Author: Michelle

An Angie for a Friend

~ Michelle

A friend recently came to me. Completely fed up with bras. We had a chat and I asked her just what was bothering her so much. It was the wires. No matter what bra she bought, the wires were digging in under her arms, pinching her in some way, or poking her. It turns out she’s an Omega shape too. Not as pronounced as me, but enough that the wires in her bras are hurting her.

She’d just bought three new bras online, and I was thinking it would be an easy fix for her to swap out the wires. No, she’d sent them all back. She wanted me to make a bra for her.

Then she told me she couldn’t stand lace. It was itchy to her. And no seams. I told her to make her a bra, even a foam cup, there would have to be seams. Okay, so then she didn’t want a diagonal seam. What could I make her?

I showed her my Angie bra and she loved it. And the elastic trim seemed soft enough that she thought that wouldn’t bother her.Unfortunately, due to covid and lockdowns, I’m having to mail her the bra and then we’ll use video to test the fit. It’s not ideal, but I should still be able to get close to what adjustments I’ll need to make.The one benefit I had making her bra is I’ve had so much experience with Omega adjustments. She got most of them, and everything came together quite well.I did a little something different on the back this time. I don’t love how the  lightening stitch looks on the strap elastic, so I decided to look at my RTW bra. It has the same lightening stitch along the outer edge, but it has a zigzag on the other side.Isn’t that nicer?

Hmm, that close up shows me I need to do a little more trimming and catch the side of the eyes a little more (smile).

Happy creating!

An Elegant Watson

~ Michelle

My most recent make is a very elegant Watson bra. Have I mentioned how much I like the Watson pattern? Maybe not so much for me, but I do love sewing it and making it for others who better fit its size range.

This is for a friend who came to me at her husband’s request. She needed a bra. She’s also in the very envious position of not needing any support, so isn’t used to wearing a traditional wired bra. Looking at what she was wearing, I thought the Watson would be perfect.  She said she likes lace, and black, and well, anything but brown. So I gave her the first two choices on her list.This is such a lovely lace. Seeing as she doesn’t have any support issues, I didn’t line this. I did line the cradle though.

The turned out so well. She comes over next week to try it on. (Yes, we’ll have masks on to make sure no one shares anything we don’t want to share!)

If you’re wanting to try the Watson with a lace edge, Amy did a wonderful tutorial when she did the Watson sew-along. You can find that here.

  I have another bra I’m sewing for a friend this week. She called me and told me she was fed up trying to find a bra that fits. We’d already determined she was an Omega shape, so I knew it was only a matter of time.

I was thinking if she found a bra that did fit except for the wires, we could try just changing out the wires. But she’d returned four that she’d bought hoping one would work. No, she wants a custom bra now.

Happy creating!

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!

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!

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!

Matching Sigrid Panties

~ Michelle ~ 4 Comments

I gave my blog an bit of a makeover. Well, just a small one. I decided I’ve sewn a lot of things since I’d originally posted those photos, so I chose something newer. What do you think?Above is the one I’ve been using.And I chose this Watson for my new header. Do you have a preference?

Sigrid 

I wanted some matching panties for my new Jessica’s Twin bra. So I decided to make another pair of the new Sigrid panties.

For these, I only had a little bit of the burn-out mesh left over, and not even enough for the front of the panties. So, if you look closely, you’ll see a fairly well-matched seam down the front.

Here’s my new set:    Oh, this mesh!

I’m a little sad I don’t have any left. Well, one tiny little square that I can’t throw out. I’ll find something to do with it.

The sheer part looks white on my display, but I think it’ll look more like the bra when worn.    This is also the last of my lovely Café au lait beige. It’s a little darker than a lot of the beige cotton Lycras I’ve seen, and I like it too. The lace trim matches the cotton Lycra perfectly, and both are the same Café au lait as in the burn-out mesh.

Here’s the side view:

And lastly, the view from the back.

Such a pretty Angie and Sigrid set.

There are more fun things on my cutting table at the moment, and I look forward to sharing them with you as well.

Happy creating!

Angie’s Twin Two

~ Michelle ~ 4 Comments

I made another Angie’s Twin. And I also broke into one of my very pretty bra kits.Oh, I like this. I also like the Angie’s Twin pattern. Other than a few adjustments for an Omega shape – smaller wires & frame, and a larger cup – I didn’t have to change anything on this pattern.

I have to say, I love this lace! There was very little left over. Not enough to do any other projects. This is so pretty, I’d love to have some more. Sadly, I only bought one kit, and I haven’t seen anymore in B,Wear‘s store.

The original kit came with sheer cup lining, white elastics, and the lace. And I’m sure it would have been lovely, but I wanted to play with all the colors in the lace.

I had a little bit of pink duoplex and power net left over from another bra. It was just enough for the straps and frame. As well, to continue pulling colors out of the lace, I went with some red elastics rather than the white. I love it.

Here’s the side view. There was just a tiny bit of lace left over to add to the sides. Just to add a bit more detail.

And the back.      All that red really pops here.

Lastly, a closer look at the side and front.  Oh, such pretty lace!I tried a couple of different bows on the front to see what color I liked the best. I decided, even though the pink blends in, it was the only one that didn’t seem to pull the attention away from the lace. I love it too.

I already have my next bra kit out and ready to sew another bra. And I’m testing a few more patterns, so will have more fun things to show you soon.

Happy creating!

Jessica’s Twin

~ Michelle

Here’s a little of the back story to my Jessica’s Twin I shared last week. 

I was asked to test Jessica’s Twin. I like the Angie pattern so much, I was happy to test this pattern. 

I’ve made a few Angie bras in the past, and I had bought Angie’s Twin. I’d even bought the Jessica pattern, but I hadn’t sewn it up yet.One of the reasons I hadn’t tried the Jessica pattern is I have to make adjustments to my bra cups so they’ll fit in a smaller frame. Omega: larger cups, with a smaller frame and wires.

I’d been told the best way to make these adjustments was in the seams of the bra’s cups. And the more seams a cup has the better. Take a little dart out here and there and hide them all in the seams. It’s a great solution.

But Jessica only has one cup seam. I needed to think of other places I could remove a little without changing the shape of the cup or removing too much volume, because I still need that volume.This is what I tried, and I have to say, I was pretty close. I still need to take in the underarm a little, but other than that, I got a great fit.

Here is the side view. You can see where I need to adjust the side cup. I have it pinned.Well, maybe it’s not so clear. Here’s a close up.You can see I just have a little bit folded under there. Probably 1/4″ x 2 removed from the underarm there and it will fit absolutely perfectly. Not bad for a first time testing the pattern. And isn’t that purple elastic so pretty with the navy?

To make the underarm smaller, I used this adjustment from Cloth Habit’s blog: This is a great adjustment when you don’t want the cup size to be smaller, but just the amount of fabric in the underarm area. This works perfectly!

And just to share one more time, here is my Jessica’s Twin.I really am happy with this. I didn’t think I could make a cup with only one seam work for me.

Happy creating!