Month: February 2014

A Few Projects, Lots of Coughing

~ Michelle

After my wonderful trip to the mountains a few weeks ago, I came down with the worst cold I can remember. And I coughed so much my ribs were hurting! I’m finally feeling a bit better and getting at some new projects.

But first, let me share a cute moment from our trip. One of the highlights my husband and I enjoy about going to the mountains is seeing the wildlife there. This trip we saw a few deer, coyotes, and bunnies. Yes, bunnies. At some point in the not too distant past, someone thought it would be a good idea to let domestic bunnies loose in Canmore. Well, it’s not uncommon to see the little furry guys hopping all over the town. But back to my dear husband. He kept saying he wanted to see bears. I reminded him, bears hibernate, but he still kept saying he wanted to see them. On our last day in the mountains, we were driving around and at the top of a road near the Banff Springs we came across this adorable family of bears!

Banff Bears

This made my honey’s trip! He got his bears.

As for me, other than coughing this past week, I did get my scarf done. I love it. I really mentally debated how to finish the outside part. And I actually knit up the better part of a ball of wool in a seed stitch. But I kept thinking with the straight border on either side, the overlapping edges of the middle part would give it a clear front and back side. And I didn’t want that. So, I abandoned the seed stitch and sat (and coughed) and tried to think of something else to give me that black border that looked so nice. I decided just to do some crochet all around the edges and I really like the result.

Red & Black Scarf

I love the contrast between the variegated red and the black. The black wool is 100% Merino.

close up scarf

Hmm. Although I’m using my camera again, and editing my photos. I still don’t love the quality. However, this does show that variegation better. It goes from pale reds to really deep burgundies. Just lovely colors.

And I’ve also been mulling over what changes I’d have to make to my Fantasie Vivienne clone. I knew a few changes I wanted to make. A narrower bridge, and lower too. And seeing as my wires are shorter than the professional wires, I’d need to adjust the side’s height as well. I was also trying to figure out how to adjust the cradle and use my correct wire size which is one size smaller than what was in the original.

So I started that too. No cutting out yet. Just figuring out all the changes. So let’s look at that first one. Narrowing the bridge won’t affect anything else very much. But lowering it will. I had to adjust the upper cup accordingly. Same with lower the side. I adjusted the side panel and then the band. And lastly, the cradle. I was having a little trouble figuring out how to adjust for one size of wires. Would I have to re-draw the whole cradle using the wires as a starting point? I decided to take a 1/4″ out and eyeballing it, it looked good. There’s still some splay room for the wires, so all should work out okay.

bra project

Here are my re-drawn pattern pieces with the adjustments made, my bra kit from Bra Makers Supply in a pretty black with pink detail in the lace, and the picture of the original bra as a reference. I’m thinking with the changes to the bridge I’m making, it may end up looking more like their plunge bra.

plungenon plunge

Here they are for comparison. I’ll have to see if this is more along the lines of what mine ends up looking like.

Happy creating!

Another Clone Finished

~ Michelle

There were just too many blog posts where I hadn’t finished the bra clone I started. So… I finished it!

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Here’s my Prima Donna Duchess clone. She turned out really nice. A few minor bumps on the road, but still very nice. I wore this bra on my recent mini-vacation to the mountains and I was very comfortable in it – more so than the original.

One of the things I did was make an ‘exact’ clone of the bra, right down to the wires. I used wires I’d had from an old Prima Donna. I’ve found most RTW bras have longer wires than what I use. They must be extra long, because I buy long wires. I don’t really prefer these longer ones, but didn’t want to do any alterations on this. The only thing still missing is sewing a little crystal & bow on the bridge.

One of the bumps I had was I didn’t have enough channeling in the kit I’d bought! This was a kit from I purchased before they closed. I was surprised there wasn’t enough, but was determined I’d get this done. I didn’t want to use any channeling from any of the other kits I have either, so I used a single bit I had left over from a past bra. I have BAGS of bits and it came in handy.

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Here’s the inside of one cup showing the beige channeling. This also shows the seam in the lining. I really like that extra seam for the support it adds to the lower cup.

