Hello! I’m back.

I have to tell you, it seems my sewjo is on vacation. Or maybe on a winter break. But it’s not here. Still, I’ve tried to get a few things done. 

I cut out a lovely Flirt Skirt from some gorgeous crushed velvet.

 I was ready to sew but when I looked at my threat, I had no brown. So, a few days later I went to the store and got some brown serger thread.

I hope to get to my skirt and finish it this week.

Another project I finished was changing a nightgown into a camisole.

I bought this nightgown because I love animal print, but wanted it to be a camisole. I thought that was a pretty easy change, and it was. I added a pretty black lace to the edge and that was all it needed. Just look at this ruffle along the neckline. This was worth it. Of course I couldn’t throw out the precious fabric I’d cut off.

So, I made Em her November Watson. Oh, this fabric is so lovely and soft. She loves it.    

It’s just charming. I really do love the Watson pattern.

Another alteration was to a blouse I bought. When I tried it on, it was just too low. None of my camisoles looked just right behind it, so lace to the rescue.  I tried these two laces, and decided on the 2nd one. I think it’s perfect!    And lastly, Em and I went to a Grinch tree workshop. It was so fun.

This is something I’ve wanted to do for a few years now, and I just love it. We had such fun making ours.

Okay, that’s it for month. I’ll see you all again in January.

Happy creating, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

I’ve been blogging quite regularly for the past 12 years now. That’s a lot. And I feel like some of my posts have become quite routine. That is not what I want.

So, I’m going to make a change.

Rather than posting weekly, I’m thinking of a monthly recap of what I’ve been sewing. I’ll still sew bras, but I also want to focus on some clothing items. 

This month marks my 12th anniversary of blogging, but it also marks my 1 year anniversary of working out twice a week with a personal fitness trainer. I’ve seen changes in my body and shape – not big changes, but changes still.

I’m going to have to re-do my sloper and update it.

So starting in November, you won’t likely see a weekly blog post.

Happy creating and thank you so much for following and being a part of this experience with me.

Michelle      

There were a couple of changes to the Gunsan pattern, and I was happy to try again.

The first draft fit my friend perfectly and when I asked her if I could make a second test of the pattern for her, she said yes without hesitation.

For this one, I had to pull a kit out of my stash. Making my fitting bras has used up all my scraps. I gifted my friend the Sabine bra kit for this bra. Isn’t that a pretty kit? It’s prettier in person.

Here’s my second version of the Gunsan pattern.   I do wish I’d had a bit of a lighter thread color, but there is a bit of a violet sheen to the lace so I decided it was okay. My friend loves this bra. This is so pretty.

I used the sheer cup lining in the kit for the frame. 

   I did run into one problem when laying this out. The power bar was a little bit longer than my lace.

Then I remembered a great tip Emerald Erin had in a blog post a long time about. She drew the pattern part that was off the lace and then cut that out with a seam allowance and sewed it onto the existing cut out lace piece.

Here, read about it here.

It worked perfectly. You can’t even see where I joined the lace. It gave me the extra inch I needed and it really worked perfectly. Thank you Erin for that great tip.

One last view of this lovely new pattern. I don’t know if further changes were made to the pattern, but it’s been released now, and I can’t wait to try it for me. Next for me to to start altering it for Omega.

Happy creating!

B,wear posted about a new pattern coming: Gunsan. I was fortunate enough to be able to test the pattern. It’s a lovely pattern!

It’s a darted one-piece cup. I was so excited to try this new pattern.

I made a decision before starting this bra. I LOVE to test patterns. I really do. But honestly, with all the alterations I need, it’s not fair for me to sew it for me. It’s not fair to take the pattern and make all the changes, and then give feedback.

So, I decided I would test the pattern as it is, and make it in my size – without any changes. Then I could gift it to my friend who’d had surgery last year. We’re the same size, but she doesn’t need the alterations for Omega. It was a win-win this way.

   I used the Patricia bra kit from B,Wear.  This is such a pretty kit.

Here’s my first make of the new Gunsan pattern. Another decision I made before starting was to not mirror the lace. (Shh. Don’t tell my friend. She doesn’t know about these things.)

Rather than trying to mirror, I made sure the larger motifs along the upper edge were in the same places and it gives a symmetrical look to the bra still.

My friend loves it. She was sending photos of her new bra to her mom and sister. This really is a lovely pattern. It’s nice to find a darted cup in a larger size.

And lastly, just so you can see how very delicate and sheer this lace is, I’ve laid it on my sewing desk for a photo too.      Stay tuned. There’s more to share on the Gunsan pattern.

Happy creating!

A dear friend of mine recently underwent surgery and I told her as soon as she could wear a bra again, I wanted to sew her one. We just came to that point in time, and I got to gift her a well-fitting bra.

She came over and we tried on some fitting bras, and I fitted her for a wire. Then she looked at some photos of recent bras I’d made. She fell in love with my ivory Margareta, and she wanted the same bra. Here’s her ivory Margareta. It’s very similar to mine, but she has no Omega issues.

So her bra cup fit so nicely into the frame. No adjustments at all that way. It was a refreshing sew.

I also didn’t have to over lap her wires. She has enough ‘real estate’ between the girls to have the wires sit side by side. It was a pleasure to be able to help a friend and make her a lovely new bra.

