Author: Michelle

Em’s LBB September Bra

~ Michelle ~ 4 Comments

I’ve been having such a fun year sewing a bra a month for Em. It is just a treat to sew for someone else, and make such cute little bralettes.

September is no different. I went back to my favorite small bralette pattern – the Cloth Habit Watson. 
It’s perfect for an all-over stretch lace bra for Em. I kept the bottom scallop on the bra again, and also included the scallop along the inner cup edge. Oh, that’s so cute. I think she’ll love it.

Who doesn’t need a little black bra? 

Here’s a close-up of that scalloped lace edge.  And here is the lower edge of the long-line. I have a few plans for the remainder of the year. One idea I have is for a foam cup bra for Em.

I also plan to test a few larger sized bralettes for me to see how they are and what alterations I’ll need to make to them. 

Happy creating!  

     

Simply Sheer Hearts

~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

How can it be the end of August already? Have you been following BRAugust on Instagram? I’ve been doing my best to post daily. It is fun.

I received this beautiful sheer delight from B,Wear this month, and again, it was one of those I have to sew with this right now.  A sheer Margareta it is. Oh. It’s so delicate. I wish I’d had a lighter colored thread – one that would have just disappeared in the seams. I still think it’s lovely.

I used the lace for all parts of the cups. I used the embroidered hearts for the upper cups, and the top of the power bar. And the sheer part of the lace for the lower cups and the frame. Here you can see just a peek of the hearts along the top of the power bar. Isn’t that sweet? Just so pretty.

Here are a couple of close up of the upper cup and power bar with the heart detail. Those hearts are so sweet. You can see how very sheer this is too. The hearts falling along the elastic wasn’t planned. It was a happy accident of laying the pattern out and having it fit.

I couldn’t resist adding a tiny heart to the bridge.        And I looked for a bow, and there was this little bow I’d made a few years ago. It was perfect. It’s sheer as well. The perfect bow for a lovely sheer Margareta.

Happy creating!

A Gorgeous Summery Watson

~ Michelle ~ 4 Comments

Do you ever get a lace or kit and have to do something with it right away? I took one look at this lace and wanted to sew right away. White eyelash stretch lace with colorful pattern - 24 cmThat was how I felt. I knew I had to make something beautiful and summery. Now.  And I did. I chose to make another Watson for Em. This is her August bra.

I really do like the Watson pattern. This time I used Cloth Habit‘s instructions to have a lace edge. With this gorgeous eyelash trim lace how could I not? Oh, that’s pretty.

I also kept the eyelash trim along the bottom of the bra – all around the front and back. I used this same stretch lace for the back band.  If I had pistachio findings in Em’s size I would have used them for sure. Sadly I didn’t. I did have a lovely lavender set though.

I think this goes quite nicely.

I think Em will be happy with this new Watson. It’s a perfect bra for summer.

This photo is showing two things. How really delicate this lace is. Just look at that. It looks more opaque on the display form, but on the sewing desk you can see how delicate and light this is.

Secondly, after I took the original photos above, I decided this needed a bow. And I had a little pistachio bow all by itself just waiting to be used. It’s charming.

I have one last tidbit to share with you. Do you ever open your findings and see you have the hook and eye set, but the hooks are open flat? I don’t love to sew those ones. But when I was sewing this, I had an idea. No one says you can’t sew those flat ones closed on the sides before you sew it on the bra!

I did just that and it was so much easier to sew on. So much easier to sew than when it’s just flat.

That’s it for today. Happy creating!

Pretty in Rosé Margareta Bra

~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

Continuing in my Pink mood, the next bra I had to sew up was another lovely kit from B,Wear. The Pretty in Rosé bra kit.  Pretty in Rosé - Bra kit with lace Isn’t this lovely? At the writing of this post, this is still in stock.

This is such a lovely lace. After cutting out my Confetti bra, I realized this is the same lilac pink in the lace here. I decided to use the same Lingerie Satin Light for my frame on this bra. I’m showing just a bit of my new House Morrighan’s Clover brief. The cotton Lycra and lace trim went so well with this. I won’t be writing a separate post covering the briefs though. Just a glimpse here in this post.

