Q+A with Liesl Gibson

In a blog first for Badskirt, we have a guest today as part of the Jump Rope Dress Sewalong. We are fortunate to have Liesl Gibson of Oliver+S with us. Liesl designs the clever and classic-styled children's garments in the Oliver+S collection. In addition, her City Weekend fabric range with Moda is due out any minute now. Today, Liesl answers questions about the Jump Rope Dress and garment construction. Then she gives us a glimpse into the pattern and fabric design process and what's to come from Oliver+S. Liesl keeps a busy schedule designing patterns and fabric, as well as being a mother to S. We've been fortunate to borrow a bit of her time.

A quick note about the format for today's post. Following Liesl's responses, I've added a few related links in italics for those wanting to know more.


A few questions on the Jump Rope Dress and garment sewing

The Oliver+S patterns often suggest that you use your favorite technique for finishing seams. What is your favorite way to finish seams?
When appropriate, I always like a French seams because they’re so neat and elegant. But a zigzagged seam allowance is easy to accomplish when French seams aren’t appropriate, and it gives a nice finish. Serged seams are even better if you have access to a serger; they’re so fast!




Don't miss the French Seam tutorial on the Oliver+S blog.

When finishing View A of the Jump Rope Dress, the seam of the skirt can be a bit bulky because of the gathers. Do you have any tips to help with finishing these seams in a tidy way?
Gathering always causes a bit of bulk, unfortunately. I prefer to trim the seams down a bit and then finish them together, flattening the gathers and stitching over them rather than trying to finish a single layer of fabric. That seam will settle down a bit once it’s gently pressed or washed, too.

If you could offer a single tip to someone making the Jump Rope Dress, what would it be?
Really I would just suggest that you take your time with it. It’s not a terribly complicated pattern if you mark everything carefully and follow the instructions step by step. Be slow and accurate and it will surprise you how easy it really is!

In the spirit of sharing, we've asked other experienced sewists to share one tip for the Jump Rope Dress sewalong in the flickr group. Do pop by for more hints and tips.


Questions about the Design Process

In the new Fall patterns, you used noodle boxes as a design element in the hopscotch skirt. Are there other everyday objects that inspire your design?
Aren’t the Takeout Box pockets fun? I find inspiration all over the place and always carry a sketchbook as well as a camera, as much as possible. I find loads of inspiration right here on the streets of New York, watching what people are wearing and how they wear it. I also spend a lot of time reading books and doing research at the New York Public Library. I never know when inspiration will hit, and I often find it in very unlikely places.


Hopscotch Skirt from Oliver+S


Did you have a favorite outfit as a child? Are any of your patterns influenced by your own childhood clothing?
My patterns are inspired by a little bit of nostalgia from my childhood, but not really nostalgia for a particular dress. My mother and I were just reminiscing about all the sewing she did for me, and we were recalling how she could never just sew a pattern for me. It had to be a pattern with changes I suggested—maybe borrowing a collar or a sleeve from another pattern, or changing some other detail to make it unique. I’ve always had that designer mindset, I guess. So for me, our patterns are more about the joy of sewing something unique and special for your child or grandchild. They’re about the feeling and the bond that sewing creates. I still have many dresses my mom made for me, but truthfully those clothes are less meaningful than the memories that accompany them. Just knowing they were sewn especially for me was meaningful even when I was a child, and ever more now that I’m grown.


Your City Weekend fabric collection is due out in yardage this month. How did the challenges you faced as a fabric designer differ to those of a pattern designer?
I designed prints for fabric in my previous career as a clothing designer for some big labels, so I have a little more experience with fabric design than many new designers, I guess. For me, the challenge in putting together City Weekend came in executing those designs myself, since I’m accustomed to working with a team of people with strong computer design skills who could help make my designs come to life. These were the first prints I executed on the computer by myself, so there was a steep learning curve. Illustrator just wasn’t capturing the hand-drawn look I wanted to achieve, so Heather Ross showed me how she works in Photoshop and I was much happier with the results. That’s what I love about working as a designer—I’m always learning!


With City Weekend, you've managed to create a collection of prints suitable for both boys and girls. Did you come to this design decision early on in the process? What other influences motivated your choices in the City Weekend collection.
Oh, it was very important to me that City Weekend include prints for the boys, too. They’re often neglected in our industry! Plus, not every girl (or woman) wants to wear florals all the time. I wanted a group of small patterns that work well with other prints, so the polka dots, checks, and stripes played a big role in my design decisions. What fun is a bunch of printed fabrics if they are all too busy to work together in a pleasing manner? I hope that these smaller patterns will be understood, since they don’t say “designer print” the way many prints do these days. But I felt strongly that the collection needed them. I’ll talk more about my inspiration for City Weekend later this month on the Oliver + S blog, too.


