lingerie Archives - Page 3 of 8 - Handmade by Carolyn

scribble-y sundress

06/12/2019 1:07 pm \ 9 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve made a new dress, and how gorgeous is this splashy, scribbly, fireworks-y print! And the way this divine rayon challis ripples breezily against my legs was actually quite quite delicious… it was extremely hot when I took these pictures, like 39C, so soft whisper-y cool, featherlight stuff felt like exactly the right thing to wear.

While we were in San Francisco, Shams took us to Britex. According to basically everyone who knows; Britex is a “must-visit” for the fabric enthusiast… like, every single, San Francisco shopping recommendation to me included in some form or another ” …and Britex, of course”

And I most heartily concur. This place is insanely fabulous and I could’ve happily spent all day there.. The walls are stacked floor to ceiling with, well it felt like thousands of bolts of strong solid colours, arranged by colour to make a rainbow mural of fabric itself. What a sight to behold! I was crossing the rainbow bridge! Is this heaven?!!!

I die…

can you even…?? #sigh And this was only ONE floor, there was another one too!

Shams introduced us to the lovely owner, Sharman Spector; who was so kind and welcoming to us foreigners. I learned that Britex is a Legacy Business, which means it is one of a “longstanding community-serving business that is recognised as valuable cultural asset to San Francisco by the Office of Small Business. Preserving Legacy Businesses is critical to maintaining what makes San Francisco a unique and special place.” … and thank you, Professor Google for that succinct explanation…

Obviously, this is a wonderful idea, one that I wish we would adopt over here. Imagine a world populated by lots of small businesses offering unique and special services?! This, and many other utopian customs are just part of the enormous appeal of San Francisco, and I should add, New York City too. I think they are very innovative and future-thinking over there, while still keeping firmly in mind what is important to the happiness of human beings.

Anyway… my dress!

Sharman kindly gave me a length of this lovely “scribbled flowers” rayon challis; it’s delightfully whisper thin and feels coolly divine against the skin. So I envisioned a floaty, nothing-y little wisp of a dress. The print is quite oversized, so I could’ve got away with a longer dress, I think, but I’m very happy with this length; I think it’s both cute and chic, and the higher neckline balances nicely with the higher hemline.

Pattern; is my own design. It’s very simple because I really wanted this lovely eye-catching print to shine… so I’d made a similar dress for my friend L at the beginning of the year, a clone of a favourite dress of hers, and I couldn’t get the design out of my head. Mine has a few key differences which I wanted to implement; namely it’s quite a lot more A-line… MORE float!! … and has pockets. I altered the width of the top bits too, and the armscye. Actually, the armscye turned out to be a bit of a boo-boo… once it was hemmed it was just a leeetle bit low-cut.

You could definitely see bra-action… and I decided that if the bra was going to be seen, at least it could be a bra designed to be seen, and that went beautifully with the dress, complementing it. I toyed briefly with the idea of a hot pink thing, – sawww tempting!! – but in the end decided the perfect bra to match this was in fact a plain black, strapless bra. Strapless, well obviously, and plain black in order to not fight with the amaaaaaazing print, and to offset the black fabric I used for the tie.

For the bra; I used my old faithful McCalls 2772 swimsuit pattern pieces for a strapless bandeau bra; the only mods I made were to make boning channels using the side seam allowances, and inserting a short strip of boning. This keeps the bra structured and upright and not fold in on itself while I’m wearing it.

I also gathered the centre front onto a 7cm length of black elastic, just because I think it looks nice! and I also shortened the back straps by several inches, to make it nice and tight. Strapless bras have a tendency to migrate south, if they are not quite tight! I like my underwear to be in sets, so I also whipped up a matching pair of undies, using the bikini bottom pieces from the same pattern.

Oh, the dress neck-tie, I cut from a black satin remnant, leftovers I think from this black Forsythe dress I made for Cassie, three years ago.

The front and back of the dress are actually different from each other, even if they LOOK identical! so in order to identify the back I used this little Kylie and the Machine label I got in the Perth Frocktails goodie bag. It’s pretty cute, isn’t it? even if I kinda had a fleeting wish it was one of the “the is the back” labels; well I can swap that out if I ever buy a set.

But for now; it’s finished, and ready to keep me chic-ly cool in this extreme heatwave!

Details:

Dress; my own design, in this beautiful printed rayon challis from Britex
Bra and knickers; McCalls 2772, black poly
Shoes; Zomp, from Zomp boutique

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, dress, lingerie, McCalls 2772, own design

how to make a tulle petticoat

10/11/2019 10:46 pm \ 18 Comments \ Carolyn

… so, I mentioned Cassie’s engagement? and of course I’m completely thrilled to be asked to make her wedding dress! Thrilled, maybe tempered with a little nervousness, shall we say? but still nonetheless thrilled. I might even have been anticipating this very thing every since she was born!

