but not because of the knitting. What did the trick was my son saying, “We want you to be healthy and well so that you can run around in the yard with your (future) grandchildren.”


How did you first discover Oliver + S patterns?
My first grandchild was born almost two years ago, and when I knew she was coming all my creative juices kicked in. I began searching for patterns for sewing and knitting, looking at fabric and yarn, and planning a lifetime of garments. Early in my search I discovered the Oliver + S patterns online, and I fell in love.


How did you come to participate in the boutique sewer program?
It never occurred to me that I would make clothing for sale, but two things led the way to the opening of my Etsy shop. I lost my job, and I wanted to make more garments than my granddaughter could ever wear.

A few months after my granddaughter’s birth, I got a new job in Boston to be closer to family. After thirty years in the Midwest, very far from the ocean, I moved east and started my job in September 2008. In January 2009, my new job disappeared in the chaos of the economy.

I moved from Boston to Cape Cod where winter rents were manageable and the ocean was almost at my door. It took a while for me to begin to imagine the Etsy shop, because I was sure that a new job was just around the corner. But gradually I got very excited about the idea of offering my clothing (and other things) for sale, and after a few months I got brave enough to call myself a boutique sewer.

How do you choose fabrics for the garments that you make, and what fabrics are you working with these days?
I have always loved fabric and yarn--beautiful colors, textures, and design. The fabric is a key part of everything I create. I prefer natural fibers and high quality fabrics, believing that the effort it takes to make a garment well should be matched by the quality of the fabric.

Right now I am working with some Liberty viscose, cotton laminate, cotton batik, and organic cotton fleece. I have a beautiful mola from South America that I plan to incorporate into a special dress.


What other crafts do you pursue?
I make all sorts of things like garlands and necklaces. I continue to knit, and I am venturing into a bit of quilting. I work part-time in an independent fabric store filled with quilters, and I am currently making an abstract silk quilted table runner.


What have you done to market your business that has been successful for you?
I am still learning how to market my business. The boutique sewer program is a wonderful opportunity to reach people who love wonderful design. I have also used the Etsy showcases to call attention to my shop.

What plans do you have for the future?
Given the last year I plan only a few months ahead, but my current plan for my shop is to spend the next few months really building up my stock so that I can place a web ad in a location that will call attention to The Pea Green Boat. I am also considering beginning a blog, perhaps.

dressing for real life

We've fielded a lot of Formspring questions over the past few weeks, several of which have asked about how much sewing I do for S and what her wardrobe looks like.

I'm no Supermom, and I don't even try to set myself the goal of making everything she wears. But we do have fun mixing and matching her wardrobe with things I've made and things we've purchased or have been given.


This weekend it was pretty cold here in New York, and yesterday we were meeting a friend for brunch. We wanted to wear lots of layers to stay warm on our walk to the restaurant. S chose her tights first, so that's how her outfit started: with the mid-sized polka dot print. We picked out a long-sleeved thermal shirt for warmth, and layered a kimono-style top over it. (Yes, the Bedtime Story PJ top makes a great shirt, too.)


The floral print in the top was our large-scale print. Then we added the mini polka dot Sailboat skirt and topped it all off with her brown cardigan. There were a lot of patterns happening in this outfit, but we tried to pull it together with a tight color palette (brown and aqua) and a variety of scales in the patterns.

Sometimes it's fun to do serious mixing and matching like this. Don't feel limited to mixing only the tops and the bottoms that come together in the pattern envelope.

notches

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a: Craftastrophe

A giant knitted rock: Craft Business

From the annals of brilliant ideas in reusable packaging design: Subtraction

A great opportunity for fabric lovers who live in Portland: Heather Ross

Make your own Playdough brain: Spike

Cat shaped spots--on a cat: The WOW Report

Zee Avi, the best (and probably only) Borneo-born ukulele player you'll see this week: Studio 360/You Tube

Oh, the temptation of the infamous marshmallow test: Vimeo

What was in "Miss Average College Girl's" closet in 1941: Hand-Made, NYPL

What drives the boom-and-bust cycle--low interest rates or the animal spirits: Econstories.tv

Daybreak, UT: Triple Canopy

fabric series on the BurdaStyle blog

Over the next year, I'll be contributing a monthly column to the BurdaStyle blog that goes into geek-level detail on fabrics. The column runs on the last Tuesday of each month.

The first piece in the series, a basic primer on fabric construction terminology, published this morning.


In upcoming months, I'll be covering topics such as the different types of natural and man-made fibers, uncommon fabric types, how to shop for interesting apparel-sewing fabrics, and how a designer puts together a fabric collection.

