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

Burda 11-2011-114 has been on my list  ever since the magazine was published!  I got this fabric at Golden D'Or in Dallas in December 2011 and way overpaid for it at $8.50/yd, but I love the color and the subtle "space dyed" gradation.  It is extremely lightweight with little recovery and I don't expect to get more than a dozen wears out of this top before the fabric stretches out beyond redemption. Alas.   The biggest negative for this pattern is that the front piece is a giant fabric hog and I couldn't find an efficient cutting layout that didn't waste a lot of fabric. The center back is drafted on the fold, which doesn't work for my swayback.  I used my TNT tee to shape the side seams and add a center back seam. This is the "easy" sewing pattern with illustrated instructions for the November 2011 issue.  I am sure I would have figured it out eventually from Burda's written instructions, but it was really nice to have the illustra...

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 ...

New Look 6648 has been a perennial favorite at PR, but for some reason very few people have made this butterfly wing view, perhaps because it is an insane fabric hog. This was one of my quickie makes before my trip to Italy in October.  We were going to have cool but not cold and probably wet weather, so I was looking for transitional tops.  This is probably too much fabric to wear in the heat of summer, but for early fall it was perfect.  I also wanted tops that could go with leggings.  Though this isn't long (I seriously cannot find any long tops that will work for my wide-hipped, belly-pooched self), the volume up top is a nice contrast to a fitted bottom. The top is very simple and only required a little bit of alteration.  As usual, I shortened the crossover for a small bust adjustment. This is still quite drapey and I ended up tacking the two sides together at center front.  This is always a defeat for me--sewing should mean never havi...

Spotlight had a really good sale on patterns this week so I ducked in yesterday and got a few. I've been eyeing this top off for awhile so grabbed it (along with a pile of Vogues and another Simplicity jacket pattern). It was a very quick sew, I didn't bother with a muslin but did double check the flat pattern measurements and did a 1"FBA that I eased into the side seam. It has a lot of ease, I should have made a XL or a XXl according to my measurements but this is a SzL with no other fit adjustments other than the FBA. I did change a couple of design things - I did a scoop neck instead of the V-neck and I cut the hem off rounder. The fabric is a rayon knit from the Alannah Hill outlet in Melbourne and the lace was a remnant out of my scrap drawer. I'm happy with it, the rayon is drapy enough that the top hangs nicely, I've normally struggle making tops and I think I've just been using the wrong type of knit fabric. I'm not quite su...

I've been eyeing off the peplum top currently in City Chic and this pattern was nearly identical except for the mullet hem which I think looks better than a straight hem anyway! I've sewn lekala before so I knew I'd need to add seam allowances and that the instructions are pretty scant (think Burda magazine, lol). I still had credit on the original site but it looks like you can now buy Lekala patterns on Craftsy and on this new site and you can request they are sent with seam allowances (I forgot, D'oh!) I used a ponte knit so didn't have to use a zipper but I did end up taking it up at the shoulders a lot, I think it was the stretch in the fabric made it sit way too low, plus the shoulders were too wide so they got narrowed as well. When you order from lekala you give them height, bust, under bust, waist and hip measurements, but no shoulder or upper bust. Next time I'll order by my upper bust measurements and do a FBA, so much easier than...

In an attempt to take the ideas of the last top (Butterick 5783) and make it more wearable I pulled this pattern back out and changed it a bit. I haven't worn the last version of this top, much mainly because the ties tend to pull the back and side seam around towards the front if I do it up tight but if I don't do it up tight the neckline is too loose and I end up  periously close to flashing strangers! So for this version I sewed the wrap tie ends into the side seams and added the ties separately. I like the sleeves and the crossover a lot more on this one, but I think the back and length of the Butterick pattern was nicer. I have the new Vogue 8825 pattern to make up soon and it seens to be the best of both worlds! I'm not using a polyester knit again though, it always feels like I"m wearing a plastic bag

I have a few issues with this pattern. Firstly; there is no finished garment measurements printed anywhere on the pattern or in the instructions so I flat measured to pick a size. I went with L and the fit is ok so I would say this pattern runs a bit large. I do wish I added some to the arms because I found them a bit tight on me. Secondly; there is some funkiness going on with the neckline, I think the back neck is drafted too wide which then gapes the neckline quite a bit. I had to take out 2" up at each shoulder seams to get the neckline not gaping. I'm not that keen on the fold over and sew for the neckline finish either, it looks a bit messy and it doesn't really stabilise the neckline at all. Thirdly: The neckline is quite low, I actually sewed the wrap part closed because otherwise it shows a lot more than I am comfortable showing! It needs a FBA but I couldn't work out how to without rotating out into the neckline which was already too long a...

I'm always looking for an interesting t-shirt variation, so I had mentally bookmarked Burda 08-2013-131 .  Then when Dibulous made it , I got really interested. I have a lot of fabric purchasing to confess.  A lot.  But let's start with these pieces from Fabric Mart back in December.  They had merino wool jersey on sale, how was I supposed to leave it on the table? The merino is quite thin and not suitable for a fitted tee.  So I needed to come up with top patterns that are a bit loose and will work with this thinner fabric.  As a plus, it is quite drapey! I love orange, but I was a bit disappointed in the unsophisticated color "Orange Pop" or whatever it was called turned out to be.  It was just not rich enough for my taste and I fretted that I'd made a mistake in buying it.  I figured I had nothing to lose so I tested a small swatch in a fairly dilute dye bath.  OMG, a million times better!  So I popped the whole piece into the washer ...