We love the contemporary look of the Oliver + S childrens sewing patterns and have had our eye on The Carousel Dress for some time now! The image on the pattern cover shows the dress being worn by a young girl, however the modern panel pieces and top-stitching make it equally suitable for older girls.

For our first make of this pattern we've used Robert Kaufman's Washed Indigo Denim with contrast stitching for a modern look; and we're making View "B" with the smooth hem panel. This pattern has no buttonholes to contend with or set-in sleeves which makes for an easy sewing project.

If you're going to top-stitch the dress, it's worth taking the time to experiment with different colours before deciding on the colour to go with. And always worth asking the wearer what she thinks too!

Worth highlighting is the fact that these patterns only have a 1cm seam allowance compared to the more standard 1.5cm, although this is referenced throughout but we thought it worth a mention here too.

The instructions are well laid out and very clear. That said, do make sure that you're reading the instructions properly, this might sound obvious, but most of the time when we're sewing we're placing the two "right" sides of the fabric together, so do take care when you pin the pockets to the two side panels that you follow the instructions and pin the WRONG side of the pocket to the RIGHT side of the panel piece! Unlike me the first time round, see the photo above for what not to do!! And below is "take two" with the pockets pinned correctly.

Other than that our make was pretty straightforward, and came together fairly quickly. We decided against the top-stitching round the hem panel, as for this project we felt it was just a little too much.

The button at the back neck is secured with a thread chain loop, this is really easy to do and looks really effective. For detailed instructions click here.

We really enjoyed making this pattern and love the end result. This is a style that you could make over and over; and depending on your fabric choices it would look different every time! It would look great for instance in Robert Kaufman's striped Navy & Cream Railroad Denim, or one of our Organic Cotton Ginghams.  A Colour-blocked version in our Organic Cotton Crossweaves would also work really well, as would a patterned version with solid colour cuffs and hem. 

As you can see the possibilities really are limitless! We'd love to see how you make yours, so do send your photos in via the email address in our contact page.

With our friends little boy's first birthday fast approaching, we've the perfect excuse to try out the trousers from the Lullaby Layette Set by Oliver + S! And what better fabric to make them in than our beautifully soft 100% Organic Double Cloth, we've made ours up in both the Blue and the Brown. Because this fabric is organic it doesn't contain any harmful chemicals or dyes, making it ideal for babies and young children as well as adults!

We strongly recommend that you trace off the patterns so that you can re-use it again and again as baby grows. The other thing to note is that these patterns only have a 1cm seam allowance compared to the more standard 1.5cm, this is referenced throughout but we thought worth a mention.

These trousers are really straightforward and easy to make, the instructions are clear and come with helpful illustrations to assist you at each stage of your make.

Take time with the pockets to ensure that they are even, we used a tip we picked up when making up one of our adult Colette patterns, and made a template out of card of the shape of the finished pocket so that we could gather the curved end section of pocket evenly and then press before stitching to the back sections of the trousers. For a patterned fabric you may even decide to leave the pockets off making this an even easier make!

 When it comes to top-stitching the waistband to the front of the trousers we tacked it in place rather than just pinning, to ensure that we covered the stitch line where the waistband is attached to the back of the garment.

Once the waistband's on all that's left to do is turn up the trouser hems and you're done!

These are so easy to make we're sure you'll want to make them again and again! Why not try them in our Organic Crossweaves or Ginghams, Robert Kaufman Chambray Union Herringbone or Woven Stripe, or the Nani Iro for Kokka's Sen Ritsu would look lovely for a girl with a hint of shimmer.

We loved making the top version of this so much that we're revisited The Camber Set by Merchant & Mills, this time to make the dress.

As we mentioned in our first blog about making the top, this pattern really lends itself to using a contrasting fabric for some of the pattern pieces. With that in mind, for this make we decided to use Nani Iro for Kokka's Mountain Views in Grey and we've chosen to add some contrasting panels in our 100% Organic Cotton Crossweave in the Dark Grey. As I'm sure you'll have gathered by now we love a bit of grey!

 Initially we were only going to make the front neck binding in the contrasting fabric but when we started to sew the pieces together we decided to contrast the back yoke as well.

This pattern has already become a firm favourite and one which we plan to make again and again. Because of it's simple silhouette and understated panels, it's a style that you can easily make several times in different fabrics, and each time it'll look totally different.

For our next make, we're thinking we'll make it in Robert Kaufman's Washed Indigo Denim, and reverse out the denim for the front neck binding and the sleeves to create a subtle contrast!

For our latest make we've chosen The Dress Shirt by Merchant and Mills. This dress comes with 2 sleeve options, one short sleeved, which we're chosen, and the other a longer half sleeve with rolled up cuffs.

This dress is inspired by the Grandad style of shirt; its classic cut and relaxed style has been designed by Carolyn Denham, founder of Merchant and Mills, to be worn loose but at the same time she's managed to create a flattering silhouette. Carolyn's clever pattern cutting skills mean there's no need for a zip or buttons for this dress, making it suitable for both beginners and experienced sewists alike!

As this dress would work well in so many different fabrics it was hard to decide what to use for our first make of this pattern! However, we finally landed on the Yarn Dyed Essex Linen in Black by Robert Kaufman and chose to line the bib and back yoke in the tonally contrasting Organic Cotton Crossweave in Black. The Essex Linen is a beautiful quality fabric, what we particularly like about the yarn dyed fabrics is how the Black is woven with an Ecru to create a subtle chambray effect, as apposed to a solid colour.

This pattern is a joy to make, the instructions are clear and have helpful illustrations, which we found really easy to follow.

The one point that may be a little tricky for those new to sewing is when the back yoke and lining pieces are attached (Points 11 to 14), if this is a little daunting then check out our blog post on The Camber Set. Other than that it's really straightforward.

We did find that this style came up quite big, so we would recommend that you check the sizing carefully first with a view to possibly making a size smaller.

This is a style we'll be making time and time again, next we're thinking possibly Robert Kaufman's Chambray Union Woven Spot or the Striped Railroad Denim!

We've just completed our latest sewing project, the top from The Camber Set by Merchant & Mills and we're thrilled with the results. This pattern includes a simple dress and top, both with a tapered a-line silhouette and short fitted sleeves, they're both easy to make and easy to wear!