Matching Panties for A Modern Floral Shelley and The Bra-A-Week Challenge

July 12, 2015December 27, 2017 ~ Michelle ~ 16 Comments

This week I have a couple of pair of panties I made to co-ordinate with my Modern Floral Shelley.

I love cotton, and this Indigo cotton spandex is from Bra-Makers Supply. The lace is from the Merckwaerdigh kit I used for the bra, and the elastics are from Frog Feathers on Etsy.

2 panties

On the first pair I made I used a bit of the lace I used from the bra and then some Ivory lace elastics – Ivory also being a color also in the Lycra. I’d wondered if maybe there was too much lace, but then decided there can never be too much lace. I love them. They’re so comfortable.

Too much lace

The second pair, which is my favorite style to make, uses the same lace from the kit for the whole front panel. On this pair I used Navy lace elastics.

Fav style of panties

Both pairs of panties are from my TNT panty pattern – Kwik Sew 2286, which I have fun with by changing the lines or style, but using the pattern as a base or starting point.

I also picked up a couple of pair of panties in some coordinating colors, not so much because I wanted or needed the panties, but to clone them for patterns. I really like the top pair – how the back part of the panty wraps right around the front in a little V across the hip, and the lace elastic in the design. Very pretty. The bottom pair is simply a high cut style, but still fun.

RTW

Now our Bra-A-Week Challenge. We’re on week 26 of the Challenge! It is so very inspiring to see everyone’s submissions.

This week we have a beautiful bikini from Diana.

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That is so lovely. Diana wrote about this on her blog poetsie.blogspot.nl. If you don’t read Dutch, it helps to open it in Google Translate. You can read it that way in your own language. Check it out here for English.

This is so colorful and fun. It’s really lovely, Diana.

Our next submission comes from Maddy.

Maddy made the Marlborough bra. This is her second time making the Marlborough; she made a few modification to the pattern and got an almost perfect fit. That perfect fit (or almost perfect) feels so good!

Maddy also mad a matching pair of Ohhh Lulu Grace panties.

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This was Maddy’s first time making the Grace panties, and she really loves the style and fit! That is so good to know because the Grace panties are on my to-buy list. Thanks for recommending them, Maddy!

You can read all about Maddy’s Marlborough and Grace panties, with more pictures and details about the alterations on her blog: https://missmaddysews.wordpress.com/2015/07/09/something-wicked-this-way-comes/

Our next submission comes from Monserratt. Monserratt is a Pin-Up Girl like me, and made her bra from the Classic pattern.

stardust front

I love these colors! So gorgeous! You really need to see take a look at Monserratt’s blog: https://monserrattlopez.wordpress.com/2015/07/11/we-are-stardust-bra/ – she has a lot of information on there as to what she’s done in the way of alterations, but also a lot of photos. You can see her lovely makes, and her great photos!

Love that blue and gold! So very pretty.

Our next submission comes from David.

David’s bra features black lace across the front overlaid with the straps. This is something like a short corset, bandeau, sport bra and strappy.

But there are two different laces used here. You can see the second lace on the back.

Isn’t that stunning? Just gorgeous. David is a freelance lingerie designer, his label is: Bonnet Bleu

Our last submission is from Erin!

Erin made this is a bikini for her sister’s birthday.

Erin’s sister picked out this fabric and wanted a cute itsy-bitsy bikini, but with a little more structure (underwires & foam). It’s a vertical seam cup, low cut with short wires. (Erin thinks she’s the equivalent of a 34C although she drafted this pattern off her measurements).

The details are a cute tie in the front and on the sides of the bottoms and nice double stitching on the outer fabric for the cups, gold rings and G-hooks. Erin said it was lots of fun to make – and hopes it fits her sister perfectly!!

What a nice birthday gift! You can read more on Erin’s blog: http://emeralderin.blogspot.ca.

I’m loving summer hosting the challenge – it is so exciting and fun to see all the makes coming in!

Happy creating!

A Lacy Maxi

July 8, 2015July 17, 2016 ~ Michelle

I really do live in skirts all summer long. I love how comfortable they are, and if you knew me, you’d know I’m not a jeans girl. I like to be a little more dressed up than that. A few years ago I could even say I didn’t even own a pair of jeans, but I had to buy a pair for a job. Those jeans have been in my closet for a couple of years now and I haven’t worn them. That just makes me think, what are they still doing in my closet?