Happy creating!

Do you quilt? I’ve wanted to learn for a while now, but Craftsy classes just didn’t seem like enough for me. What if I had a question as I was going through the pattern?

I even tried a block of the month quilt. However after I signed up, the colors were changed. I really didn’t like the new swapped out colors, but I was charged for them and that’s what I got. They’re in a box in my sewing room…

Then at my last class at Central Sewing I saw a lovely quilt on the wall. There was an upcoming class for that lovely quilt too. I asked if it was a beginner class. Yes it was.

Great! Sign me up. Isn’t this lovely? Knowing nothing about quilts or quilt-making I had no idea of all the work that needed to go into this.

However, I was signed up. Again, knowing nothing, I didn’t want to try and put fabric colors together myself. The pattern called for a Layer Cake, so I got one.       I love these colors and prints! Benefitting a cause is always a good thing too.

So, again, knowing nothing about quilting… The pattern suggests if this is your first quilt to do the smaller quilt. It comes in two sizes. Well, why would I do that? Yes, I made the larger one because I didn’t know what I was doing.

It was a lot of work. A LOT! And it’s not quite done yet. Here’s my quilt top almost done. Looking at how close it was to fitting my bed, I’ve decided to add another border to the edges to make it fit. I might need more than one so it drapes over the side.

So it’s not quite done yet.

Everyone is saying now you’ll be addicted to quilting. I don’t think so. I’ll make a couple more for my kids, but bra sewing is my passion.

Happy quilting creating!      

When I was sewing the fitting bras, I was sewing them in size groups. So all the sizes equivalent to the PUG size 2s were sewn at the same time, and then the those equivalent to the size 3s, and etc. Although the Margareta uses European sizes, I was still able to sew the equivalent sizes in groups.

So, when I was sewing up my first Margareta, I decided to sew up my second one as well.

Even though the two kits I was using were very different, I was using the same color finding kits for both – pistachio green.

You saw this last week.  Now to show you my new Margareta, also with the lovely pistachio findings. Oh, I love this kit. This is the Colorful February bra kit. I just love it!    Isn’t this lace so pretty? As I mentioned last week, this fits really well. There’s just one adjustment I still need to make. This bra has the channeling laying side by side at the top of the bridge and I just don’t have enough room for that.  I love having a new pattern that fits so well.

I still haven’t shown you Em’s bra for April. I’ll do that next week. I’m off to alter my pattern for the Margareta bridge.

Happy creating!

Welcome to a new year! I really do  love a new year with all the potential opportunities we have ahead of us.

What plans do you have? I have many sewing projects that have been waiting for me, so I’m thinking I will start with some of those. I have too many pretty bra kits and patterns to stay away from bra-making for too long though. Hmm. Maybe one project and one bra?

One of my first goals is to get some pants to fit well. I have a big challenge though. I have a condition called Lipedema. It’s not nice. It’s painful, and causes me to gain weight on my lower body. This has caused a 15-inch difference between my waist and hips.

At present, I’m only able to find elastic waisted pants that will fit me. But I would like to try and make pants too. I’m sure I’m going to need elastic in the waist still, but a plain front might look dressier. Or an actual pair of dress pants! I can’t tell you the last time I wore a nice pair of dress pants.

So I’m looking at something like the Largo Cargos or the Duet Trousers by Love Notions.   I’ll let you know how this part of my journey goes.  So that is one goal I have for 2024.

Another goal I have is to make a doll. I’ve already bought all the supplies I need for one. I just have to sit down and actually do this now.

Here is the site that has inspired me: MayaWaldorfDoll on Etsy.  This beautiful doll is from her site. So lovely, and so inspiring. I’ll share more resources for doll-making later.

Lastly, I have a few Laura Heine collage quilting projects that have been waiting for me.   I love this! It’s so charming, and reminds me of the villages both my mother and father were from.

 And lastly, these adorable stockings.   My thoughts are if I get started on some of these non-bra projects sooner rather than later in 2024, they have a chance of getting completed!

You all know my heart is in bra-making. But I’ve bought these other projects, and they’re sitting waiting for me. It’s time!

One last comment. Do you remember the matching undies I made for my son and DIL last year? 

  Well, the kids were over for dinner for Christmas and took me aside. Then they flashed me their matching hips! They had on their Christmas kitten undies!  I never expected to see them wearing them.

Have you thought about what you want from 2024? What sewing goals or plans do you have for 2024? I’d love to hear. 

Happy New Year, and Happy Creating!

I thought I’d do a quick review to wrap up 2023. So, I’ll make it short and sweet. The year started out with Josey, but then I tried Freja and love it! There’s also the Brenda Brief pictured here, and it’s a really lovely panty pattern.

  My Frejas included a silk bra, and all of these lovelies as well. One of them turned out to be a surprise favorite of mine.

A few more gorgeous Freja bras. Another favorite or two in this grouping.

  Here’s one last bra that didn’t fit into the collages. So pretty!

Bras weren’t all I made this year though. I had to make panties to go with all these lovely bras.Lastly, there were the tops I made when I took the TomKat Stitchery fitting course. I’m still working on the pants part of the course.

Lastly, one final project from 2023. My silk tap pants.

It was a great sewing year!

Happy Creating & Happy New Year!