would you like to join our advisors circle?

Hello friends!

It’s been two and a half years since we launched our Advisors Circle program, and the time has flown! I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing and hearing from our members. They’ve all done a lovely job, haven’t they? I’m personally so grateful for their participation during this time. We’ve gotten to know each other quite well, and we’ve had some really interesting conversations. In fact, I think we’ve all learned from each other, and their advice has been really important to me.

Since we actually meant for each group to disband after only one year, we’re way overdue to bid a fond farewell to this one and start looking for new advisors. Are you interested?

As part of our Advisors Circle, you’ll contribute your ideas to our pattern development process, and you’ll have the opportunity to sew special projects that will expand your horizons and deepen your skills. You’ll also get an insider’s perspective on our business.

What does that mean?

First of all, occasionally I will reach out to Advisors Circle members with ideas for special, custom sewing projects that make use of our patterns. If you sign up to sew one of the project ideas for yourself or a child (depending on the pattern and your interests), you’ll get personal instruction and consulting from me to help you to make the project. In the process, you’ll make something personal and unique and you’ll hopefully learn some new skills. In exchange for this personal attention, you’ll agree to photograph your creation and contribute a post to the Oliver + S blog about your work (giving you credit, of course, and the opportunity to also share your work if you have a blog and/or social media channels). This way you’ll learn something new and you’ll share your new knowledge and fun project with our sewing community!

As part of our Advisors Circle, we’ll also occasionally ask you for feedback and opinions about upcoming project and pattern ideas, and you’ll get sneak peeks and insight on what’s coming next, as well as the opportunity to help guide our decisions. I love to bounce ideas off our customers, so I envision this to be like a mini-focus group. I’ll ask you what you want to sew next, which pattern ideas you prefer, what you think about some of my never-ending stream of creative ideas. (Todd gets tired of hearing them.…) This is a great opportunity to learn while contributing to the Oliver + S and Liesl + Co. community.

This isn’t a request for pattern testers. This is an opportunity for people with a desire to expand their sewing knowledge and become an active part of the sewing community.

Interested? Want to learn more about the program? I hope so! You can download more information about the opportunity and how to apply by clicking this link.

We plan to select between six and eight people for the group, so good luck! This is going to be a really fun year!



 

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5 Comments

  1. Gill Merrey

    I would really be interested in this. I am now sewing for my 3 year old granddaughter and have already made her a few Oliver + s patterns. I love to make her pretty dresses but the truth is at the moment she needs more practical clothes for playing in. I also sew for myself and have just retired early so have been sewing up a storm but want to progress in my sewing journey

  2. Sue

    I’d be really interested to know why there’s no offer of reimbursement for either time or materials involved with being part of the Advisors Circle? There to be quite a number of expectations on the maker to fulfil the role but only ‘free’ patterns in return. Isn’t it about time that bigger companies offered some recompense for the time and effort home sewers contribute in return for the assistance, feedback and content they provide? I would have been very interested to apply but yet again we’re expected to do it for the love of it.
    I’m fully aware there will be plenty of people willing to do this for nothing but that doesn’t make this situation right or fair.

    1. Sue,

      There is compensation for being in the group, it’s just not monetary compensation. See, for example, “If you sign up to sew one of the project ideas for yourself or a child (depending on the pattern and your interests), you’ll get personal instruction and consulting from me to help you to make the project. In the process, you’ll make something personal and unique and you’ll hopefully learn some new skills.”

      So yes, if personal attention and assistance from me on a sewing project of your choice isn’t of value to you, this isn’t the group for you. We would love to compensate everyone monetarily (and we do pay all our pattern testers) but frankly there isn’t enough cash to go around for all the things we would like to do. (We’re a very small company, actually, and we operate on a shoestring.) Since this is something that we simply don’t have the funds to compensate for, I work to make it worth the while for all our participants in other ways.

      With the call for applications, I want to be completely clear that this is not a paid position and what types of non-monetary benefits being part of the group offers so that people can decide whether or not participation is for them before they apply.

      1. Sue

        hello Liesl, thank you for your response, I’ve only just seen it, I wasn’t ignoring it.

        I do completely understand that many companies operate on very small budgets and I was pleased to hear that you do compensate testers for their time, most don’t, which is immensely frustrating.

        I’m very sure you will have had many suitable applicants for the advisors circle and I wish you well

  3. Marge

    I think you should change your policy for purchased patterns that limit the number of downloads to 4. I have purchased patterns from many other sites and yours is the only one I’ve found that has this restriction

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