Inspiration

Pattern Testing the Minimalist Wallet

~ Michelle ~ 4 Comments

I was given the opportunity to test a new pattern, and I jumped at the chance to do it. It’s The Minimalist Wallet Pattern. The pattern was released on Sew Modern Bags.

I wanted to try this pattern because the designer wanted to see it in leather and I had just scored that great leather stash. Now I had the opportunity to use some of it. Win-win

pattern

This pattern is very easy to make, and working with the leather was delightful. It is so soft. It cuts so easily. It sews really easily too. I did use a leather needle, which I’m sure helped a great deal. All in all, it was great to work with leather. The only part about working with leather that wasn’t a delight was using Wonder clips. They have little teeth in them, and those little teeth were showing on my leather! I ended up using office clips. They still left a little bit of a mark, but it didn’t look like little bite marks.

Here’s the wallet. I added a second snap to the closure tab. I’ve seen that before and liked that option. When your wallet is full, use the outer snap; when the wallet is less full, the inner snap. It keeps your wallet from feeling like the closure is loose fitting.

wallet-closed

Here’s the wallet from the inside:

inside-no-cards

The wallet has eight card slots. Each of the four you can see with the little crescent cut into them has one behind as well.

Here’s the wallet showing the billfold. Bills, receipts, shopping lists all fit in here easily.

bill-fold

The only real problem I ran into when making this was using the snaps. I actually had two problems with the snaps. The first one was the outer snap that’s attached to the body of the wallet simply would not attach. I went through four snaps before I gave up on reinforcing it as the instructions say. There was just too much thickness there for it to work with the leather. It’s been behaving just fine now without that reinforcement.

A second problem I had was entirely my fault: I attached both of the snaps at the same time – the one on the body and the one on the tab. The instructions say to attach the one to the outer body and nothing at that point about the tab, but I didn’t read the instructions. As things quickly began to not make sense, I started reading the instructions again. I threw out the first tab I’d made and cut out another tab and started sewing again where I’d veered off. There were no more problems from that point on.

I don’t think the first problem I had with the snaps was an indication of the pattern though. The pattern is designed for Kraft Tex. The Kraft Tex may be thinner than leather, and the reinforcement needed.

Happy creating!

Our Valentine’s Dinner

~ Michelle

I know it’s a little late to be talking about Valentine’s Day or anything to do with the romantic holiday, but just last weekend we had an incredible dinner to celebrate that holiday of love, and I wanted to share about it.

To start off, my husband and I are part of a dinner group. Our group has been meeting for close to 10 years now. We have four couples including us, and we each take a turn hosting. Usually, the host will pick our dinner’s theme, and the remaining couples will all cook according to the chosen theme.

This month that wasn’t the case. This month, the couple hosting our dinner decided they wanted to show their appreciation to everyone else in the group, and they made the whole dinner. What a treat it was!

We weren’t told anything ahead of time. All we were told was to dress up. Who doesn’t like to get dressed up once in a while?

When we arrived, the house was lit with candles in the hall, the living room, and on the table. Just look at our table setting. It was spectacular!

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Isn’t that lovely? Each plate had a rose napkin. That was also a lovely touch.

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Now for a look at our menu. As well as telling us the delectable treat we had ahead of us, the title of each course (there were 8) gave us a fun starting place for discussion.

menu

Our theme was A Taste of Passion. For our first course, titled The Wink, we had Deviled Quail Eggs with Caviar. Our discussion centered around how each couple met. Was it love at first sight? Was it mutual? We learned a few things about each other, that even after many, many years of friendship, we hadn’t known before.

quail egg

Oh, that was yummy! Our next course, The First Date, was Oysters Mignonette. We all enjoyed them and hearing about each other’s first dates.

L Oysters

What comes after the first date? The Adventure! For all of us, we’ve had 25+ years of adventure, so we had lots of stories to tell while we enjoyed Roasted Bone Marrow with Fig Marmalade. Bone marrow was a first for me, and I have to say, I loved it!

bone marrow

Oh, it was delectable! This course was a first for most of us. We followed this with The Romance. Stories continued as we enjoyed Butternut Squash and Pumpkin Ravioli with Brown Butter Sauce and Sage. At this point, our hosts made me my own course as I can’t have gluten or dairy. I enjoyed Garlic and Onion Perogies with a mock brown butter sauce.

