[littlebirdy]

Hello everyone from a very beautiful, sunshiney, autumnal day in England!

I am learning to sew using the oliver and s patterns and I am loving it. I just wondered if there are other people who are doing this and if so how they’re doing it – in what order.

I started with the bedtime story pyjamas and have made two yummy pairs.

Next a popover skirt in needlecord. Very beautiful and I love deciding whether to position it on, under or over my little girls round tummy!

I got a bit jealous of the utter beauty of the pyjamas on my little girl so I’m making myself a pair of pyjama lounge pants from the Amy Butler in stitches book. So far I’ve cut out the pieces. My first non Oliver and S experiment.

I have just placed an order for the sandbox pants, 2+2 and the birthday party dress (possibly too hard but the pictures on flickr persuaded me.) Not sure which I’ll do first, probably Sandbox pants for my twin boy and girl and then maybe more pyjamas for my big 3 year old boy.

Would love to hear what other people are up to who are new to sewing. x

[Toyota888]

How exciting – I finally put some photos up on Flikr of my “firsts”. I really think you will be OK doing the Birthday Party dress once you’ve done the 2+2 blouse and skirt – the pleats required patience and careful marking (and sticking to the seam allowance etc) but if you take it slowly and don’t expect to get too much done each night you’ll be fine. You will already have pleat experience from the 2+2 skirt then anyway!

I mentioned in another post on this forum the things I stuffed up along the way – one that you may come up against if you are sewing a very small size like I was, was sewing the front tab into the armhole seam! The second time around I pinned it out of the way while sewing the armhole. You also need to be really precise with the shoulder seams and get as close to the pressed facing fabric as possible when sewing the outer fabric. There is a big topic on the forum about problems sewing in the facings – I didn’t have any trouble but I could see how you might forget to unfold both the folds of the back button placket before sewing the facing on – make sure you are back to the cut edge.

[admin]

What a fortuitous time to start this thread! We’re drafting a blog post now about this very topic. I’m not sure it will be published before we leave for Quilt Market next week, but keep your eye on the blog for our thoughts on the topic.

I’m interested in hearing the order of attack all of you have used. We have one we’re going to propose, but I can’t wait to hear about the approaches you’ve used.

[littlebirdy]

Sounds perfect. Can’t wait to see the blog.

Toyota888 (Miranda?) which ones are your photos? Do you post under a different name or did I miss them?

[April Henry]

My plan of attack was more or less seasonal, but I’ll see if I can’t list them in order of what I made for my daughter: Swingset Top & Skirt, Puppet Show Dress, Tea Party Dress, Sunday Brunch Jacket & Skirt, 2+2 Set, Sandbox Pants, Bubble Dress, Lazy Days Skirt, Sailboat Pants & Top, Playdate Dress, Popover Dress, Birthday Party Dress, & now the Jump Rope Dress (with a few duplicates in between as needed). Going over that list, I probably would rearrange if I were coaching a beginner. Liesl’s designs really do teach you along the way – she’s certainly setting a new stand-by. Her patterns are becoming my go-to for everything because I can always count on them for fit and clear, concise construction.

I’m anxious to see what you post on the blog for the Oliver + S recommended order – I can see it being a good resource to point fellow sewists to if they haven’t sewn O+S before.

[Toyota888]

Hi Robyn

Here’s my photostream, which is in the O&S group too:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/toyota888/

Can’t wait to see what you do for your twins!

Miranda

[sews4kla]

Toyota888 your O + S projects are beautiful. Thank you for sharing them. Who is the designer for the fabric in your birthday party dress#2? Is it recent? I would love to track down some fabric just like that in the same colors. My sweetpea could use a few subtle tones in her closet.

[Toyota888]

Aw thanks! The dot is “1974” by Urban Chiks for Moda. There’s also a nice grey/blue one. I got it a couple months ago from Z&S fabrics in the US so much less postage for you than me!

[littlebirdy]

Really, really love your things!

I love that dress too. You made it beautifully. Everything looks gorgeous though, and nice to see your family modelling. Very scrummy. I must sort myself out and put my things on Flickr. Seems to take me ages to do anything! It’s a challenge – you are way ahead of me Toyota888! x

[jodier]

As a newbie sewer, what attracted me to O+S was all these tallented blogworld sewers saying how much they loved working with the patterns and how clear the explanations etc were. I am starting with the Teaparty dress, mostly because it only goes up to size 5 and so won’t last very long. So far, so good construction wise (I have made the skirt and the bodice but not joined them yet) however I have no idea at all about other things that are not covered in the pattern, like how to get the shapes cut from the fabric accurately and where to start stitching, top down or bottom up or does it not matter? So maybe in Liesl’s copious free time (LOL) a blog post about pre-sewing issues would be gratefully received!

[admin]

As promised a while ago, here’s the blog post with the official (for what it’s worth…) Oliver + S recommended course of attack.

http://www.oliverands.com/blog/2009/10/learning-to-sew-with-oliver-s.html

[April Henry]

jodier – I use a rotary cutter almost exclusively now to cut out my patterns. I can cut as precisely as possible.

[jodier]

Thanks April. I had read on your blog that you do this and I had a go myself with DISASTEROUS results. How do you zip around curves? I could do the straight bits OK because I had a ruler to run along but there aren’t that many straight bits in a dress pattern 🙂

[April Henry]

It took some getting used to – I will say that much. I think my first go was disasterous, too. It took me slowing down to a crawl and practicing. I also sit in a chair at a table when I cut out patterns. Standing up doesn’t give me as much control or leave me as relaxed. I’ve heard the size of blade can make a difference, too. I use a 45mm, but would like to try something smaller.

[Lizabeth]

When using a rotary cutter around curves, I not only use a smaller blade, but I place a 12″ quilting ruler on the pattern which I can pivot with my left hand as I slide the blade along it’s edge (following the line of the pattern). This gives the blade something hard to follow as it cuts–which avoids ‘nicks’ into the garment piece 🙂