WOW!!! I WON the Susie Challenge! Woo Hoo!

I had so much fun with this challenge and I know that the Judges had a tough time choosing a winner as all of the entries were amazing! :)

I wanted to share the Judges Q&A's here:

1)What was your concept for this outfit?

Susie is quite an inspirational Doll, being a worldwide traveler... My immediate thought was for Susie to fly off to somewhere in Britain... I love the wonderful tartans that are available throughout the UK. Scotland was my first choice, but after ruling that out I decided on LONDON.
My inspiration was the 'British Royal Guard' uniform... Once deciding on that I also wanted to incorporate a MOD element (Mary Quant) as well as a bit of contemporary London (Burberry) into my design.

2) Why did you choose that particular fabric?

I used 4 different fabrics for this outfit... The first thing I chose was the 'Burberry' style plaid for her jumper, as I feel that it screams LONDON... I happened to have some cotton/poly blend fabric with the proper scale plaid for Susie on hand... I also love the colours in it.
I used a black stretch lace for her little cap sleeved tank top, as I wanted something very sheer, not bulky and modern.
For the Jacket I chose a wonderful bright red Cotton Twill which I think stepped the cropped jacket up to the 'uniform' level...
I had originally wanted to use wool suiting, but I felt it would be difficult to work with trimming such tiny seams, and also is wasn't going to work with the cotton jumper... It turns out that I was right, it was tedious to say the least working with such tiny seams.
I used Black thin wale corduroy for the collar and cuffs of the jacket... I would have used Velvet for collar/cuffs if I had decided on using the wool, so the black corduroy was a natural choice for the cotton twill.
I also used the Black Corduroy for the poorboy cap for the same reason.

3)Why did you choose that color?

The Burberry style plaid set the stage for my colour choices... I
love the colours in it and chose it as I feel it best represents
LONDON.
Red was a given for her jacket once I decided on using the
British Royal Guard as my inspiration, and the black was used to
balance out my idea.

4) What element do you think distinguishes your design and sets it apart from others? Cut? Fit? Embellishment? Color choice?

I feel that the jacket I designed for Susie is quite unique with the
little details... gold/black braiding, brass buttons and the nice
snug fit. It is the element that 'makes' the outfit work.

5) What element of this challenge was the most difficult for you?

I would have to say that the jacket caused me a little stress... not that it was difficult, but just tedious. I had made up these great turn up cuffs out of the corduroy and then once the jacket was sewn together, I couldn't turn the sleeves right side out! I had to take it all apart and create new 'cuffs' that would work. I am pretty stubborn and won't let little nuisances get me down... I just keep going and am confident that I CAN DO THIS... LOL

6) What element of this challenge was the most enjoyable?

I would have to say creating Susies poorboy cap was very rewarding... I have never made one of these and felt that in creating the crown that all those little pieces would be almost impossible to sew together and I'd have bulky seam allowances... well... I played around with my ideas for about an hour or so and figured out how to make one out of one piece of fabric! I was ecstatic... especially when it actually worked!

7) If you could change one thing about your ensemble what would it be?

One thing that bugged me once I was finished sewing the jumper was that the back of it didn't snap in the center...
The reason for this, is that I wanted to match up the black part of the plaid... so even though that did work out, I was slightly annoyed.