It’s clear that you’re not just picking out a pattern and then selecting a random printed fabric to make it. You’re really analyzing the specific style attributes of the design and then thinking about how you can create an interesting collaboration between the silhouette and a fabric in order to maximize the impact of the final garment. Where do you find the inspiration that helps you do this so well?

I grab inspiration wherever it comes from. I sketch it out lengthily and watercolor it, debating color, fabric and modifications. It usually starts with books. And ends in a museum!

I’ve gathered kilograms of books on art history, theatre costume and fashion design, costume institute catalogues, historical and folkloric dress, and fabric. If I could, I’d spend my life haunting the likes of the V&A and the Musée des arts décoratifs. To touch that eighteenth century brocade! Damn the glass display case!

Back in the day when I was just a shallow and covetous fashionista with no sewing skills, I amassed some exquisite, mommy-incompatible pieces that have provided inspiration along the way. Rifling through a closet, yours, someone else’s, window shopping, street gawking, and patio side ogling can jolt innovation and the creative process in strange and unexpected ways!

Yves Saint-Laurent and Courrèges are always good muses with their simple shapes, clean lines, perfect cuts, and impeccable design. What more can one ask for? When it comes to touch and architecture, Japanese designers are surefire stimulation. Kawakubo Rei, Yohji Yamamoto, and eccentricities such as those of Hussein Chalayan always make me smile. You might not use it but it will trigger something.

Speaking of inspiration, you made a Bubble Dress a while ago that began from a pretty interesting jumping off point.

The Titania bubble dress! A Midsummer Night’s Dream must be one of my least favorite of Shakespeare’s plays. I never quite grasped the pixie flutter although I was spellbound by the headstrong character of the fairy queen. Inspiration here was literally literary.

An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds, field dew and sweet peace. A silk chiffon shift dress from Sportmax’s 2008 Spring/Summer collection covered in circular embroidered and sequined appliqués provided supplementary inspiration, and when I stumbled across this dusty rose silk and cotton appliquéd fabric on a German website, I thought its use on a Bubble Dress might quite possibly lead into the delightful world of the wood nymph!

One of the things that I find so interesting about your work is that you avoid prints and allow texture to do all the work of providing visual stimulation.

I am in awe of highly audacious colour combinations and almost hysterical histrionics such as can be found in collections by Kenzo and Christian Lacroix, but I am shy when it comes to pulling it off myself.

For the moment, I’m comfortable working with subdued color palettes where texture has the predominant role. A bit like in Italian tailoring, I like to let the fabric speak for itself. It always will if it’s well chosen and showcased.

Texture (more so than color) means depth, plays on perspective, the tantalizing theatre of light and shadow! How fun and exciting is that?! I have one dress in particular up on a pedestal when I’m thinking about texture in a neutral tone, Madame Grès’ Antigone dress at the Met Costume Institute. And one painting in mind, Jean-Baptiste Greuze’s La cruche cassée in the Louvre. Oh! The classical, not so virginal, bouillonné and twists of loveliness!

Tell us about the Puppet Show Tunic you made. There’s so much of interest going on in this garment, but there’s no print and no color.

This Puppet Show Tunic was made from an Alice + Olivia organic striped cotton and silk voile. The more opaque stripes are soft and slightly raised like on corduroy, leaving almost transparent and thinner stripes in between. Snap buttons covered with flat cotton mouliné buttons were used instead of buttonholes which I thought might weaken the delicate fabric with use.

The col claudine and puffed sleeves make this piece highly adorable and the pattern is one of my favorites. The fabric is soft, light and airy and I thought it would be interesting to use a somewhat “evanescent” cloth on a pattern with strong and well-defined elements, all in the name of contradiction.

You’re clearly unafraid to use high-end fabrics which is somewhat unusual for someone creating children’s clothing. Where do you find your fabrics?