L ravioli

Here’s the ravioli. My phone camera rebelled and took a very blurry photo of my dinner.

Our next course was The Question, Lemon Sorbet with Pom Arils. This one was hard to get a photo of too, but not because of my camera this time. Everyone dug in so quickly we were all almost done before someone got a photo.

L sorbet

After The Question came The Commitment. We feasted on Braised Short Ribs with Russet Mash and Vegetables. Oh my!

L ribs

I have to point out something here. Do you see that little heart sitting atop the vegetables? It’s a jellied wine heart. What a beautiful adornment! Remember the challenge I mentioned with the sorbet? Well, that wasn’t the challenge we had at this point. The challenge we had now was we were all getting a little fuller, but I didn’t see anything left over.

One more little tidbit with this course, my wonderful hosts made the mash with Tofuti Sour Supreme and margarine so I could have it. No one noticed the alternatives at all. It was all delicious!

Our last course, The Hidden Pleasures, brought the discussion back around our table. Each person shared something they loved about their spouse, maybe something we didn’t all know already. All the while we enjoyed Chocolate Lava Cake with Raspberry Coulis and Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. Again, for this course, I couldn’t have what everyone else had. So I had some coconut ice cream and my carob ‘chocolates’.

L dessert

Carob Chocolates

     Our last course The Happily Ever After was Coffee/Tea, Port and Liqueurs.

Now if you’re not already amazed, as we were. We found out our hosts made each dish themselves. Nothing (except my substitutions) was bought prepared. They did everything. They made the ravioli from scratch, and the lava cakes, the ice cream, …

One of the guests said it was the most incredible meal he’d ever had, and he’d remember it for the rest of his life! It was truly amazing, and we felt very loved.

Happy (belated Valentine’s Day) and creating!

Basic Black And Not So Basic Black

~ Michelle ~ 6 Comments

I’m happy to say, as of this blog, I have no RTW panties in my drawer. Yay! That means all my panties are now very comfortable, pretty, and me-made. I like that.

So, what did I make? It was time to make some more black panties.

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Here’s some of my stash. The Cotton Spandex is all cut out and ready to be sewn. The gorgeous wide leopard lace was a find eBay. Oh, it’s nice. So I’m building my black panty wardrobe here.

I’m using my favorite TNT pattern, Kwik Sew 2286. They don’t call it a hipster, but that’s how it fits me. It’s hard to find, but if you can find it, grab it up. It’s a great pattern.

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What really sold me on this pattern was it’s almost exactly like my favorite, now-discontinued, RTW panties. Both have elastic lace trim at the waist and leg opening. It’s almost the exact same shape too. The pattern sits a little higher, and I found I preferred that.

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Here are the first couple of pair done. I really love that leopard lace! And although it’s not a perfect match for my Pin-Up Girls classic bra with the leopard mesh trim, it’s close and I’m happy with it as a set.

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The next pair was made to match too.

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This one is black with red lace at the waist and leg opening. I couldn’t resist putting a little of the Lycra on the panty to mimic the Lycra on the power bars and bridge of the bra.

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This is another fun set for me.

I am making four pair of basic black with black lace trim. I ran out of lace after making the first panty, so off I went to the fabric store and I found this wonderful lace on sale for 65% off. I bought 15 meters! I think it was $2.20 to start, so I pretty much cleared the bolt.

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The lace trim wasn’t the only great deal I got that day. I wandered into the discount area, and walked by some lovely bright crinkle cotton. I walked by it, and then back to it. It was only $3/meter. I think I walked away three times, but kept going back. Am I ever happy I did! When I went to get it cut, I found out it was half price! So I took what was left on the bolt, just over two and a half meters. This will make a lovely summer top.

cottoon

As for the lace I bought, I think I’ll have enough for a little while now. Before I even found this lace, I knew I was getting low, so had also been looking on Etsy and eBay for laces too. I found this lovely scalloped lace that I plan to use on two of the basic black panties.

