Author: Michelle

My First Quilt

~ Michelle ~ 4 Comments

Do you quilt? I’ve wanted to learn for a while now, but Craftsy classes just didn’t seem like enough for me. What if I had a question as I was going through the pattern?

I even tried a block of the month quilt. However after I signed up, the colors were changed. I really didn’t like the new swapped out colors, but I was charged for them and that’s what I got. They’re in a box in my sewing room…

Then at my last class at Central Sewing I saw a lovely quilt on the wall. There was an upcoming class for that lovely quilt too. I asked if it was a beginner class. Yes it was.

Great! Sign me up. Isn’t this lovely? Knowing nothing about quilts or quilt-making I had no idea of all the work that needed to go into this.

However, I was signed up. Again, knowing nothing, I didn’t want to try and put fabric colors together myself. The pattern called for a Layer Cake, so I got one.       I love these colors and prints! Benefitting a cause is always a good thing too.

So, again, knowing nothing about quilting… The pattern suggests if this is your first quilt to do the smaller quilt. It comes in two sizes. Well, why would I do that? Yes, I made the larger one because I didn’t know what I was doing.

It was a lot of work. A LOT! And it’s not quite done yet. Here’s my quilt top almost done. Looking at how close it was to fitting my bed, I’ve decided to add another border to the edges to make it fit. I might need more than one so it drapes over the side.

So it’s not quite done yet.

Everyone is saying now you’ll be addicted to quilting. I don’t think so. I’ll make a couple more for my kids, but bra sewing is my passion.

Happy quilting creating!      

Basic Black for Em’s May Bra

~ Michelle

Originally, Em said to surprise her this month as to what color she wanted. She said she loves all of her new bras. Then she thought and said, no, I want a black bra. As Em wished, she’s getting a black bra. Another Watson. The fabric I used for this Watson is the softest, most luxurious feeling fabric. It also has a nice weight to it. I’ve used it for the entire bra except the lace on the inner cups. It is so soft. I think Em will love this.

As you can see I used the lace edge on the inner cups. Cloth Habit has a lovely tutorial that was part of her sew-along that explains how to do this with your Watson bra. It was my first time sewing this feature, and I think it’s lovely. We all need a basic black bra, right? A lovely one is even better. I can’t wait to hear how she likes this one.   Usually I’ve used a 3×3 hook and eye for the back band, but I used up all my extra stash items making the Fitting Bras. I’m going to have to stock up a bit again.  

I had a wonderful class this past month teaching seven ladies how to sew their first bra. If you can believe it, one of these women sewed her first bra and it fit wonderfully! She’s a quilter, and knows how to sew a 1/4″ seam really well. It was a great class, and everyone went home happy with a well-fitting pattern, and at least one well-fitting bra.

Happy creating!

Ivory Margareta II

~ Michelle

When making the fitting bras, which I’ve now sewn twice (PUG Classic, and B,Wear Margareta), I realized the benefit of batch sewing.

It’s a great way to sew more than one bra at a time. Wanting a whole new bra wardrobe was also the perfect time to do a little batch sewing.

Two ivory Margareta bras are better than one, right?

However, this second ivory bra has a little more spark to it. I can’t remember where I got this lace, but ooh-la-la.

Let me show you what I mean.Many of the lace petals lift up. It’s very fun and adds that little something extra. Isn’t this lovely? I used all lace for the bra cups. It’s really lovely. It does remind me a little of the bee fabric I’d used before, but this time it’s petals and sheer. Here I’ve removed the foam cup from behind the bra. You can see the cup is no longer filled out on the mannequin, but I wanted to show you how sheer this is. It’s so delicate and lovely. I couldn’t resist cutting out one of those little floral motifs to add to the center front.

Happy creating!

An Ivory Margareta

~ Michelle

Looking at my bra wardrobe, I realized I had too many darker colors, and I really wanted lighter colors for Spring and Summer.

You know what that means – it’s time for a new bra wardrobe! 

To start off, I made myself a new Ivory Margareta. The Margareta is currently my favorite pattern. Classic and lovely. I’ve used this lace a couple of times now, and I love it every time. I might even have enough for one more bra in the future. Yes, this will be perfect for summer. A lovely first bra for Spring. Look how pretty and delicate this lace is. And the perfect shade of ivory to match the duoplex.   One last feature I really love with the Margareta pattern is this little strap tab where the strap meets the cup. It’s just adorable.

That’s all for this week. Short and sweet.

Happy creating!

The Loveliest Margareta

~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

Do you ever save a piece of lace? It’s just so pretty, you save it for that perfect project?

Well, I’ve had this lace for a few years now. It’s just so pretty. But it was time to sew it up, and I have to say it’s made the prettiest Margareta. This lace has a story too. I think it started with Karin (Braphoria), then Maria who bought the company next. Then MargieB bought it. However, once I saw it, I knew I had to have it.

Still, I think it’s lovely for a well-traveled lace.  Oh, those shades of blue are lovely. The shading detail in the sheer mesh behind the embroidery.

I really do love lace.   And I think I really love this bra! It’s so pretty!

I think I need some navy cotton Lycra now for some matchy-matchy. I’ve made a few adjustments to this pattern, and I think this just might be it, but looking at it in photos, I might need to re-look at how the sides are fitting.

I was also thinking of trying Prima Donna’s downward hike on a bra again.

I think I’ll go check my stash to see if I have any navy CL.

Happy creating!

Em’s April Watson

~ Michelle

It was time. I had to sew Em’s bra for April. Being a little pressed for time this month with all the fitting bras, I didn’t try a new pattern for her. No, I went back to the very charming Watson bra.

