Author: Michelle

A Summer Jacket – McCall’s 6516

~ Michelle ~ 8 Comments

I recently made the McCall’s 6516 jacket and love it! I made view D. I was thinking Summer jacket, cool evenings. I wanted there to be lots of options to cover me up and keep me warm – collar, sleeves, as much as I could get. I’m always the one wrapped in a blanket in front of the fire pit trying to stay warm.

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The material I chose is perfect too. I’ve shown this before.

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It’s a beautiful cotton with a waffle texture to it, and a gorgeous floral pattern.  I love this material. I went to the fabric store and saw it. It was not on my list so I left it, and then turned right around and went back in knowing there was no way I could leave it behind. I knew it would be a great jacket. And a jacket for summer was on my sewing list.

This jacket is perfect for cool summer evenings, and not too heavy if I have to carry it around during the day. It just made a trip to the Rocky Mountains with me for a couple of days, and as the weather was calling for rain, I carried it around a fair amount. I also love those big front panels that lay open – when it’s a bit cooler, they’re wonderful to wrap around me and cover me up more. See, I’m all about trying to stay warm.

Jacket Front

The jacket went together smoothly and quickly. It’s a great and fun jacket to wear. I’ve had lots of compliments on it already.

Jacket Side

Here’s the side.

Jacket Back

And the back.

One nice feature on this jacket is the faced cuffs. I really like that when I fold the cuffs up, the facings there make it look more professionally finished. Nice touch!

Here I am in my new jacket. I have both sleeve cuffs folded up, so the sleeves hit just above my wrist. You can also see my white stripe in my hair. I’ve decided to let it come in. It’s a bit Cruella or Rogue, depending on your age and your frame of (movie) reference. A friend encouraged me to let it show. ‘Not everyone gets to have a stripe. Wear it with pride.’ I’m not minding it most days.

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There’s a little bit of material left over from my jacket, and it’s just too pretty not to use. I’m planning a denim quilt. The first of the squares have been cut out. These photos show the waffle texture of this material too.

Squares

As much as I love my new jacket, a fitted jacket is something my wardrobe could really use. Finding one that fits a short curvy girl like me is a challenge. So, recently when I saw a class on sale at Craftsy, I signed up. It’s Jacket Fitting Techniques with Pam Howard. The class comes with the McCall’s pattern 6172 for three styles of jackets, including a fitted jacket. I’m trying to work up my nerve to attempt this for my curvy curves. I love Pam’s Flirt Skirt, so thought I’d try one of her classes. I’ll let you know how it goes.

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Here’s the photo from the front of the M6172.

Happy creating!

Pattern Preferences

~ Michelle ~ 10 Comments

I’ve had a number of people ask me which I prefer, the Sewy Rebecca or the Pin-Up Girls Shelley. The Rebecca was published before the Shelley. I had also sewn the Rebecca pattern a couple of times before the Shelley pattern even came out, so was used to that pattern before I even tried the Shelley.

In fact, it was the Rebecca pattern I made for the Sew-Along hosted by Amy of Cloth Habit. It was during that time – when the Sew-Along was happening – that news of the Shelley pattern came out. I loved the Pin-Up Girls Classic pattern, and have both of Beverly’s Bra-Making Manuals, so was excited about a new pattern from her.

Over the years, I’ve had people email me and ask me which bra I prefer. And honestly, I had a hard time deciding which bra I did prefer.

The Sewy Rebecca pattern consists of a three-part cup: the upper cup, lower cup and power bar. This photo of the Rebecca pattern is taken from the Sewy website.

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The Pin-Up Girls Shelley is a four-part cup consisting of the upper cup, split lower cup, and power bar. This photo of the Shelley pattern is from the Bra-Makers Supply website.

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The two bras really are similar in design. One big difference is the Sewy Rebecca is fully lined inside the cup, and that really makes it look so professionally finished on the inside – something I love.

