I took advantage of the Craftsy two-week trial Membership. Have you?
A new lingerie class came out. I bought it as it wasn’t part of the Membership. However, the next day it was. At first, I thought, ‘Well, I’m sure I’ll want to have this class anyway.’ 
This was a class I started to watch right away. Then something unexpected happened. I quickly went through the class and then returned the class the same day. I thought you might want to hear some of my thoughts on the class.
The class, Lingerie Essentials: Bralettes with Alison Smith was a bit of a disappointment for me, and I really didn’t want it to be a disappointment.
I have most of Alison’s classes and I love them. I love her style of teaching and all the details she includes in her classes.
Basic Class Information
It was too soon for there to be any reviews for this class at the time of this writing. The class had only been out for a few days.
Here’s the lesson outline.
First Thoughts on the Class
This class may be great for a beginner because Alison does take her time and explain a lot about the materials, how to handle them, cut them out, and sew them – all in great detail.
She also explains about the difference between measuring for a bra and a bralette. It was about here, I became disappointed with the class.
What could possibly be disappointing? Well, the class comes with a pattern. The pattern Alison has designed for this class is for a B/C cup. She does show how to grade up two sizes, or down a size, but that’s it. I’m still outside that size range; and disappointed.
As well, the pattern does go to a 42, but I don’t need a bigger band. The larger cup/smaller band fit was never addressed.
Here’s a screen shot from the class showing how to grade up two sizes from the B cup. Unfortunately, there was no mention at all what to do if you fall outside that range. I knew then, this class just isn’t for me.
Here’s the bralette on a model.
Looking on the Bright Side
My disappointment over the pattern being said, there were positive aspects to the class. So, if you’re a B/C cup, or even a D, you may just love the class.
Alison shows how to make the bralette a few different ways: Unlined lace, lined lace, and stretch jersey, shown in the photo above. I really liked the different ideas she covered with information on each material.
Alison is a wonderful teacher. She has a calm manner, and explains everything very well.
Alison does show some great ideas for how to use lace to embellish your bralette, and I did like that. Isn’t this lace detail on the back lovely?
The last lesson in the class shows how to make some matching knickers and suspenders (panties and garter belt). Both of these patterns are included in sizes S – L. Alison does say you can make the patterns larger, but doesn’t give a lot of detail on just how to do that.
Here are the knickers Alison makes in the class.
And here are the suspenders.
Personal Recommendations
Alison is a lovely teacher. I really like her style and think she has a lot to share with us. If you’ve never made a bralette, this could be a great first class to learn some basics.
As well, if you aren’t an A, B, C, or D cup, then the bralette pattern will likely be disappointing.
I bought this class and returned it. I was disappointed. There are other lovely bralette patterns out there with a fuller range of sizes, like the Sweet Sixteen pattern I just made.
Here’s the size guide (from Beverly Johnson’s blog) for the Sweet Sixteen bralette pattern:
It goes up to an M cup! And the band goes up to a 38, but it fits loose, so probably more like a 40 or 42 band. So, conservatively that’s a range of 28 A – 40 M! That is a size range!
If you’re taking advantage of Craftsy’s two-week free trial Membership that’s available when you first sign up, then I’m sure there are things to take away from watching this class.
Happy creating!
(This give-away has ended.)
Personally, on behalf of the bloggers, here’s a shout out to 
Yup. It’s gorgeous, and we both loved it. We both almost made the same bralette out of the same material.
Yes, that’s a hole in the middle of the cup, probably right about where the apex sits in the cup. There were jokes about leaking cups!
Do you think we could get that out of our heads once it got in? Hmm, I wonder if those are soft-cupped bras they’re wearing?
a Rafflecopter giveaway (This giveaway has ended.)
While sewing the cups, and then top-stitching them, my machine decided to eat my material and made a big knot! As I gently tried to unpick the knot… I made a hole. 
Once I had the band shortened, it was perfect. I’ve worn this for full days, and it’s very comfortable.
I bought the material for it; a gorgeous cotton/silk blend, and this lacy material I thought went well with it. I received the High Neck Camisole pattern from one of our wonderful sponsors, Lingerie Secrets.
The lace is a cotton lace too. I like this so much better than the original material I bought for this.
