A Pretty Summery Bra

Oh, some very good news. Draft number four fit so well I couldn’t resist making a new bra. For the most part, my cups were fine. I’d done a lot of work on those. The wires and the bottom of the bridge were what needed the most improvement. So, now I had a well-fitting band, with the correct wire shape, I had to make a new bra.

I looked in my stash, and this lovely delicate lace was calling my name.Oh, I love this lace. It’s so pretty.

My next decision was what to use to finish the bra? I decided to try the lingerie satin B,Wear sells. I had ordered some, but hadn’t tried it yet. I think I fell in love with it as soon as I touched it. It’s so soft!

This lingerie satin does have a bit of stretch, so I wasn’t sure how my bra was going to fit, but I am not disappointed.This is the BMS Ruby pattern, adjusted for an Omega shape.

This fits perfectly – except I forgot to adjust the top of the bridge to make it lower. This bridge is for using elastic along the upper edge, so the bridge and the wires aren’t the same length. However, that’s a very small complaint!You can see here where the wires aren’t coming to the top of the bridge. There’s maybe 2 cm, or better yet 1.5 cm and a touch of wiggle room for the wires. It’s a very small adjustment after some of the others I’ve had to make.

You can also see in the above photo, I had some wrinkling with my elastic under the cup there. I had this problem on my other tester band too. I’m wondering if I have too much of a curved shape there making it just too hard for the elastic to fit to those curves.

Here’s the side view of the bra.Oh, I’m so happy with this. I used a trick I learned in one of my classes with Jeannette to help my large cup fit into my smaller band – I stretched the frame on the outside, and ‘eased’ the cup in. It works so well.

Lastly the back view. I’m so thrilled to have finally found my correct sized wire, and figured out just how to fix my band as well. I have my next bra kit all picked out, and I’m going to sew some more bras!This is another lingerie satin kit from B,Wear.

I do like a power bar, so I’m thinking for my next bra I’ll make a BMS Shelley.

Happy creating!

Basic Beige

A couple of great sewing friends contacted me. We’d all taken classes with Jeanette of Sew Uplifting, but we were all feeling a lack of motivation. We decided to get together over Zoom, and agree to some accountability – we’d all make something by the end of April.

I shared I was just weary, and didn’t want to keep working on my draft right now. I don’t want to give up on it, but I wanted to sew again. So I said I’d sew a bra.

I need a basic beige bra in my wardrobe, so that’s what I made.This is my drafted frame and the cups from B, Wear’s Angie pattern.

This bra is using my new wire style and size, and unfortunately, although that seems to be fitting better, I now need to go up a size in the cups.

The Omega shape is causing problems again. 

I’m using a size smaller wire, so I had to lower both the front and the sides of the cups to get it to fit in the frame. This is also a narrower frame – to fit the wire. Once I put the bra on, I could see I really need a power bar to pull in everything on the side.

Something I really like about the Angie pattern is how rounded the cups are. They give such a nice shape when wearing the bra too. However, using the smaller wire size and narrower frame, the rounder shape didn’t seem to be fitting into my frame as well.

   The back is fine. The band is too. It was comfortable, and stayed in place. However, I’m very disappointed this is not wearable.

I’m off to work on getting my next bra to fit.

Happy creating!

Some Good News

Hello!

Sorry I’ve been quiet for over a month. Spring is coming, the weather is warming up, it’s sunny most days. I’m feeling more motivated to be creative again.

Something I have been doing is knitting. I’ve been enjoying the slow pace of it. I’ve been finishing the Annie’s Knit Kit. I’m done all the squares now, and have started blocking them. Here’s the square I’m blocking right now. It rolls under, and it isn’t actually square.After it’s all pinned it’s square. Then I spray it really well with water and leave it to dry. I really am enjoying this. It’s wonderful to unpin each square and see how nice it looks.

I had some good news this week. My Instagram account is back! My photos are all there. I’m so happy. I didn’t want to try to find all my old photos and upload them again.

I’ll be back in a couple of weeks with more makes. I’ve decided to let the drafting rest for a bit. I miss actual sewing, so it’s time to make a few lovelies again. 

Happy creating! 