However, I’ve made a couple of Shelley bras now and lined them on the inside making them look as professionally finished as the Rebecca always does.

My most recent bra that I made was a Pink and Ivory Rebecca and while wearing it, I realized, for my shape I prefer… the Shelley.

So, what finally made me prefer one pattern over the other? Well,…

I have read many comments on blogs, bra-sewing forums, and personal emails to me where people have expressed their thoughts on another bra – the Marlborough by Orange Lingerie.

I know sewers who love this pattern. It’s their TNT pattern that they go to every time. I haven’t personally made up the Marlborough, so can’t say anything from personal experience. One of the reasons I haven’t made it up is I’ve heard it has a shallower fit. Another reason is I’m outside the bra’s  size range. I can play around with sister sizing and grading to get the right size for me, but hearing the bra fit more shallowly has been the one factor making me hesitate to try the bra. Although I must say, I’ve seen so many beautiful examples of the Marlborough sewn up and they all look lovely. I don’t think it’s the right pattern for me.

After wearing the Rebecca, I’ve realized there’s a shallowness to the fit of it as well. Although the two patterns, Rebecca and Shelley, are very similar, they don’t fit the same on me.

The Pin-Up Girls Shelley bra pattern gives me a nice shape and lift. The Rebecca pattern does not give me the same nice shape. Even though the patterns measure pretty much the same – the cross cup seam is the same length, and the bottom cup depth is the same, the upper cup is shallower on the Rebecca. I even added 1/4″ to it, but it still just didn’t give me the shaping I want.

Happy creating!

A Couple Pair of Matching Panties

~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

This week I have a couple of pair of panties to match the Ivory and Pink Sewy Rebecca bra I made. I mentioned a few posts ago how I was going to use some Cotton Spandex Double-knit from Bra-Makers Supply. The color wasn’t an exact match though. It’s close, but not exact.

Here’s the bra and panties together.

Full Set on Catherine

Here you can you see the cotton looks quite a bit deeper in color than the Duoplex. However, I’m still very happy with this set.

The panties are from my TNT pattern – Kwik Sew 2286. I prefer the KS 2286 because it so closely resembles my very favorite RTW panties from La Vie En Rose. They had the lace at the legs and waistband as well, and I loved that.

I used KS 2286 without any alterations this time, and then used the two remaining scraps of lace I had left over from making my bra, and added those to the panties. There was so little lace left too. I’m always sad when a much-loved lace is gone.

On this pair, I sewed the pink and ivory lace to the stretch lace I used on the waistband and then sewed it to the panty as one piece. I cut away the cotton from behind the lace as well, to make a ‘window’ of the lace.

Full Set

Here are the two together. I do think the lace pulls them together pretty well.

For the second pair of panties I made, I had even less lace than this first pair. It was time to get creative with what I could do with it.

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Here I was just laying the lace out in different patterns to see what would look nice and what I preferred.

And here is my second pair of panties to match my Pink and Ivory Rebecca.

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I like these as much as the first pair. Again, I cut away the cotton from behind the lace to make a window. You can see the window in the picture below.

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There, two pretty and much-loved cotton panties to match my new bra.

Happy creating!

A Pink and Ivory Rebecca

~ Michelle

In my efforts to decide if I prefer the Sewy Rebecca pattern or the Pin-Up Girls Shelley pattern, I made another Rebecca. I know I love my last Shelley bra, and wanted another comparison with a few more adjustments made to the Rebecca.

This time I used a little bit of lace that was left over from a bra I’d made for a friend. And I mean there was just a little bit of lace. There was just barely enough for the upper cups – no mirroring the lace here, but they’re close – and then I had to get creative with the scraps that were left over to use them to make matching panties.

