Sew-along Test III

January 26, 2013July 16, 2016 ~ Michelle

I really have to admit I don’t like the challenge of having to alter patterns. It is my reality, so I do need to just get past the dislike of it and do it. But I do ‘wish’ every time I’m going to sew, that I could simply make the pattern as is, or much closer to as is.

My tester of the Danglez bra didn’t go past the tester bra. I decided from my experience with the tester that it wasn’t going to be something I’d love. The band was very wide, and seemed too wide for a smaller frame. The band also sat very low on my body. I could try the cups again but with a different band, and I may do that at some point in the future.

I did decide to tackle the Sewy Rebecca Bra again. This time I used Duoplex for the lower cups rather than Lycra.

Another one of my must-admit-to-self truths is I need the support the Duoplex offers, and Lycra just won’t do it for me – even when it’s been interfaced.

So, I pulled out my Rebecca pattern again, and this time made three testers. My first tester was a complete experiment. I made my normal upper cup and 2 sizes smaller lower cup. That didn’t work, but the lower cup fit perfectly into the cradle.

For my second tester, I tried one size smaller lower cup. I must say I was impressed with the ‘oomph’ it gave, but it didn’t really fit either.

So, for my third tester, I made both upper & lower cups in my size and took in the lower cup with small darts to fit it into the smaller cradle.

Tester bra III front view

Here’s my tester from the front. I used black & brown Duoplex, so it doesn’t look the best, but hey, this is only a test.

I also made the bridge a little bit smaller; so much so that the wires actually cross over one another at the top of the bridge.

Tester Bra III inside view

Here is the inside of the tester. For the tester I also used Vertical wires rather than the normal long wires. I’ve decided I really do like the fit of them better, so will adjust my patterns to be a little higher at the underarm side of the cradle to accommodate them.

Long wire compared to Vertical Wire

You can see here the difference between a 38 Long and the 40 Vertical wire. The Vertical one comes up and in a little more. Even though I did like the fit, my pattern had already been cut when I thought about trying this.

I must say, I LOVED the experience of a sew-along, and all the wonderful learning from one another. It was like taking a mini-course. I’m actually thinking of printing it off and putting the Sew-Along in a binder to refer to easily when sewing. Amy did a GREAT job! Norma was a tremendous help to all who had questions too, and everyone’s input really made it.

I definitely will make tester bras again in the future – likely every time I try a new pattern, but my next bra is going to be the Shelley again. I have some beautiful fabrics just waiting for a TNT (Tried ‘n’ True) pattern, and I think I’m ready for a pattern & sewing experience that will work out because the hard work’s already been done.

Next the finished Sewy Rebecca, and a few jewelry pieces I LOVE.

Happy creating!

This is a Test; This is Only a Test.

January 12, 2013December 27, 2017 ~ Michelle

Boy, that takes the pressure off. Knowing this was only a test; knowing I wasn’t going to be making the WHOLE bra before I found out if it would fit. That really took the pressure off.

So, onto my tester bra that I’m sewing for Amy’s Sew-Along.

I’m sewing the DB3 by Danglez. Starting all over was a bit of a stress. I’ve made so many alterations to my Pin-Up Girls Pattern that I can now go to it and know I’m going to get a bra that fits – even the Shelley. (smile)

However, I didn’t know at all how this bra would fit. And if anyone is wondering, I did get the right size. I decided to try some of the alterations I’ve made to the Pin-Up Girls, and things have worked out pretty well.

Adjustment to lower cup for Omega Shape

These tissue paper pictures really don’t show very well, but it does give you an idea of what I’m doing. Here are the alterations I made to the lower cup. I did the same for the power bar. I was hoping this would take enough of the extra out of the pattern around the wire line, and it was pretty close.

showing the adjustments for Omega shape not enough

Here you can see I didn’t quite get the adjustments I needed and still had a little more cup than wire line. I took my pins out and made my power net stretch a bit. I did alter the pattern again though, so next time I won’t have to stretch it all.

front of tester bra

Here is the front of my tester bra. The cups fit well, but I do need to take them in at the underarm – just like my Pin-Up Girls pattern.

