For those of us in the northern hemisphere, it still feels too early to start thinking about fall sewing. After all, today the weather is expected to break even more records here in New York, after three solid weeks of mercilessly hot weather. But when I saw this Miu Miu ad in a fashion magazine I was immediately inspired. Wouldn’t that plaid wool make a terrific School Days coat?

This past Thursday morning I went shopping in the garment center and visited one of my favorite stores, Beckenstein Men’s Fabrics (I don’t know what the whole “fabric czar” thing is; I still call them Beckenstein’s but maybe they changed their name?), where they have a fantastic collection of high-quality wool fabric. The shop is loaded with other inspiring fabrics, too: Scottish tweed, Italian suiting, seersucker striped cotton, and melton wool in a wide variety of colors. And it’s all presented in a suitably old-school setting, too. It feels like the shop of a thread-worn gentlemen’s tailor, and when I visit I always wish I could stay to curl up on a chair in the corner with either a needle and thread or a good book.

I was shopping for S’s school uniforms, which I’ll be blogging about soon. But despite the weather, I’m also thinking seriously about winter coats. Maybe this year I’ll do something with a plaid fabric.

Several people have asked about the books we presented during last Saturday’s Crafternoon at the New York Public Library. Jessica Pigza, our wonderful sewing librarian who organized the event, has posted a summary with catalog links to many of the books on her blog. I hope you’ll have a chance to look at some of these materials–we enjoyed seeing the books and images that inspire each other and each managed to learn something new in the process.

This is a cover from the July 1928 issue of Amateur Golfer magazine. Who knew golfing could be so inspirational!

We love Spoonflower. If you’re not familiar with this innovative company, they can digitally print your designs onto a variety of fabrics like quilting cotton, sateen, and even a new linen/cotton canvas quality. Heather Ross made her skirt for our library appearance last week by printing onto Spoonflower’s sateen, and it looked fantastic! The fabric has a nice hand, the printing quality is very high, and the price is shockingly affordable for custom printing of such a high caliber.

Every week Spoonflower has a fabric contest, and this week’s contest required entrants to “create a sewing pattern and design for an article of children’s clothing that includes — in one yard — all the pieces, cut lines, seam allowances and short instructions printed directly on the fabric.” No easy task right? Well, they received seventeen entries!

I’m so impressed with this design by Sylvia Ion. The dress design itself, the print (love the lace!), and the accompanying illustration are all adorable, professional, and very clever. So you know who I’m voting for. What about you?

Everyone had a great time on Saturday. And so many of you attended! Thank you, everyone who came. It’s always lots of fun to meet other crafters and to get to know you. Many of you had cameras, too, so I’m hoping to see some photos of the event.

Heather showed us the most amazing illustrated books of field flowers and fish (as well as a mermaid!), and Denyse shared some old quilt books and contemporary art as inspiration. I was happy to display those fashion plates I showed you on Friday, along with some materials that have been inspiring me for some soon-to-be-announced projects.

I told you we had a beautiful room? I neglected to ask anyone to take photos, so these pictures were taken by S on our way out.

Thank you to to our friend and librarian Jessica Pigza, to Crafternoon author and organizer Maura Madden, to the staff of the library, and to Heather, who organized the event. And you must see Heather’s skirt, made specially for the occasion using images from the library’s digital collection. She also includes instructions for making it using a modified pattern from her book, so visit her blog for details.

Wow. What a week it’s been. We’re glad to be back in the studio now, catching up after this season’s Quilt Market in Pittsburgh.

A big thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth. We really enjoyed speaking with staffers from so many of the shops that carry our patterns and meeting many new friends as well. But some usual attendees were missed. Anna Maria‘s baby just arrived (congratulations, Anna Maria and family!), so she didn’t travel this season. And Brooke, who has given Oliver + S its unique look (including our minimalist trade show booth), wasn’t able to attend either.

We’re sorry that many regulars didn’t get to attend Market this season because we think they really would have liked the Pittsburgh convention center. It is a great venue.

The natural light and high ceilings made everyone’s offerings look especially appealing (our booth was well-lit even before we turned on the lights!). I hope we can return again soon.

In addition to our usual booth, this time we did a special little event with fabric designer Heather Ross, who showed up with two Oliver + s samples made in her new collection from Kokka. The double gauze works beautifully with the Swingset and the Bubble Dress. Aren’t they sweet?

As usual, there were a few real stand-outs from the show.

On the fabric front, new Windham designer Bari J debuted a unique collection with a fresh look. So nice to see a new perspective in printed fabrics.

Valori Wells also showed a lovely new collection for Free Spirit, called Del Hi. I’m especially enamored with the High Desert colorways–the rich, neutral-based colors are refreshing and sophisticated. My personal favorite in the group is the Paisley print in Earth color, shown above. It’s a oversized print that would look great with a bright solid as an accent. Maybe orange, yellow, or turquoise?