Here’s my very pretty Pink and Ivory Rebecca:

Front

This is so pretty! I love this lace and have looked for it again, but… I can’t find it anywhere. I’d bought it at Bra-Makers Supply, and I haven’t seen it since. I’m ready to start hoarding lace! This is a lovely pink lace with very distinct ivory or cream in it. And it goes so well with the ivory Duoplex and Power net.

Pretty Side

On the side view, you can see where I added just a thin strip of lace that was left over. It doesn’t take a lot of lace here to make the side look so much prettier.

Back

And a basic back. I’m still using my alternate method of attaching the straps. I use some of the bottom band elastic on the outside of the band and fold that over the top of the band with a slider attached to it. Using the elastic here allows more stretch and movement than the strap elastic, it also conforms to the U-shape more smoothly. I also use two sliders rather than a slider and ring. I find the strap has a little less movement and making it less likely for the strap to fall off my shoulder.

So, what alterations did I do to the Rebecca to make it fit me?

The first changes I made were to the bridge – I know I have to lower it 1/2″, and an adjust for a flat spot on the bridge too. I also changed the cradle to a smaller cradle that normally takes a 36 wire rather than the 42 cradle the cup needs.

I thought about making small darts in the pattern to take out the excess, and although I love that neater look, I’m finding it does compromise the cup’s fit a bit. I need the extra space those darts take away. So, I put in gathers along the wire line.

The photo below shows the excess cup compared to the cradle. I have to make that all fit.

Excess Cup

This photo shows the gathers in the wire line seam. I run a long gathering stitch along the wire line, pull the bottom thread to make small gathers all along the bottom of the cup. Then I sew the cup to the cradle. It works very well, and although there is still the odd little wrinkle where a gather is showing, steaming it well with the iron really does make most of those gathers disappear.

Gathers

I used the Flexible wires again on this bra. They do make a difference in the fit. They are long enough for me, and conform well to the shape of the smaller channeling and cradle. However, they are not the easiest to get into that narrower U-shaped cradle. I had to fight with them a little. I told myself they are worth the effort. And once they are in, I don’t need to take them out again for a long time.

The inside of the bra is so pretty with its enclosed seams. I really do love that aspect of the Rebecca pattern.

Pretty Inside

And one last detail:

Clearer Crystal

I sewed a pretty crystal in the inverted V of the bridge. It has movement and does move a bit. It’s so pretty when it catches the light.

Next week some matchy matchy – matching panties.

Happy creating!

My BMS Chart

~ Michelle ~ 4 Comments

The idea for this week’s post comes from a reader and friend. I sent a chart I’d made to my friend, Naomi, and she said what a great idea it would be for a post. Okay. Here it is.

I really like things to match, and match well. I don’t think I’m excessive. When I think excessive, I remember a high school science teacher who wore everything in the same color – top, skirt or pants, pantyhose, shoes, purse. If she came to school wearing green, everything was green! I have distinct memories of a lot of green! I’m not that bad, but coordinating bra and panty sets is something I want to do.

A lot of my bra-making stash comes from Bra-Makers Supply. I like the quality and choice of materials, I’m in Canada, so it’s one of the best options for shipping for me, and Beverly Johnson is such a wonderful help. On the BMS web site, you can see the colors of their Duoplex, Power Nets, Finding Kits, and Cotton Spandex Double-knit – these are the ones I look at because these are the ones I want to co-ordinate. I’ve spent a lot of time going back and forth on their web site looking to see what colors are available in all of these categories.

They also offer sample packs of all of these materials so you can see and feel what you’re getting. I have a mini stash with a sample pack of each of these. When I got these with my order a while back, I was most excited about them when I opened the box! I couldn’t wait to see all the colors available.

Sample packs

However, even having those samples, I found myself flipping back and forth through them, checking and re-checking to see what was there and what matched with something from another pack.

So, in my desire to match materials for bra and panty sets, I put together a chart. It’s up on the wall beside my sewing desk for easy reference.

chart

Here’s my BMS Chart. It shows the colors of the Duoplex, the Power Nets, (both Regular and Double Knit), the Cotton Spandex Double-knit, and the Finding Kits. It’s even color-coded for ease. *Note: BMS has added more Finding kits since this chart was made.)

