Ohhh Lulu

Panache Inspired

~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

Inspiration

Recently I read an article by Who What Wear saying Boyshorts are going out of style. That won’t be terrible for me. Boyshorts aren’t the most flattering on me. I think they’re adorable, but they just don’t suit a curvy shape as well as they suit a less curvy shape. That’s probably why they’re called boyshorts.

The article showed a few up-coming styles and there was one I really liked.

The Panache Lingerie Quinn High Waist Brief: Oh! These are lovely.

I started looking for patterns that had similarities. Here’s what I found.

First, Daydream Patterns Nora Knickers.

This pattern has lace attached at the leg. It’s great because it attaches the lace the same way for the back. The front is different, but could probably easily be adapted to be the same as the Panache panties.

Another pattern I thought of is the Ohhh Lulu’s Betty High Waist Panties.  It’s quite a similar shape, and I’ve always adored the look of these panties..

Here are the three panties together.The Panache is in-between these two patterns, but is a bit closer in shape to the Betty. If you haven’t taken Beverly Johnson’s panty class on Craftsy and aren’t comfortable drafting your own pattern, either of these patterns would get you close.

My Master Pattern

I have taken Beverly’s class, so decided I would make my own Panache-inspired panty. I pulled out the master pattern I made using the Craftsy class Sewing Panties: Construction & Fit. I usually make Hipsters with my pattern, even though on my dress form they look like briefs.Although these come up to the form’s waist, they’re hipsters on me.

Pattern Adjustments

The first thing I did was add back the 2-inches I’d removed from the pattern’s waist height when I made them into Hipsters. The pattern is again a brief. Loving hipsters as I do, I decided to go with a brief rather than a high-waisted panty. We’ll see how much I love briefs before I try high-waisted.

Next, I added a seam to the front/side. I’m keeping the side seam too, but going to move it back to the side. My ‘side’ seam is moved forward so it doesn’t show. The purple line shows where the side seam would normally sit.

You can see in the photo above how the seam is moved to the front of the panty and not sitting right at the side.

The Panache panty has a back seam as well, but I’m not adding that. The only time I add a back seam is if I’m short on material. Otherwise, I prefer no seam for the back.

Next, I decided how much lace I wanted, and then added the lace detail to the pattern.

Here’s my pattern ready to get cut out.  Lastly, I added seam allowances to those new seams, and traced off my new pattern pieces.

I’m all ready to make my own Panache Inspired briefs.

Happy creating!

Movie Inspiration and The Bra-A-Week Challenge

~ Michelle ~ 4 Comments

Where do you get your inspiration? I get mine pretty much anywhere I see something pretty. I remember going through a mall with a friend, and I stopped to take photos of lingerie. My friend was so surprised. I asked her why she was surprised, and she said she just thought I’d make plain things. I remember thinking why would I make something plain if I could make something pretty?

Inspiration struck one night when I was watching The Devil Wears Prada. Have you seen the opening scene? There’s lacy lingerie coming out of dresser drawers; I paused the movie to grab my phone and take pictures. They were all so pretty.

This one inspired me the most.

IMG_0112

There’s an overly large generously-covered crystal bow on the front of this bra that doesn’t thrill me so much, but the rest of the bra? It’s lovely. That organza trim against basic black? Love.

This bra was my inspiration for this week. To complete my camisole and panty set, I used a little more of the mesh to make my own trim and made a not-so-basic black bra.

front-2

I’m using the Pin-Up Girls Classic pattern, with the lower cup split and all my modifications added to make it fit me.

The bridge has some more of the leopard mesh – I couldn’t just leave it black. There’s also a pretty crystal and bow on the bridge.

bridge-bow-and-crystal

Lastly, I’m still deciding if I’ll add bows to cover the strap seam or not. I’m leaning towards bows. I didn’t want anything to distract from the mesh trim, but I don’t think the bows do. Below you can see one strap unbowed, and one strap with a pinned bow.

unbowed

 I was really wondering as the week went on if I’d get this bra done. I’ve hurt my hand somehow and everything hurt. Putting pins in hurt. Taking pins out hurt. Holding the fabric hurt. Seriously. I’ll warn you now, next week will be a light sewing week for me while I let my hand heal up a bit.

Some good news though, is there is enough mesh left after this bra to make one more thing – another pair of my TNT panties. I’m thrilled with my set and although I can’t say I’m looking forward to cooler weather, I am looking forward to wearing my whole set come fall.

Now onto the Bra-A-Week Challenge. This week we’re on week 31.

First off, let me say, we did have a submission last week. But technology got in the way. David sent his submission in time for the challenge, but it took over a day for it to get to me! It was in my in-box on Sunday night.

