Mirroring Suzy Bee Sews - Life So Strange It Should Be Fiction

The boyfriend went to India for work(!!!) a couple of years ago, and brought me back a beautiful silk sari.  I had been sitting on the fabric for about 2 years, waiting for the perfect pattern.  The fabric is excellent quality but lightweight, so I didn't want anything that would put too much strain on the seams--but I can't wear shapeless so it had to have some waist definition.  A tall order!  I made my knit version of Vogue 8631 as a test of the pattern for my special fabric and it passed the test. I am hoping that the kimono look is one that never goes out of style.  Here is a Carolina Herrera ($799 on Gilt Group) version. Other than making it in a woven, adding a zipper, and using the long sleeve, I didn't change a whole lot from the last version of this dress I made .  I had already adjusted the crossover not to gape on my small bust and everything else fit pretty well.  The only real change I made was to add some length to the bodice.  I have a long torso despite m

... to the Dark Side, during my blogging absence of late, to the side of .... wait for it .... knitting!  It's not that I live in a cold climate and need woollies to wear ~ Brisbane is far from being considered an icy city at any time of the year. But knitting does tend to keep me busy during the nights when I can't sleep, and the family did complain about the sewing machine running at 2am in the morning (go figure that one!) So knitting needles it was to be, click clacking away under the blanket of darkness and making a cardi was a simple choice. With not having clicked the old needles for a few years I found a simple pattern, no buttons or buttonholes and a plainish style to wake my old fingers up with. My hands seemed to have some memory of what to do and it felt like old times very quickly. This is the pattern that I 'planned' to follow ... Creative Knitting Spring 2103 How lovely does that simple cabled front band look, worked in reverse stocking stitch ~ classic b

After a long stretch of unappealing, Burda finally started getting interesting again late last year.   Burda 09-2013-105  was one of the patterns that went on my list as soon as the magazine arrived.  It has a pencil skirt silhouette, but the front wrap/split means that it's fairly bikeable.  Perfect! I shortened the skirt three inches before cutting and still had a generous hem allowance for a skirt longer than I usually wear.  This would have been mid-calf had I not shortened it.  Because the shapes of the front openings is the major part of the design here, for my short legs the skirt needed to be at full knee length so the graceful arcs would have their full space to be graceful.  When I pinned it at a shorter length it lost a bit of its sophistication. I love wool crepe for office clothes.  The only downside is that it wrinkles almost as much as linen.  To attempt to keep the wrinkling slightly under control, I underlined it with silk organza.  I stitched the silk organza as

  It is incredibly frustrating looking for RTW plus size exercise gear. Its hard to find for starters, usually the tops are baggy and shapeless, the leggings all fit oddly and sit way too high up on my waist that's if I do actually find any that do fit....Enter the Duathlon shorts. This is my first fehr trade pattern and I've got to say I'm impressed. As drafted the waist is higher at the back than the front so for once I didn't need to add to it. Plus I am in love with the contrast side and built in pocket! I printed this out and somehow I ended up printing it out too big plus I used a beautifully stretchy fabric which meant I had to take the sides in by a total of 8" per leg and shorten the legs by 4"! Since I hadn't sewn Fehr Trade patterns before, I basted them first so it was pretty easy to unpick the side panel and take in the black fabric. I scooped out the crotch by about 1/2" front and back. Because it didn't print properly (which was my