Booby Traps

We Got Your Back – BMS January Challenge 2019

~ Michelle ~ 4 Comments

The January Challenge for Bra-Makers Supply is We Got Your Back. The idea is to ‘make creative, unusual, or off-the-wall crazy backs for your bras, swimsuits, corsets or underwear. Yes, this month we are looking at bra backs and how to make them pretty and even more supportive than they usually are.’

Thinking about this challenge, I knew just what I wanted to do. A while back I received an email from Booby Traps about Bare Bax, a company that specialized in interchangeable bra backs. Not only that, but bra backs that are meant to be seen. I loved this idea!

Dual Reasoning

As well as participating in the challenge, I had another reason for wanting to make a bra with a fancy back – a gorgeous sweater my hubby gave me. Isn’t that a great back right there? I was thinking of wearing a camisole under this, but a bra with a fancy back might be more fun. A pop of color, that doesn’t look like a bra back might be just what I’d like behind this sweater.

My Challenges

The one challenge about my Challenge entry is I need my band to provide the support for my bra. So, rather than just use lace for a pretty back, I’m thinking lace backed with power net. The lace will still be all that’s seen though.

Another challenge I’m facing is I can’t get hooks & eyes in the same color I’m using for my bra. I’m making a lavender bra, but the 5 x 3 hooks and eyes don’t come in that color. Even hook and eye tape doesn’t come in lavender. I’m going to have to dye my hooks and eyes – a first for me. So, since I’m jumping into dyeing, I’m going to dye some elastics while I’m at it.

Dyeing

 My adventure into dyeing went pretty well. I had everything set out, including the bit of power net I wanted to match. Honestly, those findings weren’t in the dye two minutes before I looked at the hooks and eyes and thought, ‘They need to come out. Now.’

I turned around to grab my spatula handle, and they were already darker than I wanted!I realized just how quickly these findings will take color. However, the BMS Challenge for January was coming close to an end, so I decided these will do nicely.

I found dyeing very interesting. Look at the one ring and how it took color differently. One is noticeably darker than the others, but they were all in for the same amount of time.This has me thinking, I might want to do some timed tests with bits of elastic and such and record the results after say 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes…

Back to the Challenge.

My Fancy Back

  Here’s my lovely lavender bra, with a removable lace back.I’ve used 5 x 3 hook and eyes on each side of the bra to attach this back. I can take this off and use another back in the future (When I get another back made.)

As well, I’ve adjusted the height of my lace for my back. You can see how much I shortened the height of my lace by cutting and matching the pattern on it.

Here are the hooks and eyes that connect the back to the bra. And if you look closely, you can just barely see the seam in the middle of the lace. Below is my bra from the front. It doesn’t look any different from a normal bra.Lastly, here’s my bra under the sweater on my display.What a subtle but lovely little pop of color peeking out!

Happy creating!

Inspiration – Power Bars

~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

No sewing this week; I’ve been sick with a cold. It’s a good thing Craftsy had that all-month access pass. I’ve been making good use of it.

Even though I haven’t been sewing, I wanted to share some fun inspiration I’ve found.

As I’ve mentioned before there are times I’ll see a skirt, top, bra, a pair of panties, jacket, pretty much anything that can sewn, and just love it. Then I want to make something similar.

Remember I shared how I paused a movie to take photos of the lingerie coming out of the dresser at the beginning of the movie?

This was the inspiration:

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I loved that organza trim on the upper cup of the bra. So I made this:

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Well, I still have files of inspiration. Let’s take a look at a few more ideas I have just waiting to happen.

Here’s an example. I saw this bra and loved it. The external power bar looks so pretty, and it’s unique.

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Unfortunately, I didn’t write down the name or brand for this bra, or where I found it. I just loved the lines of it, thinking it would be easy enough to alter a classic pattern to make this work. Make it a longer lined bra… Although this original bra does look like a darted cup, I’d probably change that.

I also came across this one on Amazon:

yoga

This is so pretty and delicate-looking. I’m noticing a trend – I’m loving the longer lines. This one is a soft bra, that really won’t be the best for me, but again, I’m looking at the external power bar. What a pretty way to add lace to a bra.

There’s also this gorgeous pattern from Booby Traps.

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Oh, this is so pretty! And I do like to start with a pattern… When I start with a pattern I can get a feel for how something is put together. However, this one is not in my size range or even close to it. It’s for B & C cups. I’ve heard some rumors that this is going to be graded up a few sizes, so I’m hopeful.

The external power bar on the Booby Traps bra did remind me of a pattern I do have in my size: Merckwaerdigh’s CUPL16.

merck

That’s pretty similar. I could always change up the cup by adding some soft layered material over the top if I wanted the same look as the Booby Traps bra…

Margreet has a couple of other patterns that have similar detail on the power bar.

merck 2

merck 3

        These are Mix30 and BHS10. BHS10 could be made into a long line bra that would closely resemble the first bra in this blog. So much inspiration, so little time.

Happy creating!

Booby Traps’ Dart Pattern and The Bra-A-Week Challenge

~ Michelle ~ 8 Comments

Recently I saw a Booby Traps pattern for sale and thought it was quite nice. There are some similarities to the Pin-Up Girls Classic pattern from what I could see – a lace upper cup and an one-piece lower cup.