Here’s the side view of the bra. I love how delicate it looks.  Lastly, here’s a photo of my new Pretty in Rosé Margareta with my new Clover Briefs. That is the last of my pink cotton Lycra, so I’ll have to order more if I want another pair of panties.

One more lovely part of this kit is the rose gold rings and sliders. Isn’t that pretty? It goes so well with the Rosé in the lace.   

I’m not done with my Pink mood yet, but I might branch out into another color just for fun.

Do you ever play bobbin roulette? You know when you think you have enough bobbin thread, but you’re not really sure? Well, when I was sewing my Clover briefs I was playing lace trim roulette! This is what I had left over. Now that’s cutting it close! Get it? Cutting it close? 

May your bobbins be full, and you have enough lace trim.

Happy creating!

A Confetti Margareta

~ Michelle

I’ll admit. I have a decent stash. It wasn’t always this way, but thankfully I have a healthy supply of kits, lace, and elastics now. After all, I have been sewing bras for 12+ years.

Sometimes a kit will be in my stash for a little longer, sometimes I have to sew it right away.

This kit wasn’t in my stash too long. I saw it and wanted to sew it up. I’m in a Pink mood this summer.

The Pink mood started with the Michelle’s Specials, and then looking at what kit I wanted to sew next it was the Confetti kit from B,Wear’s January kit of the month. I fell in love with the confetti design in the lace.

The main bra fabric here isn’t duoplex or nylplex, or even micro duoplex. I wrote to B,Wear to ask just what is this? It’s lovely. A nice soft hand, lovely to sew. What is this fabric?

It’s Lingerie Satin Light. Really. If you see it, try it. It’s wonderful to work with.

Here’s a full photo of this lovely bra.        Isn’t that lace fun and pretty?

I love the confetti design! And as I said I’m really in a pink mood these days. It’s just so fun. The design is even along the lace’s edge! Yes, I’m really pleased with this Confetti Margareta.

Can you guess what’s coming up?

I’ll leave it there. Happy creating!

A New Water Bottle Cover

~ Michelle

I was given a water bottle, rather a while ago now. And the cover just wasn’t me. Then in one of my travels, I came across a lovely cashmere sweater that wasn’t going to fit me, but I couldn’t leave it behind.

I was going to use that sweater to make a new water bottle cover.

This project has been in my UFO pile for a while now. It was time.    I laid the old water water cover over the sweater and did a rough cut out giving myself about an inch on each side. I tried a few things to mark where I wanted to sew, but nothing was showing up very well. So, I pinned where I wanted to sew and followed the pins around the new cover. A straight stitch for the seam, and a zigzag to make sure it didn’t unravel. It turned out quite well.  Isn’t that cute? And it’s so soft!    Here is is with the water bottle inside of it. It’s all ready for the next time I need to use it.

Happy creating!

Em’s July Bra

~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

I received the loveliest softest fabric from B, Wear this month and knew right away I wanted to use it for Em’s bra.

She needs softer fabrics and this is just perfect. Pantie fabric -Pink flowers on a white base This is actually a pantie fabric but will work wonderfully for a soft bra for Em.

  Now, the next decision was what pattern to use. The Watson works so well for her, but I did want to try something different, and I had a little more time this month to do that.  

I chose the Romy bra pattern by OhhhLulu. The Romy Soft Bra PDF Instant Download Sewing Pattern Comfortable Lingerie image 1It’s adorable, and I think perfect for Em.

This patten is fully lined for support, but I didn’t do that for Em.

  This is lovely. It’s a bit too small for my display form, but that tells me it will fit Em just fine.

I decided to make Em some matchy matchy this month. Or as I recently saw on a British Sewing Bee episode, some Co-Ord. The littlest pair of Clover Briefs, but without the upper band. So they’re really Clover Hipsters.