I’m a fabric hound, constantly on the lookout! I spend a lot of time pouring through catalogues, and when I was still living in France, I made frenzied trips across the Channel.

Stragier in Belgium and MacCulloch & Wallis in the UK have true finds, although the price tag can quickly become quite steep. The US  has some great shops (Emma One Sock, Waechter’s, Hyena, Gorgeous Fabrics) when it comes to finding affordable high end fabrics. I have a list of my favorite fabric and haberdashery suppliers in the sidebar of my blog listed under the heading “Fournitures Couture.”

I’m quite squirrelly in that I like to gather and collect items from everywhere around the world, oftentimes ending up with a very international garment. France, Belgium, Spain, Italy, England, Germany, India, the US, Canada. It’s all over the map. High end fabric, quality fabric, interesting fabrics can be found. You just have to dig for them and snap them up once they comes along as there isn’t an abundance of it that trickles out of the Ziploc of haute couture.

One is tempted to believe, based on history, savoir faire, and reputation that France must be a treasure trove full of lovely fabric. True. But it’s not available to the larger public. As with most things in Europe, the best is as hermetically self-contained as might be dandruff in Lagerfeld’s starched white coiffure. Open air markets, web shops, fabric boutiques, vintage clothing shops, estate sales, auctions, eBay, great-auntie’s attic, the remnants of your mother-in-law’s moth-eaten Chanel jacket. All and any of it can lead to the perfect find.

I only choose fabric with natural fiber content and use cotton and silk thread. To me, natural fabric feels fuller, richer, more real, and closest to life and I like to think that it’s a greener solution to man-made fabrics. Sometimes beauty can be very simple as long as you’re betting on quality. Do more with less, or so goes the minimalist motto. But maybe I’m too much of a purist.

Some of the high-end fabrics like these don’t lend themselves to the everyday wear and tear that most kids exert on their clothing. Are these garments you’ve been making more for show than for wear?

Most of the garments I make would be labeled “heirloom” or “special occasion” although that’s not my goal. I think it’s possible to dress children in things we’d initially like to think they shouldn’t wear, like silk and cashmere. Surprisingly or not, these fibers are quite hard-wearing. Sure, sweat suits are practical; throw them in the washer and you don’t even have to iron them! But they ain’t very pretty are they? If you’re wary of damaging clothing in your washing machine, then it should probably be washed by hand or handed over to the drycleaner. Better to spend a little time or money than ending up with a ruined garment.

Spot cleaning is also a good solution, especially on woolens. We often over-wash our clothes when sometimes a good airing out outside (also especially good for woolies) is quite sufficient to get clothes smelling of sunshine. (Please excuse the Stepford moment!) Natural fibers have a distinct smell that some people can find displeasing but that’s all part of the arrangement. Mother Nature has an olfactory label on her wares.

The boy things I make are for my son Félix, and it’s wholly endearing to see him out and about in something I’ve made. But my hands have always itched to make girly things, skirts that swing and oodles of dresses.

So my friends with girls get lucky around birthdays and Christmas! But I’m also looking at starting a small home business to sell the pieces that I make. It’s a way of gaining closet space and supporting my new-found sewing craze. Possibly, hopefully, soon there will be an e-shop.

You can follow Marie-Michelle’s creations on her blog Rastaquouère. She also contributes to the French language group blogs Oliver + S Lovers, C’est Dimanche Addicts, and Défi 13.

I recently gave myself the same type of homework and spent the past three full days filling a sketchbook with page upon page of ideas for future sewing patterns. Hopefully when I look back at the designs I’ll find some useful ideas, now that the fall patterns are at the printer and it’s time to start work on the spring collection.