We went through some of my stash and Em picked this mesh and lace. I hope she loves this one too. I had a little bit of lace left over, so I cut out the flowers and added those to the frame on one side.     On the other side, I had the flower coming up the side of the cup as well.

Of course to finish a pretty bra, I add a bow. This is a very light weight bra. The mesh is very light, and so is the lace. As Em doesn’t need support, I’m not adding it behind the frame or in the cups.

However, the lace is non-stretch so there will still be a little support.  

This should be lovely to wear in the summer or warmer months as it’s so very light.

After my class next month, I hope to venture into other patterns for Em. Do you have a favorite light-support bra or bralette?

Happy creating!

Colorful Margareta

~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

When I was sewing the fitting bras, I was sewing them in size groups. So all the sizes equivalent to the PUG size 2s were sewn at the same time, and then the those equivalent to the size 3s, and etc. Although the Margareta uses European sizes, I was still able to sew the equivalent sizes in groups.

So, when I was sewing up my first Margareta, I decided to sew up my second one as well.

Even though the two kits I was using were very different, I was using the same color finding kits for both – pistachio green.

You saw this last week.  Now to show you my new Margareta, also with the lovely pistachio findings. Oh, I love this kit. This is the Colorful February bra kit. I just love it!    Isn’t this lace so pretty? As I mentioned last week, this fits really well. There’s just one adjustment I still need to make. This bra has the channeling laying side by side at the top of the bridge and I just don’t have enough room for that.  I love having a new pattern that fits so well.

I still haven’t shown you Em’s bra for April. I’ll do that next week. I’m off to alter my pattern for the Margareta bridge.

Happy creating!

Neon Garden Margareta

~ Michelle ~ 8 Comments

After sewing all those lovely Margareta fitting bras, I really wanted to sew a Margareta for myself. So I did just that.

I used a kit that has been in my stash for a few months, and unfortunately is sold out at Bwear.

This was their Neon Garden kit. I had used some of this lace for Em’s March bra. And I purposely didn’t try to match the lace motifs so there would be enough left over for me.

I’m glad I did.     Before sewing this up, I knew I’d have to make a number of changes to the pattern so it would fit me.

I did my Omega adjustments: I lowered the bridge, lowered the side of the frame and narrowed it. I took darts out of all the cup seams so it would fit into the now smaller frame. Lastly I took 1/2″ out of the upper cup depth.

I did sew up a quick mock up and was pretty sure I was really close. So I broke out the pretty lace. If you look closely, this lace isn’t matched either. There just wasn’t enough lace left to match. So I made pretty cups with an all-over pattern. There’s only one more adjustment I need to make for this to fit perfectly: I need to narrow the upper bridge. Everything else was great.    This is so pretty!

Next week I’ll share another lovely Margareta.

Until then, Happy creating!

Storing and Transporting my Fitting Bras.

~ Michelle ~ 4 Comments

This is just a short post to share how I’m storing my new fitting bras.

My previous set of fitting bras were all stored in plastic zip bags, but after a couple of years sitting in those bags, the bags were beginning to get that old feeling. I knew I wanted something better for that older set, and my new set of Margareta fitting bras.

Off to Amazon I went to browse to see what I could find that would be better than plastic bags.

I found a couple of things to share.

First off, I found these great hanger clips.

   These work perfectly! There are just the right number of clips for all the fitting bras to fit on two hangers.

The second thing I found was something to store them in, and protect them when traveling with them. Hanging garment bags.

   These were both perfect options.

Here’s how I’m using them. Each bra is labeled by its US size, its BCD size, and its European size, as these are a European pattern. For my own ease, I’ve hung them in the BCD sizes.

Finally, I’ve labeled the garment bag, and the hanger clips for easy identification when I’m looking for a size. I’ll be back next week with a new make.

Happy creating!

Fitting Bras

~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

I have a class coming up at Central Sewing at the beginning of May. I’m making a new pattern, so needed to sew up new fitting bras.

I decided to use up all the bits in my stash to do this. We’ll see if I have enough. I’m not done yet. I started with the smaller sizes, equivalent to the size 2s. These little bras have a bit of everything. I decided along with using up my stash, I would use up whatever threads and bobbins I had – just to make the job go more quickly.

I really have to say it was quite fun and very freeing to just grab a thread, or a bobbin and not worry about matching anything. I don’t think I’d do it for a bra I want to wear, but it’s been fun to do it for these fitting bras.

Next were the equivalent to size 3s. And again, just what I had in my stash.    A friend was asking about them and called them Frankenbras when she heard they were all different colors.

Here are the size equivalents to the 4s.    These look better, don’t they? All nice and the same color.

That is until you see the back! Still, they’re perfectly functional, and I don’t have quite so many bits to store now. All the more reason to buy some more fun things!

Lastly, I thought I’d show you how I organize to sew multiple bras at one time. I’m sewing these all in size sets. So for the most part, I’m sewing four bras at a time.

These are the equivalents to the size 5s.

I print off all the pattern pieces in that size, cut them out and keep each one in a pile. They are also labeled. For each bra, I will sew one thing at a time. So I sew one set up bottom cups together, put it back with the pattern pieces. Pick up the next one and do the same. So all the sewing will be done with the same stitch, either all a straight stitch, or all a zigzag.

It’s much quicker to do it this way, than to sew one bra completely and then sew another one. I’ve all used this approach to sewing for myself say for two black bras, or two pink bras. You get the idea.

Back to sewing for me! Happy creating!