Panties to Match

April 30, 2017December 27, 2017 ~ Michelle ~ 5 Comments

Even though my most recent bra was a purchased one, I still wanted to make a few pair of panties to wear with it.

Inspiration

While looking for some inspiration, I found a couple of things that were very interesting. So let’s go on a little detour before I show you my new panties.

Look at this:

I found two almost identical bras. The one on the left is the Felina 501 bra. (The one I bought.) The one on the right is the Conturelle 301 bra. Now, don’t they look an awful lot alike?

It all makes a little more sense when after doing a little looking, I found Conturelle is owned by Felina.

Lace

Something else I found when looking for images for the bra I bought was another Conturelle bra.

I’m not sure of the name of this bra. I found it on Pinterest. What I found really exciting is the lace. Do you recognize this lace?

This is the same lace from Kantje Boord. Sigrid made a bra using this lace too.

Just look at this, the unknown Conturelle bra, Kantje Boord’s lace and Sigrid’s bra:

That is the same lace in all three photos! I’ve always loved that bra Sigrid made. I almost bought some of the lace last year, but decided to make a purchase from Sewy instead. Sadly, I looked on Kantje Boord and this lace is not on their website anymore. Darn!

Okay, back to the bra I bought. This is the most comfortable RTW bra I’ve ever owned and it deserves a couple of pairs of panties.

Matchy-Matchy

I wanted to have the panties look like a match not only in color, but design as well. Seeing as I don’t have any of this lace, I had to get creative.

For my first pair, I used some of the lace trim I had to make crisscross designs across the front of the panty. Here is a layout of what I was thinking.

I decided I liked this, and I made up my first pair.

You can see my indigo is a bit lighter than the bra, but I’m still happy with this set.

For my second pair, I wanted to more closely copy the matching panty.

On the matching panties, the lace design is only on the hip. I’m going to do something similar keeping my design to the hips.

I tried this design first – crisscrossed thin elastic bordered by the lace I will be using for the leg opening. Although I do really like it, I have another idea.

So here is my second pair of panties to go with my RTW bra.

On this second pair, I had a little bit of fun. I had a scrap of lace left over, and was about to throw it out. Then I thought of putting a tag on the hip at the seam. I love it!

I’m thrilled with both of these pairs of panties, and love having some matchy-matchy.

Happy creating!

P.S. You might want to look at While in Germany or Pinterest Find and More.

Pinterest Find and More

September 24, 2016December 27, 2017 ~ Michelle

Kantje Boord

Do you remember a few weeks ago I posted about my hubby’s trip to Germany?

I’d mentioned some gorgeous material from Kantje Boord. Gorgeous material I’d seen a few years ago. Gorgeous material that Sigrid made into a lovely bra. Gorgeous material that I didn’t order.

When I initially wrote the post, I couldn’t find a photo of the bra, even though I knew I’d saved it… somewhere. This week, I was adding a photo to my Pinterest page and there it was. The bra Sigrid made.

Isn’t that lovely? Do you follow Sigrid? I really enjoy reading about her makes.

After seeing how pretty this bra is again, I’m having a second thought or two about not ordering this, while telling myself, ‘I will not be tempted by Lycra.’ Sigh. I’ll have to see when my hubby’s work takes him to Europe again.

Do you follow Sigrid’s blog? Have you been part of a sewing swap before? What ideas do you have for sewing swap gifts?

Happy creating!

Pretty in Pinks Panties and The Bra-A-Week Challenge

July 26, 2015December 27, 2017 ~ Michelle ~ 4 Comments

A pretty new bra deserves some matching panties. I went back to my TNT panty pattern, Kwik Sew 2286, and made a few modifications to the original pattern to make my panties.

Making these panties with the horizontal lace is really easy. Here’s what I do.

1. Re-draw the front pattern piece because you’re going to cut it up.

2. Lay your lace over the new front pattern piece. My pink lace was packed away, so I used the lace I had out for this photo. Your laces may be different heights, 5″ or 6″ or less even.

3. Because they can be different heights, do this step for each lace you use. Draw a line where the lace ends. Cut your lace the width of the front pattern.

4. Re-draw the lower front piece now – adding 1/4″ seam allowance.

Here it is. This is now your new front pattern.

I fold the lace to find the center front, and fold the bottom front material as well. Mark them both with a pin and match them up overlapping by that 1/4″. You can see at the top of my pattern in the photo above, I use a Zigzag stitch to attach them together. It’s not hard at all to hack your favorite panties and made new styles and still get your favorite fit.

I put these new pattern pieces in a new envelope just for themselves, so I can pull them out and re-use them when I want to make that style again, being careful to make sure the lace is the same height.