Amy Butler introduced her new collection of projects in conjunction with The Electric Quilt Company, which looks like lots of fun. She’s got a number of other great products coming out, too, including a nice-looking line of bags for crafters. (Love all those zippers on the Hampton!)

Windham Fabrics is releasing a collection of quilt kits based on the quilts from Gee’s Bend. The lines have been straightened out a bit, so you aren’t getting the same curved, organic feel that make the original quilts so appealing. But the colors and composition are still very appealing and attractive.

I’m sure there was more great material debuted at Market, but I spent most of the time in our booth talking with our customers about Oliver + S. One of the topics we spent a lot of time discussing was appropriate fabric selection to highlight the design features of our garments. Stay tuned for more information on that topic.

Tiny rickrack also adds a feminine detail to this Sailboat Top where it was applied to the topstitching. April used a special tool for this step, but you could also apply the rickrack over topstitching or by using basting as a guide. I think the miniature rickrack enhances the sweet Little Red Riding Hood fabric and, again, adds some visual interest to a pattern that can be made for boys and girls.

I’m a tearsheet fanatic. I’ve always loved pulling and archiving tearsheets. But it wasn’t until I got to design school that I learned I wasn’t the only one saving random pages I tore from magazines and, in fact, that those pages could become part of the design process.

Unfortunately, S caught onto this habit really quickly and now looks over my shoulder when I read a magazine to holler out when she sees something she wants to save. Sometimes I have to explain that we’re not removing pages from a particular magazine. (Marie Claire Idees and Martha Stewart Living are the only survivers on my save-the-entire-magazine list. The others have, sadly, gone out of print: Blueprint, Domino.) Most of the time she gets to keep all photos of dogs and girls wearing pink.

I’ve appropriated a portion of one wall in the studio to act as my inspiration board, and on it are taped a variety of tearsheets and other objects that I like to see on a regular basis. Some of the images and objects have been inspiring me for years. Others get swapped out when I grow tired of them or find something else that interests me more.

This one has been on the wall for quite a while. It’s a Prada dress that I adore and wouldn’t mind wearing, myself.

I came back to this tearsheet one day recently when I was preparing to sew S’s Easter dress. I had selected navy silk dupioni (from Brewer) for the dress, and then I found a wonderful vintage yellow grosgrain ribbon with a moire effect (from Tinsel Trading). I wanted to incorporate some yellow eyelet fabric that I’ve been saving for a while, but I was having trouble pulling it all together until I remembered that tearsheet I walk past every day.

Off came the photo from the wall, and I carried it around for the next few days so I could think about it more. Here is what ultimately came of it: my interpretation of the feel of that Prada dress, done for a little girl.

In the end, I decided on two important embellishments to the Birthday Party Dress inspired by the photo. I added yellow topstitching in a deliberately meandering manner so that it would look uneven and a little “messed up.” And I sewed a strip of the eyelet fabric to the top edge of the hem facing so that it looks like a contemporary version of a petticoat peeking out from under the dress. It was important to me that the eyelet be separated from the hem to the extent that it had some dimension rather than simply looking like lace applied to the hem. By sewing the eyelet to the top of the hem facing it looks like a separate layer worn under the dress. Then I carefully (but not too carefully, since I wanted it to look a little rough) trimmed the eyelet into scallops that peek out beneath the dress.

And here is the dress, being modeled. I have to tell you that if my job consisted of regularly cajoling S to pose for photos I think I’d quit. It’s such a relief to work with an illustrator who does his work without whining or refusing to stand still/remove his cardigan for just two photos/stop making goofy faces/etc. (Dan, do you do any of those things when I can’t see you?)

I’m happy with the finished dress, and S loves it. Which is what counts. But she still won’t pose properly for me.

Every time I look at the Oliver + S Flickr group I’m amazed at the new photos that have been posted by our customers. Such wonderful fabric choices! Such adorable children modeling the finished projects! Really, seeing your photos inspires me to sew and to create more patterns.

While browsing recently, I was fascinated to see the various interpretations on the Playdate Dress. I love the unique looks that result from fabric choices, especially for the yoke of the dress. A rich polka dot gives the dress a contemporary flair while stripes looks almost like pintucks or spectacular tailoring. Here are some wonderful examples of your work, more of which can be found on Flickr. Thank you for your inspiring sewing, everyone!

I spent a little time in the garment district last week visiting my favorite fabric shops for a few items I needed. And while I was there I was thinking about you!

