You’re all so eager to know more about these patterns! I’ll go into detail about each one individually over the course of this week, but here is some general information about them to help you get started.
First of all, I wanted these patterns to be very approachable for everyone–from beginning sewists to those of you who have more experience and feel comfortable sewing for yourselves. But rather than give you patterns that are easy to sew but that look schlumpy and not flattering, it was important to me that these be really wearable pieces. These patterns are designed to become your wardrobe basics. They’re flattering, easy to sew, easy to fit, and when you make them you’ll feel like a sewing pro. Our testers of all shapes and sizes were very pleased with the results, and I’m confident that you’ll like them too.
Many of you have gained sewing skills and confidence through sewing Oliver + S patterns for your children but are still intimidated when it comes to sewing for yourself. I see this all the time when I teach, and I hear you! These patterns are designed to help you overcome the scary parts of sewing for grown-up bodies, which is mostly the fit part. Because these patterns are easy to fit and include instructions for doing a full bust adjustment, it’s going to be much easier for you to make something that you’ll actually wear and which actually fits than you can imagine. This way, we’ll gradually increase your comfort level so that eventually you’ll be confident about sewing anything you want for yourself!
Regarding sizing, I’ve developed a measurement chart to help you determine your size (you can see it under the “size chart” tab on the page for every pattern), but in general you should feel comfortable making your usual ready-to-wear size. In other words, make the size you actually wear when you go shopping in a store. I’ll write a longer post about fit, sizing and ease shortly, so if you have questions about this sit tight and rest assured that I’ll do my best to cover this topic in greater detail soon. But in the meantime, go for your usual off-the-rack size.
Also, here’s a link for a new and much-requested Liesl and Co. Flickr group. Once you sew one of these patterns, show us all what you’ve done!
What else? Kelly of Cut Cut Sew has already blogged about her Everyday Skirt. It looks great on her, doesn’t it? (Yes, I sent her an advance copy. No, she didn’t sew it in three hours!) I’ll talk more about this pattern tomorrow, with a lot more photos.
Other questions? Which pattern will you try first?
I am soooooooooooooo excited!! I haven’t sewn for myself in FOR-EVER! Now, I’m all over it. I can’t WAIT to read all about whatever else you’re going to say about these patterns. THANK YOU!!! I love your style…you’re all about TEACHING. So helpful. YAY!
Kelly’s skirt is just gorgeous!! I can’t wait to make up the cape – I have fabric waiting. I bought a Burda pattern for it but could not for the life of me work out the instructions (all two paragraphs) – I know that the Oliver & S version will be 1000x easier to follow, Thank you Liesl!!
What are the finished measurements for the garments?
The patterns are all very interesting, but it’s hard to imagine how they look on the bigger sizes. Please include photos of different kind of sizes with each pattern, I hope you do it when introducing the patterns individually, and hope photos of various sizes can be introduced also on the covers of the patterns. Thank you!
I was going to email you today to ask why I couldn’t find the Woodland Stroll Cape on your site. I went to buy it the other day and was nowhere to be found, now I know why. How excited was I to not only find it back but also to find new patterns :o) These look great!
Tali, our budget and time allowed us to shoot one size of these patterns, but if you watch the new Flickr group for the patterns I’m hoping some of our testers and blogging friends will start posting their photos!
Mel, you can find finished measurements for the patterns under the web page for each pattern. Just scroll down and you’ll see the chart.