Author: Michelle

Very Little Sewing

~ Michelle

Hello. I know it’s been a while since I posted. I’m sorry for that. I haven’t been sewing. Well, I made a pair of dog boots for this winter.My little pup is quite camera shy, but this shows his new boots. He still hates the cold and wants to come back home as soon as possible.

I also have a couple of sewing projects coming up that I’m working on. A Watson for a friend, and an Angie for another friend.

So, if I’m not sewing what am I doing? Well, I’ve been knitting.

Last year I saw an ad for Annie’s Knit Club, and I decided to try it. I’ve really been enjoying it. I’d saved up my kits for the cold weather and the cold weather and snow are here now. It’s the perfect time to sit and relax, watch a romantic Christmas movie, and knit. I’m finding it very relaxing and enjoyable.

Here’s the image from the Annie’s site.

Isn’t that pretty? I hope mine is as pretty once it’s done.

If you’re not familiar with the club, they send you the yarn each month, and there are videos that go along with the instructions. It’s great if you’re not sure of a stitch, or just want to refresh your memory because it’s been a very long time since you’ve knit anything.

Let me show you the squares I’ve done so far.

Some of these are very basic, like straight knitting both sides (garter stitch), or knit and purl. The ones with design and texture are my favorites.

I love this very delicate design.

This one below was very interesting to do.

This one has such great texture.

But so far, my favorite is this lacy one. Is that a surprise at all? 

I’ve got the next knitting block on my needles now, but with two bras needing to be sewn, I have to set my knitting aside for a little bit.

Happy creating!

Great Craftsy News

~ Michelle

Hello,

I’m sorry to have been so quiet lately. I haven’t been working on any projects – well dog boots, but they’re not that exciting.

I received an email from Craftsy this morning. Oh, I’m happy Craftsy is back! And they have some great news.

50% OFF ALL CLASSES

Not only are they having a sale, but do you see the part about downloading classes coming soon? I like that!

I’m still getting over a bad cold (and running around the house smelling everything to make sure I can still smell). Hopefully, I’ll be feeling well enough to sew again soon.

Happy creating!

Wire Comparisons

~ Michelle

I’ve been keeping myself busy with canning, and even a little dehydrating. In fact, I have six trays of peppers drying right now.

I haven’t been working on my drafting, but do want to get back to it soon. I haven’t even been sewing.

But I have been looking at wires, trying to decide the best wire for me.

Here are the wires I’m looking at so far.

Here’s my adjusted BMS 38XL wire (bottom) with the Orange 38 wire (top) from Emerald Erin. I’m noticing that they are a different shape. Part of my problem all along may have been the shape I’ve been using.

I do like that Erin is in Canada. I am too, and that will make shipping costs better.

I will say, I haven’t tried this wire yet. I’m still just looking at wires.

The next wire is the 38 Regular wire from Porcelynne.Oh! I like how thick these wires are! They look SO supportive!

This wire is rounder like my adjusted wire, but a bit narrower on the inside. And as I’m thinking, although this wires matches the adjusted wire, the shape may still be wrong for me.

I will tell you, I want to like this wire though. 

Here are the three wires. The adjusted BMS wire is at the top. Then the Orange wire is over the Porcelynne wire. This photo is the one that got me really thinking about the actual shapes. So rather than compare wires to wires, it was time to look at my trace again. 

Looking at my actual trace, the Orange wire is the right shape. I think the first wires I’ll try are the Orange 38s.Happy creating and may your wires never hurt you!

Progress on Drafting

~ Michelle

I’ve shown you a very little bit of the new drafting course I’m taking. It’s Bare Essentials by Porcelynne, and it’s different from what I’ve done before.

The first thing we do in this course is the root trace. I also shared with you how I didn’t really think I needed that. It turns out I did.I knew my wires weren’t perfect, but the 38s pinched, and the 40s seemed a little too big. As it turns out, the 40s are just a little too big around the base, and the 38s are a touch too narrow at the top.

The next step is to draft a band. That wasn’t very different from what I’ve done before.

Something that is very different is Jennifer has a calculator on her blog that is used in conjunction with the 3rd Bare Essentials book, and the drafting course. It’s very interesting.There is more to the calculator, but this is just a glimpse. Take a look. It really is very interesting.

