Wednesday 8 April 2015

All The Skirts - my Oliver + S skirt collection!

Today's blog post is a skirt round up!

I've corralled photos of all the Oliver + S skirts I've sewn in order to join in with Skirt Fixation and their skirt pattern celebration All The Skirts


All The Skirts is a month long sew along to create all (or as many as you like) of the skirt patterns from a particular pattern designer. There's a link up party where you can post the skirts you've sewn, as well as discount codes for the skirt patterns and the chance to win patterns and fabrics from the sponsors. Awesome!

This month, all the skirts being featured are those from Oliver + S, and yep, I've pretty much sewn all of them. Many of them date back to before this blog was created so I 've dug out the photos for a little trip down memory lane....

I should declare up front that I write for the Oliver + S blog and am an employee of sorts. But, every one of these skirts dates to prior to that arrangement. I bought all the patterns myself, and I can't possibly recommend something I don't honestly like. Trust me, when it comes to Oliver + S I love All The Skirts!

 
This Sunday Brunch outfit from three years ago was probably A's first skirt. This photo would have been right around the time of her 1st birthday.  The skirt has a sweet A-line shape and super cute little kick pleat in the back. I found it to be quite a slim fit and since she wore cloth nappies it was only really suitable for weekends away in slimmer undergarments!
 
I made another, possibly one size bigger (who remembers?), out of a little remnant of Hilco corduroy and added hot pink piping!


This pattern is one that I really must make again soon. - Get the feeling you're going to read that a few times in this blog post? Well, you're right!

Another cute, slim fitting skirt that I haven't made for ages, but really must is the Sailboat Skirt.

 
This was my first ever attempt at piping, and I hadn't quite got my head around how thick a cord I was meant to use. I think I got the upholstery piping there (novice!), but the effect of the chunky piping is actually kinda great. Yep, I need to redo this one for this upcoming winter, and I think I have just enough denim left over too.

 
A little mustard onesie, some thick tights, a cute retro skirt and a drawer full of chopsticks to empty. What could be cuter?!
 
Continuing with the straighter, I-wish-they-came-in-my-size skirt patterns. The next is the Music Class skirt. This is a pattern that you could buy for the blouse alone, and overlook the little skirt, but you'd be ignoring an absolute gem.
 
This one, is my most recent Oliver + S skirt and was made from a remnant from my first Diplomat dress. While these narrow un-twirly skirts may get rejected by the girls they're sewn for, there is much joy in being able to cut a skirt from the teensiest of remnants, and this is one such thrifty pattern.
 

This LEGO Music Class skirt was sewn for a friend's daughter and was also eeked out of leftover fabric.

 
My first Music Class skirt was this one. Sadly it was another skirt that was only suitable for disposable nappy days. The sticking point was not waist or hip measurements but getting the waistband past the combined width of her thighs (and that's why this pattern would not work for me!!)

 
Time to size up and make another one, right?!
The 2+2 skirt is a pretty pleated skirt with a side opening, so there's zero risk of not getting this one to fit, regardless of what you wear under your skirt. I made the skirt below ages ago, and I'm somewhat embarrassed to say that it's still in her wardrobe and in rotation almost two years later.


 
It's undoubtedly too short now, but with tights or leggings underneath it still looks pretty sweet. Still, you know what I need to do, don't you?... OK, add it to the list. 

 
So, while I'm in confessional mode; here are two more skirts that are probably only size 2 and are still being worn by my 4 year old! It's the Hopscotch pattern. This pattern comes with a gorgeous knit top/dress pattern but the skirt is such a beauty on it's own.

The pockets are really charming, and there's room to hide all sorts of things in them. The button placket doesn't need to be functional, so if buttonholes aren't your thing you could just fake it and sew the buttons straight through.

I've seen this pattern sewn up for older girls and I really like the proportions of the skirt in the larger sizes.

One little skirt that didn't get as much wear as it should have was this Badminton skirt. It was also a more narrow fit, and the lightweight fabric meant it was very much a summer skirt, and she just never took a shine to it.


The Badminton skirt is really a skort and I suspect if I make this one in a knit and leave off the scallops, I'd have the perfect school skirt. So I'll pull this pattern out again for sure next year when she needs a school uniform sewn up.

Perhaps my very favourite of all is the Swingset skirt.


But look, I've only made one so far. How can that be?! It's a bias cut, swingy, twirly, adorable skirt which is lined and looks so professional but sews up in no time at all. I think this one might also only be size 2, but it's still in heavy rotation. Of all the skirt patterns this is the only one that tops out at size 5, so I need to get a move one and put this one at the top of the must-sew-soon list.