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This will make my favorite panties almost exactly like my former favorite – they had scalloped lace trim at both the waist and leg opening.

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I bought a few meters of that too. The next time I’m looking for black lace trim, I should be set!

Happy creating!

Coraline Clutch

~ Michelle

Oh, I think I love bag-making as much as I love bra-making. I made another Swoon. I must say, I love it. I used it the same day I finished it, and was so happy with it. Here’s my Coraline Clutch shown with the pattern.

with-pattern

I made this out of the same fabric I used to make my Agnes-inspired skirt, and the temporary dog boots. (I told you you’d see more of this, but I think I’m pretty much done with the material now.) This is a thick flocked knit. I really do love this material. I have a little more in black. I also have a similar black flocked stretch denim. So many things to sew still!

Back to Coraline. Here’s the inside of the bag.

Inside

The pattern is a great pattern, and it all comes together easily. Swoon has a Facebook group for support, and that group lists a bunch of files. One of those files is a video tutorial that I used to help me make this bag – just to make sure I was doing everything right.

I added a fun little bracelet charm to the zipper to give it a little more oomph, and to make it easier to pull that little zipper.

zipper-pull

Here’s the backside of the zipper pull:

back-of-zip-pull

I love that it is two-sided. Regardless of which way it shows, it looks pretty.

I worked to pattern-match the fabric so I’d have the same pattern showing on both the front and the back. I could have done a tiny bit better with my pinning because I noticed the bottom seam doesn’t match perfectly, but I’m pretty pleased with it overall. Most of the time I won’t be looking at it from the bottom, so the sides match well. There’s always something to work on for the next project, isn’t there?

pattern-matching

One change I made to the pattern was to simply attach my strap into the bag’s seam. The pattern calls for a 1″ D-ring and a 1″ swivel clip. I didn’t have those on hand, and didn’t have time to run to any store. I made this up, showered, and went out to a banquet. I love it as is, but also think I’d love to see it with the D-ring. I have another planned already.

Here’s my new Coraline with Catherine, just to show you the size.

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Catherine is draped in some lovely fabrics that I’m hoping will make it into a holiday skirt.

Happy creating and have a very Merry Christmas!

Dog Boots I, II, III, and IV

~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

Can you guess what I’ve been working on? Our sweet pup came to us 10 months ago from California. From Cali-Can Rescue Foundation. Oh, I love him. I tell people, ‘We stupid love him.’ We’re all just over the moon for this little pup, He had to acclimatize coming from California; he needs to dress warmly now he’s in Canada.

We got him a coat last year, but it was almost the end of winter and we couldn’t find dog boots anywhere. This year, there were lots of them, but they’re $50! That’s more than I paid for his coat! I started looking for patterns.

The snow came before I had anything made, so I used some left-over material and made some quick little boots just to help keep his feet dry. They didn’t help a lot, but a bit.

First-pair-front

Just to keep them on, I sewed on some elastic as I didn’t have any Velcro floating around. As you can see, I really just threw these together, and we lost one after a couple of walks. On the far right one, you can see holes starting already. These are from skirt material scraps  and really weren’t suited for this project. Just a hint here: you’re going to see more of this material before I’m done with it.

A dear friend, who happens to run a cat treat and toy company, saw these temporary boots and said she’d get me some boots for our pup. She gave me these boots and a matching coat. The coat is great – it has a water-proof layer and then the fashion fabric. The coat is too big though. I could move the Velcro over a bit and make it work, but she wants to get us a smaller coat, so that will be great, especially for rainy days.

Gifted-Pair

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Oh, there’s my sweet puppy baby! I just love him so. I could sit here and just look at that sweet face. See, I told you – stupid love.

Back to the doggie boots.

While I was waiting for that wonderful gift to come, I kept working on the doggie boots. I found a video on YouTube, and it looked great! I thought I’d give it a try, but without an actual pair of boots to look at, I really wasn’t sure how I was going to attach the Velcro. Here’s the video.

My pup doesn’t really like anyone to hold his paws, so measuring his paws was a bit of a hassle, until I decided to just put his paw on my fingers and use them to measure. His paws are two-and-a-half of my fingers wide, and two-knuckles long. It worked. That was what I’d used for the first red booties.