For the material, I didn’t use my ‘good’ materials that I’ve ordered from Bra-Makers Supply or Merckwaerdigh. This is some left over Power Net, and some Lycra I bought on sale the other day. I did interface the Lycra to give it more support.

interfacing on the lower cup

This shows the interfacing on the lower cup. I also interfaced the bridge & powerbar for more support.

back of tester bra

This last picture shows the back of the bra. If you look, you can also see the pins at the underarm and center of the bra. Those are areas I want to adjust on the pattern.

I am so happy with this tester bra experience. Trying it out first and knowing I wasn’t going to be ‘completing’ the bra really was a tremendous idea – Thank you, Amy!

Now to upload my photos to the Sew-Along. And soon to come, my completed Danglez DB3.

Happy creating!

This and That Danglez Pattern

January 10, 2013December 26, 2017 ~ Michelle

I started the Bra Sew-Along with Amy on her blog. That’s been a little more challenging than I like – due in no way to Amy, her blog, the sew-along or the pattern. It’s all my personal fitting challenges.

Starting a new pattern has all the challenges I first faced with the Pin-Up Girls patterns – which I have worked out for the most part. I keep telling myself once I get these patterns adjusted for me, I’ll have a new pattern that fits too. I haven’t convinced myself to rejoice over this yet, but I am ploughing through.

I’m going to sew the Danglez DB3 pattern. I’ve heard it’s a great pattern for those with smaller frames, but larger cup sizes.

DB3_LRG

A sad little side note, Danglez has closed. Just before they did, I just ordered their DB5 pattern. I’ve seen it done on a couple of blogs (Sigrid’s & Novita’s), and it looks lovely.

The first thing I changed on the Danglez was to use the correct cup size. See that Sewy Rebecca mistake I made has helped me! So, one thing adjusted correctly – and I’m sure it will be the easiest adjustment I make.

Last night I was tracing out my pattern pieces, and adding the seam allowances to them all. That went fine. But then I was trying to figure out how to adjust the Cradle to smaller wire size. Well, maybe I shouldn’t do these things at 11 p.m. It wasn’t going very well. And my brain wasn’t going between European & North American sizes very easily.

I came up with what I thought was correct, but wasn’t really sure. I posted on the Bra Sew-Along about how I was having trouble and hoped someone would be able to help.

Sleeping on it must have helped. I had an idea this morning that I think works. I pulled out my Pin-Up Girls pattern in the correct D size for me and traced that over the Danglez pattern.

Changing Cradle to smaller size

Here you can see the two patterns and how I matched up them up. Using a light table, I could see both patterns and where I needed to change the Danglez to fit me. I re-drew the Danglez on a third piece of tissue paper but with the Pin-Up Girls Cradle. I did keep the lines of the Danglez to more closely look like that pattern. So now my Danglez pattern will have the original, one traced copy of the original, and my adjusted copy.

One other change so far, I changed the back of the band so it won’t ride up. The Bra-Makers Manual describes how to do this by giving it a downward hike. I tried to take a photo of that as well, but my camera really didn’t like the white tissue paper, and it turned out worse than the above picture.

So, next week, I’ll hopefully have figured out if I did the Cradle adjustment correctly or not, and may even have some photos of my progress on the Danglez DB3.

Happy creating!

The Shelley – without Seam Allowance

January 3, 2013December 27, 2017 ~ Michelle ~ 12 Comments

I still have a hard time believing I did this. I actually worked on the pattern, making sure the underarm area was shortened, and the allowance was made in the pattern for the Omega shape – but I forgot to add a seam allowance to the pattern! And it all went together so nicely that I didn’t notice until I tried it on!

All that upset aside, it turned out very well and looks so pretty.

Shelley Bra Full Band Beige Omega Design Front View

Here is the Shelley from the front. I love the lace I used here. All the materials are from Bra-Makers Supply. I decided to do something a little different with the lace and used a little flower I cut out to cover the front seam on the band where it joins to the bridge. I applied it before sewing in the cups or sewing the elastic to the lower edge. I was quite pleased with that little detail.