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Seeing as I have a bit of a pattern addiction, I was thinking of picking one up. This one was a private sale, and not my size, so I went to visit their web site. After looking at the patterns, I checked to see if they shipped internationally. On the FAQ page it says:

“Where do you ship to?

We ship within Australia and to New Zealand. 

Shipping outside these Countries is currently not available. “

Hmm. I’m never one to be deterred when I want something, so I sent them an email and asked if they mailed their patterns to Canada. The answer I got was: ‘Yes’. Great!

When I was sending off my initial email, I thought I’d throw out a hopeful idea just in case they didn’t post to Canada – I asked if they were going to introduce PDF patterns. Another yes! In fact, it was only weeks away at the time. That’s even better than shipping to Canada! For almost the same price I’d spend to buy a pattern and have it shipped, I could buy two PDF patterns.

I know. I said I don’t like PDF patterns, but a bra pattern is different. I’m not dealing with large pattern pieces, and there’s not usually much taping involved. I’m okay with a PDF bra pattern. However, I did just see a brilliant post by Sigrid on how to use a PDF pattern and not have to deal with a bunch of taping. You can read about it on her blog here. It’s really brilliant. I just may love PDF patterns again.

Back to bra patterns. The B003 wasn’t the pattern I chose to try. I chose the Dart bra.

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Isn’t that a beautiful bra? I love that lace in the second photo. It’s just incredible.

So, the first thing I had to do with my Dart bra pattern was grade it up. I’ve graded other patterns up, so that wasn’t too hard. The next thing was to make adjustments to the pattern to fit an Omega shape. Sigh. That’s harder. The good news there is I have lots of experience! A few years of it, in fact.

take-two-lots-of-pining

There are a lot of darts that aren’t part of the original pattern in this photo. The good thing about trying a test cup on over an existing bra is the wire line is there and the correct shape for me. That really helps me know where to take a little more away from the outside of the pattern.

After the third set of alterations, I was beginning to wonder if this bra will work for me. Then some inspiration hit. I’d make a pattern from my Shelley pattern that fits; I’d make it out of cut-and-sew foam and then just put a dart in it.

Comparison

Well, that didn’t work either.

I’m not one to give up easily, so, I even-more-carefully-than-the-first-time re-drew the graded-up pattern. That’s when I took a few minutes to play with my pup and got bit. Yup. Same hand I’ve been trying to get better now has one more hurting spot.  Did I sigh already?

I sewed up the cup (at this point, I think I was on tester cup six), and it looked good. I was ready to cut into my good lace.

looks-pretty-good

always-too-big-under-the-ar

I’m also hoping that the extra material there under the arm will be taken away with the elastic and gathering that is done there. That’s one area that’s always too big for me on patterns. I’d already put a dart in the pattern there, so didn’t want to shorten it anymore.

So, how is my Dart bra doing? Well, I’ll show you how far I got.

lace-not-long-enough

I tried three different non-stretch laces. This is my widest non-stretch lace. I don’t have a lace that will work for this pattern… in my size. I thought about aligning the upper edge of the cup with the top scallop of the lace rather than the bottom, but this cup was already going to sit low on me. Still not quite ready to give up, I checked Bra-Makers Supply and they only carry 5″ or 6″ non-stretch lace. I checked Etsy, but not much there – I found two. I didn’t love either of them.  I have to admit defeat – at least for now.

I think I’ll pack this pattern away. The only sewing accomplishment I’ve had this week was to put some flexible wires into some bras I’d made before, and now they’ll go from my to-be-repaired pile back into my lingerie drawer.

bras-with-new-wires

Let’s put my sewing week behind us and move onto the Bra-A-Week challenge! This is my last week hosting the challenge. I’ve had so much fun seeing all the incredible bras and lingerie being made by such talented creative people. Next week the challenge will be back in the hands of the ever-so-talented and capable Emerald Erin!

Our first submission comes from Amber. Amber made a Pin-Up-Girls with a downward hike, and the front made to look like a demi bra following instructions in Bra Makers Manual. She also added a nursing sling made from 15 denier- which she said she would not do again!

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And the upper cup is white duoplex, that has been printed with a rubber stamp and fabric markers. What a great idea! It’s so pretty.

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Isn’t that lovely? That makes me want to go out and buy fabric markers and stamps, Amber. Amber’s panties are drafted from Beverly Johnson’s Make and Fit Panties. What a lovely set, Amber.

Our next submission comes from Maddy. Maddy made a yellow lace Marlborough for her sister for her birthday. She says it fits her so well and she was super happy with it! Maddy was also pleased with the finish – she covered the side seams with left over underwire channeling to make everything clean and tidy. I know how that feels. There’s just something to making it as pretty on the inside as it can possibly be. That is so pretty, Maddy.

yellow-bra

Next from Maddy still is a pair of Ohhh Lulu Alice tap pants. Maddy bought a gorgeous torsolette a while ago, and although she loves it, couldn’t  justify buying the matching underwear. So she made my own! The colour match is almost perfect, and they’re actually super practical for wearing over the suspender straps.

tap-pants

Gorgeous, Maddy! You’ll have to subscribe to read about these on Maddy’s blog, Miss Maddy Sews, as she hasn’t posted about them yet. If you go right away, you might still be able to enter her give-away!

Happy creating!