I decided to make a couple of small tweaks to my Freja pattern. And I’m in love with how much better it’s fitting. It’s amazing how a small change can make a big difference.

Another thing that really makes a difference is weight gain or loss. I’ve recently lost five pounds which isn’t a lot, but the tops of my cups were gaping. Not something I wanted.

So I removed a little bit at the bridge and at the side. Just along the upper cup. That makes such a difference in how this is fitting. I’m such a happy bra-maker right now.

Another change I made was to take about 1/8th of an inch out of the cradle. When I drafted this frame, I added some wire splay, but I really don’t need wire splay. Being an Omega shape, I don’t need any more width added.   So those two small changes have really made a big difference in how this fits, and I’m thrilled.  For this bra I used some gorgeous lace and findings from Bwear, and part of a turquoise kit from BMS. I have just enough duo and power net to make a second bra from that kit. Stay tuned for that next turquoise bra. This lace is beautiful. I wish I had a coral bra kit to pull those colors out of it. Red would work too, but as soon as I saw the blue, I knew what I wanted. I love turquoise. The lace has a right and left side, and is beautifully sheer. It’s really gorgeous. I know Bwear is updating their laces right now and have been adding more to the website. I didn’t see this one yet, but keep looking.

Happy creating!

Porcelynne just released a wonderful pants pattern called Nicole. What’s wonderful about these is they are for both knits and woven fabrics.

I really enjoy testing Jennifer’s patterns because there’s always something unique about them, always some little detail that I’m not expecting. These pants had that too.

These are a wide leg pant pattern with pockets. However, it’s the pockets that have that little extra detail. They’re not on-seam pockets. They sit on the front of the pant and open just a few inches in front of the seam. They lay perfectly flat and don’t add any bulk! They’re perfect pockets!  

When testing the patterns we give permission if Porcelynne can use our images. Well, I was very pleasantly surprised to see my image used for the pattern. What fun!

  Here are my Nicole pants. I chose a bright fun pattern for summer wear. And I love these.

Here’s the same picture again, but with a nice bright arrow pointing to the pocket opening. Yes I know that’s really hard to see.

And here I am wearing my new Nicole pants. (which you’ve seen already above on the pattern)    I really do love this pattern, and these pants. I wore them out to go to yard sales after this photo was taken.

Happy creating!

Hello! If you’re still waiting to see a pretty bra, it won’t be a lot longer. I have one cut out and partially sewn. I had really hoped to have it finished for the blog. 

However, this week I have another sloper pattern. This time I  made the bodice front of the Sure Fit Designs Dress Bodice Kit.  I have to say, of the three slopers I’ve made so far, this one has been the easiest and quickest to come together.

Okay, a quick review of the three slopers.

First there was the Pattern Making for Fashion Design one. It was complicated. A lot of measuring, and you’re on your own with the book. The sloper came out quite loose fitting as well despite all those measurements.

Here’s the sloper from the book:    

The second sloper I did was from Suzy Furrer’s Craftsy class. This is the most intricate sloper of the three. A lot of measuring, and drafting the pattern out. However, so far it’s also the best fitting. (I haven’t sewn up that third sloper yet) The benefit of this sloper is there is a class to go along with it. You can watch Suzy draft one and I find that really helpful. Craftsy also often has deals for joining. And I definitely recommend this class.

Lastly, I was working on the bodice for the front of the dress kit from Sure Fit Designs. 

This one does some of the work for you. It comes with a basic bodice pattern and a very unique measurement charting system to make the fit closer to your exact fit. This company came highly recommended to me by a student. And I have to say the customer service is outstanding. As well there is an online class to go along with the dress sloper, and many other classes as well. Honestly, just following the book is harder. I did that the first time, and took one look at it and knew I needed more help.

I went through the class and plotted all my measurements along with Glenda and everything made sense.

Of the three slopers, I have to recommend Suzy’s because it is just so detailed and exact. I love her classes on Craftsy, and have her new book pre-ordered.

The most user friendly of the three has to be the Sure Fit Designs though. I’m sure I will use this one, and I look forward to trying their pants kit as well. I’ll have the full bodice sloper completed this week and tell you when it’s all done just how it turned out.

Happy creating!

Hello! Again, here I am with the Bodice Sloper from Craftsy. I got sick for a week, so got more behind on my sewing than I planned.

I had hoped to sew a bra or two. I have two kits sitting out just waiting, but the Sloper had to be finished first.

And it’s all sewn up. I do have some corrections to make on it, but not a lot. It fits quite well.

If you’re familiar with slopers you’ll notice something right away that’s different with mine. I don’t do the pinning up the back. Seeing as I’m doing this alone right now, I decided to sew up the back and do the pinning on the front where I can see and reach. 

So I need to shorten the body of the sloper, and take in the shoulders a bit at the end, and neaten the curve of the hip. I’m actually quite happy with it. 

I realized while going through my sewing resources I also have the Gina Rene Sloper class. I had heard really good things about her class and signed up a few years ago, then forgot I had it.

