Hooded Baby Towel

~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

I was recently invited to a baby shower for a sweet little girl. I decided I’d make my TNT baby gift: a hooded towel I first saw on a Sewing With Nancy program.

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It’s been a while since I’ve made one, but our weather just turned cold and I thought it would keep that sweet little baby warm.

I didn’t add ribbon this time, but have in the past.

Nancy’s book is no longer available, but it’s not a difficult project to sew. Just add equal folds towards the center and sew them in place. Then narrow the top of the facecloth for the hood by sewing from the side where the folded facecloth meets up towards the top at a bit of an angle. Lastly, sew the hood to the body of the towel.

I’ve heard from parent who were still using this for the four and five year old children because it was so warm.

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!

A Vintage Kit and Pattern

~ Michelle

Over the years, I purchased a few vintage patterns, and even if I don’t make them up, I enjoy seeing how they’re made, and what things have changed over the years.

One day a few months ago, I saw a neat vintage lingerie kit on eBay. I couldn’t resist!I would have loved this if it had been the bra kit! However, this was the long leg girdle. It’s not anything I will make to wear myself, but still. As I said, I couldn’t resist it.Doesn’t this look amazing?

Even though I wasn’t planning on making this up, I was still excited to open it and look at everything. I have to say, I was a bit disappointed. It’s old. It’s discolored. It’s very stiff and rigid.

Here’s everything that was in the kit. The pattern and instructions are in great shape. But the fabrics leave a lot to be desired.The power net was the oddest part of the kit. It was so stiff and had no drape to it. It was also discolored from age.

  Can you see the discoloration at the bottom of this piece of power net? The whole folded side was this yellowish color.

The tricot that was included in the kit was still lovely. No age showing on it at all.

The lace  and elastics were stiff and aged as well. Other than the pattern and instructions, these girdle clips were the only good part of this vintage kit.

It was  a fun trip down the vintage lingerie lane, but for the most part I’ll stick to newer patterns and materials.

Happy creating!

Loungewear Cami

~ 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

~ 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

~ 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

~ 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

~ 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

~ 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

~ 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!