When I want to make a completely matching set – you know, be all matchy matchy – I look at the Pink highlighted rows. Those rows show where each of the categories has the same color. If you look at the red, it has Duoplex, Power Net (both), Cotton Spandex, and Finding Kits all in red.

The blue highlighted rows aren’t complete – it’s missing one of those matching components, but still pretty complete. The Ivory, Peach, Fuchsia, Turquoise and Navy Blue don’t have Cotton Spandex in those exact colors. However, I just ordered some Banana in the cotton which is close in color to the Ivory, and some Indigo which is close to Navy. By using the same lace on both the bra and panty, it will bring the set together well.

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Here’s an Ivory Trio from BMS on top of the Banana Cotton Spandex. The Banana is a bit deeper in color, but close enough that I’m happy with it.

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Here’s the Duoplex in Ivory and the Banana Cotton with an Ivory and Peach lace. I think this looks fabulous!

The Purple on the chart is the only one that has all matching categories except the Finding Kit. I think that would still be wonderful as a set with either a Black or Lilac Finding Kit to complete it. And of course, again, the lace can pull things together. If I used black lace with the black findings and purple for the rest of the bra and panties, it would be lovely. Or Lilac…

I used my chart to help me decide what findings to use with other lace finds I come across. If I find a lovely lace I just can pass on, now I can take a quick look at my chart to see what options are available for pairing that lace with the rest of the components I’ll need to make a bra and panty set. In fact, I have a bra kit I ordered from Merckwaerdigh‘s Etsy store. However, I need firmer support than Lycra can offer, and large findings, so I supplement the kit I bought. I checked and a few options that would go well with it were Ivory or Navy. You’ll be seeing a lovely set with Navy in the future.

Merck and ivory

Merck and navy

I hope my coordinating chart makes it up on some new walls and helps others to be all matchy matchy too.

Happy creating!

Finally… Some Sewing

~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

After two sewing fails in the past two weeks, I felt like my sewjo had got up and left. So, this week I made myself cut out some panties to go with my bra. You’ve all seen the bra before. Here’s my latest matching bra and panty set.

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This is the Sewy-fied Shelley bra, and my TNT Kwik Sew 2286 panty pattern, which I’ve changed up a bit by adding the lace panel to the front.

I’ve mentioned this before, and I’ll say it again – I’m spoiled now. I only want to wear matching sets of bras and panties. I had always color-coordinated everything before, but with RTW bras costing $150+, there was no way matching panties were going to happen.

Now that I have my bra fit worked out, matching sets are a must! I love sewing my own lingerie.

This time, cutting out the matching panty went without a hitch, but it wasn’t just smooth sailing from there.  I realized I didn’t have enough elastic to finish my panties the way I like, and the way the pattern says. I was wondering if it would be another no-sew week at that point.

My first thought was to tea-dye some stretch lace. I have lots of white I bought on sale. Nope, that didn’t work.

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The tea gave me a lovely deep beige, but it wasn’t the same as either of the other beiges I was using. I was already using two differently hued beiges. I really didn’t want to introduce a third beige. So, two bumps on the sewing road, but I realized I must be feeling better because I had my old I’m-not-giving-up attitude.

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I decided to finish the back waist band with the dark purple trim that came with the Merckwaerdigh kit. One problem solved. Although, I’m not loving the beige thread on the purple, I wasn’t up to picking it all out and starting over again.

The outlined sewing order for Kwik Sew pattern is: the gusset is sewn to the back and then the front using what is commonly called the ‘Burrito’ method, then the lace is applied to the leg openings, the sides are sewn up, and lastly the same lace is applied to the waistband. Altering the pattern, I have to change my order of sewing. The first thing I do now is attach the elastics to the waist bands. I sewed the purple trim to the back, and some nice plush black elastic behind the lace panel at the front.

