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

I haven't done much Christmas sewing this year but I did make these 2 bags on the weekend to add to gifts for friends. The pattern is from dog under my desk and its the essential wristlet . I made her circle pouches last Christmas. The ninja fabric is Robert Kaufmann and was left over from the Mini ninja quilt .   This fabric was a fat quarter I picked up at a garage sale a couple of years ago and the lining is a Joel Dewberry fabric left over from this quilt   The little swivel clips I picked up from either ebay or etsy in a bulk lot last year, it's nice to finally use them.   I couldn't find the recommended interfacing locally so used a fusible fleece on the outer and a Pellon fusible on the lining.   Next time I make these I will cut a little out of the lining at the base as it doesn't fit as smooth as I'd like inside but otherwise I'm really happy with them.

I'm not much of a bag sewer - I tend towards leather handbags and I use a small suitcase normally for holidays. But a duffle bag is always good, easy to fold down into a suitcase for extra fabric shopping storage, lol! This is my second version, I made myself a boring plain grey one and the daughter picked out this fabric from my stash. I have to admit I'm a bit jealous at how good it looks! Pattern details: I used a free pattern from here . I changed a couple of things design wise - I joined the separate base and side pattern pieces and cut the outer as a single piece. Added a big inside zippered pocket and also added pockets to the ends inside as well. I don't have much craft/bag interfacing so used a woven fusible interfacing I had at home to fuse both the lining and the outer. Fabric is a digital scuba knit from Spotlight and the lining is a thicker old nylon lining fabric (sort of feels like a ripstop nylon). I bought the webbing from spotlight as well as the plastic c...

... and with Brisbane having a predicted temperature of 33° in two days time, a summer dress will definitely be the flavour of the day! So I thought I would sneak in a little summer dress making. And I do love spring and summer sewing the best, so had plans on kick-starting the season with a dress. Well, actually I need to backtrack just a tad. My original plan (we all know about plans and sewing) was to participate in the PatternReview One Pattern, Many Looks challenge . Grabbed the pattern from the stash, set up the Pinterest inspiration board (and many hours just disappeared drooling) and then came to a bit of a stop! Well, the stop was just from work, winter lurgies and life in general, but the poor sewing cave went into hibernation . So it is now time to blow of the dust and get those dress plans back into action. The pattern is an oldie (like me) but a goodie! McCall's 8788 ... ... a simple, basic semi-fitted dress with front and back darts! Nothing fancy, but it is a closest...

When I started sewing one of the first sites I found and joined was Pattern Review , so its a bit of a thrill to be the member in focus this week! Please head over and have a look (I must admit all I can focus on is my photos and how I need to play with the settings again on my camera!) I am so behind on blogging my latest makes, I've had great sewing mojo lately and am flying through projects but just haven't taken any full photos yet, but here's a couple of sneak peeks;

I have been enjoying the cutout trend and so when I saw Burda 08-2014-116 I instantly fell in love and had to make it. I just happened to have a trip to New York planned, so finding the perfect fabric for it was on my list.  This lightweight rayon was exactly what I was looking for--I love all the colors in the print, I like that it's a dot and not a floral (I love floral, but have a LOT of it), and it has the perfect floaty factor. For the back bodice, I did a Broad Back Adjustment and also took a HUGE tuck out of the back neckline, which was really, really wide. The bust dart on the front bodice is actually pretty small as drafted so I did not do any alteration for SBA.  I think if you are larger than an A cup, you'll want to do a FBA even if you don't normally need to.  The front neckline is a wee bit wide; I wish I had taken a little bit of width out of it at the pattern alteration stage. The pattern is drafted as a boatneck, which is difficult for me to wear given ...

  This jumper makes me so happy! I found this fleece fabric in Spotlight on a day trip to Warrnambool , its been sitting on my sewing desk for a few weeks now while I've been thinking about it. I had ideas of a hoodie or a peacoat but seeing Bobbin and Baste's top helped me simplify and make a basic jumper. I've made the Renfrew top before but I wanted a lot more ease in this top so its a sz16 at the shoulders and graded out to approximately a 22-24 from the armholes down, plus added an extra 1" to upper arm width and did a 1" FBA which I eased into the side seam. I made a muslin out of stash fleece and wore it around yesterday and then also added 2" to the length, forward shoulder of 1", lowered the neckline by 1" and dropped the armhole down by 1". The pocket is a patch pocket traced from a hoodie I have. I twin-needled the neck band and wristbands. Insides are all overlocked. The hem band could be a little tighter, I haven't worked with...