The idea for this week’s post comes from a reader and friend. I sent a chart I’d made to my friend, Naomi, and she said what a great idea it would be for a post. Okay. Here it is.

I really like things to match, and match well. I don’t think I’m excessive. When I think excessive, I remember a high school science teacher who wore everything in the same color – top, skirt or pants, pantyhose, shoes, purse. If she came to school wearing green, everything was green! I have distinct memories of a lot of green! I’m not that bad, but coordinating bra and panty sets is something I want to do.

A lot of my bra-making stash comes from Bra-Makers Supply. I like the quality and choice of materials, I’m in Canada, so it’s one of the best options for shipping for me, and Beverly Johnson is such a wonderful help. On the BMS web site, you can see the colors of their Duoplex, Power Nets, Finding Kits, and Cotton Spandex Double-knit – these are the ones I look at because these are the ones I want to co-ordinate. I’ve spent a lot of time going back and forth on their web site looking to see what colors are available in all of these categories.

They also offer sample packs of all of these materials so you can see and feel what you’re getting. I have a mini stash with a sample pack of each of these. When I got these with my order a while back, I was most excited about them when I opened the box! I couldn’t wait to see all the colors available.

However, even having those samples, I found myself flipping back and forth through them, checking and re-checking to see what was there and what matched with something from another pack.

So, in my desire to match materials for bra and panty sets, I put together a chart. It’s up on the wall beside my sewing desk for easy reference.

Here’s my BMS Chart. It shows the colors of the Duoplex, the Power Nets, (both Regular and Double Knit), the Cotton Spandex Double-knit, and the Finding Kits. It’s even color-coded for ease. *Note: BMS has added more Finding kits since this chart was made.)

When I want to make a completely matching set – you know, be all matchy matchy – I look at the Pink highlighted rows. Those rows show where each of the categories has the same color. If you look at the red, it has Duoplex, Power Net (both), Cotton Spandex, and Finding Kits all in red.

The blue highlighted rows aren’t complete – it’s missing one of those matching components, but still pretty complete. The Ivory, Peach, Fuchsia, Turquoise and Navy Blue don’t have Cotton Spandex in those exact colors. However, I just ordered some Banana in the cotton which is close in color to the Ivory, and some Indigo which is close to Navy. By using the same lace on both the bra and panty, it will bring the set together well.

Here’s an Ivory Trio from BMS on top of the Banana Cotton Spandex. The Banana is a bit deeper in color, but close enough that I’m happy with it.

Here’s the Duoplex in Ivory and the Banana Cotton with an Ivory and Peach lace. I think this looks fabulous!

The Purple on the chart is the only one that has all matching categories except the Finding Kit. I think that would still be wonderful as a set with either a Black or Lilac Finding Kit to complete it. And of course, again, the lace can pull things together. If I used black lace with the black findings and purple for the rest of the bra and panties, it would be lovely. Or Lilac…

I used my chart to help me decide what findings to use with other lace finds I come across. If I find a lovely lace I just can pass on, now I can take a quick look at my chart to see what options are available for pairing that lace with the rest of the components I’ll need to make a bra and panty set. In fact, I have a bra kit I ordered from Merckwaerdigh‘s Etsy store. However, I need firmer support than Lycra can offer, and large findings, so I supplement the kit I bought. I checked and a few options that would go well with it were Ivory or Navy. You’ll be seeing a lovely set with Navy in the future.

I hope my coordinating chart makes it up on some new walls and helps others to be all matchy matchy too.

Happy creating!