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Here you can see the elastic already sewn onto the waist while I’m just in process of pinning the lace to the legs. I didn’t do this on the first pair I altered and learned the hard way.

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Another small change I made was to use my sewing machine’s Overcast stitch rather than a simple Zigzag stitch. That gave me a straight seam on the right side of the fabric rather than the not-perfectly-straight seam from a Zigzag stitch.

After pressing it on the right side to flatten the seam, I added one more change…

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I gave the seam a bit of reinforcement by Zigzagging over the just-sewn seam. Another quick press and it looks so nice and neat.

One last little change I made was thanks to a reader. Carmen mentioned how she sews down the seams on the gusset with a Zigzag stitch – a tip she picked up from Sigrid. I thought it was a great idea. Thank you, Carmen!

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In the photo above you can see a close up of the Zigzag stitching. It does two things: it reinforces that seam, and it flattens that seam much more than pressing it can.

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So here’s my first pair of panties to make a matching set with my bra. The next pair will have to wait until my stretch lace gets here.

The materials I’ve used here are a mix from Bra-Makers Supply, Merckwaerdigh, and Frog Feathers. The Duoplex, Power Net, Findings, and Cotton Spandex Doubleknit are from BMS. The lace, Lycra and trim are from Merckwaerdigh. The stretch elastic is from Frog Feathers.

Happy creating!

When I Can’t Sew, I Plan

~ Michelle ~ 4 Comments

I’m still coughing, but not nearly as much. So I’m starting to think about sewing again. I think panties sound like a perfect just-starting-to-feel-better project. An order with some lovely cotton spandex just arrived from Bra-Makers Supply. Perfect.

While I’m not sure if I’m feeling up to sewing anything more complicated than a pair of panties, I’m planning some future projects.

A few months back I bought some lovely material. It was on sale, not at all what I was looking for when I was in the fabric store, but there was no way I was going to pass it up. It was with all the other denims, but I’m not sure that it is denim. It’s Cotton with a bit of stretch, and has a bit of a waffle texture to it.

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I love it. It’s a nice medium weight and will make a lovely spring jacket. So, now to decide on a pattern.

There are a couple so sewing boards I follow, and on one a really nice jacket from Grainline Studio came up.

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This image is taken from Grainline’s web site. I love the lines of this, but something about those lines looked familiar to me.

I’d recently bought The Magic Pattern Book by Amy Barickman and it reminded me of one of the pattern in there. Here’s a photo from the book of The Dorothy Jacket.

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I know the collars aren’t identical, but there’s a similarity there. Seeing as I already have a similar pattern, I decided not to buy the Morris Blazer pattern.

I also decided not to use The Dorothy Jacket. I have a confession. I’ve come to realize I don’t love PDF patterns. Well, I do love that I can have instant access to a pattern. That part is great! I don’t love all the work that goes into making a garment before I even start to make the garment. I don’t love taping it all together – and it’s bulky to store afterwards. I don’t love that the pattern lines don’t always match up when you match the symbols there to match. Sigh.

So, again, with all that taping ahead of me, The Dorothy, and most of the other patterns in The Magic Pattern Book will just be for inspiration at this point.

What was I going to use to make a jacket? Back to my pattern stash. I had a pattern from McCall’s that I’d bought when ClubBMV had a sale. McCall’s 6516.

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I’m leaning towards view D right now. Again, it has some similar lines to the other two patterns. A draped front with relaxed lines. Let’s hope this week sees me cough free and feeling myself again.

Happy creating!

Two Misses In A Row

~ Michelle

A few weeks ago, when my husband and I went away for our anniversary, he was sick. The week before that it was my DS1’s turn. Well, when we got back from our trip, it was my turn. Sadly, my sewing has really been affected.

