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

I had never even noticed Vogue 8907 until Allison C showed hers as part of her Italy travel wardrobe and then I *had* to have the pattern.  A pullover top with a cool detail?  Yes please! I bought the snakeskin print at Chic Fabrics in New York ($10/yd) in November 2011 to force myself to get rid of this wrap top; I didn't make a broad back adjustment on the pattern and the top was just too tight across the shoulders.  But I really loved the fabric and wasn't letting go of it; when I bought the replacement fabric I was forced to rotate the top out of the closet. I don't like this fabric as much as the fabric in the top I had to get rid of because the huge print motifs were very difficult to manage.  I didn't want to center the medallion thing, but the print repeat is very wide so I basically had to just put it to one side.  It just looks kind of weird.  But I think the large collar/cape sort of minimizes the prominence of the medallions because ...

I ordered a couple of patterns in the latest vogue sale and this was one of them. It didn't look that great on the pattern cover but I did like the line drawing and I do wear a couple of waterfall front cardigans a lot to work in the cooler weather. The pattern does say its a loose fitting jacket and it really is. I cut a size F and graded in at the waist to a size E, which is 3 sizes smaller than I should have cut. I didn't make any bust adjustments and it looks ok, so it is pretty forgiving in the front. Material is a ponte knit from Lincraft I really, really like the pockets, they are a single pattern piece which is sewn to the front of the jacket, you do see the stitching lines on the front but they sit beautifully flat and are a really neat idea, I will be using it again on casual jackets and I think they would work well on pants too. I did shorten the length and the sleeves by a couple of inches. The collar was a bit of a pain, it sat beautifully before I ...

I have a wedding coming up in October so needed a special dress for it (any excuse to sew some frosting!) I bought this fabric a couple of years ago just after I'd started sewing. I found it in Spotlight and fell in love with it back then.....Well, now I look at it and mostly notice the fact that its a poly knit with the lace overlayed and the stretch runs opposite to how I'd prefer - I feel like the lace is on its side but that's what you get for poly knit from spotlight I guess. Size wise: its a sz 20 with a 1" FBA, 1" swayback and a forward shoulder of 1". I sewed the underbust seam with only a 1/4" seam allowance, I've adjusted the pattern for in the future with another 3/4" of length to the front only to add a bit more length. The waistband is pleated, easier than I thought even though I wasted a heap of paper trying to understand how to pleat it and how wide to do the pleats. I am pretty happy with my pleat matching...

I feel like I'm the last person to make this pattern up - I've admired the skirt on so many of my favourite bloggers and finally picked up the pattern when Spotlight did one of their very rare $5 pattern sales. The pattern goes up to a sz 18 (38-32-42), so I had to grade up about 8" - I did a really simple grade by just adding 2" to each of  the side seams. This made the pockets a bit too close together at the front so I widened them to make it look balanced. Lengthened it by about 4" I took a wedge out of the front length for my tilted waist. Not sure if I should have taken more out or changed the front darts a bit though because it bunches up when I wear it over leggings, can't see it if I wear my top untucked though. This is my second version of this skirt - first version was a lovely ikat cotton, it was just too thin though and didn't sit right. The fabric here is a medium weight denim I picked up from a clearing sale. Its lovely...

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 ...

I have had  Vogue 1282  for a while, but wasn't motivated to sew it until I saw Cenetta's (The Mahogany Stylist)  outfit; she originally wrote about the top here .  Suddenly I saw the possibilities! I made most of this fabric into a dress, but had a large piece leftover.  Rather than just make a t-shirt, I pulled out this pattern.  I cut a 6 at the shoulders and bust, transitioning to a 10 at the hip.  Fabric limitations prevented me from cutting a 12 at the hip, and I needed it. This is one GIANT pattern piece cut on the bias.  I appreciate that they give you a full size pattern piece, instead of a half pattern that you have to copy yourself into a full one.  I had to cut it on the floor, which involves knee pads and a lot of groaning. I've never really understood bias with knit, but I figured I had enough fabric so I'd give it a try.  The resulting drape is very nice, but I'm not sure it's more drapey in this particular polyester knit ...