Shelley Bra Full Band Beige Omega Design Side View

Here is the side view. Do you notice, there are no little gathers at the bottom of the cup? I made some alterations to the pattern and I am so happy with them. I actually took it in at the corners on the bottom so it would fit into the cup perfectly and it did! So, that means no more darts or ‘easing’ the cup into a smaller opening.

Something I’d been wondering – and I’d need someone who has much more technical experience with pattern drafting to let me know if I’m correct or not – if I’m using a D for my wire size, then is the D cup pattern the correct size for the base of my pattern. I’m dealing with two different sizes, so I was just wondering.

My wondering led me to check. and I pulled out the D pattern and compared the pattern I’d made and it fit. So, now I’m thinking I could [possibly] make my patterns by starting with a D and then graduating it up to the F cup I need. Hmm, some more playing with patterns is ahead.

Shelley Bra Full Band Beige Omega Design Back View

And this is the back. I’m very happy with it as well. I based this on a Prima Donna bra I had and took apart to clone. I haven’t done that yet, but did decide to copy the back. I will need to make my fabric straps longer if I do this again. There was no ‘extra’ in that strap.

As well, the hooks are a little wonky (is that a word?). I’ve been having a bit of trouble with my zigzag handling the fabrics for lingerie. I’ve spoken someone in the education department of Elna (my sewing machine brand). They suggested using a walking foot to help with that. I haven’t tried that yet though. I had a few problems with the stitches bunching up on this bra in a few places. I wonder if anyone else is having the same problems?

Even though I left out the seam allowance when I made this, and the cups aren’t quite deep enough as a result, I’m still very happy with this bra. I now have my pattern with adjusted seam allowances, and am ready to sew it again.

Before I do, I’m planning on joining Amy on her Bra-Making Sew Along.

Happy creating!

The Great Blog Trip or The Search for Sewy Rebecca Instructions

December 27, 2012July 10, 2017 ~ Michelle ~ 23 Comments

I’d read about the Sewy Rebecca bra on Sigrid’s blog. It’s one of her TNT (tried & true) patterns, and they look so lovely. She really does a wonderful job. So after admiring so many of her creations, I wanted to try the pattern for myself.

krprebecca_rosakopie_p1

This is the stock picture from Sewy. Isn’t that a lovely bra? I ordered it from Sewy, which is a German web site. It was a while ago, so I can’t remember the whole ordering process, but I’m pretty sure I emailed them and they sent me a Paypal invoice. I didn’t have any problems at all with my order.

I did have a problem once I got my order though. The instructions are all in German! I started searching on the web. I’d read ELingeriA, had carried the pattern at one time and had a PDF instruction page in English. But ELingeriA had closed. Hmm.

My search continued. I made various attempts to get the instructions, but was beginning to think I would have to use Googe Translate and hope for the best. I did get the PDF from Renee at Miss Celie’s Pants.

I have my PDF English instructions. And for future reference, I am willing to share it.

It was time to sew. I had bought a really beautiful material packet from Merckwaerdigh on eBay. She’s in The Netherlands, but I’ve never had a problem with ordering from her either. She’s always very helpful, and has beautiful fabrics.

So, I have my pattern, English instructions and beautiful material. And I sewed. My bra turned out very well, but… Oh, there have been a lot of buts in this journey to sewing my own bras.

In this case, the cups are too small. I thought the ‘European’ sized bras I had bought in specialty stores were the same as European sizes. It turns out they’re not. This bra is definitely 1, and possibly 2 cup sizes smaller than I need. I am still very pleased though, with this very beautiful bra.

Sewy Rebecca front view

This is the front view.

Sewy Rebecca left-side view

And the side view.

I’m not sure why, but I didn’t take a picture of the back view. However, it was as pretty as the front & sides.

One last blog visit for this post: I did find a wonderful calculator to help me determine just what my real bra size is. It’s on Novita’s blog.

http://www.sophisticatedpair.com/bracalculator.htm

Happy creating!

