Hello, friends!
Have you been watching the Oliver + S flickr group this week? You are such a clever, creative group of sewists! Every year you surprise me with more amazing Halloween costumes made using our patterns. Take the Tootsie Roll and gumball machine below, for example. Kelly used our School Photo Dress pattern as the base for the Tootsie Roll (love the frilly hat!), and she used the Fairy Tale Dress pattern for the equally adorable gumball machine (again, great hat!).
Or what about Hermione here? She’s wearing the Music Class Blouse and Skirt under her fantastic cape, both of which can be worn long after Halloween. (Which reminds me that I need to find out whether I can use the Music Class pattern to sew school uniforms for S.) This is such a professional-looking, impressive costume. Well done, Allie!
We had a little Halloween fun ourselves last weekend, although trick-or-treating isn’t really a thing here in Spain. Nonetheless, S dressed up at King Carlos IV of Spain (the same costume as last year) and we took photos in front of King Carlos’ real-life palace, which is just a few blocks from our apartment. She really got into character; she’s such a good sport about these things.
Pinterest Picks
I just love this quilt by Denyse Schmidt.
And this Hide-and-Seek Dress by Susie reminds me a bit of Denyse’s quilt!
Isn’t this a beautiful version of the Lisette moto jacket (B6169)? I love the pieced panels and the combined leather and plaid.
I also really love this Madewell dress, which is so very similar to our Liesl + Co Gallery Tunic + Dress pattern. I’m wearing my windowpane version of the dress with leggings and jeans this fall. I’ll show you soon.
Weekend Reading
- The importance of rituals. I hadn’t given this much thought before, but it makes a lot of sense! (And it’s a relief to know that dinner together as a family counts as a ritual.)
- We’ve been talking to S about the math power pose lately, especially as she approaches middle school when many girls start feeling intimidated and start under-performing in areas like math and science. But did you know that there are lots of other things you can do to help you fake confidence, even when you don’t feel confident at all?
- An interesting thought piece about why women have trouble being friends and compete with each other instead. What do you think about this?
- And as long as we’re talking about female friendships, I thought this was also intriguing: how friendships change when we’re adults.
Have a wonderful weekend! Oh, and don’t forget that the Swingset Skirt sew-along starts on Monday. I’m ready. Are you?
Thanks for featuring my costumes, they were super fun to make!! That Hermione costume is just precious. Agree…so professional! I’m already on my 4th Swingset skirt in 2 weeks…don’t know what took me so long to discover this fabulous pattern!
Love, love the creative Halloween costumes! And so clever of you to take pics of S in front of the real castle of King Carlos IV and in costume, no less!
Dear Liesl, as you say, your girl is a ‘good sport’. It takes guts to stand outside historic monuments in ‘costume’, and be photographed. The outfit, by the way, is outstanding. It could double as ‘the young Mozart’ if you all find yourself in Vienna. (Maybe don’t tell S).
I too, am a fan of Denyse Schmidt’s creativity; not so much her quilts as her fabrics, and I used them in a variety of O+S creations. I do so enjoy your PinInterest picks, and your newsletters. Take care, and thank you.
All of those costumes are so much fun!
I’m intrigued by the stuff on friendships. I read a fascinating article on the differences among friendships between women in the US and in Japan — the article interviewed women who had left prominent positions in their careers in the US for less-desirable work in Japan, because of the types of friendships they were able to form and sustain there. Regrettably, searching for ‘japanese female friendships’ turns up rather undesirable web results.