Back to skirts. I wanted a Maxi skirt, and knew the exact look I wanted. For this skirt, I modified my Flirt Skirt pattern to use for both the skirt and the slip.

I’d picked up some black cotton lace-like material.

Material

It’s lovely, but it’s also not the perfect material for a skirt on its own. It would show just a bit too much. So, to use this, I made a lining for it with a light-weight cotton, also in black. Both materials are so light, making this a great summer skirt.

Skirt

Oh, I love it! It doesn’t show here on Catherine (my dress form), but I didn’t want the slip to go the full length of the skirt. I wanted some of that open work to show that it was open. So, the slip only goes part way below the knee. Originally, I’d thought of making the slip shorter, but I’m really loving this skirt just the way it is.

Here I am out with my pup. You can see where the slip ends and the light shines through the bottom of the skirt.

There’s one thing I miss about RTW clothing when I’m wearing clothing I’ve made myself – the garment’s tag. I don’t miss it for any of the reasons it’s likely there – like the brand, or the fabric content, or the care instructions. I miss it because it’s a really quick and handy indicator of the front or back of the garment. With the Flirt Skirts I’ve made, I’m always checking the seams to see where the front or back is before putting it on. I came up with a quick little tag that is uniquely me.

tag

I cut a flower out of some scrap lace that was heading for the garbage and gave it a quick zigzag onto the back seam. Now when I pick up my skirt, I’ll know really quickly where the back is. I didn’t match the thread to the flower thinking I didn’t want pink to show on the skirt. I was tired and not really thinking there. I could have easily used two colors of thread – I’ve done it before. However, I let it be; I chose function over form for this one. Maybe I’ll be my normal more finicky self for the next one and pull out some matching thread.

Happy creating!

A Modern Floral Shelley and The Bra-A-Week Challenge

July 5, 2015December 27, 2017 ~ Michelle ~ 16 Comments

My most recent Shelley is a bit of an experiment for me. My experiment was in the materials I used. I usually use Duoplex for my bra cups. On this bra, I used the Lycra that came in the Merckwaerdigh kit and then lined it with Sheer Cup Lining. Seeing as there’s no stretch in the lining, I thought it would work.

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Isn’t that pretty? I loved it the moment I saw it. And I’ve learned, when I see something in Margreet’s Etsy store that I love, I buy it right away. I’ve found if I wait, it’s gone. My challenge with using kits from Merckwaerdigh is I need the support of Duoplex or something non-stretch. If I use Duoplex underneath the Lycra, it’s getting to be the cost of two bras. I wanted to try something different.

I had a little more trouble sewing Lycra than I do Duoplex. I’m not used to sewing stretch when sewing my cups. Here you can see where I made a little mistake in my sewing.

Mod Blue Shelley

Look at that wrinkle. I decided it was a small cosmetic error, I’m going to give it a cosmetic treatment – cover it up.

I love this material, but there was one big downside to it – all the shades of blue in it. I planned on using a Navy findings kit from Bra-Makers Supply, as well as Navy Power Net from them. So, I needed Navy thread. Fine. I got Navy thread. When I sewed the elastic on the back of the lace though, the Navy looked terrible. So, off to the store to match some thread to the lace. The thread that matches the lace, doesn’t look great on the Lycra. Sigh. I wasn’t going to buy a third spool of thread for the bra, so the Navy thread is now a design element on this bra.

front

Here’s the bra from the front. I love those three little bows at the front. And those little bows … they’re all me-made. The Merckwaerdigh kits don’t come with bows. The only bows I had really didn’t go with the colors of the bra, so I looked at my ribbon stash. This golden ribbon was the only one that went well. It’s really fun to make ribbons, and easy. I shared how in this post. I used the cardboard method, but the fork method looks like it produces a lovely bow as well.

three bows

Here are the bows all finished and sewn on with a blue bead in the center. It hides that little wrinkle pretty well.

back

Here’s the back of the bra. I did over-calculate how much I had to add to the band using the new, stronger elastics from Bra-Makers Supply. You can read about those elastics here. I had to cut a bit off both sides to make it perfect for me, and next I’ll adjust my band pattern.

So, how did my experiment go? The bra fits a touch looser than when I make it from Duoplex. The only place I noticed any wrinkles at all were under the arm where I already have to make an adjustment. Now, if I could only sew Lycra more neatly and without wrinkles!

Now onto the Bra-a Week Challenge submissions!

This is week 25 of the Bra-A-Week Challenge, and this week we have some very beautiful submissions along with my own.