Enjoy!

notches

A shop to benefit the work of Doctors Without Borders in Haiti: Etsy

Tutorial for a cat house: Sewtakeahike

Shortbread buttons: Forty-Sixth at Grace

The number of Crayola crayons doubles every 28 years: Weather Sealed

Carved baseball bats: Craftzine

The iVictrola: YouTube

Reminder: only two more days left in our winter free shipping sale; coupon codes can be found here

ask us

During the month of January, we're giving you the opportunity to ask Oliver + S a question. Any question.

Since we opened up our Formspring page for questions, we've fielded over 30 excellent inquiries on topics ranging from how to make specific types of alterations to what music is playing at the studio on a typical day.

We'll continue answering your questions here for the next couple weeks, so think of that issue that you have always wondered about and ask away.

small but mighty

Not only an apt description of Cloth and Bobbin, in lovely Narberth, PA, but this phrase potentially describes the School Days raincoat I'm about to make during our workshop tomorrow.


This Amy Butler print is not exactly small, with bright pink and orange in a large, bold repeat. But when finished, the jacket should, indeed, look small and mighty.

If you can quickly cut your fabric in preparation, I think there is still a space left in the class! Contact Johanna for details.

notches

The best passive aggressive fridge notes of last year: Passive Aggressive Notes

The cutest things of last year: Cute Overload

Interesting piece on copyright and ethical dressmaking: The Sewing Academy

We're totally doing this at our house: Cakies

If we lived in Minneapolis, we would totally do this: Twin Cities Daily Planet

Monkeys teach their babies to floss: BBC

Ah, siblings: Spike

That's the way I like it: YouTube

Loving this woven cowl: SwissMiss

principles of fabric selection: approach juvenile prints with caution

I've been dreading this blog post because it means we've come to the end of my Principles of Fabric Selection series. But I know many of you have been waiting to hear what I have to say on this topic, so here we go.

Juvenile prints are a subset of the larger print category known as conversational prints, or prints with pictures in them. They are intended to appeal to a young person and often feature animals or toys. Juvenile prints are cute and appealing and seem to be frequently used by home seamstresses, maybe because they are so different from prints typically found in ready-made clothing.

I like juvenile prints. I just don't like them to be very juvenile. I like little robots and flowers and animals and things as long as there's some degree of sophistication to them. (There's that word--sophisticated--again.)

The Japanese fabric companies seem to handle this well. They print on unbleached linen or on a solid background. The prints are small and spare with lots of empty space around the images. And in general the prints aren't powder pink, baby blue, or filled with loads of vibrant primary colors that compete with each other for your attention.

I also like Heather Ross's designs (disclosure: Heather is a friend in addition to being a talented illustrator and designer) because although they're filled with brilliant colors, the palettes are sophisticated (i.e., not just primary colors) and the images are a little quirky rather than being saccharine sweet. Just like Heather. (Just kidding, Heather. Or maybe you would take that as a compliment....)

So let's say you fall in love with a particular juvenile print and really want to use it. What's the best way to sew clothing that doesn't overpower the child or overwhelm the viewer? Well, all those other principles of fabric selection we've already discussed can help. You might pick a solid or neutral color to pair with the print to help tone it down a bit, or find a small supporting print from another fabric collection that enhances it. Here are a few examples from the Oliver + S Flickr group that I thought handled juvenile prints especially well.

This owl print is used in just a small quantity and, paired with the gray solid, provides a nice touch of whimsy that doesn't overpower.

Heather's matryoshka dolls are cute on a brown ground, and I love the black and white gingham ribbon at the hem of this Lazy Days skirt. Very sophisticated.

While this Japanese print might otherwise overwhelm, I think this dress is successful because there is plenty of white space around around the characters, and the white bib with elegant brown buttons helps to frame her darling little face. (Note that this print definitely works best on younger children like this little sweetie!)

Here is another Japanese print that's been paired with a red and white gingham for great effect. Cute, right?

This is a subtle juvenile print on an unbleached linen/cotton ground. (Oh, those fabulous Japanese fabric companies!) I love how this one is paired with a subtle neutral-patterned print on top, and the red piping and buttons give this Tea Party Playsuit its pop of color while tying the prints together. It's very successful.

Plenty of white space between these Heather Ross bicycles, and I love the way the piping continues the small-scale pattern from the dress yoke. This is really a wonderful dress.

Using this Heather Ross print for the entire dress would not have occurred to me, and I think it's especially successful because of the solid piping. I really love this one.

This preppy whale print verges on overwhelming, but the small size of the skirt combined with the ric-rac trimmed gingham pockets somehow rescues it, and I love it for that. This is such a fun summer skirt that could be worn with a simple white top and red sandals.

I really like how the dark red yoke of this Tea Party Sundress picks up the tiny bits of red in the print.


The playful elephant print looks great because it's limited to two colors. I like the combination of a fun print with the more grown-up Sunday Brunch jacket.

And by the way, this principle does not apply to PJs. When it comes to sleepwear, anything goes!