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They look cute and all. I added some faux leather to the back of them from an awesome leather score I got.

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I’d stopped in a second-hand store and saw these sitting in a box. I asked how much they were. Five dollars for the whole box. Yes! About one-quarter of this is faux leather/microfiber, which was perfect.

So these fleece booties are better for the weather, but I didn’t take into account that the material is thicker and the boots would need to be a little wider. These will go to another sweet Californian pup who came up to live with a friend of mine.

These are the last pair of boots I made this week:

forth-pair

This time instead of faux leather they have microfiber on the back. These work well enough, but I think there will be a fifth pair of booties where I take what I learned from each pair, and add a little more.

The video, which really is great, didn’t show me how to attach the Velcro. The boots my friend gifted us does allow me to see how that goes on.

The video also didn’t have a pattern – she just winged it. And all my boot parts were cut out following the video’s information.

The next pair I make, I will use a pattern that is pre-cut, so pre-shaped. That way I’ll get a more uniform shape (which clearly I can use). I will continue to add the faux leather/microfiber to the bottom to give a little more insulation to my pup’s paws. But I will change the elastic out for only Velcro – it gives a stronger hold around the boot.

Happy creating!

Swoon Ethel

~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

After making the Conference Tote Bag, I thought I’d like to make more bags. I’ve read a few books, bought a book, reviewed a book, am planning on buying a new book coming out, and took a few Craftsy classes – all on bag-making. I thought it was time to try another bag.

Let me tell you, it’s a lot more of a workout to make a bag than it is to make a bra! I can’t think of a anything that you fight with as much on a bra. The only thing that would come close is stretching the elastic along the band, but that’s nothing. Now, having said that, there are no fitting issues with bags at all.

Before I go on about the fight I had making the bag, let me show you what I made.

Bag-on-Catherine

This is Ethel, a free pattern from Swoon. I love the shape of this bag – that’s what drew me to it in the first place. It’s just a bit different for a tote bag with its tear-drop shape. DS2 came home the day I’d made it and said it was beautiful and what he really liked was the shape too. So, it’s a winning shape.

It doesn’t show up really well in the photos, but there is an outer divided pocket on the front of the bag. That’s something great for phones or keys or lipstick that you don’t want lost in the bag.

I used the same quilting cotton for the lining on this bag as I did on my Conference Tote Bag.

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Here’s the outside of Ethel with just a bit of lining showing. I love how these go together.

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You can see that front pocket I mentioned a little better in the above photo.

And here’s the back of the bag.

bag-back

Oh, I love that shape. I’d like to make this again and include a few of the lovely details from the Conference tote – like an inside pocket with zipper, and a zipper closure.

Speaking of detail, here’s a close-up of the floral detail:

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I love the gold on there, and the contrast between the dark brown and white.

Now, let me tell you about the fight we had. Well, the bag has interfacing and/or foam on all the pieces to give it structure. I did fight a little bit with the Conference Tote Bag – I’d decided boxed corners and I were not going to be friends. On this bag there are no boxed corners. However, the whole time I was sewing the seams, the foam seemed to want to push against something and I felt like I was fighting to keep my seam allowances straight. Tell me, any other bag-makers out there, is that normal? It felt like an arm workout that lasted too long.

The second fight is leaving that little six-inch gap in the lining to pull the whole bag through! I’ve read different comments where bag-makers have referred to that as birthing the bag. To me, it seemed more like I was trying to rip apart what I’d just fought to sew! Again, it was an arm work out too. Once the bag is turned though, well, that’s when you can see how it’s going to look when it’s finished. There’s just a little bit more sewing and some pressing to do, but the finished look is there. It’s a great moment.

In the end, I’m very pleased with it. This will be making its way to my Mum for Christmas this year. I had a lot of hints and questions after the first bag I made – I knew my Mum would love one too.

Happy creating!

An Agnes-Inspired Skirt

~ Michelle

Do you ever have one of those weeks where everything impinges on your sewing plans? That was my week this week. After a busy first part of the week, I was looking at Thursday thinking, ‘I have a whole day to sew.’ No, Thursday was spent driving errands for my family. So, Friday looked pretty quiet too, until the furnace guy showed up and needed to bring the giant hose through my sewing room window.