The first bra is from Sofia. It is such a delicate work of art inspired by a one of her favorite lingerie brands.

Little-Black-Bra

Here’s Sofia’s Little Black Bra. Isn’t that gorgeous? Sofia used Eyelash lace backed with nude Power Net to achieve the look on the front of the bra. As well, she took careful attention to match the lace on the cups. All that extra attention does show. She finished her bra with black Power Net for the band and a 3 Hook and Eye set. Stunning!

You can read more about Sofia’s inspiration and Black Lace Bra on her blog Silver Lining. So very lovely!

Our second bra this week is from France and it’s actually a set of bras, not just one.

I can’t even imagine how wonderful it would be to have someone make custom-fitting bras for me. France is making them for her Mom. What a wonderful thing!

Look at all these beautiful bras! This is what you can do once you have that perfect pattern.

This photo shows the back of the bra. Look at how perfectly the whole bra fits! And it looks really comfortable too with that full back. That’s just so great!

Our next submission is from David of Bonnet Bleu. It’s another lovely delicate looking bra. David made this bra using Black tulle and white lace for his triangle lace cup bra with nude bra cup foams.

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The black is more visible here from the side. The wings are black. So very lovely and delicate looking.

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David is a freelance lingerie designer, label: Bonnet Bleu.

Happy creating!

A Quick Repair and Another Skirt

June 27, 2015December 27, 2017 ~ Michelle ~ 4 Comments

Recently I was wearing one of my Shelley bras, and something just didn’t feel right about the back. I felt around and I was all done up, so really didn’t know what was going on there. So I had to wait until I got home and could look in a mirror to see what was going on.

What Happened Here

This is what I saw! Well, that’s just isn’t working, is it? I knew I would want to repair this bra right away, as it’s one of my favorites. It didn’t take me long to realize the elastic I used at the back just wasn’t strong enough to hold … well, it wasn’t strong enough hold anything.

I had this elastic in my stash, and hadn’t used it at all because it was so flimsy.

bad elastic

You can see here, I had a fair amount of it too. I hadn’t used it on any bras because it just stretched out; it didn’t recover. I decided this is not anything I wanted in my stash, and it wasn’t good enough to send to a friend. It has left my home and is where it belongs now.

repaired

There are times when a repair or fix needs to happen, and after carefully sewing things on so they won’t come off, I just don’t want to rip things apart. I felt that way after double stitching my hooks and eyes on, and zigzagging the edges as well. So, what other options are there for a repair?

For my repair on this, I ripped the old elastic out up to the hooks and eyes. Then I trimmed it really close to them. I butted the new stronger elastic up to where I’d trimmed the old away and zigzagged that first. This allowed me to not need to remove the hooks and eyes, which weren’t the problem anyway.

Then I attached the rest of the new elastic to the band. I’ve worn this a couple of times now and no problems at all. Bad old elastic!

This week I finished another skirt. I live in skirts in the summer. In fact, I have my next skirt all cut out waiting to be sewn. Skirts are my summer staple.

If you haven’t tried the Flirt Skirt yet, I really recommend it. It’s a very comfortable skirt to wear, and I get so many compliments on it. It’s that back part. The part I call the ‘flirt’. That’s the part people are saying, ‘Turn around’. ‘Did you make your skirt?’ ‘What pattern is that?’ It’s definitely fun.

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This skirt has no stretch in the material, so I changed the pattern a bit – instead of using my knit sloper, I used the woven one to determine how big to make the pattern. The denim I’d used before only had a bit of stretch, so I didn’t need to adjust this one that much. This is a light-weight cotton with a denim look.

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And from the side with that flirty part showing.

No photos of me in my skirt just yet – my photographer is absent at the moment, and has been too busy to be my photographer this week.

Happy creating!

A Few Thoughts From Other Blogs

June 20, 2015December 27, 2017 ~ Michelle ~ 10 Comments

This week I want to share a few thoughts I’ve had from reading other blogs.

The first one is from Erin. Do you follow The Sewing and Life Adventures of Emerald Erin? On her June 11th post Erin made an announcement:

“A Special Summer for the Bra-A-Week Challenge!

Hi All! I said earlier this week that I would announce the summer host for the Bra-A-Week Challenge – and here is the announcement!

I am delighted to announce that the Bra-A-Week Challenge will be hosted by the lovely….

Michelle!

Of Michelle’s Creations

“Michelle is such a wonderful fellow bra-maker, and I’m sure you’ve all admired her work over the last 21 weeks like I have, and she most generously offered to host the challenge for the months of July and August for me!!”

