Marlborough Bras

This is a new pattern from Norma Loehr of Orange Lingerie.  I am a sucker for new bra patterns and since I fit into the size range on this one (barely) and I received a pre-release discount, I snapped it up.  You can get yours here.

I really liked the looks of this pattern and made this first one as is. I used her measurements to pick my size, which I hardly ever do, because the measurement plus 4 usually equals a band that is too big for any support (for me).  This one is comfortably snug and I think it will wear very well once the elastic relaxes a tad.

 

After I made the first one, and gave it the wear test, I realized that the underarm is just a little high and the straps need to move towards the center to be really comfortable on me. So I slashed the strap portion of the power bar and moved it towards the center about 1/4".  Trued up the seams and matched the power bar piece with the side frame piece and shaved off about 3/8". 

I made another version with these changes and after giving it the wear test am pretty pleased the placement of the straps.  I think the underarm can stand to be lowered just a smidge. On second thought, my supplies of elastic and such are fairly low, so maybe I just need to use the wider elastic that the pattern is drafted for.

Since I had plenty of fabric, I lined the power bar, lower cup piece, bridge, and side frame in self-fabric.  Feels so nice on! I highly recommend this Victoria's Secret Stretch Satin purchased here.  The pattern is drafted for low stretch fabrics in those pieces and the lining also cuts down on the stretch factor.

The only issue I ran into, was that there was no match point on the lower cup.  Just something to be aware of and an easy fix, just walk the pattern lines and add your own. Overall a great pattern, if you fit in the size range - 30A to 40DD - give it a try!  You can see the page that tells you how to figure your pattern size before you buy and according to her blog plans for more sizes are in the works.

I have plans for a couple more and may try a slight "hack" based on the designers recent article in Threads magazine for adding foam to your bras.

Happy Sewing, Suzanne

Nothing but blue skies....

'Cause that's what the colors on this set reminds me of.  Carolina blue skies with big fluffy clouds.  These are made with some of my favorite material - the Victoria's Secret Stretch Satin - purchased here.

The patterns are my favorites - the Sewy Rebecca bra and the panties are from the Ottobre Women 5/2009.  There were not any changes made from the previous makes except that I went up a size in the underwire.  Since I've had a weight gain, the cups seemed to still fit fine on my previous makes, but the underwires were poking slightly.  So I ordered one trial pair in a size larger and gave the bra a trial run the other day, everything felt great.  Maybe I've been using the wrong size underwire all along, since the larger size fit in the same cup/band size??

The color is a little off in the first picture, but it is closer than the pictures I was getting inside.  On the second picture the color is pretty accurate and I liked the juxtaposition of the rough decking against my silky lingerie.  One of the nice things about living out in the middle of nowhere is you can carry out your lingerie to make pictures on the deck and there is no one to give you funny looks except the local wildlife.

Happy Sewing, Suzanne

More WIP's

These have been in process for quite a while.  I used the free patterns found here for the bras - models 8 & 9.  If like me, you do not speak or read Russian, I suggest you try Google Translate, to at least get the descriptions of the pattern pieces.  Model 9's lower cup pieces are very similar once you get them traced and cut out. 

I had made a trial run of both of patterns before, and found they run slightly smaller than the other European patterns I had tried.  So to get them to my size, I did a "cheater" grading and added .25" to the outside (where the underwire sits) seamline and that worked pretty well.  Now they fit except the straps ended up too wide on my shoulders, evidently I did not pay enough attention to that in the trial run.  Luckily for me my daughter wears approximately the same size I do, except her shoulders are slightly more square. So she can wear them without the straps constantly sliding down her arms like they do on me.

After the grading, it was pretty straightforward sewing. Since the patterns are in Russian and the translation is both confusing and amusing, I do suggest that you have sewed other bras or have a good "how-to" book in front of you, I recommend Beverly Johnson's, The Bra-Makers Manual - so much great information in there.
 
The panties are the free Rosy Boy Shorts (right side) from the Cloth Habit and the Cheeky Panty (left side) pattern from BurdaStyle, also free. Both are an easy sew, especially if you have sewn any panties before. I will tell you now that the boy shorts will not be worn by me - I don't really like boy shorts to start with and I need more coverage that they have.

Both sets started out all white -

Dear daughter does not do white, so just a little bit of time and some acid dye later, we got -

Cotton candy colors!!!

Also there has been an auxiliary, non-sewing project going on for my daughter. 

She sent me this picture -

Brought me these shoes -

I procrastinated for the longest time over this, because what if I messed them up? What was Plan B? I had no idea! But we ended up with this -

 

 

Not exactly the same thing, but I think she likes them!

 



Next on my list, is some lingerie sets for me.  As soon as I restock some of my supplies that is - SIGH - I let myself run out.

Happy Sewing, Suzanne

WIP's v2.0

I got something else off my WIP table -

 

Shiny new lingerie for a shiny new year.  There is still one day left in January so I still get to call it a new year!

 

There is not much to say about this set - the bra pattern is the Danglez DB5 and the panties are from the Ottobre 5/2009 pattern.  Both are TNTs and probably the most comfortable bra and panties that I currently own.

 

The fabric is a Victoria's Secret Stretch Satin that I got from Kathy's Lace & Elastic Outlet several years ago.  I don't remember where the lace came from, but it's been around awhile too.

 

Since my lingerie drawer is woefully empty, more lingerie sewing is high on the priority list.

 

Happy Sewing, Suzanne

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



My First Projects of 2011

And they were not listed on my to-do list earlier. BUT I am in desperate need and DD is so much fun to sew for - she sews enough to be really appreciative of my efforts. As I said before, I love a new year, so they are made in a gold Victoria Secret Stretch Satin (try saying that 3 times fast!) to remind me of all shiny new possibilities the new year brings. The first picture is DD set and the second set is mine - mine, mine, mine, all mine!
































Both bras are made from Kwik Sew 3300, both pairs of boy shorts are from the Ottobre 5/2009 issue as are the panties in the second set, the asymmetrical panties in the first set are Merckwaerdigh SV32.

I mostly used The BraMakers Manual by Beverly Johnson. I really recommend this book if you are making your own bras - explicit, clear instruction and very well illustrated. It is also written to use with any pattern.


Overall I am pretty happy with the fit of these bras - a couple more tweaks and they will be perfect! I hope! The matching panties are probably the most comfortable I have ever owned. Love these Ottobre patterns.




Happy Sewing, Suzanne

PS - sorry for the ummm, well, sorry pictures. I was in a hurry and am still getting used to this new camera.