Bra-Making

A Copper Rose Set

~ Michelle

Last week I showed you my new not so basic beige set. This week I’m sharing my new copper rose bra and panties.  Oh, this lace! Love!!

I think it pairs really well with the copper duoplex too. And I really love the copper duoplex color, but… I’ll get to that a little later in the post.

More of this pretty bra first. I’ve decided I’m going to make a bra ham to put into my bra cups so they fit on the display form better. I don’t love the gaping and the peeking of the bean-a-boobs behind the cups.

A pretty new bra needs some pretty new matchy-matchy, don’t you think? I thought so.

And that little teaser above? The one thing I don’t love about copper duoplex is I haven’t found that perfect color match in cotton Lycra. I’ve tried a few colors, but I’m just going to have to accept it’s not perfect.

So here are my new (not absolutely perfect) matching panties. That lace trim is a really pretty golden color. The trim on the leg is actually the same lace trim that is at the waist – I just followed the curved design in the lace and made my own scalloped narrower lace for the leg openings.

Above you can see where I followed the design lines.

Here’s the full set. Although, not a perfectly matched color set, I’m still happy with it.      What do you think? Do you think the golden lace trim helps pull it all together?

I have one more set to show you before the holidays. See you next week. 

Happy creating!

Not So Basic Beige

~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

I’ve been having fun sewing some garments, but I still need some work on sewing and fitting pants – mostly fitting them. So, back to my sewing love: bras and panties.

I’ve sewn some gorgeous new bras this year. Black bras, a purple one, a pink one, and an ivory one. Oh, I can’t forget the lovely platinum bra either. But there wasn’t a beige bra in the lot. Or at least not yet.

It was time to sew a lovely beige bra. However, I decided to sew not just one beige bra, but three! I’m rounding out the year with a full bra wardrobe. I can always work on fitting pants next year!

Here’s my beige Freja bra with golden lace. I love this lace. It’s so pretty. So delicate. I think it’s lovely with beige duoplex too. A lovely new bra isn’t enough though, is it? I need some panties to match, am I right? 

So I pulled out some beige cotton Lycra and some lace, and made a matching bra and panty set. Again, I’m using the House Morrighan Clover Boy Brief pattern. Here is my new beige set together. Next week I’ll share my next set.

Happy creating!

Perfect Pistachio

~ Michelle

A while back I bought a lovely Black Beauty (Emerald Erin’s) bra kit. I saw it and loved it. What can I say?

So the very pretty kit was sitting patiently on a shelf in my sewing room waiting for just the right sew-jo to inspire me.

Then B,Wear brought out Pistachio finding kits! Oh my!

Findingskit -Pistachio green - 3   I knew right away they’d match perfectly with that kit. The green is the perfect pop of color.

Here’s my lovely Pistachio Bra. I chose to only use the Pistachio on the upper part of the bra. My frame is sheer cup lining and power net, so I wanted to keep it looking black. If I’d been using duoplex or nylplex the pistachio wouldn’t have shown through, but it really did show through the sheer cup lining.

What I wanted though was just a little peek of color with the upper band elastic, and then the straps with that pop of color. And I think I got it. This bra has such lovely rich fall colors. I’m very happy with my new make, and I’m still loving the Freja pattern.

I was asked last week if the frame I’m using for my pattern is the one that comes with the pattern. No. Most definitely not. My frame is highly adjusted for my Omega shape. I’ve narrowed the upper bridge, widened the lower bridge, used a smaller cradle size – so it’s definitely not the same frame as comes with the pattern.

Lastly, here’s the back of the bra. I really love this Pistachio color! I was looking through my lace to see what else I had that would go well with it. 

Do you remember this bra I made?  I still have some of this lace.     I think this will match perfectly with the pistachio color too. But not with the burn orange this time. Basic black always works.

Happy creating!

Silk Freja

~ Michelle ~ 3 Comments

After making those sumptuous silk tap pants, I looked at the scraps of silk that were left over. With some careful placement, I had just enough to make a bra.This lovely silk came from Lilypa‘s shop.