Thanks, Erin! I’m pretty excited about hosting the challenge, and hoping some of my bra-making friends will join me and sew up a bra or two (or more) along with all the other wonderfully creative sewists who have contributed. There’s more information on Erin’s blog if you’ve been participating in the challenge already and want to continue. You’ll still send your submissions to Erin. I’ll just be doing the write-up and posting it.

It’s great that the challenge will continue over the summer months!

This next blog comment I want to make really has nothing whatsoever to do with sewing – or does it? My good friend, Valerie over at Intricate Knits has been blogging about and telling me about her favorite author for years now. She just recently posted some scarves she designed that were inspired by Susanna Kearsley’s novel A Desperate Fortune. You can see Valerie’s designs here. After seeing the scarves, and having heard so much about Susanna, I decided I’d get A Desperate Fortune and read it myself.

This photo is from Valerie’s blog and shows a couple of the designs Susanna’s book has inspired. Valerie does such beautiful work. Check out her blog, and if you see something you love, she sells her beautiful creations on Etsy.

Aren’t these lovely? This morning as I came into my sewing room, I didn’t even want to sew! I wanted to get back into A Desperate Fortune. So far, I have to say, I can recommend Valerie’s favorite author as well.

Happy creating!

A Pale Yellow Flirt Skirt

June 13, 2015December 27, 2017 ~ Michelle

I definitely have my favorites when it comes to clothes I’ve made, and clothes I’ve bought. One of my habits is to go through my wardrobe twice a year. I only keep what I can wear in my closet, so if it’s Summer, you won’t find Winter clothes in there. Same goes for Winter time – no Summer clothes.

I take advantage of that twice yearly sorting to clean out anything I don’t wear. I just gave away a few cardigans I hadn’t worn all winter when I did the Spring switch-over. I don’t like to keep things around if I’m not using them.

I also notice when I love something. If I end up wearing a garment all the time, I know it’s a keeper. My denim Flirt Skirt is one of those garments.

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I found myself wearing the skirt all day, and then thinking it’s needs to be washed, so I’d go home and wash it right away so it would be ready to wear again the next day. I decided, if I’m wearing something that much, I need to make another one.

So, here’s my pale yellow denim Flirt Skirt.

skirt front

This skirt has two things I love: I really love pale yellow. The last two years I’ve been seeing more of it, and I’ve been picking up a bunch of pale yellow garments. So when I found this pale yellow denim, I scooped it up right away. The other thing I love is this pattern.

From the front it looks straight – which is something I can’t wear. I’m just too curvy for straight styles and always have been. I also find straight styles suit taller women – something else I’m not. However, this does look more straight-ish, at least to me. But the back… well, that’s just fun, and whimsical, and flirty.

The Flirty Part

There’s the flirty part of the Flirt Skirt. I love that! It acts a bit like a kick pleat but material has been added to serve the same function the kick pleat serves – it allows me to walk when wearing it! I’ve also hear it described as a fish tale. But no matter how one wants to describe that – it’s just fun. I was wearing my skirt this week, and that flirt part at the back was what was getting noticed and complimented. It is very fun and flirty.

The Flirt Skirt is a super easy pattern, and I made this up in an afternoon. I think these are quickly becoming my summer wardrobe! Both my dark denim and my pale yellow denim skirts just went to the mountains with me. That back flirt section of the skirt makes it great for walking in, whereas a straight skirt isn’t great for that. There’s lots of room for a full walking stride.

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Here I am on a rainy day. My hubby helped me out with some pictures. But he wasn’t the only one helping me out. Our rescue pup, Tiberius, came and helped out too. Anything I’m doing, and he’s right there with me. His toys are all around my sewing room! He’s with me for every project.

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Here we are showing the flirtier part of my skirt. He’s not always quite so agreeable though. I took my son to an appointment, and thought I’d read while waiting. Nope. My pup wasn’t going to let me read. Thankfully, he’s fine with my sewing!

Tiberius on my book

Happy creating!

A Summer Jacket – McCall’s 6516

June 6, 2015December 27, 2017 ~ 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.

M6516

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

May 30, 2015December 27, 2017 ~ 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

May 23, 2015July 17, 2016 ~ 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.

playing with lace

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.

panties 2

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.

window

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

Happy creating!

A Pink and Ivory Rebecca

May 15, 2015December 27, 2017 ~ 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