So, here’s David’s lovely submission from last week:

Aabracup

This is stunning and so very delicate. I love how the elastic is threaded through the lace on the inner cup. David is a free-lance lingerie designer.

Our next submission comes from Emma. Emma made a Longline Watson Bra.

long-line-watson

Emma says, this is her first Watson, her first actual bra.  Emma also made a pair of high-waisted knickers.  You can read more about her beautiful set on her blog, A Hand-Stitched Life.

watson-set

What a gorgeous set. Well done, Emma!

Our next submission comes from Amber. Amber made a nursing bra. Amber used the Pin-Up Girls pattern for this and added a few alterations – a split lower cup, a nursing sling, and nursing clips. Pattern, fabrics, (duoplex & power net) and findings for Amber’s bra came from Bra-Makers Supply and BWear.

nursing-bra

Amber used power net for the nursing sling, and says it has worked very well; she also used power net with lace on the upper cups – which worked well for nursing as size needs can change throughout the day.

nb-open

What a great idea, Amber! It’s so pretty and really functional.

Our next submission comes from Lois. Lois knew as soon as she saw this fabric, it would be perfect for the scalloped border on the bottom of a corset.

Red-Corset-15-8-12-(06)-fro

This border-embroidered organza is from Fabricland. The pattern is Vogue 8393 – an oldie from 2007. Lois used the plain Organza as the lining for the cups and then partially lined the back and side front. She also moved the separating zipper to the side, and used red bias tape for the boning casing.

Red-Corset-15-8-12-(09)-bac

How very beautiful, Lois!

Such beautiful submissions this week! Thanks everyone! And Happy creating!

TNT Wins Again and So Sew Easy

~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

I was really thinking I’d try another pattern for some panties, but when push came to shove, I just didn’t love all aspects of Butterick 6031.

butterick-6031

What I like about them is they sit at the hip. I prefer a Hipster over a Brief. What I don’t love about them is they also look rather like Boy Shorts. As cute as they are, I decided I’d go back to my TNT favorite panty – Kwik Sew 2286.

tnt

I played with my pattern using the same technique I’d mentioned a few weeks ago – redrawing the front and making a new pattern. Here are my panties to go with my camisole. I used the same leopard mesh as in the camisole (thank you again, Ginny), and the same lace (Frog Feathers), but this time I’ve matched them both up with some Cotton Spandex from Bra-Makers Supply.

To bring even more continuity to the two, I used the lace in-between the mesh and cotton pieces on the front, and cut away the material behind it to give it the same peeking-through lace look. I think it pulls them together very nicely.

Cami-panty-set

For a second pair of panties I used the mesh again, but decided to venture out and try a new pattern. It was with a little hesitation though. I should have listened to that little voice. I made the Sophia panties from Ohhh Lulu.

Here’s the photo from their Etsy store:

il_570xN.686001453_rp58

Aren’t they cute? That’s not what mine look like, she says in a flat voice.

sophia-set

So what is wrong with mine? Well, they’re just too big. And I’ve already taken them in a 1/2″ on each side side, and in taking them in I lost most of the ruching on the sides. On their web site, when they released the pattern, they said to test it first before cutting into your good material. Yes, that’s good advice. Back to them being too big… You can see when I put my TNT pair over top of the Sophia panties. They’re not too bad at the waist, but the leg opening. Well, that won’t work for me.

sophia-and-tnt

Looking at them, I really didn’t think taking them in more would help how much too big they would be at the leg opening. Normally, the Sophia panty is finished by turning those side panels inside out and sewing them with a straight stitch. I decided not to do that, but to add some elastic there and see if that helped.

leg-fix

It did help a bit, but they’re still to big. I’m really not one to give up. I knew. A bow. A bow makes everything better.

bow

They look a lot prettier now. One thing I didn’t do that I often do when buying patterns is look for the ones lots of people have made and loved. I didn’t do that with this pattern. It was just too darn cute. Sigh. I’ve seen oodles of Grace panties, so maybe those were the ones to try.

Next week I will be adding one more piece I want to make to complete my Camisole set.

Normally, at this point in my blog I’d be saying, ‘And now onto the Bra-A-Week Challenge. This week we’re on week 30!’

Well, we are on week 30, but I think with all the amazing sewing last week, everyone went camping this week. Let’s hope we have lots of submissions again next week!

To end this week, I have some good news – I was asked to write about bra and lingerie making on So Sew Easy. My first post was published this week to coincide with National Underwear Day . You can read it here. As well, I’d love to hear your thoughts on it, and what you’d like to read about in the future.

Happy creating!