Here’s my silk and ivory bra. I used the Pin-Up Girls Freja again – you’ll be seeing a few more of them before I try another pattern.This bra is so soft and well, silky. It feels wonderful on!Here’s a close up of the bridge showing that careful placement I mentioned. I didn’t have enough material to put the bridge on the fold, which is what most patterns have us do. So for this, I added a 1/4″ seam allowance, and cut two pieces. Then I simply sewed the two sides together.

Here are the side views. The silk shows wrinkles more on my display than duoplex or lingerie satin does. Still, it’s lovely and fun.

Lastly, I used ivory findings and power net. There are different shades of green in the silk, and I had nothing that was going to go with that. Ivory was the most neutral choice.Have you ever made a silk bra? Or any silk lingerie? Oh, the feel of it! Luxury.

Here’s the bra and slip together. Lovely if I do say so myself. I don’t know how often I’ll be wearing these together. When I do, I’ll love it.

Happy creating!

Freja in Ivory

~ Michelle

I was so happy with getting such a good fit with the Freja pattern, I made another one right away. Making this pattern is really inspiring me to clone and alter my favorite RTW Fantasie Vivenne. It’s one of my projects for during the Bee.

Here are the two of bras together, the pattern and the RTW bra.They are quite similar.

Here’s mine again from the side.

And here’s the back view.This lovely lace comes from B,Wear.

It’s a lovely left and right sided lace.Working with these lovely flowers made me remember something I’d been told. Always place your flowers so they are climbing up or growing up. If they’re growing downwards, your cups will look sad. And you don’t want sad looking cups.So I was careful when placing my lace to make sure I had happy looking cups and my flowers were all growing upwards.

Happy creating!

Porcelynne’s Eve Demi Cup Bra

~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

Well, I did it. I finished my Eve demi cup bra, and I have to tell you it is incredibly comfortable.

It took a lot of work to find my perfect size and fit. I think I made at least 4 fitting bands to get it just right, then I must have made 6 (or possibly more) cups sizes and styles.

I was not getting that perfect fit with the Eve until we tried the demi cup. Than we found the cup style that fits me best.This lovely kit came from Porcelynne’s shop.

I can’t tell how wonderful it was to sew again. I just had to do it in bits. My hand is recovering, but it’s recovering slowly. Still. I couldn’t just not sew. I have a three different splints I’ve been wearing, and they’ve made it possible for me to do everything I need to do AND sew.

I have more sewing plans for the summer – maybe too many for how slowly I’m sewing – but I can’t wait to work on more projects.  Here’s the back of the bra. It has a nice curved U shape to the straps. Despite all the testing, this was a bit big for me. I think it’s mostly due to the fabric. I’d been using nylplex from Bodil’s shop for my test bras. This time I used the kit from Jennifer’s shop.   

One last mention, which I did mention before. This little strip of channeling beside the actual channeling is holding a piece of boning. Before I started to recommend this to everyone, I wanted to wear this and know it was comfortable. Honestly. I couldn’t feel it at all.

It’s a great tip for all the Omegas out there to get a better fit and get the coverage they need with smaller wires. It works!

Happy creating and I hope to be back soon with more makes.

The Prettiest Josey Bra

~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

You’ve heard me say this many times before, but I loved this lace when I saw it. Do you all have the same problem? I can’t be the only one to fall in love over and over with laces.

But. I saw this lace and thought it was so beautiful. You can find it at B,Wear. The link is in the photo as well.It’s described as Light Beige with Pink Flowers. The above photo is on a pink background. Below it is on a darker background.Oh, it’s so delicate and so pretty.

I did something I’ve never done before. The same day I received the lace in the mail, I had the bra cut out and began to sew it up.I had some copper power net and I found it went perfectly with the leaf outlines in the lace.

Here’s my lovely new Josey bra. Because this is a stretch lace, I’ve lined the frame and the cups with an ivory sheer cup lining.Here you can just see a bit of the copper power net.Above is a bit more of a side view. Oh, I love this! The lace is so delicate and so pretty. And the back view. I really love copper power net and duoplex too. I wish I could find the perfect cotton Lycra to match copper though. Has anyone found that? Let me know.

