Loungewear Cami

October 22, 2022October 19, 2022 ~ Michelle

I recently received the most gorgeous Black Leopard stretch lace and knew right away I wanted to use it to make a new camisole. This lovely lace is from B,Wear (as you can see in this photo from their website). In the descriptions, it says it comes straight from France. Ooh la la!

As I said I knew I wanted to make a camisole with this, but the question was which pattern?

I looked at a few, and I didn’t want a lace border. It’s already lace. I looked at a lot of patterns, both patterns that I have, and sewing patterns available on the web.

I actually have a favorite RTW camisole, and wanted to find something similar. My favorite has bust darts, and a more rounded neckline. After looking for a bit, I decided the Style Arc Loungewear Cami was the closest to what I wanted.

One thing I changed is I made the neckline a touch rounder, but only on the front.

The pattern has a facing on the front and back, so if you follow the pattern, the top and back neckline seams are enclosed. I didn’t want to use the facing as I didn’t want anything to detract from this gorgeous lace pattern.

I finished the edges with some black fold-over elastic. If I were doing this again, I would use the FOE on the front the back necklines, sew the side seams, and then do a continuous strip of FOE along the underarm.

I love this lace!

On the back, I left the pattern in more of a V-neckline.

This is so very pretty. It’s a lovely soft lace with some stretch in one direction. I have just a bit left over, but I’m thinking it will be enough for some bra cups.

Happy creating!

No Sewing This Week

October 15, 2022October 18, 2022 ~ Michelle

I haven’t been sewing this week, nor last week. In fact, much of my summer sewing was all geared to getting ready for teaching classes. Yes, I’ve started holding bra sewing classes.

The whole time the Bra Bee was on I was sewing 22 fitting bras. The rest of the summer was spent finishing those bras and getting ready.

Twenty two bras! I learned to sew them assembly-line style.

My classes are at the same store where I took my professional classes: Central Sewing Machines.

However, I’m not at the same location. I’m teaching at the West End store.It’s a treat it is to teach in this store. They just had their grand opening at the end of June. It’s a beautiful new facility. One of the best features is the classroom is on the main floor. First thing when you enter the store, there’s a mannequin advertising the bra and panty classes wearing the tiniest bra and panty set.

At the back of the store is the classroom. The classroom was all set up and ready for us! We had our fittings there behind the screen.

I’m starting the classes with the PUG Classic pattern. It a basic pattern, so a good place for beginners to start.Four women signed up, and I was happy they all left with well-fitting bras.One woman was really having a problem with her fit. No matter what we did, her bra wasn’t fitting. After two attempts with alterations both times, and the end of the class nearing I suggested flexi-wires. Once we put the flexi-wires in her bra it fit her perfectly. It was amazing the difference the wires made in her bra fitting.

Another woman was also having wire troubles. We shortened a wire for her, but it’s a lot of work to cut them, file them, and then put the heat shrink tubing on them. We also tried the flexi-wires for her. They fit into her bra perfectly, and she was happy with how comfortable her bra was.

I’m already looking forward to the next class!

Happy creating!

Cashmerette Stanton Hoodie Dress

October 1, 2022September 5, 2022 ~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

I’ve been looking at the Cashmerette Stanton Hoodie dress. I think it would be a great dress for winter. Nice, comfortable, warm. What more could I want? But.

My only concern is it’s a very straight design, and I’m not. Yes, that’s a very straight dress.

So, I thought, I know what I’ll do. I’ll try it on my croquis. Sadly, the program I had for that is on a crashed computer.

Not to be deterred, I turned to an online photo editing tool. PicMonkey. I’ve used it in the past, and it worked well enough to ‘try on’ this dress.

Here’s my croquis wearing the line drawing of the dress. One thing about trying on clothes this way is it won’t account for any adjustments I make to the pattern. I won’t be using one size. I’ll be blending sizes together to get a better fit.

Here’s my croquis wearing the plum dress the model is wearing on the website.I’m still not sure about the shape for me, but it might be one of the most comfortable dresses I ever make. I definitely think it’s worth trying.

If you do want to make a Cashmerette pattern, one of the things they have that I think is great is their Size Calculator.

