oliver + s Archives - and then they...

Little Red, The Big Bad Wolf, #30daysofgratitude

Posted by Carolyn on October 30, 2015 1 Comment

The end of October brings two things: Halloween and November. First things first, let’s get to Halloween. It was Alma and Harriet’s first time carving pumpkins this year. I have to admit it went much better than I expected! The promise of cinnamon rolls probably helped.

This year my girls are Little Red Riding Hood and The Big Bad Wolf. I made Alma’s dress using the same Shwin and Shwin pattern I’ve used before (here and here and here) for my base, but really altered it. I made a circle skirt and added a petticoat layer. The dress is so fun and twirly. I also did snaps instead of buttons or a zipper. Snaps are my jam these days.

For the cape and hood, I used Oliver + S’s pattern from their Little Things to Sew book. I used a cozy flannel for both the dress and the lining of the cape. The outside of the cape is red velvet because it doesn’t get more Little Red Riding Hood than red velvet.

Harriet’s costume is a little more thrown together. I made the hat with wolf ears (that sort of looks like Yoda ears) using a pattern from the same Oliver+S book. It’s made out of flannel, with a plaid flannel lining. The vest is borrowed from Harriet’s friend Elsa. The makeup is by me and my eyeliner pencil. The tail is just a bunch of yarn I combed and pinned to her pants. She loves growling these days, so a wolf is kind of perfect. Today they got to wear their costumes to school. Hopefully they come home with all the parts and pieces.

So, next up is November! My favorite because we get to anticipate the anticipatory season on Advent, which is my favorite! It’s kind of like how Thursday is fun because you know Friday is coming up.

I’ve been doing the #30daysofgratitude project on Instagram for at least 3 years. I love being mindfully grateful (as evidenced by 2014 and my 365 days of gratitude). During my year of gratitude, I would write down one thing each day – one word only. This November project is more fun because it can be a full sentence, a story, or a word – in addition to the photo.

The thing about these hashtag projects is that they are much more fun when friends play along (thanks for joining me with my #93summerdays, Meredith!), so please join me this year! I know I’ll be joined with hundreds or thousands of strangers, but it’s fun to have friends and readers play along, too. I’ll be using the tried and true #30daysofgratitude hashtag, but I think I’ll add #30daysofgratitudeATT (for And Then They), just to keep things separate.

If you want to practice gratitude next month, please use both #30daysofgratitude and #30daysofgratitudeATT, so I’m sure to see your posts. Also, share your Instagram name in the comments, or comment on my posts so I can follow you! (Mine is carolynfwilliams)

Happy Halloween, and thanks for reading! I’m grateful for YOU!

Harriet’s Backpack

Posted by Carolyn on September 10, 2015 2 Comments

This girl is starting school next week. Like for real, three mornings a week, with teachers and friends, school. It’s the same class Alma was in last year, with the same teachers. I love the school and am so excited for Harriet to go along with Alma this year.

Of course, even though they said she won’t need one, I made Harriet her very own backpack.

I used the same Oliver + S pattern I used for Alma’s backpack and I loved it (I always love Oliver + S patterns). I made it even more simple and didn’t do any of the pockets or anything. I even machine sewed the lining to the zipper instead of doing a blind stitch, mostly because I’m lazy.

The backpack came together all in a day, after having the pieces cut out on my sewing table for over a week. That’s pretty much how I roll.

I gave it to Harriet when she woke up from her nap and she was smitten. She loves backpacks more than anything. She wore it around the whole afternoon. I am so happy that she gets to take a little mama-made backpack with her to school. I can’t wait until she starts filling it up with some Harriet-made creations.

Christmas Dresses

Posted by Carolyn on January 12, 2015 1 Comment

For the girls’ Christmas dresses, I used Oliver + S’s Fairy Tale pattern (the same one I used for Harriet’s baptism dress) and solid fabrics from Piece By Piece. Alma got to wear her dress to the Nutcracker, and Harriet got to wear her dress to my dad’s Rotary meeting, but unfortunately, Alma was really sick on Christmas, so we skipped church, and didn’t have the kids wear their fancy Christmas dresses to Christmas Eve dinner at my dad’s.

Luckily, we’re really lazy and still have our Christmas decorations up, so before we went to Alma’s birthday party, we had a quick photo-shoot with Jesse’s old sled, decorated with some Christmas boughs.

It was Jesse’s idea to make Alma’s dress look like a Christmas tree. I thought it could be awesome or ridiculous, but I decided to go for it anyway!I raised the waistline and lengthened the skirt, and added a few extra layers. I think the tiers of green look really sweet, and I love the petal sleeves in this pattern.

For Harriet, the initial idea was to make it like a poinsettia, but in the end, I decided making petals would be too much, so I just lengthened it, and added the dark red lining, longer than the dress.I love how the Christmas dresses look Christmas-y, but are plain enough that they can wear them all year long. I also love how Harriet was totally mugging for the camera. She seriously cracks us up, all day long.