Several blog readers have recently requested ideas for a summer wardrobe much along the lines of our fall wardrobe concept. And a few of you have been bemoaning the lack of good fabric stores near you. While our patterns are designed specifically for printed quilting cottons, that doesn’t mean you are limited to those fabrics, so here are some other fabrics you might use. Call it my fantasy summer wardrobe, if you will:

I had no particular theme or concept in mind when I started shopping. But after a few items caught my eye, I started selecting fabrics with a nautical theme–based on red, white, blue and a natural flax color. Come to think of it, that color story and theme links back directly to my inspiration boards for our new spring patterns. (I’ll show you those images soon.)

In any case, after I gathered my collection of swatches, I headed back to the studio to create my conceptual summer wardrobe. And this is what developed:

A Tea Party Sundress with cranberry red yoke and red toile printed on linen for the skirt.

Two Swingset Tunics and Skirts made of a Liberty floral, two cotton shirtings, and a dark blue chambray.
A Sailboat Top (pattern arriving very soon…) made of yarn-dyed cotton shirting, plus natural flax Sailboat Pants and a Japanese printed-canvas Sailboat Skirt.
Puppet Show Tunic in a Liberty floral combined with a polka dot printed lawn for the yoke. And two versions of the Puppet Show Shorts (a favorite style of mine), one in polka dot cotton shirting and the other from a cotton mattress ticking.
Bubble Dress in navy and white Liberty floral.
And the same Liberty floral used for the Puppet Show Tunic is used as the bow for the Birthday Party Dress (pattern also arriving very soon), combined with a bold navy and white polka dotted canvas for the body of the dress.

In all my planning, I completely forgot to include the 2+2 Blouse and Skirt, which would also be great for summer. The pattern includes a really cute short sleeve option. I’ll be making it for S this summer, even if it’s not part of our fantasy wardrobe shown here.

I’d love to actually sew all these garments so we could play with the many outfits that might be created by mixing and matching the separates. For example, wouldn’t the Puppet Show Shorts look great with the Swingset Tunic? Or the Sailboat Pants or Skirt with the Puppet Show Tunic?

In any case, if you’ve fallen in love with any of these fabrics, you can purchase them from the shops where I got them with just a phone call. The following list will give you purchasing details for each of the fabrics. Match the numbered list below with the swatches at the beginning of the post and contact the shops directly if you want to order. B&J; Fabrics, the source of most of the swatches, has amazing customer service and will happily ship you anything from the list as long as the fabric is still in stock.

Please drop me a line or leave a comment to tell me if you order something from this list. If I know you’ve made use of the swatches, we can continue to do special posts and collections like this in the future. Have fun!

1. Liberty Tana lawn, $42.95/yd, 54″ wide, B&J; Fabrics reference 1502
2. Liberty Tana lawn, $42.95/yd, 54″ wide, B&J; Fabrics reference 1503
3. Polka dot printed canvas, $18.95/yd, 58″ wide, B&J; Fabrics reference 100827
4. Navy ticking stripe, $7.50/yd, 54″ wide, purchase online
5. Linen toile, $26.95/yd, 54″ wide, B&J; Fabrics reference 100828
6. Yarn-dye cotton shirting, $12.95/yd, 45″ wide, B&J; Fabrics (sorry I forgot to get a reference number for this one)
7. Japanese printed cotton, $26.95/yd, 44″ wide, B&J; Fabrics reference 1501
8. Polka dot cotton shirting, $12.95/yd, 45″ wide, B&J; Fabrics reference 100829
9. Windowpane cotton shirting, $12.95/yd, 45″ wide, B&J; Fabrics reference 100831
10. Polka dot cotton shirting, $12.95/yd, 45″ wide, B&J; Fabrics reference 100830
11. Natural linen, $8.25/yd, Gray Line Fabrics Warsa linen
12. Liberty Tana lawn, $42.95/yd, 54″ wide, B&J; Fabrics reference 1504
13. Polka dot lawn, $15.95/yd, 52″ wide, B&J; Fabrics reference 1505

I hope you enjoyed the holidays are are excited about the new year. We certainly enjoyed a little break over here, and I’ve been busy finishing up some personal projects that have been languishing. Now I’m ready to go with some new ideas for the new year.

What are your crafting plans for 2009?

Here is a project you might want to consider. We’ve just received yet another reprint of the A Day in the Park convertible backpack tote pattern. This was the very first pattern we produced, and it’s become a favorite of our customers. Many of you have called and written to tell us that you liked it so much you’ve made them as gifts for friends and family as well. I like it because I can carry the essentials to the playground, grocery store, or wherever I’m going and still have my hands free. We even use one at S’s preschool for the first aid kit when we take the children to the playground and on field trips.

This is a pattern that was written for a second-level sewing class, so you can make it even if you don’t have a lot of experience. It does involve several layers of fabric, and I recommend using a walking foot to prevent the layers from shifting while you’re sewing. The pattern offers lots of room for creative embellishment, like this little house fabric-covered button we added to ours.

Visit the Flickr group for this bag if you’d like to how other people have made and embellished it. And have fun!