You plug your measurements in, and it tells you what size or what sizes to make. For example, my pattern would consist of 3 different sizes and a Full bust Adjustment. That calculator does a lot of the work for me in telling me what sizes to use on the pattern.

Happy creating!

Is it Salmon or Is It Coral

September 24, 2022August 30, 2022 ~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

Looking at this gorgeous color led me on an internet search of just what is the difference between Coral and Salmon.

If you’re wondering just what color started me on this, it was the gorgeous color in this lace.

To be honest, I’m still not sure. I think it falls somewhere in-between the two colors. And I like them both too, but I decided this was closer to coral.

To match my lovely new coppery coral bra, I made (again) my two favorite panty patterns. I really do have other that I like too, so need to not limit myself. Hmm. I might need another set or two next month Just to break into some other patterns.

Here’s my KS2286. I used a peachy colored elastic on the legs to match the copper of the cups and band, but I wanted the rest shades of coral.

Oh, I still like my KS2286s. They have a bit of a ’80s vibe to them, they’re still adorable.

And my Clover Boyshorts.

Oh, just as adorable!

Here’s the full set of matchy matchy.

Just lovely.

One of these days, I’m going to find some perfectly matchy copper!

Let me know if you think this is coral or salmon.

Happy creating!

Another Autumn Josey II

September 17, 2022August 28, 2022 ~ Michelle

I wanted to make another beautiful Autumn toned bra, and I knew just the lace I wanted to use. I knew it would pair perfectly with the copper kits and finding from Bra Makers Supply too.Oh, it’s another love for this. The lace is so delicate and so pretty.Oh, those salmon/coral colors.

I had everything for this bra from a leftover kit, well everything except strap elastic. So I had to use beige, which doesn’t look quite so light and different in person.

I’d made this Freja bra in a copper kit, and was thrilled I have enough power net, and duoplex to make a whole other bra. That was a very happy occurrence. Above is the Freja bra I made.

Back to the Josey II. Here’s the back. I do have to say, I prefer copper over beige. It’s a warmer richer color.

I’ve been looking for some cotton Lycra that will go well with this copper. So far I can tell you, the ‘copper’ cotton Lycra I found doesn’t. Neither does ‘tan’ I found recently. Hopefully I’ll find a great match soon.

Happy creating!

Burnt Orange is a Lovely Color

September 10, 2022August 30, 2022 ~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

I love my new Josey in Burnt Orange with that gorgeous Autumn Glory lace. (See my previous post to find this bra kit.)

The colors are so rich and vibrant.

I had to make some matchy matchy to go with this lovely bra.

I pulled out my two favorite patterns, but I have to admit, one of them is out-ranking the other one now.

I started with my favorite of many years now – KwikSew 2286.

This looks like an adorable hipster, but it sits much higher on.

Here’s my newest match.

I looked around, but I couldn’t find the color of lace I wanted, so I dyed this lace using Burnt Orange acid dye. It turned out perfectly!

You see, that’s a full coverage back. What the pattern shows is definitely not quite what you get. Still, these have been a favorite of mine for years now.

My other favorite is a newer pattern – at least in comparison. It’s a few years old now. It’s not quite a hipster either. It’s a labelled a boy brief, but it’s got curves. It’s the Clover by House Morrighan.

This pattern is edging out KS as my favorite. It’s more modern, and I think I’m preferring it over the other style.

Oh, I think these are cute.

You can see these have full coverage too, but they sit a little lower over the leg.

Both of these turned out perfectly, and match so well with my Burnt Orange Josey bra.

That is some perfectly matching matchy matchy.

Happy creating!

Thinking About Autumn

September 3, 2022August 28, 2022 ~ Michelle

I’ve started to think about Autumn. The weather is still lovely and hot most days, so it’s not that making me think about the change of season. But I am thinking about it.

I have a few lovely summery kits that have been waiting for me to sew up, but I think they’ll wait a while longer. I’m thinking fall colors.

The first of my fall lingerie wardrobe is a gorgeous kit I bought at Bra Builders last year.