Now, all the errands are done, and my furnace is clean. Thankfully, my sewing project this week wasn’t a difficult one.

It wasn’t very long ago that Style Arc came out with a beautiful Princess-seamed dress. I saw it and loved it right away. As soon as it was available as a PDF, I bought it. The Agnes Designer Dress.

AGNES-DRESS

I saw it and it was love at first sight. But… I don’t wear dresses very often. In fact, I think I only own one. I’m much more a skirt person. So, after a few months of having the pattern and wanting to do something with it, I decided to use some of its lines and make a skirt.

Out came my trusty skirt sloper. I used that make sure I got the correct fit for the waist and hips. Then I overlaid the Agnes pattern on that are re-drew the left side of my pattern to match that flare.

pattern

The above photo shows the how much of a flare there is on the one side. The flare on the dress is on the princess seam, but I didn’t want a skirt with princess seams. My flare is on the side seam.

It went together quickly once I had some time to sew. Here’s the front of the skirt. You can see the flare on the right side of the photo.

skirt-front

The basic pattern I used falls in-between an A-line skirt and a Straight skirt. It does flare over the hips – otherwise it wouldn’t fit my shape at all. Once it’s over that hip curve, it’s straight down. This will look like a straight skirt on, but with a bit of flare on the left side.

Here’s the back. Again you can see it’s straight with the flare showing on the left side of the photo.

Skirt-back

This material is a bit more substantial than some knits, so it may not sit the same as in the illustration, but I’m really thrilled with it. This is my skirt for the holidays this year.

Still to come is a slip for this.

Happy creating!

A Review of Boutique Bags

~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

Many years ago I made a tote bag for my Mother-in-law. She had wanted a bag with lots of pockets in it for a trip. I did my best, but my best then wasn’t anything to impress anyone – including me. I stayed away from making bags for a long time after that.

However, when Deby over at So Sew Easy did a Conference Tote Bag sew-along with video tutorials, I decided it was time to face making bags again. I loved the sew-along, and the bag I made.

Bag-back

In fact, I was using this bag yesterday and I’m really impressed with it. It’s really a great bag! If you’re wanting more information on the sew-along or the bag, you can read about it here.

When I was given the opportunity to review a book on bag-making, I jumped at the opportunity. I really want to make more bags as my last one was such a great experience. You can read my review of Boutique Bags over on So Sew Easy. Boutique Bags really is a great book, with a great chapter on techniques and so many bag options. And I love that there’s a PDF option.

If you’ve been thinking about making a bag, take a look at the review over on So Sew Easy.

Happy creating!

How Do I Store My Stash

~ Michelle ~ 4 Comments

A fellow bra-maker asked me what type of system I have for storing my stash. So I thought I’d share with you how I store all my precious materials.

A few years ago, a friend was moving and getting rid of a lot of things. I scored this cabinet from her. She’d used it for her kitchen, but I brought it home and put it in my sewing room.

Cabinet

I love my cabinet! The only thing I did to change it was to add some adhesive paper to the shelves. I can close the doors and if it’s not all nice and neat inside, well, I don’t have to look at it.

Here’s the inside:

Whole-Cabinet-Inside

I have a few cute craft items I’ve made glued onto the doors on the left side, as well as all the parts of a Prima Donna bra. On the right side I have my knit and woven Slopers, the Bra-Makers Supply Small and Large Finding kits contents, and an info page from Needle Nook Fabrics.

From the top left to right, I have Cotton Spandex at the back, then stretch lace elastics (for making panties), then in front of that I have my prized swatches from BMS showing the colors of all their Duoplex, Power Net, and Cotton Spandex. In front of that I have ribbons for making bows. The ribbons are probably the only thing I have in my stash that not in a plastic bag.

Next I have my box of bra-making Elastics, with a box of adjusted patterns on top of that. Here are my elastics:

Elastics-Box

Everything is sorted by size and type. The channeling is all in one zip bag. The 3/4″ elastic in another. It is not sorted by color though. If I’m looking for 3/4″ elastic, it’s easy enough to see black from beige in the bag.