One last bit from me before we move onto the Bra-A-Week Challenge. Remember my bridge from last week, and how I felt it needed some bling?

I added a few crystals with my Hotfix tool. They may not cover up that little pucker, but they do make the bridge look much prettier. I didn’t stop there though.

I added a crystal to each strap. Can there ever be too much bling or lace?

Now onto the challenge. We’re on week 28 of the Bra-A-Week Challenge.

Our first submission comes from Andie.

Andie made a beautiful bra she’s called her Sailor Mercury bra.

Isn’t that lovely? It’s made from teal duoplex, white findings kit, white power net, and white power mesh lining the lace from Bra-Maker’s Supply. The white lace is re-purposed from a nightgown Andie had used for a cosplay project last year.

I love re-purposing things. It’s so creative and it’s also so very pretty.

Andie also embroidered Sailor Mercury’s symbol on the right back strap to really make it her Sailor Mercury bra.

I love that! I hadn’t thought of using embroidery stitches on my bra to make it even more unique. What a great idea, Andie!

You can read more about Andie Sailor Mercury bra on her blog: Sew Pretty In Pink.

Our next submission comes from Erin.

This is a full band bra, full coverage with extra long wires. It has horizontal seaming, with a split lower cup. Erin made it using a lightweight stable knit, power net for the back band and 15 denier to line the bridge for stability.

Erin, that looks like such a fabulous fit and it looks so soft and comfortable.

I love the bow. You can read more about Erin’s bra on her blog: The Sewing and Life Adventures of Emerald Erin.

Our next submission is from David. Here David made a foam cup bra.

Wow. That is really beautiful. It definitely has the Va-Va-Voom factor.

It’s so beautiful. David is a freelance lingerie designer.

What wonderful submissions this week! If you haven’t looked at the Pinterest board for the Bra-A-Week Challenge, you can see many of the past weeks’ submissions all at once and get lots of inspiration.

Happy creating!

Whoops! My Flirt Skirt and Another Watson Started

January 28, 2015December 27, 2017 ~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

Sorry to everyone who received that unfinished post I sent out. I had a terrible headache (I can count on one hand how many headaches I’ve ever had) and when I went to save a draft of my blog, I hit publish by mistake. Oops. Once that button is hit, there’s no taking it back. However, it wasn’t finished. So here it is (again) in it fullness.

I really like black, and my wardrobe has a disproportionate amount of the color. I have four or five black skirts in my closet right now, and was planning on making another one with the fabric I used for my Mum’s cardigan.

My hubby loves when I wear color, so when he went shopping with me for material, he ‘helped’ me pick out my fabrics. This fabric was one of those helpful picks. Honestly, I’d put off sewing it because I really wasn’t sure I’d like it at all. Turns out I love it. I love the material. I love the skirt.

The Flirt Skirt comes together quite quickly and easily. Here’s the link for the skirt on Pam Howard’s website. This is such a pretty skirt. There was also a kit for this skirt on Craftsy, but I didn’t love the material in the kit so just bought the pattern and read through the information in the workshop. (The workshop is no longer on Craftsy.)

When it came time to sew the waistband, I had a memory of using the serger to sew on the elastic. So, I looked it up. I found this blog post on Sewing With Nancy, and the post has more information in there than I’d hoped to find. I followed her suggestion for attaching the waist. I didn’t think of it until I’d sewn the waist on, but I only had three seams to sew that waist down. It wasn’t going to work for this skirt.

While I had the elastic serged on, I thought a blind hem might work. Nope. That was not what I’d wanted. This really was one of those projects that if my hubby hadn’t seen the material and the skirt wasn’t almost done, I think I might have thrown it out. I don’t like re-doing things over and over. I’d rather start again. And that was how it was feeling – like I was doing the same thing over and over. I finally decided to just follow the instructions from the workshop and it all turned out perfectly. Imagine that?

In the end, it all came together and I really love it. I’m thinking my hubby needs to take me out somewhere nice so I can wear it. I also found a lovely scarf that had been given to me that goes so nicely with it.

What makes this skirt flirty is there’s a lovely flounce at the back. It looks a lot like a straight skirt from the front, but the back has a little extra. It helps with walking and it’s rather fun to wear.

This photo shows the flounce a bit.

And here I am showing the front of the skirt.

Sadly, the photo looks washed out, but it was the best we could get. The material is closer to the photos above.

And showing that little flounce at the back:

There’s lots of kick room back there. I love it. I may take the elastic at the waist in a bit. It’s looser than I like, but I’d read how curvy girls needed to make sure it would fit over the hips too. The skirt isn’t too tight going over the hips so, the waist band is going to come in.

Lastly, I’ve got another Watson bra cut out for the sew-along. This time in some of the black and beige Lycra I bought. So far, it’s looking darling.