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.

How about some inspiration to start a couple sewing projects this new year?

From now through January 22, order two or more patterns on the Oliver + S website and shipping to addresses in the United States and Canada is on us. Live outside North America? We’ll take $6.00 off shipping for your order.

• To receive free shipping on your U.S. or Canadian order, use coupon code FREESHIPJAN at checkout.
• For discounted shipping to other countries, use coupon code DISCSHIPJAN.

Happy shopping!

We’re getting ready for summer at home, and I recently made something for S that I thought I would show. Here’s her new 2+2 blouse with short sleeves.

We debuted this pattern last fall. It appears on the website and on the pattern envelope with long sleeves. Many people don’t know this, but some sleeve shapes don’t lend themselves nicely to shortening. If you take a long sleeve pattern and shorten the sleeve, the finished garment can have a nasty tendency of winging out at the top of the shoulder.

We wanted to make this pattern more versatile for our customers, so we included a separate short-sleeve pattern piece in the envelope as well. The short-sleeve piece is shaped completely differently than the long sleeve, and I love the resulting fit. It’s a flattering shape that stays close to the arm without being restrictive, and it has a nice cap that’s not your usual puffed sleeve. I think it’s sweet and feminine without being frilly.

I used a few fabrics from the stash for this blouse, which is intended to be worn with the chambray/denim Puppet Show shorts we showed recently. (I’ll photograph the two items together one of these days when my model is in a co-operative mood.) The blouse fabric is from Lecien’s Calme collection, and it’s great for summer because it’s lightweight and almost (but not quite) sheer.

Since sewing gives a perfect opportunity for customization, S and I had a little fun with the front of this blouse. We (OK, I) eliminated the ties and added a button loop and covered button. S directed the embroidery of the button itself, selecting colors for the tiny house. We now refer to the blouse as the House Button Shirt.

And at the back, we opted for yellow thread with my beloved mother-of-pearl buttons (in smokey grey this time). The bright yellow is a subtle surprise for anyone who looks closely.

I like little details like this. But you already knew that, I think.

I just finished making this pair of Puppet Show shorts for S. In past summers she has lived in this style, and I suspect she’ll be doing the same this year. They’re very comfortable with an elastic waistband and fullness that gets gathered into bias binding at the leg opening. But my favorite part is the pockets, which are applied near where the side seam would be. (The shorts don’t have a side seam which makes them even faster to sew up.) The pockets are fun and easy to make and look more impressive than their actual difficulty.

I used a lightweight denim for this pair, but I used the wrong side of the fabric so it looks like chambray. I’ve got a thing for chambray; it looks a little dressier than denim. But I know that because of the durability of the denim these shorts will last through a summer of sandboxes, slides and bike riding.

Sew Hip, a new sewing magazine in the UK, commissioned an Oliver + S pattern for its most recent issue. (Yes, that’s it on the cover–shown with Martha the chicken). The pattern, called the Popover Sundress, is a simple pull-on dress with bias straps that tie at the shoulder.

The pattern is fun to make because it’s very easy to sew and gives you the option to add lace, rickrack, or a ruffle to the yoke. The adjustable straps make it an especially versatile pattern that would be cute as a swimsuit cover-up this summer or as a dressier garment if made in fabrics like linen or silk. It would even be appropriate over a blouse or shirt when the weather gets cooler.

Here are some photos we took before sending Sew Hip the samples for their photo shoot.

If you’ve sewn a Popover Sundress from the Sew Hip pattern, we would love to see it! You can add your photos to the Oliver + S Flickr group. We’ve already seen several versions sent to us via email, and it looks like lots of seamstresses are enjoying themselves with the pattern. We can’t wait to see more!

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.