Month: February 2023

A Late Valentine’s Josey Milady

~ Michelle

I’m really loving my Josey Milady (named after my best-fitting bra pattern and Prima Donna’s lovely Milady bra). In fact, I find myself reaching for these ones that I’ve made more than any others in the bra drawer. I think I need more of them.

This one is inspired by the most gorgeous lace, and my recent Brenda Brief panties.  I really like these panties. So really wanted to make something to coordinate.

My newest Josey Milady.This gorgeous lace comes from B,Wear.

I love the red and black together.   Oh, I love this combination.

  A lot of my inspiration comes from RTW bras, and this one is no exception. I love the Fantasie Leona bra. Here’s the inspiration.

And here’s my take on it.I hope you all have wonderful inspirations that you bring to life.

Happy creating!

Making a Foam Lined Bra

~ Michelle

I had been asked a few questions on how to make a foam lined bra. Here’s what I’ve been doing.

The first thing I do is take my pattern pieces and mark where the seam allowances are. Most of mine are where the designer put them, but all my bras are adjusted for an Omega shape. And yes, you can do this if you have an Omega shape.

You’ll have to ignore the orange markings on the bottom of this first photo if you’re following along to do this yourself. You DO NOT want to cut that part off. The rest of the seam allowances you do cut off.

Here’s another example. You can see on the bottom here I’m not cutting off the seam allowance on the bottom of the pattern. You will need that – that is the part that is sewn into the cup.

Once you have cut off the seam allowances on your pattern, you have a foam cup pattern pieces that fit you and will line up perfectly with your lace cupped bra.

Sew the foam cups together with a wide tight zig-zag stitch. Once you’ve sewn your foam cups together cover the upper edge of the foam with fold over elastic.You’ll want to sew both the foam and lace cups into the cradle at the same time.

The underarm elastic will fold over the foam, so it only gets one pass of sewing (the second one) when sewing on the elastics there. 

Your foam cup is fully attached to the cup. It is attached at the bridge, fully under the cup, and at the underarm. It does not move. The foam cup is loose under the lace at the top.    As well, you can change the shape of the upper edge of the foam, and have some fun with the foam not being exactly the same as the cup. The foam on the cup above follows the curve of the lace cup.

On this bra below, instead of following the curve of the outer cup, I gave the foam more of an up-swirl towards the underarm.I do my best to line up the vertical seams on the foam with the seams on the cup.

I hope this blog post has answered all the questions you’ve had, but if you have others please let me know.

Happy creating!

Brenda Briefs View D

~ Michelle

I made another pair of the new Porcelynne pattern – the Brenda Brief. The pattern has four styles, and loving lace as I do, I made the other style with lace.

I have a lovely black and red lace on my cutting table so thought I’d make something that would coordinate with that.

I think these are darling! I really do love the lace on the side on this pattern. So pretty.

One thing I did differently on these than the last pair is I didn’t use FOE.

Let’s take a closer look, shall we?

  This is clear to see, I used a fabric band for the waist instead of FOE. This is quite easy to see.

This is harder to see (although I overexposed it) I also used fabric bands instead of FOE at the leg opening. I wanted something just a little softer, and thought I’d experiment.

I think it turned out wonderfully. It looks the same as FOE.

Isn’t that a lovely side view?

Lastly, there’s the back view.

Another very pretty view of that lace.

These look like briefs on my model here, but they are true hipsters. They aren’t a difficult sew, but the joining of the FOE and lace is a touch tricky. Thankfully, there’s a sew-along video coming to show you how to do that.

This is another lovely pattern from Porcelynne.

Happy creating!

Porcelynne’s Brenda Brief Pattern

~ Michelle

I recently made the new Brenda Brief panties from Porcelynne. I have to admit, I was taken with the lace at the side of the leg. It’s such a pretty feature. It can also be color blocked, but it was the lace that won me over.  Brenda Brief Pattern - image 1 I knew exactly what I wanted to make with this pattern too. I wanted something to match my new Prima Donna inspired Josey bra.So, here is my newest make – the Brenda Brief pattern. Oh, well you know how I feel about these. I say the same thing over and over. I love them! I really love this lace! You can find it at B,Wear.

I love this side view. I love the lace at the side.  Isn’t that just lovely? What a great way to make a matching set by using the same lace at the leg opening. Or do a little scrap busting by using the color blocking option.

I really like this pattern. It comes in four styles. Two briefs (view A & B) which sit higher, and two lower styles (view C & D) which are close to a hipster. I plan to make the hipsters next!

Happy creating!