Nicole

Sure–athletic clothes are often made of hydrophobic materials, which makes it difficult to eliminate odors because water is repelled by the fabric. Two suggestions: soak them in a water-vinegar mixture first. Then add some baking soda to the washing machine. Both of these methods will help get rid of odors easily!

The “cut placket piece” referred to in step 2 is not the 1″ strip you’ve just removed from the front of the shirt.
The cut placket piece is a separate pattern piece.
Check your cutting layout. You’ll find it. It’s plenty wide enough to follow the instructions as written.

Hi Ann,
Curly knits can be a right pain.
One tip I’ve heard, but never yet resorted to trying myself, is spray starch.
I tend to pin the shoulders, centre back and centre front and then start stretching and pinning all the rest of the way around.
Use lots and lots of pins.
If you then find it scary to sew the neckband on with the serger and all…[Read more]

That’s really cute! Very inspiring.

I notice you asked in the Facebook group too and I answered in a little more detail there.
In short, it depends entirely on whether the dress you’ve designed requires any opening in the centre back skirt.
If an opening, like a zipper, or button placket extends into the skirt panel then you need that extra seam allowance.
If not, use the inner line…[Read more]

It looks great on you! Well done.

Here it is: https://oliverands.com/community/blog/2016/08/reversible-bucket-hat-tutorial.html
The photos help to show how you get the lid set into the crown.
Good luck.

Even when you’ve got everything right, seeing hats can be tricky.
I find it helps to mark, or stitch, along the 1/2″ seam lines and make sure I’m pinning at the seam line, not trying to match up raw edges.
It also helps to pin the four quarter marks (front, back and each side) and then ease the fabric inbetween to fit.
You may also need to clip…[Read more]

Lining up the raw edges flat like that doesn’t represent what happens when you stitch. What you need to look at is the stitching lines.
With a 1/2″ seam allowance you should overlap those pattern pieces so there’s 1″ of double pattern.
Does that make the edges meet properly?
It’s a slightly curved seam, so there’ll be a little bit of angle change…[Read more]

Oh, I agree with Lightning! Checks would be darling:

It would be a challenge, sure. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth a go!
Options to make it easier for yourself might include cutting the waist/belt section on the bias (windowpane check) or cross grain (stripe)
That gives you a bit of a visual break between the bodice and the skirt so your pattern matching across those sections doesn’t have to…[Read more]

The Saint-Germain has waist pleats, not waist darts. So you don’t really need to extend anything. If you don’t think that will work for your shape, you could try rotating the fullness of the pleat into a side bust dart. I added a dart for mine since I have a large bust.

I like Lightning’s thoughts about it! (And I think it’s a size limit regarding posting here. If you make the photo smaller you should be able to post it.)

I think “over the top” and “as it pleases them” and “with pockets” are really the only rules when it comes to sewing for two year Olds.
So, by those benchmarks your dress is a winner!

It’s possible, sure. But you won’t like it as much 😉
The back waistband with the two channels of thinner elastic has a much nicer feel with softer gathers and just wears SO much better than with one wide elastic.
Wider elastic will either be really stiff, or will be prone to folding.

As I’m typing this, I’m wearing an Everyday Skirt that I…[Read more]

I believe it’s not just the negative ease of the fabric that drives the difference. The pants have an elastic waist, so the relaxed measurement includes the elastic at rest. The waist will expand significantly when worn due to the elastic and the knit fabric.

There’s a tutorial that will show you exactly how to do that here:

how to turn a long sleeve shirt into short sleeves

Hi Cindy, the seam allowance is there on Page 2 of the Instructions: General Instructions, point 4: “Seam allowances are included in the pattern and are 1/2″ unless otherwise noted”.

All of the Oliver + S an dLiesl+ Co patterns tend to work with 1/2″ seam allowances, the main exception being knit garments which may have a 1/4″ seam allowance.…[Read more]

My understanding was that you’re sewing the Woodland Stroll Cape?

You can use a lining instead of a facing. That’s perfectly fine. I’m not following exactly what you’re trying to do with two bodice pieces, but it sounds like that’s not important here. Yes, just line it instead of a facing. No problem.