Some really good news is this class is free! (photo from her website)  

Lastly, I have the Sure Fit Dress Master Kit, which plots your measurements to create a fitted garment. So, next I’ll make the adjustments on this pattern, and then a couple of bras. I’ll start the autumn season with the other two slopers/patterns.

Oh, and a side note. Suzy Furrer is coming out with a new book that is so wonderfully timely for me. (no affiliation) The book is called Building Patterns: Ultimate Guide to Designing Clothing Patterns: Ultimate Guide to Designing Patterns for Clothing

This book is being released September 9th. What perfect timing for my sloper to be done!

Happy creating!

Are you waiting for me to make another bra? Don’t worry, it’s coming. I took a couple of older bras out of rotation because the elastic is worn out. When I first put it on, it’s fine. An hour later the straps are fall off my shoulders and I can tell it’s not supporting me properly.

But this week, it’s slopers again and just a quick update.

I decided to cheat on my Craftsy class sloper. I still had my old one from 10 years ago, so instead of struggling with the new one, I laid the new one under the old one and saw just where the lines were not lining up. The bottom half of it was fine, but the top half was where I was struggling.

 I also printed out the Blue Hours sloper so I’ll be trying them both.

I’ll let you know how everything is working out.

Happy creating!

I’m still on working on slopers. I couldn’t get together with my friend this week, so decided I had some time earlier in the week to do some work. I decided to revisit the Craftsy course by Susy Furrer.

I retook all my measurements, and plotted them out on the graph paper, and the front came together quite well.  Here’s a stock photo from the class of the back. I did the back three times and it’s still not coming together correctly.

I have no idea just where I’m off, or if there’s an issue in the video, but it’s not working.

There is zero desire to go through the video a fourth time just to see if I can get a different result – something is not right there.

So… 

Suzy’s book Building Patterns The Architecture of Clothing had been available on her website a few years ago in PDF form. Thankfully I bought it then. So next I’m going to try that to see if I can find where I went off on my back bodice by following the book.

I can’t find that ebook now to link for you, but I did see it on Scribd.

Another interesting option I’ve come across this week is from Catherine Sews on Youtube. She lists a free sloper resource which I may try. If I can’t get my back sloper to work using Suzy’s book, this will be my next option.

The free resource Catherine references is Blue Hours Atelier. They offer free one-size bodice sloper patterns. They also offer a multi-sized bodice sloper in their shop on Etsy. I’ll keep you posted on how my sloper project is coming along.

Happy creating!

A sewing friend and I are getting together weekly to work on bodice slopers. She’d taken a class a few years ago, but her weight had changed a bit so she wanted to redo her sloper.

I had done the Suzy Furrer Bodice Sloper class on Craftsy, and it was wonderful. Like my friend my weight had changed since I’d taken that class too.

 So we’ve been getting together for the past month to work on slopers together.

She brough all her class notes, but something wasn’t working out for us, so I thought of the book I had sitting on my shelf.

I have the second edition of the wonderful book Patternmaking for Fashion Design. It’s a great book, but read some reviews before you purchase a newer  edition. I did. That’s why I purchased this edition.  This book helped us. It had a few steps included that her class notes didn’t have. So we were off and going.

This week we finished drafting the pattern, tracing it off, and cutting it out. I sewed mine up that evening. I had to cut into some quilting fabric I had because I didn’t have enough muslin fabric. So I have a very pretty sloper now.

This fits me loosely and I’m not sure if that’s correct or not. I know we did add seam allowances, so I’m thinking it’s correct. In the Suzy Furrer class we made a moulage and it was tight fitting. I’m actually so happy with how this fits, and how pretty it is. I’m almost thinking of adding sleeves and buttons to the front to make it an actual blouse.     Ah, but the back… Here it doesn’t look so pretty. I guess a sloper it will stay.

Overall, I’m very happy with how this sloper turned out. I’m sure it can use a few tweaks but it’s very close to wearable as it is.  

This isn’t the only project I’ve been working on. I have something fun to share from Porcelynne in the coming weeks.

Happy creating!   

 

I promised a quick update on this lovely cotton poplin bra. So here it is.

How did it come through the wash? Perfectly! It was a tad more wrinkly after washing than my duoplex or nylplex bras, but once it was dry I didn’t notice any wrinkles. Nor did I when I went to put it on.

And it’s so light, and of course being cotton it’s breathable. It’s lovely to wear. The cotton poplin gets my full approval. 

While I’m updating…

My two new beige bras were a smidge too big along the upper cup. I lost a couple of pounds and I guess it all came off there.

So my lovely new bras were bothering me with a small gape along the neckline.

Here’s what I did to fix that. I carefully cut along the side of the lace where it meets the power bar.

Then I overlapped the lace where the previous seam was.   There’s the smallest pucker there, but it will fit better. I can adjust my pattern for next time.

After I pinned it, I sewed that lace and sheer cup lining over the previous seam. 

Although I’m sure the zigzag stitch will hold everything, I did sew a straight stitch on the top at the edge so there was no gape where I’d cut the lace.

All that was left was to trim the threads. It was a great fix for a small problem.

Happy creating!