While I was in the studio, looking for some inspiration, I also came across some other sketches and thought you might enjoy seeing them. These are the spring sewing patterns, not in their first incarnation as preliminary ideas but as part of the package I send to Dan, our illustrator, each season, so he can paint the paper doll clothing. Among the many ways that I communicate with Dan are sketches I make showing him what the clothes should look like on the dolls. I also send photographs, fabric and color swatches, and lengthy notes about each garment. But the sketches are the most useful part of the package, I think. I can show exactly what the silhouette is: how long a skirt should be, how closely (or loosely) a garment should fit, where the pockets are placed and how the collar sits. Here is the Ice Cream Dress (sorry for the smudges; I generally work with pencil on vellum so I can draw directly on top of the a paper doll to get the proportions right.):

I get to pretend that I’m an illustrator when I do this, except that I use a lot of words to show what I mean. Dan doesn’t have that luxury. (On the other hand, he’s a professional illustrator; I merely need to communicate an idea, thank goodness.)

Here are the other spring patterns, just for the fun of it:

So I spell out (literally) a lot of information here, but there is one area in which I let Dan have complete control: I always suggest a few props to coordinate with the name of each pattern, and Dan chooses exactly which prop to draw and how to show it. He’s never disappointed me. My favorite prop is still the bunny slippers. After he finished the painting, I found an exact match for them and bought them as a prop for Quilt Market.

Ok, back to my sketches.

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

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?

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.

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 gave a few reasons why I still sew–even though cute children’s fashions are available inexpensively–and I opened the floor for comments. I somehow knew all of you would have more interesting reasons for sewing than I do! Thank you all for your comments and emails. Your responses were so well-thought and well-written, I thought I would assemble them for part 2 of this post about why we sew. So let’s continue, then:

4. Customized fit. Sarah C said, “There is no better way to get that perfect fitting garment you are looking for.” She’s absolutely correct, and I can’t believe I forgot this on my list! We’re built long and slim in my family, so when I sew for S, I make her a size 3 with a size 4 length. It’s easy to make adjustments like this when you sew, and it saves a trip to the tailor, too.

5. Tangible results. Karen made the excellent point that it’s nice to feel like you’ve actually accomplished something at the end of the day. When you’re rearing children, that feeling can be a little elusive. Sewing something, however, gives immediate results. Perhaps we’re better parents when we can balance the long-term goals with the shorter-term end products?

6. Selection of fabrics. Sarah C also made the excellent point that you can choose your own fabrics when you sew, which also means that you can select from the very best qualities. Designers are often limited by price, but a seamstress can splurge whenever she wants and production won’t complain a bit (although the family bookkeeper might have something to say about that topic). In other words, it’s nice to have a choice when it comes to fabrics.

7. March to your own drum beat. I’ve been on a hunt for the perfect apple-green skirt for months now; I should probably just make it myself, since it’s not a color that’s currently available in stores. After all, who says we all want to follow the latest color trends? Make your own trends, or just sew what you like best.

8. Working together. Sallyavena said it well, “It’s for the details and the ability to take one pattern and adjust it or add to it whatever my daughter wants. It’s also fun to ‘design’ a dress/outfit with her. She gets to add her opinions, pick out the fabric, or something along those lines and it’s a little bonding time for us.” One of my favorite childhood memories is going to the fabric store with my Mom to pick out a pattern, select the fabrics and trims, and “help” (or at least watch) her sew it. This is the primary reason I became a designer (did you know that, Mom?); the process inspires me, and I adored that quality time with my Mom. Plus, I had a great dress to wear when it was done.

9. Ability to make something more beautiful than you can afford to purchase. Sarah-Jo makes another good point. When you sew, you can make garments with details that you might not be able to afford in a shop. Very high-end clothing lines often include details that a seamstress can achieve at home, if she’s willing to spend a little time on them. (Maybe this one does fall into the category of sewing to save money, but I think this is really more about the quality of the results that someone can achieve by putting passion, love, and sweat equity into a project.) This is one of the aspects of my job that I like best. I love the little achievable details, and I like to include them in our patterns too.

10. The “you made that?!?” jaw-drop effect. OK, maybe it’s vanity. But don’t you love it when people are stunned at your awe-inspiring needle skills? Come on, it’s true.