Next to the Elastics box are the Laces box which sits on top of the Threads and Wires box. All the laces are still in their plastic for safe keeping. You might be wondering at this point, why I keep almost everything in plastic. I didn’t start that way. One day when I reached into my box for some lace, there was a dead spider in the box. I packaged everything up that same day. I’m not sharing my stash with spiders or any other bugs!

Laces-Box

In my Threads and Wires box you can see I keep my threads and bobbins together in little bags too. That way I never have to wonder if that’s the right shade of pink that matches my good thread for bra-making – my spools and bobbins stay together. The wires are all in a bag according to their size.

Wires-and-Threads-Box

The far right side of the top shelf contains binders with ideas and photos that have inspired me and sewing tutorials I’ve printed off. Lastly there are patterns in large over-sized envelopes.

That’s the top shelf. The second shelf has my Bra Kits box, and my Bits O Kits box. Any kits I’ve bought, as well as Duoplex, Power Net, and cup lining all go in the Kits box. Any bits I have that can’t make a whole bra go in the Bits box. No photos of that as it’s really a rather messy box and I really need to go through it again and trim down what I have in there.

Bra-Kits-Box

These top shelves are the treasures of my stash. But I still have two more shelves to go.

The third shelf in my cabinet has an assortment of fabrics for other than bra sewing. Material I’ve collected for bags, skirts and other fun sewing.

2nd-Up-from-Bottom-Shelf

That red and black material is going to be my next Flirt Skirt (still my favorite!).

The bottom shelf has more material, but it’s all in smaller amounts. There’s also felt on the bottom for any fun felt crafts I want to make. And there’s a small basket for my button jar and a few tools, like my Hot Fix tool.

Bottom-Shelf

At the back of the bottom shelf is the quilting table for my sewing machine, and some over-sized interfacing.

I do need to rethink where I’ll be storing my interfacing. I just may need more storage.

Happy creating!

Inspiration – Power Bars

~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

No sewing this week; I’ve been sick with a cold. It’s a good thing Craftsy had that all-month access pass. I’ve been making good use of it.

Even though I haven’t been sewing, I wanted to share some fun inspiration I’ve found.

As I’ve mentioned before there are times I’ll see a skirt, top, bra, a pair of panties, jacket, pretty much anything that can sewn, and just love it. Then I want to make something similar.

Remember I shared how I paused a movie to take photos of the lingerie coming out of the dresser at the beginning of the movie?

This was the inspiration:

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I loved that organza trim on the upper cup of the bra. So I made this:

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Well, I still have files of inspiration. Let’s take a look at a few more ideas I have just waiting to happen.

Here’s an example. I saw this bra and loved it. The external power bar looks so pretty, and it’s unique.

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Unfortunately, I didn’t write down the name or brand for this bra, or where I found it. I just loved the lines of it, thinking it would be easy enough to alter a classic pattern to make this work. Make it a longer lined bra… Although this original bra does look like a darted cup, I’d probably change that.

I also came across this one on Amazon:

yoga

This is so pretty and delicate-looking. I’m noticing a trend – I’m loving the longer lines. This one is a soft bra, that really won’t be the best for me, but again, I’m looking at the external power bar. What a pretty way to add lace to a bra.

There’s also this gorgeous pattern from Booby Traps.

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Oh, this is so pretty! And I do like to start with a pattern… When I start with a pattern I can get a feel for how something is put together. However, this one is not in my size range or even close to it. It’s for B & C cups. I’ve heard some rumors that this is going to be graded up a few sizes, so I’m hopeful.

The external power bar on the Booby Traps bra did remind me of a pattern I do have in my size: Merckwaerdigh’s CUPL16.

merck

That’s pretty similar. I could always change up the cup by adding some soft layered material over the top if I wanted the same look as the Booby Traps bra…

Margreet has a couple of other patterns that have similar detail on the power bar.

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merck 3

        These are Mix30 and BHS10. BHS10 could be made into a long line bra that would closely resemble the first bra in this blog. So much inspiration, so little time.

Happy creating!