A Very Different Jessica

2021 had barely begun, and I sewed up a bra. I have to tell you, that felt really good. After a pretty sad 2019, and 2020 just added more to the burden, it felt really good to start 2021 off with some sewing.

A few months ago, I read a post on Facebook about a Jessica bra sewn from cotton jersey. This intrigued me. I read the post, and all of the comments, and then even contacted the woman who’d sewn the bra and chatted too.

She made the bra because she deals with pain. Well, I can relate to that. I deal with pain as well. So, that post, and her lovely jersey bra stayed in my thoughts.

I decided I was going to try to do the same thing. Sew up a bra from nice soft jersey and see how it fit, and how comfortable it would be.It’s so lovely! It’s also so very comfortable. Everything about this bra is the same as a ‘normal’ bra – channeling, underwire, but it’s all soft cotton jersey.To account for the stretchiness of the jersey, the original sewer went down a full size to make her jersey bra. I did the same, and it fits very well. I do need to make a couple of adjustments for my Omega shape, but other than that, this is a very good fit.  There isn’t anything different about the back except I used jersey again. The whole bra is jersey except for the elastics, and the underwire and wires. As well, to keep this very soft and comfortable, I did not stabilize the frame.

I’m sure there are those wondering if this have any support. No. It’s not a supportive bra. It’s better than wearing nothing, but there is minimal lift or shaping. However, we’re all in a lockdown, and this is the most comfortable bra I’ve ever worn! I will be making more of these.

Happy creating!

One More Angie

I’m finishing the year with one more Angie bra. The bra I made for my friend fit her really well, but she needed a little more room along the upper cup.

So with a few small changes to the pattern, I made her another Angie. I pulled out Catherine (my dress form) for this Angie. She’s a little wider through the back than my white dress form. So I thought the bra would fit better around. And it does.

I also decided to add fabric straps to this Angie. I wanted to see how they’d work, and they seem to work fine.

Here’s the side view. My friend is an Omega shape as well, but you can’t tell by how the cups fit in. I do love that!There isn’t anything different about the back except I did the two stitches to attach the strap elastic again. I do like it better. I hope this Angie fits perfectly.

Do you have any sewing goals for 2021? I plan to work on my drafting some more, sew a quilt, and learn to use my treadle sewing machine. I’m sure bras will be in there too.

Happy creating & Happy New Year!    

A Custom Watson

I recently made a lovely Watson bra for a friend. She loves it but she also wanted a little more coverage. I showed her a photo of the longline style.Yes. A longline is what she wanted.

However, she also needed a little more coverage on the side. It was time to use some of those skills I learned in the professional classes I took. It was very exciting to know just how to change the pattern.

The bra turned out very well.Isn’t this pretty? I don’t usually wear white, but I really do like this.

Here’s the side view with the higher underarm and side. I can’t wait to see it on her. I know she’s going to be a lot happier with more coverage.

Happy creating!

An Angie for a Friend

A friend recently came to me. Completely fed up with bras. We had a chat and I asked her just what was bothering her so much. It was the wires. No matter what bra she bought, the wires were digging in under her arms, pinching her in some way, or poking her. It turns out she’s an Omega shape too. Not as pronounced as me, but enough that the wires in her bras are hurting her.

She’d just bought three new bras online, and I was thinking it would be an easy fix for her to swap out the wires. No, she’d sent them all back. She wanted me to make a bra for her.

Then she told me she couldn’t stand lace. It was itchy to her. And no seams. I told her to make her a bra, even a foam cup, there would have to be seams. Okay, so then she didn’t want a diagonal seam. What could I make her?

I showed her my Angie bra and she loved it. And the elastic trim seemed soft enough that she thought that wouldn’t bother her.Unfortunately, due to covid and lockdowns, I’m having to mail her the bra and then we’ll use video to test the fit. It’s not ideal, but I should still be able to get close to what adjustments I’ll need to make.The one benefit I had making her bra is I’ve had so much experience with Omega adjustments. She got most of them, and everything came together quite well.I did a little something different on the back this time. I don’t love how the  lightening stitch looks on the strap elastic, so I decided to look at my RTW bra. It has the same lightening stitch along the outer edge, but it has a zigzag on the other side.Isn’t that nicer?

Hmm, that close up shows me I need to do a little more trimming and catch the side of the eyes a little more (smile).