11. Matching (or co-ordinating) outfits for children, families, and dolls. But before you go too crazy with all that matching, please take heed of this family photo from the 1970s. (Sorry, Mom.)

12. Keeping the art alive. Mirjam emailed to say, “And then there is also the aspect to take care that the wide variety of different techniques don’t die out. It really doesn’t take many generations. Soon the old experts are gone to tell us their little trade secrets. And show us their pride and joy in doing a good job. Machines can’t do that.” Very true. As we purchase more factory-made goods, are we losing the ability to make those things ourselves? Are we also losing that connection to our history and to self-sufficiency?

13. Age-appropriate dressing. Karen also made mention of this issue, which I hear frequently from our customers. While I don’t insist, personally, that children should be dressed “modestly,” I really don’t see why anyone would want to dress a three-year-old to look like a hoochie mama. That applies to eight-year-olds, too.

14. Creating heirlooms and memories. I don’t mean this in the traditional sense of heirloom sewing, like elaborate Christening gowns and the like. Hollie said, “I tend to want to keep the clothes I’ve made because of the time (and money) I spent on them…. Perhaps it’s because creating something is so personal that it’s difficult to let go. I tend to think it’s because those items have such great memories attached to them. We get to revisit those memories each time we clean out the closet.” It’s true; I adore the dresses my Mom made and kept for me, and it’s wonderful to let my S wear them now that they’re starting to fit her (like my butterfly dress, below). I’ll save the dresses I’ve made for her so someday she’ll have her own memories to pass along and share. Emily added, “When my mom is gone someday, we will still have this link to her creativity, love, practicality, and skill.”

15. We’re spending less elsewhere. “I probably spend more on fabric than I would on a garment, but I’m driving less, getting fuel less, wear-n-tear on my car less (the closest decent mall is 30 minutes away), getting mochas less, spending elsewhere less… it might even out,” says April. Very true. As a hobby, sewing might mean we’re actually spending less on other past times than we would if we weren’t sewing. On a side note, I’ve heard other seamstresses say (perhaps only partially in jest?) that sewing is cheaper than therapy. Hmmm.

16. Love. I’ve been thinking a lot about this issue myself, and Keri said it well: “I love the act of giving that’s involved [in sewing]. In an entirely tangible, practical way I can lavish the recipient of my handmade work with love, attention, and time, whether it is my daughter, husband, self, friend, or famil
y.” When we sew for the people around us, we’re telling them that we value them enough to spend our time making something for them. And we’re giving them something that has love sewn right into it. Indywriter said, “if I have taken the time to create something handmade for you, it’s because you are special to me or to my family. I am not only giving you a dress, I am giving you the precious gift of my time and my thoughts during the process of making it.”

So there are sixteen excellent reasons why we sew. Most of them have little to do with saving money, do they? I think sewing today is much more about these reasons than it is about being thrifty. We might be spending more or less, depending on our choices, but we get so many other benefits from our craft.

When you sit down at your sewing machine tonight, what are you going to make?

What do you like to illustrate most?
Right now I’m getting a kick out of illustrating my own stories. I like that a lot. After doing piles and piles of book jackets and picture books, I started writing my own stories. I’m working on my sixth book now to be published next year.

Do you have a favorite?
I do. It came out last year, and it’s called The Giant of Seville. It’s based loosely on a giant who moved to a small town and spent his life in the circus in the 1800s after the Civil War. His name was Martin Van Buren Bates. He weighed 525 pounds and was 7’ 11.5” tall. He married a woman who was a giant too. She was even a little taller than he was. The way I wrote the story, it’s fictional. It’s about someone who’s different and can fit into a community. I think it’s a neat book for kids.

How did you find out about these people?
I don’t remember how I found out about them originally. I must have stumbled across an article at the historical society. There are a couple plaques there now indicating that giants used to live there. In one of the shops they may have had a pair of his boots in a window case.

