Pattern Review: The Perfect Puzzle Set from Hailey Bugs Closet

First, I have to say, I love the look of upcycles.  I have a Facebook friend who makes these amazing outfits and I like to ooh-and-ahh over them, but I don't make a lot of them.  Then I saw this pattern and I knew I wanted to try!

Inara can go zero to complete melt down over an itchy seam in about 2 seconds, so I was excited to try something that would put most of the seams on the outside... And let me tell you, it totally worked.  All three outfits have gone right into the "wash and wear" area of her closet.

The details:
Available in sizes 12mo - girls 11/12
Sleeve Options: long, short, sleeveless, and layered long sleeve.
Separate skirt and shirt or dress options.
Paneled skirt (pattern pieces for 8 panels, tips at the end for making more panels!) or half-circle skirt.
Ruffle option on dress (required for skirt - or it ends up shorter)
Instructions for making patchworked bodice included in pattern.


First I did the shirt/skirt options.  It's still cool here, so the long sleeves were perfect for early Spring in the Pacific North West... but I wanted to do something a little more fun than the plain long sleeves, so I did the layered sleeves.  I picked out the shirt (clearance at Walmart) for the first one and Inara picked out *all* the fabrics I used.

I did a variegated rainbow thread rolled hem on the bottom of the ruffle of this one. *NOTE* This is the shorter panel length, which is not recommended for the skirt or it will end up shorter than intended in the pattern.

Of course we had to test the twirl...

She loved this one so much, I jumped on making her anther the next day.  This time she chose a rockstar theme.  We scavenged goodwill for a cool shirt and any other prints we could use with this next one, and this is what we came up with:

Cue traditional rockstar pose...

Here is what's cool about this one... The man panel on the bodice, the short sleeve, the top of the bodice, and small panel above the main print, and the black, pink stripe and cheetah on the skirt... ALL shirts we snagged at Goodwill for 50% off.  The guitar fabric and the polka dots had been warming my shelf for a while and finally found their home.

I want to show off the waistband here, so you can see that even that seam can be put toward the outside to avoid itching meltdowns. How cool is that?

And after the testing period ended, Stacey announced she was adding another option and I begged to play again..  (I really like this pattern).  Sleeveless... perfect for Summer (if it ever comes).  AND I found a use for my last couple of scraps of Unicorns In The Rain... 

From start to finish (not including time taken to choose fabrics), this one took me about 45 minutes, and that included the piecing and cutting of the bodice parts.  The shirt/skirt long sleeved ones took maybe 10 minutes more (making the waistband, threading the elastic, sewing the sleeve seams, etc).  So once you're done dancing around picking and un-picking fabrics for and inordinate amount of time that I will not admit to... you've got a gorgeous outfit in about an hour....

The pattern is available here in her Etsy Shop.   The code UPCYCLE gets you 15% off all patterns in the shop until Saturday!