Alma’s Backpack

Posted by Carolyn on September 4, 2014 5 Comments

This little girl is getting pretty big. In fact, she’s starting pre-school next week. We are so lucky to have her nanny be her pre-school teacher. Talk about the best thing that has ever happened in the history of education. Rach is Alma’s favorite person (actually, she’s one of our whole family’s favorite people). I had been worried about Alma going to pre-school, but since Rach will be there, I have no worries.

Well, I have the normal worries of her making friends, of other kids being mean to her, of her learning bad habits, of her getting her feelings hurt, of her getting hurt. But I’m not worried about who will be there to help her through these things. Because Rach will be there.

Anyhow, I made her a backpack to take with her.

I used the pattern in the Oliver + S Little Things to Sew book. As always, I loved the Oliver + S pattern. I used some outdoor fabric from a local fabric store. It’s nice and strong and I think it will hold up well.

Alma took the backpack on our trip to California, and it was great to have her carry her own snacks and books on the plane. She really loves putting things in, and taking things out, of the backpack. I put an extra long ribbon on the zipper, so it’s easy for her to open and close.

I can’t wait to see what kind of treasures she’ll bring home from school!

Sewing – How I Got Started, Part 2 (or a love letter to Oliver + S)

Posted by andthenthey on February 24, 2014 8 Comments

After I tackled my first quilt, I felt like I was ready to try something a little more difficult. I decided that I wanted to make a baptism dress for Alma, but I wanted to make something she could wear for more than just her baptism (ie not a traditional ‘gown’). My mom and I were at a fabric store in Portland when we saw a sweet pattern for a sweet dress. It was the Oliver + S Family Reunion Dress. We picked out a fabric that was mostly white (to keep it somewhat traditional) and I was set.

But of course, I got scared. I decided to sew a rough draft. I read through the directions and got terrified. It was so crazy and confusing to me! There were button holes, pintucks, ruffles, interfacing, hems, collars, lots of scary stuff! I figured the best thing to do was to just jump right in and start sewing.

One of the first steps were doing the pintucks. These ended up being fun, because I sort of felt like a professional-sewing-super-star after seeing how cute they were turning out! The instructions were so clear and easy to follow.

I kept on sewing. Whenever I got to something that seemed confusing, I would take a break (sometimes a few days…). Once I finally got around to trying it, it was always way easier than I had expected. Soon, I had a fully constructed dress and I felt silly for doing a rough draft. The instructions were so great that I totally could have done the baptism dress on the first try!

I got started right away on the actual baptism dress.

Then I decided to make three more for Alma and her cousins to wear to their aunt and uncle’s (my brother) wedding. This time I had to make them in different sizes. I also decided that since it was a summer wedding, I would make them sleeveless.

I felt like I had learned enough tricks from Oliver + S to alter the pattern a little bit. I ended up making my own bias tape and just finishing the bodice sleeve openings with it. The girls looked so sweet in their cheerful dresses!

Next up were winter hats from the Oliver + S Little Things to Sew book. Again, I stretched my comfort zone a little bit and used new fabrics that can be hard to work with – velvet and wool shirting. The instructions were amazing again, and I had two cute hats for my two little lambs to wear.

Halloween was coming up, so I thought my freckled-faced-almost-redhead would make a cute Pippi. The biased trim apron seemed like a perfect costume idea (that we could use as an apron after Halloween!). This one taught me a lot more about how to use bias tape (and taught me what I had done wrong when I altered the dresses – ha!). I also learned a cool way to make a pocket!

I was on a roll. For Christmas, I decided Alma needed a doll carrier for the baby doll Harriet brought her from the hospital. Another way to make a pocket, more practice with curved edges, and a couple button holes later, and Alma had a fun doll carrier!

Now it is time for Harriet’s baptism. I wanted to try another Oliver + S pattern and finally decided on the Fairy Tale Dress. Now this one was scary! Fully lined, petal sleeves, invisible zipper, peter pan collar! Oh my!

Again, I just took it step by step and it all worked out. Ohmygosh is it cute!

I love these patterns because they are great for a beginning seamstress. The steps are clearly explained, with simple, yet complete illustrations. I love the feeling I get after every step, when the dresses start to look like dresses. I love that I go from being terrified of messing up, (to messing up), to doing it right, to having an amazing finished project!

I also love that I can use the skills I learned in the patterns for other projects. I have so many skills in my back pocket now! I even have enough confidence with the aspects in these projects that I am toying with designing my own dresses for the girls.

(I should note that Oliver + S has no idea that I’m writing this. They don’t know who I am at all, though they did once comment on one of my instagram photos and made me feel like I had a brush with fame.)

(I also want to note that I got most of my fabrics from Piece by Piece and if you’re in Eugene, it’s my absolute favorite fabric store in town.)

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