The last two skirts are sort of peripheral to the main collection. One is the free Lazy Days PDF and the other is the Tutu from Little Things To Sew. The tutu is the perfect fancy dress up skirt, and the spotty Lazy Days skirt was whipped up super quick for a spotty picnic at the Art Gallery.



There's another free skirt pattern, the Onstage tutu skirt which I haven't made yet. I saw a very expensive tulle layered skirt in a shop recently and thought I could do exactly that with a free pattern from Oliver + S!

One for the trainspotters; have you picked the only other Oliver + S skirt pattern I haven't sewn? I guess I need to make one just so I really can claim to have sewn All The Skirts.

If you've read this far, thank you, now go treat yourself to the chance to win skirt patterns from Oliver + S, or fabric from the Fat Quarter Shop. Enter the competition over at Skirt Fixation or pick up the skirt pattern discount code and then join me in sewing at least one new skirt before the month is out!





19 comments:

  1. So many cute skirts!! We're going to stay tuned to see which one you sew first; and if you pick up that missing pattern. (Yep, we know which one that is!) Thanks for guest posting for us; your skirts are so inspirational!

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    1. Thanks for inviting me! I'm sure I'll have time to link up a new skirt I the next month...

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  2. I'm working on my post now and was reading yours for inspiration/copying.....I have to say that the tutu from LTTS should not count as a skirt! Because I'm not that nice of a mom that I'm making that....and when I sew up a couple more, I would like to say that I've made all the skirts....but I am for sure going to say no to the tutu! It's so cool to look back and see how much these kids have grown; I remember that chopstick picture, and that little adorable belly....so cute!

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    1. Ha ha ha, re tulle sewing!

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    2. You know I want to revisit the tutu and figure out the No-Gap version to get better overlap at the back. But just like childbirth, you forget the pain of laying out metres of tulle and trying to line it all up neatly! It was great seeing your little toddler pics too!

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  3. What? You haven't sewn the Hula Hoop skirt yet!?! But listen to me, I've only sewn 2 O+S skirts (so far) even though I own almost all of them. But I've made over a dozen Lazy Days Skirts and one tutu... I really hope they offer the Swing Set Skirt as a single and have it go up to size 12. Oh, and I really need to buy some of that LEGO fabric!

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    1. Nope, not yet. It never really appealed to me, but I'm thinking it's EXACTLY the kind of skirt my daughter would love. I'll have to add it to the list!
      Sadly the LEGO fabric no longer seems to be on Spoonflower. there are some others though and I'm always tempted to buy more from there, it just fades so terribly in my experience.

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  4. That is an amazing collection of sewn skirts, great to see them all together and those first few that you need to sew again, yes you do.

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    1. Thanks Sharon. It was nice to round up so many pre-blog garments!

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  5. I am so glad I read this tonight, I was about to cut Trixie a Music Class skirt, I will size up to the 12-18 mnth so it will fit over her nappy.
    A lovely round up skirts with some sweet Baby A goodness thrown in.
    xx N

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    1. Aw thanks Nicole. I never think of my blog as being useful to others, but I'm very pleased that it might be. The benefit of sewing (or buying clothes) for cloth nappied babies is they can wear them for another year or two after they're toilet trained and their backsides are half the size!

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  6. Loved reading your history of the Oliver+s skirts. The tips regarding fit were very useful too.

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    1. Thanks Kelsey. I hadn't realised I was so close to having sewn all of them.

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  7. What fun! I lovely collection of sewing and fun to see old pictures of your gal. And nice to know that the button placket on the hopscotch doesn't need to be functional. I'm about to cut on out and was hoping I could avoid the buttonholes!

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    1. Oh I am glad that there was some useful tidbits in there. It always feels indulgent to show off what I make, so I'm delighted to have been helpful! You'll love the Hopscotch skirt it's such a great shape.

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  8. Nice collection of skirts! I've only ever made the Swingset skirt - it works so well that I've never branched out. I'd really like to try the music class skirt though. Love the chopstick photo - your baby looked so adorable in that little sailor skirt!

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    1. Thank you! The Music Class is one of my favourites as you can finish all the seam allowances together and that always makes a project go twice as fast! The swingset is one of those genius patterns that seems so easy to make but looks so professional. I can see why you'd just make that one over and over.

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  9. This just reminds me how much I want to sew the swingset and hopscotch again. My girls had a size 6 month hopscotch the little one was able to wear nearly until age 2 1/2, until it became indecently short.

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  10. Such a sweet look back! The swingset skirt is one of my all time favorites. I really need to size it up (or at least add some length to it) for my girls.

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