I asked about drafting for an Omega cup because with the drafting method I’d learned previously, I needed two sets of wires. One for drafting the frame (my actual wire size), and one for drafting the cups (the wire that’s usually corresponds to my cup size).

However, with the Bare Essential’s method, the cups’ curves are built into the calculator. I don’t need that second wire to draft the cups. This will be totally new to me.

As well as the calculator, there’s another tool available. Jane’s Foundations has one too. This one you have to purchase, but it’s been made with input and support from Porcelynne’s. You can find it here.

Here’s what Jane’s Foundation’s calculator looks like.

This aspect of drafting is all new to me. It’s seems much more in depth and detailed. I’ll let you know how things are going when I complete more of my course.

Happy drafting & creating!

Duoplex, Lycra, & Tricot. Oh My!

~ Michelle

This post isn’t about something new I’ve made, but rather my thoughts on Lycra for making bras. I had a question from a reader why I changed my mind about Lycra. Carmen, here’s your answer. Thanks for the post idea.

A Material History

The first bra I ever made, I didn’t keep. To me, it looked terrible! You won’t even find it here on my blog. It was made from a tricot kit. And despite pinning it and taking my time, I had a terrible time sewing with tricot. And I was not new to knits. I just found tricot very hard to sew.

After that first experience, I mostly moved on to more local supplies, and being in Canada, that meant duoplex. Duoplex is wonderful and firm, and not at all challenging to sew. I do think that first experience made me shy away from Lycra as well. 

 However, I had a few lovely kits that had Lycra in them, so I did start to experiment a little with it. Like this lovely Sewy Rebecca. Oh, this is still an absolute favorite make of mine.

This kit was from Merckwaerdigh, and I still love her kits. However, Lycra on it’s own was not as supportive for me as duoplex.

Once I started sewing with duoplex, I kind of just stuck with it. I like the ease, and I liked the support. Although, that didn’t stop me from buying pretty kits with Lycra.

Like this.Or these. Initially,  I was adding little pops of color to my bras using mostly duoplex, but adding in some Lycra over duoplex for color.

As much as I loved this bra too, I still had those kits that were all Lycra and lace. I had to figure a way to use them too.

It was then I found sheer cup lining. Layering sheer cup lining and Lycra together gives me the support I need. Even just sheer cup lining alone it supportive enough.

This bra is all sheer cup lining.   I also wanted to use other fabrics too. Like this lovely red bra below.   This bra is lingerie satin with sheer cup lining.

Being able to use sheer cup lining made me feel so much confident to use Lycra and other bra-making fabrics rather than only using duoplex. These other fabrics are lovely too, but I need a supportive fabric along with them.

I’ve recently bought a kit with micro duoplex in it. That will be a first for me.

Happy creating!

Craftsy is Coming Back!

~ Michelle

Craftsy is coming back! They’re hoping on or around September 1st.

Don’t expect all your classes to be there on the 1st though, and because they’re not able to do that, But to make up for that, they’re giving 45 days free access to ALL classes!

Just so you know, I’m not planning on becoming an affiliate again, but I still love Craftsy and know so many of you do too.  

Wire Trace Results

~ Michelle ~ 9 Comments

A New Drafting Method

Something I’ve wanted to do for the past year is learn Porcelynne‘s method of drafting bras. It looks quite different from the BMS method I’ve learned and I was intrigued. 

Watching a few of Jennifer’s classes in the Great Bra Sewing Bee helped give me the push I needed to try this.

First things first, as I mentioned my last post, I needed to do a root trace to determine my wire size. Well, I actually didn’t think I really needed to do a root trace because I have all the wire sizes from BMS – they came with the Drafting course I took.  Still, I wanted the experience of doing a root trace with copper wire. And I’m very glad I did.

My Results

This is my copper wire root trace on laid over a 38 Extra Long wire from BMS. And in case you’re wondering, the copper wire is much longer than my root trace.This is pretty close. I’d say it would be an exact fit – except for the upper part of the wire. This would explain why I felt the 38 wires were pinching me.

Here’s the same copper wire trace over a 40 Long wire from BMS.My trace is smaller at the bottom, but it matches the width at the top of the wire.

So, it seems I am in-between wire sizes.

After asking for some help in the Support for Bare Essentials group, it was suggested I watch this video.

