Spend an afternoon with Liesl Gibson learning new sewing skills while helping a child in need.
The popover sun dress is a great project for the beginning sewer. Build on your basic skills by learning with Liesl how to sew french seams, bias binding and a narrow hem. The dress works up quickly and is offered in a wide range of sizes, including a version small enough for a matching doll version.
If you want to amp up the feel-good factor, why not donate the dress to Project HOPE Art, an organization that takes these dresses to orphanages in Haiti. Helping others feels good, and we help ourselves too.
Popover Sundress with Liesl Gibson from Creativebug on Vimeo.
After starting a career in publishing and finance, Liesl Gibson returned to school and earned a degree in fashion design from New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology. Before having a child in 2005, she worked as a designer for Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren.
While staying home with the baby, Liesl began designing her daughter’s clothing. “People were asking if they could buy the patterns for the dresses I was making,” Liesl says. “One thing led to another, and I had a new career.” In 2008 Liesl launched Oliver + S, a new brand of sewing patterns for children’s clothing. Today Liesl also designs a line of Oliver + S fabric. She published her first book, Oliver + S Little Things to Sew in 2011.
In 2011 Liesl also created Lisette, a line of sewing patterns and fabric for women’s apparel that is now available at Jo-Ann stores in the USA and Spotlight stores in Australia. In 2012 Liesl debuted Straight Stitch Society, a collection of patterns for gifts and accessories. The brand’s tagline, “Life is hard. Sewing is easy.” expresses its quirky and sometimes irreverent personality.
Liesl Gibson Creativebug Trailer from Creativebug on Vimeo.
CreativeBug, a new series of how-to videos for DIY’ers, recently launched to inspire you. For $25 a month, subscribers have unlimited access to a continuously updated library of creative workshops in knitting, crochet, sewing, jewelry, entertaining, home decorating and kids crafts. Featuring some of the country’s biggest talents, instructors include Debbie Stoller, Stitch ‘n Bitch, Heather Ross, Weekend Sewing, Christine Schmidt, Print Workshop and Natalie Chanin of Alabama Chanin. Creativebug’s state of the art audio and video production quality, short video segments and entertaining presentation make the videos accessible to artists of all skill levels.
CreativeBug recently launched multi-month packages. Subscribers can now get a discount for signing up for multiple months in advance!
- $24.99 monthly
- $19.99 per month, billed every 3 months
- $16.99 per month, billed every 6 months
So, what are you waiting for? Make a pattern. Make a print. Make a difference.