City Weekend Basics


City Weekend by Liesl Gibson for Moda
Want to know more about Liesl's fabric design process? Check out this guest post at Burda Style about her journey with the City Weekend collection.


The recent Oliver+S clothing patterns cater to a wide range of sizes. How do you manage to select styles and designs that scale and suit the wide age range?
That’s always a challenge, and it’s something I spend a lot of time considering when I design a new pattern collection. This summer I spent several days filling a sketchbook with hundreds of ideas, and when I go back to evaluate them I’ll consider each design in terms of how difficult it is to make as well as for which ages it is appropriate. Sometimes the most difficult part of the process is to design something that comes together in an elegant way and also flatters a wide range of ages and sizes.


General Questions
Do you still sew for fun at home? What things do you like to make other than clothes for your daughter?
I love to sew and often wish I had more time. I’m making very slow progress on a queen-sized quilt for our bed, and I still sew for myself every once in a while. I sometimes feel a little twitchy if I can’t find time to sew, and I keep a sewing machine set up in our bedroom closet, which we converted to a tiny workroom. I often dash in to sew a seam or two, and over the course of a week or two I can finish a garment without seemingly dedicating much time to it. The trick is to get the next step ready before you quit. That way you don’t lose your place the next time you get a minute to sew.


Any tips on how to organize the pattern pieces, especially after we trace and cut multiple sizes of it?
I like a 3-ring binder with clear plastic sheet protectors inside. When I’m finished with a traced pattern, I fold the pattern pieces up and tuck them into a sheet protector with a sheet of paper that indicates which pattern and which size. It’s easy to flip through the binder to find the pattern in the correct size the next time I need it. Sometimes I tuck the original pattern and envelope into a sheet protector, too. I can never seem to fold the pattern back the way it came, and sheet protectors are much more forgiving than pattern envelopes!


Future Plans
Rumors abound that your second collection for Moda is already in the design phase. Any hints about what to expect next?
Oh, I’m already at work designing the third collection! Everything in this business works so far ahead. The second fabric collection will debut at Quilt Market in October and will ship to stores next spring. It’s called Modern Workshop and was inspired by the Wiener Werkstatte community in early 20th Century Vienna and its commitment to art that was accessible to everyone. You probably won’t see a direct connection in the prints, but many of the ideas came from lots of research and fascination with their incredible aesthetic and philosophy.


You have a bag pattern that can double as a tote and a backpack, are other bags or non-garment items in the works?
I’m really not focusing on bags. That backpack pattern was a project I developed years ago for a course I was teaching at Purl Patchwork in New York. When I was planning to launch Oliver + S, I wanted to publish a pattern to test the market. I had that pattern written already, so I used that. The pattern has certainly gotten a lot of mileage for a test, but it will be going out of print in the next few months. I’ve recently developed a little handbag that I’ve been using off and on. If I decide to do anything with it, we’ll offer it as a free pattern on the website.


You have been playing around with adapting the Ice Cream Dress for adults (as seen on Disdressed). Do you have plans on releasing an adult pattern?
I’m very picky about what we develop and what gets cut. The Ice Cream Dress probably won’t get developed because I don’t feel that it translates well enough into women’s wear. But I’m always playing with ideas, and we’ve discussed lots of possible directions in terms of what we’ll do next. Stay tuned!


Many of the early Oliver and S patterns are now out of print, do you have any plans to reprint them with larger size options?
We probably won’t re-visit any of those original styles, but I can guarantee that we’ll continue to release new styles and will build on the success of some of our original patterns with those styles. Just wait until you see what we have planned for next spring!


Wrapup from Amy:
Wow! What a great set of responses. I'm not sure how she manages to squeeze so much in and do it all so successfully. Many thank to Liesl, Todd and the entire team at Oliver+S for their help with the sewalongs, patterns and for sharing a little Q+A time with us.

I don't know about you, but I'm quite keen to see the Wiener Werkstatte inspired collection debuting in October! If the name doesn't ring a bell with you, I'm sure the aesthetic will look familiar when you've spent some time with google. Known for abstract geometrics that influenced Bauhaus craftsmen and the likes of Frank Lloyd Wright. I can't wait to see Liesl's take on their design. Don't forget to visit the Oliver+S blog to find out more. If you'd like to know more about Liesl's own adventures, pop on over to disdressed.

And for your chance to own some of Liesl's great designs:
* Win a new Oliver + S sewing pattern of your choice, courtesy of Oliver+S. (4 winners)
* Win a pack of 12 fat quarters from the new City Weekend fabric collection by Liesl Gibson for Moda, courtesy of Sew, Mama, Sew! (3 winners)

To enter the drawing:
- Comment on any sew-along post on Sew, Mama, Sew! now through September 17.
- Contribute photos to the Jump Rope Dress Sewalong photo pool now through September 17.
- Comment here at Badskirt today!