Do you know I don’t have a favorite color? I don’t. There were colors I didn’t like though. Yellow and orange come to mind right away, and I remember when that changed. It changed years ago for yellow, but just last year I started to really like orange. Don’t ask me why. I don’t have any idea. I just started to really like the color orange, and wanted orange in my wardrobe.

So when I saw this lovely lace, I knew I had to make a bra with this beautiful it. Bra Builders is still carrying this lace too. You can find it here. Oh, I love it.

Here’s my gorgeous new fall Josey II. Yes, I love this. It’s such a rich deep color. The color is one of their Legacy colors: Burnished Copper. I think it pairs with lace beautifully.

Here’s the back.

This kit is micro duoplex, and I had no trouble sewing with it at all. It’s so soft too. Still, no stretch, but soft.

There’s one thing I love more than anything else about this bra. I love how the different base colors affect the look of the lace. The upper cup has black sheer cup lining, and it looks quite dark. However, the power bar has micro duoplex, and looks completely different.

Here’s a closer look a the same lace but looking like two different colors. Oops, I see some threads I missed snipping. (smile)

I have some gorgeous orange cotton Lycra to make some panties next.

Happy creating!

Willowdale Take Two

August 20, 2022August 1, 2022 ~ Michelle ~ 8 Comments

I was very impressed with my first attempt of the Willowdale pattern, so I decided to make another one right away. This time, with a narrower bridge.

This one fits perfectly!

Isn’t this the most lovely material? This comes from B,Wear.

Oh, I really love this! This fabric is is very similar to duoplex, but is a bit firmer. The lace actually comes in three colors. Pink, blue, and a mint green. Oh, they are all so pretty!

It would have been a dream come true if there had been matching power net too! However, I had some light pink in my stash that I was happy with. White would have worked as well, but I preferred the pink.

I have a bee kit all cut out, so time to do some sewing again.

Happy creating!

A Satin Watson

August 13, 2022July 29, 2022 ~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

B,Wear recently asked for testers to try out some of their fabrics and show what could be made from them. I jumped on that. I love testing patterns and fabrics.

B,Wear sent me the most lovely Italian Stretch Satin. This is very hard to get a true picture of the color. It’s more a lavender-gray with light blue polka dots.

Here’s the photo from B, Wear’s website.

Here it looks blue. Trust me, it’s really a lavender-gray – not quite full on lavender, but not gray either.

It is so easy to sew. It’s not slippery or hard to sew at all.

My DIL saw it and, well, she’s been hinting she wants another bralette or two for a few months. She even went so far as to tell me she ‘needs’ one. So I told her she could have one with this fabric. She was so excited.

Here’s the lovely Watson I made for Em. Sadly, it’s a bit too small in the band. I have just enough satin to make her another one, but don’t think I’ll have enough for the cradle and cups.

Em wanted black elastics with this, and I think the little picots peeking out are darling. I would have loved a light blue elastic to match the dots. I did use light blue thread as a complement to those the dots.

I loved using this light blue thread to match. This was a happy solution because lavender thread didn’t quite match. It was too purple. Gray didn’t match either – it was too gray with not enough purple in it.

Em isn’t big in any way. She’s very petite. So she didn’t need me to line the cups. This satin only has a little stretch in one direction, so if using it for bra cups, I’d line it for me, but I didn’t for Em.

Happy creating!

Bees on Black

August 6, 2022August 1, 2022 ~ Michelle ~ 4 Comments

I bought the most adorable bra kit – last year. I bought it before the International Bra Sewing Bee, thinking how fun it would be to make a bee bra.

Bees on Black Bra Kit Black Beauty Bra image 2 Isn’t this charming? This is from Emerald Erin’s bra shop. She has it in black, and Latte. Bees on Latte Bra Kit Black Beauty Bra image 1 I love them both. But bought the black one.

I decided to try a little something different with this bra. It’s something I heard on last year’s Bee – some Omega’s are fuller in the center front than on the side. Well, that fits me (pardon the pun). I’m always adding to the center front.

The suggestion was to use one size larger for the inner cup, and one size smaller for the power bar, blending the lines.

I decided to try this with my latest Josey. Do you ever just love something you’re doing? I loved sewing this bra together. I love the sheer fabric with these adorable bees!I love this. I’m super tempted to buy more of this so I can make it again.