Author: Michelle

Not So Basic Beige

~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

I’ve been having fun sewing some garments, but I still need some work on sewing and fitting pants – mostly fitting them. So, back to my sewing love: bras and panties.

I’ve sewn some gorgeous new bras this year. Black bras, a purple one, a pink one, and an ivory one. Oh, I can’t forget the lovely platinum bra either. But there wasn’t a beige bra in the lot. Or at least not yet.

It was time to sew a lovely beige bra. However, I decided to sew not just one beige bra, but three! I’m rounding out the year with a full bra wardrobe. I can always work on fitting pants next year!

Here’s my beige Freja bra with golden lace. I love this lace. It’s so pretty. So delicate. I think it’s lovely with beige duoplex too. A lovely new bra isn’t enough though, is it? I need some panties to match, am I right? 

So I pulled out some beige cotton Lycra and some lace, and made a matching bra and panty set. Again, I’m using the House Morrighan Clover Boy Brief pattern. Here is my new beige set together. Next week I’ll share my next set.

Happy creating!

Perfect Pistachio

~ Michelle

A while back I bought a lovely Black Beauty (Emerald Erin’s) bra kit. I saw it and loved it. What can I say?

So the very pretty kit was sitting patiently on a shelf in my sewing room waiting for just the right sew-jo to inspire me.

Then B,Wear brought out Pistachio finding kits! Oh my!

Findingskit -Pistachio green - 3   I knew right away they’d match perfectly with that kit. The green is the perfect pop of color.

Here’s my lovely Pistachio Bra. I chose to only use the Pistachio on the upper part of the bra. My frame is sheer cup lining and power net, so I wanted to keep it looking black. If I’d been using duoplex or nylplex the pistachio wouldn’t have shown through, but it really did show through the sheer cup lining.

What I wanted though was just a little peek of color with the upper band elastic, and then the straps with that pop of color. And I think I got it. This bra has such lovely rich fall colors. I’m very happy with my new make, and I’m still loving the Freja pattern.

I was asked last week if the frame I’m using for my pattern is the one that comes with the pattern. No. Most definitely not. My frame is highly adjusted for my Omega shape. I’ve narrowed the upper bridge, widened the lower bridge, used a smaller cradle size – so it’s definitely not the same frame as comes with the pattern.

Lastly, here’s the back of the bra. I really love this Pistachio color! I was looking through my lace to see what else I had that would go well with it. 

Do you remember this bra I made?  I still have some of this lace.     I think this will match perfectly with the pistachio color too. But not with the burn orange this time. Basic black always works.

Happy creating!

Lavender Clover Boy Briefs

~ Michelle

I was looking at the blog posts I had coming up, and realized I missed one of my makes. I’m not sure how I missed them as they’re a favorite of mine, but I did miss them.

I made some lovely lavender Clover Boy Briefs to go with my new bright bra. And I have decided my favorite panty pattern is the Clover, so I naturally pulled out my favorite pattern. Oh, I think these are cute!

Here’s the side view. And of course the back view.     I had thought these would go really well with my bright bra, but it just so happens they also go well with my platinum bra! These coordinate very well, but just for fun look at these panties with the platinum bra. That little bit of purple in the lace makes this matching more fun, and a bit less matchy-matchy.

Happy creating!

Concord Tee Take Two

~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

For my knit top in the TomKat Stitchery fitting class, I now had a few new alterations to add to my Concord Tee.

If you haven’t seen the Concord Tee, here it is.

Concord T-Shirt 12-32 PDF pattern

It’s a basic tee with a few options. What I love most about it is it goes up to a G cup in sizing – and I don’t have to do a FBA!

So, I learned I need a narrow shoulder adjustment from making the woven top. Then once I made my knit top, I learned I also need a gaping neckline adjustment, and a sway back adjustment.

Where was all this information when I was learning to sew in school? I don’t remember having to making any adjustments then. I also don’t remember wearing anything I made, so that might be why.

I didn’t want to break out new material to test these adjustments, so thankfully I had just enough fabric left over from my first tee shirt.

This sleeveless tee has all my adjustments. And it fits quite well. If I want to improve it even more I’ll add 1/4″ to the gaping neckline adjustment, and 1/2″ to the sway back one.

However, a big part of this course is to not overfit. This is wearable and fits quite well. I’m learning to be happy without everything having to be perfect. Along with the side view I captured some ghosting in the lighting. The pretty pink bra peeking out is my favorite Prima Donna Milady that I bought and is too small. Still it’s getting use on my display form and is inspiring me.

And the back.     I noticed putting it on the display form that my back and its back are different! The alterations I made caused it to fit just a little more awkwardly. Ah, it’s for me not the display.

Next in the course are knit pants and woven pants. It will be interesting!

Happy creating!

Cashmerette Concord Tee

~ Michelle

After I finished my Cashmerette Concord Tee, I sent a photo to Whitney, the instructor at TomKat Stitchery. I really wasn’t happy with all the bunching in front of my arms. What was this?

I did mention this alteration in my post about the Montrose woven top. I need a gaping neck alteration. It was actually this make that helped us figure out I needed this adjustment.

I would NEVER had figured this out by the name. What does this area have to do with the neckline? If you want to see how this alteration is done, you can see it here.

  So although there is gaping, this is still a perfectly wearable top. Or a wearable muslin as it’s called in the class.

Here’s the full top.

I do love this fabric. This was from B,Wear a few years ago. I had saved it for the perfect project and this was it.