After realizing I could bend my wires, I tried gently bending one of my 38 wires. I really didn’t want it to snap while doing this, so gentle was the way to go.And I have my perfect wire! And I have a whole bunch of 38 Extra Long wires, so this will be very handy to do so I can still use them.

I was also given another great tip in the Support group: Emerald Erin carries wires that are a little wider at the top.

I printed out her wire chart for her Orange wires, and perfection! And without me bending anything.The next part of the course is to make a fitting band.

Happy creating!

The Great Bra Sewing Bee Experience

~ Michelle ~ 4 Comments

This past weekend was The Great Bra Sewing Bee. And I have to say, it was great. I was so impressed with how well it was organized, the quality of instructors, and the great content. There was something for everyone – from beginner to experienced bra-makers.

I think my favorite classes were the Fit Clinics. There were 3 of them, and each had 3 or 4 women who had signed up to sew a bra, and then have the fit evaluated.. Suggestions were then given in the clinic to correct the fit. Not surprisingly, it seemed most of the women had issues with small band/large cups.

I don’t know if I learned anything in those, but much of what I had learned in Jeanette’s Fitting class was re-enforced and affirmed. Jeanette presented a class in the Bee too.

However, I did learn a couple of things.

I didn’t know some bra patterns splay the wire, and some don’t. Hmm. This got me thinking about wires again. I’m still not 100% happy with how my wires are fitting. So, out came my wires for me to look at. And I dragged my hubby along too.

First we did a root trace. This is something I’d been planning to do for a long time. You can read about how to do this in Porcelynne’s blog post here.

What did I find out? Well, if I splay the wire, a 38 works perfectly for me. If I don’t, the 38 wire pinches and I need a 40 wire. So I’ve realized I need to know if a pattern splays the wire or not before I will know which wire size to use.

After watching Jennifer’s (Porcelynne) bra sloper class, I decided to sign up for her drafting class. This is completely different from what I’ve learned so far, and I love learning new things.Yes, This is new territory for me, but I’ve heard such great reviews of this method. It’s time for me to try it. I’ll let you know all about it. You can see more for yourself here.

 Something else I really enjoyed about the Bee was hearing from bra-makers all over the world. There were presenters from New Zealand, Sweden, the USA, Canada, and I’m sure many more. Really, all over the world. I loved that. Normally going to a conference means more local speakers, but this being online there were no travel restrictions to hinder anyone.

That no travel restriction allowed me to watch Bodil of B’Wear sew up her Jessica’s Twin pattern. I’ve want to learn some things from Bodil too.

I enjoyed Monica’s Fit Clinic too. You many know Monica from Bravo Bella. My experiences in bra-making have been primarily from using Bra-Makers Supply patterns, and learning Beverly Johnson’s methods. It was very interesting to hear a different method, and I found it very refreshing.

That was something else I appreciated about the Bee – the presenters weren’t all of one mind. There were different approaches, and all were respected. I loved that!

Let me give you one small example of the presenters not all being of one mind on a matter. Monica uses Flexi-Wires, and Porcelynne has had her own wires made, which are not flexible. And both were referenced by other presenters. Neither is wrong. Both are supportive. I really loved that approach!

Lily of Lilypa Designs was there too. One of the things Lily said that I really appreciated was there is more than one way to make a bra – just as there’s more than one route to take to drive home. In the end, we make a bra. There is much wisdom in that statement.

To top the whole Bee off, I won a prize. I won a pattern from Studio Costura. What a treat for me!  I chose the Eva panty.

Aren’t they darling?

  If you missed the Bee, and are still interested, you can still sign up for extended access here. It gives you all the same resources and videos. The only thing you’ll miss is being able to ask questions live. However, many of the presenters did to feel free to contact them after the Bee if you had questions.

Happy creating!

Merckwaerdigh Mini Course

~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

Merckwaerdigh has just released another mini course. This time it’s Design Your Own Slip Dress.

I do love all of Margreet’s courses. I’ve got them all, and I’ve ordered many of her bra kits over the years.

  This looks perfect for more than just a slip dress. You could make a slip, or something I’m always looking for is a summer night gown. RTW Canadian nightwear leaves a lot to be desired. It seems most of what is offered are over-sized T-shirt styles. I think this would be much better.

Happy creating!