SWAP v1.0

I have a plan! And now if you promise not to laugh -

 

 

 

 

My drawing is atrocious, but it keeps me on track.  As stated previously this plan is subject to change, especially since I am having problems fitting the Ottobre pencil skirt.  The first time sewing it up in my normal size - the waist and upper hips are about 3" too big.  So I unsew (and I hate that!), tape the waist with some twill tape, and bring in the side seams, at the waist easing back to the original seams, slightly less than 3/4" for a total of slight less than 3", leaving just a little ease.  Now it feels OK, but there are slight drag lines around the hip area and I didn't change that part.  I really hate unsewing and the fabric was not special to me, so I'm thinking about donating this one and trying again with a different pattern.

 

Planned fabric is completely from the stash - WooHoo! smug self-congratulations ensue ;).

 

So that's it for now, 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



It's a New Year!

As I may have mentioned before, I love the new year - it's so full of promise and potential. Last year also proved to be slightly problematic. Oh well...

It's also SWAP (Sewing With A Plan) time again and since I got so far on last year's, that is to say not even off the starting block. (I started out working on trying to get the perfect T-shirt, I thought I had it, but really still working on it.) This year's SWAP deals with 2 capsules of 4-5 garments each and 1 bridging garment.  This is much easier for me to wrap my head around since trying to get all 11 garments to work with each other nearly drove me crazy(ier) in past years.  You can find the official rules here.

And I have a plan, which is subject to change without notice yada, yada....  I intend to work completely, or a least mostly, from my stash.* I am going to use gray & navy as my base colors, with splashes of purple, lilac, plum & white.  I'm pretty sure everything I have planned will work together and be extremely useful in my real life.

I don't have a name yet and will try to get a picture of the fabrics and patterns for the next post.

*One of commitments this year is sew down the stash.  It's probably not that large, but it's getting overwhelming to me.