Happy creating!

An Elegant Watson

My most recent make is a very elegant Watson bra. Have I mentioned how much I like the Watson pattern? Maybe not so much for me, but I do love sewing it and making it for others who better fit its size range.

This is for a friend who came to me at her husband’s request. She needed a bra. She’s also in the very envious position of not needing any support, so isn’t used to wearing a traditional wired bra. Looking at what she was wearing, I thought the Watson would be perfect.  She said she likes lace, and black, and well, anything but brown. So I gave her the first two choices on her list.This is such a lovely lace. Seeing as she doesn’t have any support issues, I didn’t line this. I did line the cradle though.

The turned out so well. She comes over next week to try it on. (Yes, we’ll have masks on to make sure no one shares anything we don’t want to share!)

If you’re wanting to try the Watson with a lace edge, Amy did a wonderful tutorial when she did the Watson sew-along. You can find that here.

  I have another bra I’m sewing for a friend this week. She called me and told me she was fed up trying to find a bra that fits. We’d already determined she was an Omega shape, so I knew it was only a matter of time.

I was thinking if she found a bra that did fit except for the wires, we could try just changing out the wires. But she’d returned four that she’d bought hoping one would work. No, she wants a custom bra now.

Happy creating!

Angie’s Twin Two

I made another Angie’s Twin. And I also broke into one of my very pretty bra kits.Oh, I like this. I also like the Angie’s Twin pattern. Other than a few adjustments for an Omega shape – smaller wires & frame, and a larger cup – I didn’t have to change anything on this pattern.

I have to say, I love this lace! There was very little left over. Not enough to do any other projects. This is so pretty, I’d love to have some more. Sadly, I only bought one kit, and I haven’t seen anymore in B,Wear‘s store.

The original kit came with sheer cup lining, white elastics, and the lace. And I’m sure it would have been lovely, but I wanted to play with all the colors in the lace.

I had a little bit of pink duoplex and power net left over from another bra. It was just enough for the straps and frame. As well, to continue pulling colors out of the lace, I went with some red elastics rather than the white. I love it.

Here’s the side view. There was just a tiny bit of lace left over to add to the sides. Just to add a bit more detail.

And the back.      All that red really pops here.

Lastly, a closer look at the side and front.  Oh, such pretty lace!I tried a couple of different bows on the front to see what color I liked the best. I decided, even though the pink blends in, it was the only one that didn’t seem to pull the attention away from the lace. I love it too.

I already have my next bra kit out and ready to sew another bra. And I’m testing a few more patterns, so will have more fun things to show you soon.

Happy creating!

Jessica’s Twin

Here’s a little of the back story to my Jessica’s Twin I shared last week. 

I was asked to test Jessica’s Twin. I like the Angie pattern so much, I was happy to test this pattern. 

I’ve made a few Angie bras in the past, and I had bought Angie’s Twin. I’d even bought the Jessica pattern, but I hadn’t sewn it up yet.One of the reasons I hadn’t tried the Jessica pattern is I have to make adjustments to my bra cups so they’ll fit in a smaller frame. Omega: larger cups, with a smaller frame and wires.

I’d been told the best way to make these adjustments was in the seams of the bra’s cups. And the more seams a cup has the better. Take a little dart out here and there and hide them all in the seams. It’s a great solution.

But Jessica only has one cup seam. I needed to think of other places I could remove a little without changing the shape of the cup or removing too much volume, because I still need that volume.This is what I tried, and I have to say, I was pretty close. I still need to take in the underarm a little, but other than that, I got a great fit.

Here is the side view. You can see where I need to adjust the side cup. I have it pinned.Well, maybe it’s not so clear. Here’s a close up.You can see I just have a little bit folded under there. Probably 1/4″ x 2 removed from the underarm there and it will fit absolutely perfectly. Not bad for a first time testing the pattern. And isn’t that purple elastic so pretty with the navy?

To make the underarm smaller, I used this adjustment from Cloth Habit’s blog: This is a great adjustment when you don’t want the cup size to be smaller, but just the amount of fabric in the underarm area. This works perfectly!

And just to share one more time, here is my Jessica’s Twin.I really am happy with this. I didn’t think I could make a cup with only one seam work for me.

Happy creating!