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And here’s the black channeling. I didn’t have any beige bits! However, I decided this won’t bother me because I’m the only one who will see this – at least when I wearing it every day. Anyone reading this now knows my bra doesn’t have matching channeling!

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I did like this shiny Lycra that was part of the kit, but didn’t find it really strong, so I lined it with power net. I had a small piece of black (again) and used that. What I ended up with is a really nice supportive band. I like the double material. It feels very comfortable. And it’s not the first time I’ve used it. I did a few bras with Lycra and lined them so they were doubled. Very comfortable.

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Here you can see the black inside. The only draw-back to this, which I didn’t anticipate is it makes it a little less forgiving when wearing. The original fits snugly, and this fits a bit too snugly now. So I use an adapter so I have that extra set of eyes I need. If I make this again I’ll add 1/8 – 1/4″ to each side of the band to make up adding that second layer of material.

I would have loved to match the lace so it was perfectly symmetrical on both cups, but didn’t have enough for that. Maybe on a future bra.

And the straps were a bit different this time. One these straps I did the lower piece which is covering the edge of the band and ends up enclosed in the hooks & eyes. And then only a one strap piece above that. Previously I had used two pieces above that. It took a little while of looking at it to figure out what I needed to do. I had already sewn the bra straps to the front of the bra, so picked out the stitching. Then I made the strap starting at the back. I put on the slider, then after that was sewn, I ran it through the loop on the top of the band. Then it could be attached at the front. This was how it was done on the original, so I tried this and I think I prefer it. So the last things I sewed together were the straps to the front.

There. Whew. This clone is no longer sitting on my sewing desk waiting for me to finish it. What a relief!

Happy creating!

Jewelry and a Pareo

~ Michelle

I bought a new bathing suit for an upcoming 3-day conference & hotel stay my hubby and I are going on.  He loves to hot tub, and I rarely join him, but decided I’d at least sit by the pool this time and keep him company. But sitting around in a bathing suit isn’t the most comfortable for me. I like to be a little more covered up. Maybe if I lived in the tropics I’d feel differently, but this Canadian girl likes to stay warm! A pareo wasn’t offered with the swim suit, so it was up to me to come up with something. There’s always basic black, but I only wanted to use that as a last resort. I was really wanting something that would go with the suit. Here’s what I found:

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I’m really pleased with how well these go together. Are they a perfect match? No. But there are similar elements and colors; enough so I will be wearing this on our up-coming trip – at least by the pool. The material is a knit, and I simply cut out a rectangle and did an overcast stitch around the edges. I also decided to use the material with the pattern running length-wise down my body. I’m not the tallest, and thought this would be more flattering than a wide horizontal pattern going across me.

Onto jewelry now. My classes have been filling up the last few weeks; I had five students this week in one class. That was my biggest yet. I made a few things and this time I LOVE the colors. A while back I made a blue and gold necklace, and really liked those colors together, so decided to do something in those colors.

Here’s the first piece of jewelry I made – a memory wire bracelet, and then an elastic bracelet.

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These bracelets feature dyed Imperial Jasper beads, Aqua & gold glass beads, and golden glass beads. I love it! I think I wore it every day last week. The elastic bracelet has the same beads in it.

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Then I had a Crimping class and used those same beads to make this necklace. Well, I was wearing the two items for a few days when I decided to be all matchy-matchy and made a pair of earring too! This picture is nice and close so you can see the three beads really well.

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And to really put the matchy-matchy over the top, I made a Medical ID bracelet to boot.

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So I think I’m good now with the matching Imperial Jasper. I did make one other piece of jewelry in my class this week. While waiting for my students to finish their projects, I put together an eye-glasses holder/chain.

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Completely different beads this time! Well, almost completely different. I still used Jasper, but this time undyed. And I used white, pale pink and pale grey pearls in-between.

It was a big jewelry week, but I love what I made. And am really pleased with the pareo. Still unfinished on my desk: the Prima Donna Duchess cloned bra. I have no big desire to finish it, but am determined to clean my desk off so will set a deadline for myself. Next post I will have it done!

Happy creating!