The first mistake I made was last week. I was all ready to make some matching panties for my new bra. I decided to make a new pattern from some RTW panties, and everything was looking good. I traced out the pattern, and was all ready to cut out. I even thought everything looked pretty good when I finished cutting them out.

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It wasn’t until I picked up the back of the panties that I realized something really didn’t look right.

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There was no fixing that, and there isn’t enough material left for a second back to be cut. Sigh. Note to self – don’t try to sew when you don’t feel well.

I did dig out my beige cotton spandex from my stash. Nope, there wasn’t enough material there for a pair of panties either. I saved it thinking it would be great to use for making the gussets for panties. I do the same with ends or bits of Duoplex  – save them to make bridges.

So, I put all my sewing aside and rested for most of the week.

I was starting to feel better and wanted to get sewing again. So out came the cowl neck top I’d started to work on.

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I’d used my knit sloper and traced out a pattern that was ‘curvier’ than the original pattern to better fit me.

It was coming together quickly and looking wonderful. Then I sewed up the side seams and thought, ‘Hmm, that looks small.’

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Yup, it’s too small. I didn’t add in ease, or at least not enough. I am thinking too small is a nice change from too big… I don’t think I’m quite up to sewing just yet. I think I’ll give it another few days.

The one highlight of my sewing right now is my companion:

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Here’s our adopted pup, Tiberius. He often looks for a spot of sun on the carpet, but will settle for a spot under my cutting table just to be close.

Happy creating!

The Flexible Wire Experiment

~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

I did a little bra-wearing experiment. I still wasn’t 100% happy with my fit. Do you get the idea I’m looking for perfection? I am!

At the end of the day, I could see when I undressed, the wires I was using weren’t fitting me perfectly. I also knew from experience that a size smaller felt like it pinched a bit. So, if the size I’m wearing is too big, and one size smaller is too small, where did that leave me?

I’d read something recently about the flexible wires available at Bravo Bella, Needle Nook Fabrics, and Sew Sassy. I decided to give them a try and see if they’d solve my wire problem. I ordered three sizes from Needle Nook Fabrics – 36, 38, and 40. Anne St. Clair was so very helpful. I must say, women like Anne and Beverly Johnson are a tremendous help to us non-professional bra-makers. Thank you!

I could tell with just a glance that the 40 wires were the same size I’d been using, so I ruled them out, initially. The 36s felt perfect but were too short for me to use. That left the 38s. I popped out the Vertical wires I’d been using from my most recent Black Butterfly bra and wore the flexible wires for a day. (Here’s a confession: I didn’t even sew the seams up!)

Here are the two 38 wires  – one regular and one flexible:

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And this second photo shows just how much these flexible wires can flex:

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That’s tremendous. There’s no way a regular wire is going to move like that! As well, the flexible wires don’t splay outward anymore than the regular wires I’d been using did – I checked. They flex inward.

Just before I popped those new wires in, I pressed them together to make the curve a little narrower. On the Bravo Bella web site, Monica Bravo has a couple of videos about the wires, and on one she explains how they can be shaped. That sounded perfect to me.

At the end of the experimental day, I could see these wires were a much better fit for me. Yay! I now have a nice little stash of flexible wires on their way to me.

Now to adjust my pattern to help with the wire fit. I’ve learned though, change one part of the bra pattern, and it means changing something else. Now I decided to look at the cradle those wires are fitting into. What I’ve been using is drawn from a 38 wire cradle that I lengthened to fit the 40 Vertical wire. I wanted to change that. Clearly, the channel that fit a 38 wire was too big.

In this photo, you can see the bridge and then the 36 and 38 cradle lines. There’s not a lot of difference between the cradle sizes, but I think one size will be just enough to make things a little more comfortable and fit better. The main problem with a cradle that’s too big is the weight of the breasts will push the bra frame down and you won’t get the support you need. The cradle really needs to fit.

