Sewing Knits with Liesl Gibson of Oliver+S

Posted on November 16, 2010 by tinasquirrel

Me and Liesl!

I had the most amazing time on Saturday taking a sewing knits class at Alewives Fabrics with Liesl Gibson of Oliver+S. It was awesome!! Liesl is sweet and amazing and fun. There were only 12 students in the class, and we all got a lot of hands-on instruction on the best ways to sew knits with our particular sewing machines (no sergers here!). I ended up using a stitch that I never would have thought of using on my own. I made the Oliver+S nature walk pants. Most of the students in the class were making the hopscotch shirt/dress. They all turned out great, and the City Weekend knits are absolutely gorgeous.

My friend's hopscotch dress made with some Patty Young knits

It was a long day, but I decided to stay for the Q&A with Liesl that was going on that evening. Fun! She showed us the proofs for her new book, “Little Things to Sew” coming out in February (I’m reserving a signed copy from Alewives), as well as the new fabric collection coming out this spring. The book is darling! I can’t wait to make the little felt mittens as a gift for some lucky baby/toddler, and I have a feeling that J is going to *need* the penguin backpack. The Little Red Riding Hood cape pattern looks adorable.

You can check out more pictures from the day on Rhea’s Alewives Girl blog.

Here are the knit pants that I made. I made a size 10 (pattern goes to 12), and since I didn’t have K there to try them on, they ended up a bit big in the waist. Even though I measured his waist twice before I left! No worries though because Liesl showed me how to open up the seam and adjust the elastic if I needed to. The fabric is just some interlock that I picked up for cheap at Mardens. They are just going to be “around the house” pants, but they would be super-cute as pajama pants with the lettuce hem that Liesl describes on her blog. Or very cute underneath a dress/tunic.

Nature Walk Pants

And if you are ever anywhere near midcoast Maine, you must take a road trip to visit Alewives. It is the best shop! I only wish it were closer to my house. (Maybe it’s good that it’s not.) Of course, I couldn’t leave without a little shopping. I picked up a 20 fat quarter set of the new Anna Maria Horner Innocent Crush collection and some of the new Innocent Crush velveteen which is absolutely gorgeous (just some fat quarters, I think I am going to make a pillow). I also got some Christmas fabrics that I’m going to use to make some of the placemats in the Quilting Arts Holiday book designed by Alissa Carlton of Handmade by Alissa.

It was an excellent day! Here, check out the shop. Don’t you just want to browse in there forever???