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

We had a very quick day trip to Melbourne recently and I managed to duck into a couple of fabric shops. The kids each picked out some fabric in Rathdowne , the daughter picked out this Avengers one which was meant to be boxer shorts until she realised she could have it in a dress instead! I'd only bought 1m (and its only 112cm wide) but she was determined to have a circle skirt so this is a 1/2 circle skirt squeezed onto the fabric (good thing she likes shorter skirts!). The bodice is a blue sateen I had leftover and the lining is a stretch poplin inside the bodice and a poly lining in the skirt. Size wise, I made a muslin in a sz 14 and it was pretty good. I had to petite the back and take a wedge out of the side bodice and also take it in at the top of the front princess seam. Really I think I should have cut a size smaller and done a small FBA, I think it would have fit better and its what I'll be doing next time. She badly wanted zipper pockets, I wa...

Another pair of jeans, I've been wearing my first pair heaps lately. Same as last time; Added 1" to the inner leg seam on the front pattern piece. Adjusted the side seams - I have hyperextended calves and they were dragging the side seam backwards so I added to the back and took from the front to straighten it up. Changed the front pockets to a pocket stay. Shaped the side seams I did a couple of construction changes - I followed my fav zipper tutorial and serged the waistband facing instead of turning under (just helps to reduce bulk with a heavier weight denim). Shaped the waistband to be more curved to stop the gape at the back. Also I added elastic to the waistband to help stabilise/stop stretching out. Took in the side seams as my purple denim was very stretchy Plus I took length out of the legs at the knees from where I had originally added it and I also took some height out of the back rise, again from where I had added it. I used a pu...

Its that time of the year again to make mini jackets - my friends daughter is turning 4 and I wanted a pretty little jacket for her to wear to kindy that could still get thrown through the washing machine. I never realised Spotlight stocked Oliver + S patterns until I spotted (heh) this on a clearance rack with 2 other patterns. I've always wanted to try them out so this one came home with me. The fabric is leftover from this dress and the lining is a thin satin from Clear It in Melbourne, buttons are from clear it too. The pattern itself is well drafted, the sizing is pretty much near identical to Australian kids RTW (I did some snoop shopping at Target with my tape measure!). Some changes: I added more interfacing than required - interfaced the upper front and half of the lower front, using a medium knit weft fusible on the lower and some armoweft on the collar and the upper front for extra stability. I added a lining as this fabric is a poly knit and I...

Another pair of pull-on ginger jeans - Same adjustments as last time, main difference is I found they were hitching up at the back knees a bit which was because I had shaped the outer leg on the back pattern piece and it must have added extra length so the back pattern piece was about 1" longer than the front causing the buckling. Since fixing that they are hanging a lot straighter now. The fabric is a lovely stretchy reversible denim from Rathdowne fabrics, with blue on the top and black underneath. Thread is Guttermann  #392 upholstery thread and the rivets are ones from etsy I saved a blog post from a while ago by meggipeg - I really liked her jeans and the quilting on them so in tribute to them (which sounds so much nicer than saying I completely copied her!!) I quilted a section on my back pockets, using some scraps I had of fleece to beef them up with. I thought about using batting but figured the fleece wouldn't shed or unravel I...

I'm really not sure about this jacket. I loved the technical drawings and it on the model in the magazine but I'm not sure on me. Its quite a boxy jacket and the under layer is deceptively long, I cut it a lot shorter (probably a bit too short looking at these photos). The chiffon under layer means the jacket slides around a lot so you are constantly pulling it back to sit at the front. The instructions are atrocious as Burdas normally are, I winged it a fair bit on the construction and it all came together and looks pretty close to the drawing. I didn't add the back under layer because I didn't want to waste my chiffon! Pattern Details: Sz 44 1" FBA Shortened the underlayer by about 5" 1" added to bicep width Burdastyle Layer jacket Materials; The main fabric is leftover spandex knit from my yoga pants and the underlayer is a scrap of silk chiffon from Spotlight. I'm really glad I used a scrap because the fabric is a l...

I've been looking for a rash vest for summer for myself and haven't managed to find a decent one that fits so I was pretty happy when I saw this pattern. I like the fact that its got princess seams and the raglan sleeves are great way to colourblock. I did have some issues fitting it, I've always had trouble with raglan sleeves on me and finally worked out that it was from not enough sleeve cap length (thanks to some fitting posts by Mrs Mole). So even though it took 2 muslins, they were quick to whip up on the serger and I'm glad I know how to adjust it on future raglan tops. Final version: Sz L (I measure as the XL on the chart but wanted a closer fitting top) 1" FBA Added about 3" to the sleeve cap length in two separate areas - the top was rotated out to form a shoulder dart. Lowered the front neckline (this is a personal thing with me, I hate the feel of a high neckline) pinned out excess at the side bust/sleeve/waistline. Fabric ...