Here’s the side view. The top has a nice scoop neckline, with 3/4 sleeves.

And the back.   So, although there is some gaping/bunching up of material, I’ve worn this a few times already.  I love it.

Happy creating!

Black Freja Bra

~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

I’m still loving the Freja pattern. I decided I had some pretty colors, it was time for a nice basic black bra. Well, not too basic.Isn’t this pretty? I really love the lace. It has a barely there look to it with delicate floral outlines and just a hint of color on the petals.

I also love how delicate the lace edge is.Oh, I like that. Who knew lace addiction was a real thing?

Here’s the side view.   And lastly, here’s the back view.  As I said, it is basic, but it’s a very pretty basic black.

I had cut out a second black bra from a kit I bought from Emerald Erin. The lace is the loveliest lace. I had everything cut and ready to sew on my cutting board when I saw an announcement from B,Wear.

They have brought in a new color of elastics. Pistachio. I ordered a couple of kits. It’s too pretty to resist. I think it will go perfectly with my second black bra, so it’s current waiting for the mail to arrive.

I’ll share it as soon as it’s finished.

Happy creating!

Cashmerette Montrose Woven Top II

~ Michelle

This is take two of my woven top assignment. Again, I made the Montrose Top by Cashmerette.

I’m already looking for some lovely guipure lace to make a similar top as shown on the Cashmerette website.  Montrose Top 12-32 PDF pattern

Oh, I really do love this lace top!

I didn’t have any lace fabric that I could use for a top. Lots of lace for bras, but no lace fabric to use for a top like this.

This past summer Fabricville had some lovely smocked fabric I couldn’t resist. I still have enough for a dress, but used half of it for this blouse.

Here’s my second Montrose top.

For this one, I made a narrow shoulder adjustment and it did fit better through the shoulder. However, there was still too much fabric around the neck and upper chest.Right there, where I’ve put the pin.

It seems I need more than just a narrow shoulder adjustment. I also need a gaping neckline adjustment. The two of them took care of most of this. I could adjust the neckline a tad more.

However, one of the big components of this class it to NOT overfit. Get a good fit is more important. I think I’ve come to the same conclusion with bras – there really isn’t that perfect fit. Even a great fitting bra could probably be adjusted somewhere.Here’s the back. I skipped the keyhole this time as I’m busy sewing two garments per week with this class.

This is wearable. Once the course is finished, I’ll go back and sew up another woven top with the the neckline adjustment.

Happy creating!

Cashmerette Montrose Woven Top

~ Michelle

I mentioned in a recent post that I’m taking the TomKat Stitchery’s Pattern Fitting 101: Demystifying Fit Head to Toe digital course.

The first garment we sew is a woven top. We sew up a wearable muslin, make a few changes, and then sew up another top with whatever adjustments that were needed.

I chose Cashmerette patterns because they have C-H cup sizes included. Oh, I’m thankful for that! I’ve done Full Bust Adjustments before, and it so nice these patterns have already done that work.

The Montrose Top is so pretty. I’ve been looking at it for a while now, but tend to stay away from woven garments. But no more! I’m tackling that challenge.

Honestly, I think I fell in love with the lace here, but our first assignment was a woven top, and this does fit that.

My first attempt was too big in the neck and shoulders.

The rest of the top did fit. I merged different sizes for my upper chest, full bust, waist, and hips. Goodness, no wonder I stay away from sewing something so fitted as a woven. 

But I’m learning to fit me with this course using woven fabrics too.I love that little keyhole design on the back.   

Next I’ll show you the well-fitting Montrose.

Happy creating!

Clover Boy Briefs in Grey

~ Michelle

I wanted to make some new panties to match my lovely new Freja bras. I decided to make my new favorite – the House Morrighan Clover Boy Briefs.

I’m still having trouble with my hands, and all this comes at such a bad time. I’m taking the Pattern Fitting 101: Demystifying Fit from Head to Toe course from TomKat Stitchery. It’s a bit intensive, with sewing at least two garments per week! So far, I’m able to keep up, but with pain in both hands.

I’ll keep you posted on my makes from the course too.

Here are my newest Clovers.  They’re not fancy, but they will coordinate well with my platinum Freja bra.Initially, I was feeling a bit disappointed the lace trim was so dark, but it actually helps to bring the colors together a bit more.This was the last of my grey cotton Lycra fabric, and to get two pair of panties out of it, I had to add a seam to the back of one pair. Shhh. No one will know but us.

I’m feeling very motivated to sew up a whole fall/winter bra collection. Let’s hope I can sew that much.Yes, I do think that darker lace trim really does help to bring these two together.

Happy creating!

Ivory Clover Boy Briefs

~ Michelle

This is a short but sweet post.

The House Morrighan Clover Boy Brief panty pattern is one of my favorite patterns. It just might be my favorite, narrowly beating out KwikSew 2286. Most of my makes are a full hipster with lace trim, but I decided to make one of my Clovers with a little more lace this time. I had a hard time finding Ivory cotton Lycra that wasn’t almost white. Clearly I did find some though.

Here you can see this is close. It’s not an exact match, but I’ve long given up finding cotton Lycra that matches exactly. I’m going for coordinating now.  That’s pretty close in color. The other ‘Ivory’ I bought was a lot more white.

Here’s that second pair I teased about earlier – the one with more lace.  These are darling! I added some narrow plush band elastic inside the waist because this is really stretchy stretch lace. I love this set!

I have a few more pairs planned, but I’m still waiting on elastics. Hopefully they’ll get here soon.

Happy creating!