One of these days I am going to try another bra pattern. (I do have one cut out to try. Really.) However, this time it was too hard to resist this lace. I used my TNT Josey pattern so I could sew this up right away.

Happy creating!

Prima Donna Inspired

~ Michelle ~ 4 Comments

As I mentioned in my last blog post, I have a favorite older RTW bra. The Prima Donna Milady. (I won’t show you the same photo again! I’ve been showing it to you for years.)

However, the Milady isn’t my only inspiration. The Prima Donna 2022 Madison collection has some gorgeous bras too.

This is their non-padded full cup seamless bra. This was my inspiration for my latest Josey. Although I do love how my Josey fits me, Booby Traps has a lovely darted bra that might look even more similar to this style. 

 I really loved my latest make – my 3/4 foam cup lined Josey.I really wanted to make it again, but in colors similar to the above Prima Donna. So I did.

Again, I decided to use the 3/4 foam lining, but I lowered it about 1/4-inch. I found both the upper edge of the foam and the cross cup seam were both hitting at the same place. I felt it would look better to sit either below that line or above it. Seeing as the Josey seam is above the apex as it is, I lowered the upper edge of the foam.

This foam-lace bra is so very comfortable, and it’s still a pretty lace bra. It’s the best of both worlds – foam cups and lace cups.I love this! I’m really happy with it.Here is one last photo of my new Josey Milady. Showing the inside of the bra, and the curve of the foam cup.I have to admit, I really love the leopard theme in Prima Donna’s collection. Here’s another inspiration from the same Madison collection.This one I think will be perfect for the Josey pattern, or the Shelly pattern, but I’m going to try copying this color combination on Lilypa’s new bra pattern – Lusamine.I love this style. I can’t wait to make my own bra using the colors of the Madison above.

Happy creating!       

A Christmassy Bra

~ Michelle

Sometimes I see a lace and love it right away. Okay, that actually happens a lot. It happened with this lace from B,Wear. In fact, I had this lace in my favorites for quite a while but it was out of stock. I’d asked to be notified when it was back in stock, and as soon as it was I went to buy some.I love the red and black check. For me, this spoke Christmas. So, I made a Christmassy Josey Milady bra.I’m just teasing. I couldn’t resist playing a little bit with some photo effects.

Here’s a better photo.Oh, this is pretty! I’ve added a 3/4s foam cup inside again. It’s my current favorite style, and I find it so very comfortable.I love this lace so much, I wanted to use it for the frame of the bra as well. Because this is a stretch lace, I’ve lined the frame with sheer cup lining. I didn’t line the cups as I was using foam inside. The back is solid red, but still Christmassy.

One last photo. Although I did mirror the plaid pattern along the upper cup, I didn’t even think of trying to match up the plaid on the rest of the bra! No, that would have been quite the feat to do that.

I have some red cotton Lycra on my cutting table ready to make some matchy matchy for this Christmassy bra.     

I hope your holidays are filled with family and friends this year. Merry Christmas and happy creating!

A Couple of Classic Bras

~ Michelle

Now that I have all my fitting bras sewn, I’m able to fit some friends and family who have been waiting for this.

My daughter-in-law is one of those people who has been waiting, so I got her fitted and she doesn’t have to wait any longer.

She’s a perfect 2.75 BCD, and I didn’t have to make any changes at all for her. Oh, how nice for her!

I let her pick a couple of kits she liked, and she picked a pink one and a beige one. Before you think how wonderful for her, she didn’t have pick from all my kits. No. there were a few I removed from the pile and said I wanted these for myself. She was still happy.

Here’s the beige bra she wanted.

I really do love this color. It’s not blah at all to me. To me it’s golden and shimmery. It is so pretty.Sewing these smaller sizes I learned that, yes, you can make a bra in a couple of hours. It was a new experience for me.

Here is the pink bra for Em.Now, I love beige, but not this pink. I know many who do love it, including Em. She grabbed this kit right away. It’s interesting to see, my mannequin is larger than a size 2.75. This barely fits her.  Em’s all taken care of for the time being. Next I need to sew some dog boots before the snow comes, and then I have a couple of Josey II bras waiting to be sewn and a new bra cup fabric too.

Happy creating!