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...

I'm kind of late on the cambie bandwagon, but I finally downloaded it and made it up! Fabric is from the clearance table at spotlight, its a cotton voile. Lining is a cotton poplin. Adjustments: I started with a sz 16 and changed the front to a princess seam using the bodice from Colette 1020 (which already had a FBA of 1") Added a side panel that was shirred (I did this by taking an inch off the side seams on the front and back bodice then made up a shirred panel that measured 2"+seam allowances when it was done), the skirt has enough gathers that I didn't worry about adding any width to it, I just gathered it a bit less. Took a wedge out of the back neckline of about 1" tapering down to nothing at the waistline. Added 1/2" to the shoulder height. Petited the bodice by 1" and took an extra 1/2" out as a swayback adjustment. I've got some rippling at the princess seams, every time I sew with voile I get thi...

I think this summer's uniform is going to be the maxi skirt for me! I've been wearing my Gabriola skirt heaps lately so it just seemed natural to make a maxi dress as well. This pattern has a few variations, I made Amber the hi-lo hem version and this is View D with the maxi skirt. So the adjustments; sz20 with d cup 1" fba 1" wedge from back neck alongside of the zipper 2" petite bodice 1" wedge out of bustline length shirring panel on side lowered neckline added waistband added pockets from Simplicity 2588 I'm not overly happy with the bodice, it took 1 tissue fitting and 2 muslins and I'm still not completely happy. Every time I try one of these cup size patterns I end up adjusting the fit more than if I'd started with a basic B cup bodice. This time I started with a d-cup bodice and had to do a 1" fba on the first muslin then had to take a big wedge out of length on the second - its like I need the width but n...

This poor pattern has been totally hacked and changed from the original this time. I sit a lot in my job and I found the original skirt was quite poofy when I was sitting but I also hated the full circle skirt version I made (I never even wore it after the photos, gave it to the salvos instead). This is maybe a 1/4 circle skirt and it seems to work really well. I had trouble fitting this dress, it seems the combination of a changing shape and using a knit that has 4 way stretch made it too long. I'd basted it together for a try on and I'm glad I did because I ended up unpicking it more times than I'd like to admit to get it to fit better! I changed construction order too - so the side seams were the last to be sewn up. This is my new favourite technique, makes it so easy to adjust at a later date. Pattern details; Size 12 knit yoke ( got the idea from Patty the Snug Bug ) Size 18 bodice with the darts converted into princess seams Skirt is from N...

I've been a bit obsessed with mixed fabric dresses lately, I love a knit bodice and a woven skirt, seems the best of both worlds! Pattern detailsn (same as last time I made this dress ); sz20 with d cup 1" fba 1" wedge from back neck alongside of the zipper 2" petite bodice 1" wedge out of bustline length lowered neckline added waistband added pockets from Simplicity 2588 There were a couple added adjustments since the bodice is a knit; Took in the sides by a total of 4" Took out length in the bodice of about 2" Cut the back on the fold Gathered the skirt instead of pleating it so I could make the dress a pull-on. Bound the neckline instead of lining the dress. Added a 4" facing to the hem to help weigh it down I do need to take some length out of the upper chest as its buckling slightly. It looks like the princess seams are ripply too but in real life they sit flat. Fabric: Cotton spandex knit for the bodice fro...

How do I manage to turn a very simple knit dress pattern into a fitting saga?! This is version 4, I'm pretty happy with it, still need to tweak slightly but at least its wearable. Final version adjustments: Size 4 through the shoulders, graded out to size 8 at the underarm/waist/hips. 1" FBA eased into the side seam. Changed the shape of the armhole. Narrow shoulder adjustment 0.5" Dropped armholes 1" Lengthened the skirt by 2" Petited the bodice by 2" Muslin 1:  was a straight sz8, it was too big through the shoulders so I cut it back to a sz 4 through the shoulders. (didn't get a pic of muslin 1). Muslin 2. Muslin 2: This helped but I had a lot of excess fabric at the underarms/bustline. I pinched out a dart at the armhole and rotated it out to give that J shaped armhole which helped a lot. Muslin 3 Muslin 3: I still had some draglines, so I dropped the armholes by 1" and it seems pretty good now. I have added...

I didn't get this pattern when it first came out because I didn't think the gathered waist would be that flattering. Since then I've seen a lot of great verisons online and I downloaded it! As always with Colette patterns, the instructions are fantastic and the fit is pretty good too. This is a XL at the shoulders graded out to a 2xl from the bust down. Its a bit too tight, I'll do a FBA next time, I think that what causing the drag lines at the armholes, it also needs the armholes dropped and a bit of length taken out from the back bodice. I went for sleeves half way inbetween the 3/4 length and the short sleeves. Otherwise everything else is straight out of the printer. I did drop the neckline down, its very much a boat neck but I like more of a scoop and I added binding to the neckline as well to help lift up the back neck height and because I just don't like the idea of turn and stitch for a knit neckline. This fabric didn't stretch enough...