I traced the 30E on this pattern (the smallest cradle size on it). I’d been using the 32E cradle for my last few bras. I’d even tried the 34E cradle, which would normally take  a 40 wire, so I would have fewer cup alterations, but I found it really didn’t help with my fitting issues – just my alteration ones.

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So, out came my pencil, eraser, and medical exam table paper. I traced of the 30E cradle and then laid my custom pattern pieces over that to add those aspects to the pattern – the narrower and lower bridge, adjusting for a flat spot, thinning out the elastic under the bust, and raising up the side 1/4″.

At this point all the alterations were good to go. In fact, you’ve seen them! I used them all on my last bra – the Sewyfied Shelley. That bra is my best-fitting bra! There are only a couple of cosmetic changes I want to make at this point. What a great feeling that is!

Happy creating!

A Pin-Up Girls Shelley with a Sewy Rebecca Twist

~ Michelle ~ 6 Comments

I’m still trying to decide which bra pattern I like better. It’s a very close match between Beverly Johnson’s Pin-Up Girls (PUG) Shelley pattern and Sewy’s Rebecca pattern. They’re quite similar – both feature a lace upper cup and a power bar. Shelley has a split lower cup as well where the Rebecca doesn’t.

Here’s the Sewy Rebecca photo from their web site. I’ve been to their site a number of times and am getting used to where things are even though I don’t speak any German. However, if you open their site in Google Translate, everything is much easier. You just can’t place an order on their site using Google Translate.

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Oh, that’s a lovely bra!

And here’s Beverly’s Shelley pattern from the Bra-Makers Supply web site.

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Absolutely gorgeous!

One difference I’ve noticed is when the patterns are both flat, the upper cup along the cross cup seam is straighter on the Sewy Rebecca than the PUG Shelley. The Rebecca is on the bottom, Shelley is on top. See how much more curved the Shelley is? But they are both the exact same length.

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According to Beverly in the Bra-Makers Manuals, a straighter bottom edge on the upper cup will give more lift. Who doesn’t want more lift? However, to be honest, when I’m wearing the Rebecca, I don’t notice any difference.

So, which bra wins out? I’m still undecided. I do know one aspect of the Rebecca that does win hands down – the enclosed seams on the inside of the bra! I love that! It does take a fair amount of work, but is so worth it.

Due to my immense fondness for those enclosed seams, I Sewy-fied my Shelley this week. I added lining and followed the instructions for sewing the Rebecca to completely enclose my seams. I even upped it a bit and added a lower cup lining, so the whole inside of the cup is now lined with no seams showing. The only fault with the inside is I forgot to change thread colors and there is beige thread from top-stitching very evident on my black lining. I noticed it too late to change it.

Here’s a photo of the bra’s inside.

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Oh, those enclosed seams. That is so pretty and, I think, more professional. On one Prima Donna bra that I owned, wore, and then took apart, all the seams were enclosed. I’m still trying to figure out how they did the strap and made it enclosed too. But they did.

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Here’s my Shelley from the outside. I think I’ve figure out the best way to stuff the bras for Catherine. I use the cut and sew foam cups I made that are the same size and shape as the bra cups, AND the pre-shaped foam cups, which are sturdier. Finally, a mostly wrinkle free photo.

This is a fabric kit from Merckwaerdigh‘s Etsy shop. I really do love her laces. I’ve backed everything up here with sheer cup lining, Duoplex, Power Net, and elastics from Bra-Makers Supply.

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Here’s my Shelley from the side. Again, I added another touch from the Sewy Rebecca and used lace on the power bar. The lace here looks so different from the same lace with the black sheer lining behind it on the upper cup.

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A very basic back.

For alterations on this bra, I made a smaller cradle, narrowed and lowered the bridge, adjusted for a flat spot on the bridge and cups, made the underarm area smaller, I shortened the wire line seam (with gathers again), added linings to the cup, and used a flexible wire.

Happy creating!