When my kids were younger, we used to drive through the town of Seville which is not too far from where we live. My son was in a car seat, and I told him that giants used to live here. His eyes would get as big as saucers, and he would look around like he expected to see giants today. I used to tell my kids about the giant couple who lived in this town, and I figured if they were that interested there was something there that I could write about.

My story is a fictionalized account of these real people’s lives. It’s a made up story the way I would make up stories to tell the kids. I’ve met some real sticklers for historical fact. It bugs them that I don’t tell the true story, but I had a story I wanted to tell. I used a little bit of historical fact and built a lot of fiction around it to allow me to tell the story of someone different and how he was accepted.

What do you like about the Oliver + S paper dolls you do?
I’ve enjoyed creating the paper dolls. I think it’s a clever and unique way to feature the patterns. And I think the retro look, in a strange way, is really fresh.

This is something that our customers wouldn’t necessarily know, but your original illustrations for Oliver + S are really small in scale. How are you able to achieve so much detail in such a small space?
Good glasses, I guess! I usually work to size. When I illustrate a season for Oliver + S, the whole thing (a paper doll and five outfits) fits on an 8.5 x 11 inch piece of paper.

My first job was working for American Greetings as an in-house illustrator and in their studio. I just got used to working small like that. It’s the way we did things. If I’m doing a book jacket, I’ll sometimes do that at 150 to 200 % of the reproduction size. But for most of my illustrations I work to size.

How did you get your start as an illustrator?
I was 19 years old when I was hired at American Greetings Corp. Back in 1980, I was at Kent State working on a fine art major. I decided to go look for a job, and I went to American Greetings with my portfolio.

When I was waiting for my turn to go in to interview, the receptionist took a phone call, and I heard her say she was sorry but there were no artist positions available—unless you can sculpt. Of course, my portfolio was filled with all two-dimensional work. When my turn came, I went in and showed my portfolio. The interviewer asked me what deep in my heart I wanted to do, and I said I wanted to sculpt. So they sent me home with a block of clay and told me to make something. I did. And I got the job.

I spent my first few years there using dental tools to sculpt figurine and picture frame prototypes. They would be shipped overseas to be mass produced. After a couple years of that I moved into the conventional design department.

Did you learn anything interesting from working in three dimensions?
I learned that I really wanted to paint, not sculpt!

I worked through the 1980s at American Greetings, and at the end of the 1980s I hooked up with an agent in New York who started giving me publishing work. So I started working for myself. I did two American Girl series—first the Felicity then the Samantha books.

When you illustrated the American Girl books, you based some of your work on your own children, didn’t you? What did they think about that at the time?
Anybody who hangs around my studio long enough ends up in one of my books.

My kids grew up with that. My oldest daughter is 22 now. Felicity’s younger sister and brother were my kids. Later when I did the Samantha books, I used my daughter as the model for Samantha and her best friend for Nellie. My youngest is five now, and she’s my new model.

I work with professional and neighborhood models too. When I hire someone to model for me, I pay them. So when my kids would pose for me, I would give them a few dollars. It was a real job for them, and they’ve always been good sports about it. When my oldest was in kindergarten, her teacher asked her what kind of work her dad did, and she said, “He colors.” As far back as their memories go, I was always working in my home studio.

Next: Dan discusses his favorite recent project.

To that end, I’m pleased to announce a new page on our website: the Garments page, which contains links to boutique sewers who are offering readymade and custom clothing created from Oliver + S patterns. Now if you don’t have the time to sew (or haven’t learned how yet), you can still purchase a piece of clothing made from one of our designs.

This new section of our website will put you in touch directly with talented sewers who are willing to work with you to create custom garments to your specifications. We hope to expand the number of participants in the program in upcoming weeks, and we will be adding more photos of finished garments. Stop by often to see the work of our talented boutique sewers highlighted.