She wore a raspberry ....

I heard Raspberry Beret on the radio about 2 weeks ago and it is stuck IN. MY. HEAD!!

So I am dragging myself out of a sewing funk - kicking and screaming, but still coming out. AND I finally made myself take some pictures and some notes so I will know what I did and what to do differently next time.

This project was a combination of experiments.  I used my Makebra DL01 pattern for the bra again.  Still not entirely happy with it. 

Changes -

1. The first one I made had a gap where the strap met the neckline edge, so this time I overlapped that area slightly - approximately 1/8" - effectively creating a small dart.
2. I also used a thinner foam, 1/8" instead 1/4", which I do think I like better.

Changes still to do -

1. I did not do a gothic arch on the bridge and I will do this next time.  I really like this detail on my bras regardless of the pattern.
2. I have gained some weight so the cup is a little small.  I read somewhere that the down-n-dirty way to increase a cup size was to add 1/4" at the wireline. So will do this next time if I am at the same weight and size.
3. The directions instruct you to sew a piece of twill tape or a thin ribbon to the outside edge of the strap.  Next time I think I will also do on the neckline edge of the strap.  It seemed to stretch out a little.
4. Need to improve my skills in applying fold-over elastic.

I used the free Makebra hipster pattern and found it to be a very straightforward sew.  Both patterns can be found at makebra.com.  I will add a little more cheek coverage to the next pair but otherwise these were good.

Now comes the second part of the experiment - adding color.  It's much easier to find everything in white so that's generally what I stock up on, but I really like a little color. Sometimes a lot of color, I think that's because my general public wardrobe is not very colorful. Anyway - I read on Beverly Johnson's blog years ago about using Kool-Aid as a dye. I couldn't find the blog entry again, but I have a set of white lingerie and I have black cherry Kool-Aid. Well all righty then lets give this a go!

I used hot tap water, enough to cover my material, and dumped the non-sweetened Kool-Aid in. Get the material wet and dump place gently in the pot also.  The time in the water didn't seem to matter, it turned this color almost immediately and did not get any darker after 30-40 minutes.

So I give you raspberry lingerie. 

 

It turned out with an almost tie-dyed look.  The fiber reactive dyes give a more even look.  But this was an experiment and I kinda like it.  We'll see how the color holds up after a few washes.  I wish I could tell you I hand wash all my lingerie, but I'd be lying.

 

Happy Sewing,  Suzanne

Not SWAP

So this doesn't have anything to do with the SWAP, which I still want to do, but this is the first thing I've finished this year.

The pattern is the downloadable DL01 found at makebra.com. I am always on the lookout for "new and improved", not to say the patterns I have been using are not good, they are and I recommend them. But this one was different and also very good.

This pattern uses a bonded foam to shape the cups.  I thought the pattern was very well drafted and true to the given measurements.  I usually have use the given measurements to find the starting size and then go down a band size and up a cup size.  There is lots of useful infomation on the blog about constructing her patterns and making a trial bra.  Which I did! that's probably a first.  It seemed to fit pretty well, so off I went to make a sample wearable bra.

The whole time I was making this, I was thinking about the black & white jumpsuits they make inmates wear, but the first time DD saw what I was doing she said "Beetlejuice!" So prison wear or Beetlejuice, take your pick. The instructions call for fold-over elastic on the upper edge of the cups and the underarm edge.  I, however, am not fond of fold-over elastic nor sure of my ability to apply it even reasonably well, so I added seam allowance to those edges and applied plush elastic to underarm edge like normal and the pretty lacy picot to upper cup edge. This theory, as is quite often the case, worked better in my head than in practice.

This bra was made with a 1/8" foam and I'm not sure I like it.  I have since ordered and received a 1/16" foam that I will use for the next one. I'm giving it the wear test today and have come to the following conclusions - 1. the underarm edge is just a little to high to be comfortable, I was aware to it all day, 2. I need to work on the upper cup edge, there is gaping between me and the bra. This may by operator inefficiency, so I will try again as drafted with the thinner foam and I may have to get over my fear dislike of fold-over elastic.  3. the band fits perfectly with a small downward hike ala Beverly Johnson.

 

WooHoo - overall a win on the new pattern!

 

 

Happy Sewing, Suzanne