Baking and Bracelets

December 20, 2012July 16, 2016 ~ Michelle

I spent the afternoon baking up a storm. I had gluten-free baking to do as well as diabetic baking. Tarts, pies, muffins and mini muffins. My counter is full of delicious goodies.

After the baking was done, I had some custom jewelry to make.

Here are the two most recent Medical ID bracelets I’ve made. I think they’re pretty. And they were very fun to make. I made two earlier in the week as well, but they’ve been delivered to the customers already, and I didn’t have my photo tent out to take some pictures before I sent them to their new homes.

The first one here is pink & green Swarovski crystals with Sterling beads and clasps.

100_1562

The second bracelet is a two-tone Swarovski crystal bracelet in purples, with Sterling beads & clasps.

100_1555

I did do some sewing this week. I ‘tweaked’ my pattern and it was perfect – except I didn’t add a seam allowance!!!! I could hardly believe I did that, but I did. I was so focused on making the pattern and then alterations to the pattern, that I overlooked a very basic part. It’s an easy fix, but I don’t think I’ll be doing any sewing now until after Christmas.

Merry Christmas! and have a very Happy New Year!

An Image is Worth a Thousand Words

December 15, 2012December 27, 2017 ~ Michelle

If you’re reading along, don’t worry. This isn’t going to be a long post. I’m simply going to post a few pictures of the bras I’ve made with the alterations – smaller at underarm and now, smaller wire.

Beige Full Band F Cup D wire front view

I’m using the Classic Pin-Up Girls pattern here. You can see a bit of the ‘easing’ at the bottom of the cup, but nothing that can be seen under clothing.

Beige Full Band F Cup D wire side view

This shows the ‘ease’ much better. As well, a little elastic detail I added to the side band.

As I said in a previous post, I don’t LOVE this. It works, but I don’t like the look of those little gatherings around the cup. The alteration I prefer is the small darts at seam lines. However, this means I need more seam lines to make those little darts.

I changed my basic Pin-Up Girls pattern to one shown on the Bra-Makers Supply’s web site: the Shelley bra. They have a DVD you can buy that shows how to make the alterations for this pattern. The DVD is called Designer Bras by YOU. Here’s the link for it: DVD

So, here was my first attempt at the Shelley bra:

Shelly Full Band Front view

I LOVE the lace!

Shelly Full Band side view

Again, just to mention it, my dress form and I are not the same size, so any wrinkles on her are not on me. But something I really like are the lack of little gathers all around the cup. I really prefer this look. I think this will be the pattern I use most often now.

And that last little alteration. Well, it’s next. I should have my perfect bra then.

And one last comment: All of the jewelry shown on the dress form is not designed by Noble Jewelry Designs. It is simply being used to dress up the dress form.

Happy creating!

The Dawn of the Alteration Age

December 15, 2012December 27, 2017 ~ Michelle ~ 3 Comments

After a few bras, I made a call to Bra-Makers Supply with a question. You see, every bra I wore, whether RTW or one I’d made, all left a line or imprint about an inch or so under the bust line. I was simply wondering what caused this.

Beverly, the owner of Bra-Makers Supply, and author of two manuals on bra-making gave me my answer: the underwires I was using were either too big or too small. She said the best way to check the size of the underwires was by lifting my arm over my head.

I was off to the bedroom to stand in front of the mirror to test this new bit of information. And to my surprise and dismay, my underwires did NOT fit me. They were quite a bit too big. I had been wearing a size 44 wire. It was the same size as had been in the RTW bras I’d bought – I know, I took them apart.

So now I had to find out what size of wire I needed. I ordered a few wires to see what would fit. It turns out there are 4 sizes difference between what fits me and what I was wearing! But the cups were fitting correctly, so what did this mean?

wire difference

This image shows the difference in the wire sizes between what I had been using and what I am using now.

