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

This is Part 3 (Part 1, Part 2) My daughter agreed to be my model, we went with dark stockings and Doc Martens to finish off the outfit. I did her makeup and hair (I back-combed and teased her fringe up following the tutorial here) They had a proper photographer, unfortunately the next two photos are the only ones they got of Amber (and I have no idea what's happening with her face in the last one, she looks kind of terrified!), but you can see the lighting and the runway - they projected our starting garments up on the back wall while our models were walking Overall thoughts; I found the challenge really fun, a nice break from normal sewing. I'm not sure if I would enter again, the night went forever (5hours standing the whole time) plus Amber said she wouldn't model for me again (same reason, the whole night just dragged on). I didn't place, as far as I can tell the judges wanted the outfits turned completely upside down, ie - jackets into skirts,...

This post follows on from part 1 The Blazer ;  Jacket - Before Jacket - After I've been a bit obsessed with antique military style jackets, but haven't been able to justify making one yet so this seemed like a good excuse to play with the idea. I cut off about 6" in length and removed the lining. Fitted it by taking in the side seams and princess seams which also narrowed the shoulders. Straightened the front of the jacket by removing the lapels and added a button band. Shaped the hem to add the points and used red felt to overlay the collar and the sleeves. Added shoulder epaulets made from the welt pockets and red piping to the hem. I managed to cover the old buttonholes up on the front with braid but you can see where I zig-zagged them closed on the inside. I used a hem facing - seemed the easiest way to finish off the shaped hem and then I handstitched down the lining. The  chinese knots are made from braid which was fuse...

This ended up being a huge post so I've split in into 3 parts Our local library runs a sewing competition each year, the idea is that you get a bag of 2nd hand clothing and have to refashion it into an item of clothing or outfit. In my bag of clothes I got a kilt, 2 shirts and a blazer. After a lot of sketches and googling images I decided on a military/punk look (though my daughter reckons it looks like a weird school uniform!) and managed to convince the daughter to model for me. The Kilt Before After This was a pretty basic refashion - All I did was shorten it and removed about 3" of the front overlay plus moved the buckles. The fabric is a scratchy wool that pressed like a dream and completely hides the hand stitched hem. The Shirt Before - Shirt 1 Before - Shirt 2 After - front After - back Shirt 1 - Cut off the sleeves, added princess seams to the front and back, shaped the hem, used the fabric from the sleeves ...