They’re adorable and so very soft.

Here’s the set. Just adorable. I hope Em loves this set.

Happy creating!

Being Innovative with a Finding Kit

~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

So. My Michelles Special Freja. Do you remember I didn’t add upper cup elastic? 

It should have looked more like this with thin elastic along the upper cup: Or like this: But it shouldn’t have looked like it did.

I also didn’t have any thin elastic in my stash that would match the findings in that bra. I actually used it up making the second bra with that lace, my newest Margareta.

So, what is a girl to do?

Something I’ve done before, and suggested in my classes, is if you’re not using the neckline trim elastic – use that! Carefully cut off the scalloped part, and you are left with a perfectly usable thin strip of elastic. Perfect for along the upper cup.     Yes, that worked just fine.

Once that was done, I had a lovely long strip of scalloped elastic. Then I had another thought. I could sew it along the strap elastic to add a pretty detail to the straps.    I love it! I may just do this more often. However, I do hope the next time I do this I’ll do it when putting the bra together – rather than doing it after the bra is finished. I love the strap detail.

Happy creating!

One More Michelles Special

~ Michelle

I couldn’t stop thinking about how gorgeous the colors were in Em’s June Watson. I loved this lace with the fuchsia powernet.

I knew I had to make a bra in these colors. I had just enough lace left for an upper cup. So I looked in my stash for some fuchsia sheer cup lining. Jackpot! I had some. Oh! It’s love again.

I made the B,Wear Margareta again because at the moment it is my favorite bra. I had a dream a week ago and was packing for a trip and looking for my Margareta bras to pack. You know you really love a pattern when you’re dreaming about it. I often dream of sewing, but dreaming about a specific bra pattern was a first. I used fuchsia sheer cup lining and power net from my stash. I used the same gorgeous hot pink findings from The Bra Makery again on my bra because I loved how they looked with the lace and fuchsia on Em’s bra. 

Isn’t the hot pink gorgeous with the fuchsia? I did one other little alteration to my Margareta. It was a little bit loose around the upper band, so I took it in just a smidge there. I didn’t forget my upper cup elastic this time. Everything fits like a dream.

A P.S. to my post about my friend’s bra. 

She loves it. She said it fits perfectly and she’s wearing it all the time. That’s so good to hear.

Happy creating!

Michelles Special Part Two

~ Michelle ~ 6 Comments

It was my turn to sew up something with my very special kit!

I decided I would stick to what was in the kit. Often, I open a kit and inspiration will strike and off I go. However, I fell in love with the bra shown on the website, so wanted to do my best to create something that looked a lot like it.

Isn’t this so pretty? Yes. I wanted a bra like this.

I decided to make another PUG Freja. I really do like that pattern and it’s shape and design.

However, the upper cup was a little bit too long for me. It was time for me to adjust my pattern and sew up a very pretty Freja. This lace! It’s so pretty.

Yes, the newest alteration worked out well. I was a bit nervous as I’d never adjusted an upper cup like this, but I trusted the process of shortening it and it worked. 

 

If you’re wondering how I shortened the upper cup. I put the side pattern piece and the lace pattern piece together along their seam lines, and drew a line across them. I measured 1/4-inch and drew another line. I cut on the bottom line and taped the pattern pieces back on the upper line. I removed 1/4-inch from the upper cup.

After that I just had to ‘neaten’ the design lines up again.

I love the sheerness of this. The original used sheer cup lining under the lace. But I had used some of my lace for Em’s bra. I couldn’t recreated it exactly. As well, I am using a different pattern. Overall, I’m very happy with my new Freja, but…

I made a mistake, and it wasn’t with the adjustment I made. No. I made a different mistake.

Let me show you. Do you see it?

I forgot to sew on the upper cup elastic. I tried on my lovely new Freja thinking about how the new adjustment would make it fit. And my upper cups were all floppy! “What? What was wrong with my bra? How did taking 1/4-inch out make the upper cup floppy?”

Back to the sewing machine to fix this.

Happy creating!