Well, I went back to my very-well-used manuals: The Bra-Makers Manual Vol 1 & 2. Both manuals explain about one particular fitting problem described as an Omega shape. This shape is smaller at the base (hence why a smaller wire is needed). The manual also gives some information on fitting for this. I had to alter things again – but this time it wasn’t the pattern.

I really can’t recommend these manuals enough. After my first attempt at bra-making, I had a fitting issue. I went to the manuals and saw what I needed to change AND how to do just that.

My first alterations were to shorten the underarm area both in the upper and lower cup. That gave me a very good fit.

Upper Cup Alteration

This photo shows how I shortened the underarm area. My cup pattern is on top, the original pattern is on the bottom. I did this both to the upper and lower cups at the under arm.

Now I was going to attempt changing the wire size. This now meant I had to put a larger cup into a smaller wire frame. For this, I’m having to build some ‘ease’ into the cup. To do this, I either run some gathering stitches around the lower outside edge of the cup or put small darts at seam lines – which I like better.

This has given me the best fit yet. But I still have one little area I want to correct. Now that the fit is almost perfect for me, I’m noticing I need to bring in the apex a little bit.

I think that will be the next project.

Happy creating!

There Must Be More Than Foam

December 5, 2012December 27, 2017 ~ Michelle

That was what I was beginning to think. Everywhere I went, if I saw bras, I was over there looking, getting ideas, at times my camera came out to record that idea that was just ‘so cute’. Most of the time it seemed to involve lace. That was something completely new to me.

But to go back a bit, and just to clarify. I did cut up my favorite bra, and I did use it to make a pattern. BUT I still had no idea what to do with those pieces. For that I did buy a pattern and used that to follow along and make up my cloned bra.

Bra-Makers Supply has become a favorite on-line shop of mine. And that’s where I purchased a foam cup pattern. They actually have a few different ones, but I started with a basic one.

PB-1014%20Amanda

The Amanda Foam Cup bra pattern. It was great and it got me from those cut up pieces to an actual bra, well three actual bras.

But, I was really wanting to start working with lace, and most of what I was looking at wasn’t foam. It was time to look at another pattern and jump into what seemed like a whole new adventure.

Enter the ‘Linda’ Partial Band pattern. Again, from Bra-Makers Supply.

linda

So, my next few attempts would be with ‘Linda’.

I used the same size I’d been wearing from a specialty store, and all seemed great! Here’s one example of Linda in black.

Linda Partial Band Front view

The model and I are not the same size. I did put foam cups into the bra cups to fill them out (never thought I’d have to stuff one of my bras!), but there are still wrinkles on the bra on her. (She’s got a great waist though!)

Linda Partial Band side view

Here’s a bit of the side view. I really like the ‘Linda’ pattern. It’s really a great basic pattern, and from that there are so many places I can go.

I have a few more posts that will be what I’ve done already, but after that I plan to have my camera near by to take pictures of what I’m doing. I know there are others who are doing this already, but I’ve learned from each one, and think I have something to share as well.

Still to come, a classic Full-band bra, the Sewy Rebecca bra, and the Shelley bra.

Happy creating!

I am a Copy-Cat

November 29, 2012December 27, 2016 ~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

I’m one of those fortunate women who doesn’t fit into a ‘standard’ bra size. Specialty shops – out of necessity – had become my store of choice to buy a bra because I couldn’t find anything in my size at many mainstream stores.

However, I hate spending so much money on something with clearly just a tiny bit of fabric – certainly not $150 worth!

Well, my two bras – that just happened to be identical because so few bras in the specialty shop fit either – were worn out. It was time to go buy more.

I’d searched online about making a bra, but hadn’t really found anything before. Well, this past year I found a few resources and a new creative journey has begun.

After reading an article about how to ‘clone’ a bra, I took a deep breath and took apart one of my old bras and made a pattern. I made that pattern three times and am very happy with how it turned out! The only difference between mine and the original was the shape of the foam cups – the original had little foam tabs where the shoulder strap would attach. I could not find those in my size, so my clone is not an exact replica. BUT, it fits and I did not have to pay $150!

Black burnout knit on black cups