Anyway, I’ve made a start… with a coupla petticoats. Yes, petticoats, plural. I shall now proceed to explain…

First of all; a stiff, tulle petticoat, to give plenty of volume and oomph to her bridal ensemble.

I’d read a blog post YEARS ago about making a petticoat but couldn’t find it, and so I just plowed ahead and made the above petticoat with what I could remember. But I do hate not giving credit, so after hunting and following links for what seemed like ages I finally found it!! this post here by Sugardale. I remember being very impressed with Sugardale’s post when I first read it, but I still somehow neglected to bookmark it or save any useful details that would enable me to find it again upon the occasion that I would need to use it. But eventually I did find it. And straight away realised that I had failed dismally to follow any of her instructions when making my own petticoat, so hmmm, there’s that! For example; Sugardale recommended an odd number of tiers, I made mine with an even number; Sugardale recommended working from the bottom up, I, in fact, worked from the top down. Honestly? I don’t think these issues are a big deal, I think either, or even any way is probably going to work out just fine…

After making a muslin for Cassie’s dress – two actually – we determined the length of the skirt would be 87 cm. I decided upon 4 tiers, with the following finished heights: from top down; 20cm, 21cm, 22cm, 24cm… staggered heights just because I believe it looks better and more balanced to have the lower tiers wider than the upper tiers.

I did remember enough of Sugardale’s instructions to know that the tiers started at 2yds from and top and needed to double in circumference with with each tier down; and the tulle I scoped out in Spotlight had a width of 126cm (49.6inches) So I calculated the following dimensions for my pieces:

Please note: tier 4 only has 1 single 1cm seam allowance added to the height, since the bottom edge is the lower edge of the petticoat and doesn’t need a seam allowance.

You can see by my calculations and measurements of the tulle I bought, that one and a half cut lengths measures 189cm which I decided didn’t need trimming down. Yes, my tiers were going to end up with a wider circumference overall than recommended, but I decided that a bit of extra volume was definitely not a bad thing. It is in fact a very good thing!

How much tulle to buy?

So, according to my calculations; I was going to need:

(2 x 22cm) + (3 x 23cm) + (6 x 24cm) + (12 x 25cm) = 6.6m of tulle Allowing for errors, I bought 8m of ivory tulle.

I used my rotary cutter and mat to cut the pieces as cleanly and as neatly as possible, and I cut and finished all gathering and stitching of each tier completely at a time before proceeding to the next tier, so as to not mix up the pieces. I can tell you, by the time you get to the bottom tier of 12 pieces, you do NOT want to get them mixed up!!

For the top tier, (circumference 189cm); I stitched it not fully closed, but leaving an opening of about 15cm from the top edge, so that Cassie can step into the petticoat. The seam allowance either side of the split opening I simply folded down and topstitched it down on either side of the split. I then ran a gathering stitch around the entire top edge and pulled it up to roughly fit Cassie’s waist measurement. I cut a bias-cut strip of white cotton poplin, measured off Cassie’s waist measurement of 63cm and pinned to mark, and gathered the top tier (189cm) into this length.

After stitching each tier, I topstitched the upper seam allowance of each tier to the skirt above, approx 7mm from the stitching line. I think this gives it a bit of strength, and lends a bit of pretty visual structure to this ethereal thing too. Not that it’s meant to be seen, but well, you know…

Sophie checks out a weird THING

To finish the waist tie, I pressed the raw edges of the waistband strip into the centreline, then pressed the strip in half, and topstitched in place, about 2mm from the opening edge.

When putting the petticoat on, Cassie steps into the skirt, then the long ends of the waistband are pulled across from each other, wrapped around her waist and tied in a simple knot or bow.

It stands up by itself!

I stuck it up on the kitchen bench for a while, while I had to do something else, and I dunno, the sight of it gave me such a laugh! Like a little tulle volcano, or something. Mt Petticoat!!

Because bare legs against a scratchy tulle petticoat will probably become very uncomfortable very quickly, I also made a simple full circle petticoat to be worn underneath, using ivory cotton voile from Spotlight.

This is also 87cm in length, and for this I bought 4m and used every single bit! I cut this length in half, and then cut the half circles for the two halves the skirt by the “fold into halves, then quarters, then eighths, then again” and cut across the lower edge to get a rough, but good enough curve; method.

The waist opening is made by cutting off the top, just 8cm from the tip. When stitching together the two half circles of the skirt, I again made sure to leave an opening of at least 15cm so she can step into the skirt!! and same as for the tulle petticoat, to finish the slit edges I simply pressed down the seam allowances either side of this slit and topstitched them into place.

To finish the waistband and for closure, I again made a bias cut strip of the same fabric, and stitched it to the waistline, leaving long tails either side, pressed the raw edges to the middle of the strip and stitched it closed, same as for the tulle petticoat. By the way; I usually stitch this; right side of strip, to wrong side of skirt; this means when you fold the raw edges of the strip over you’re actually topstitching from the right side of the skirt, which of course ends up looking much neater from the right side. Which is just what you want.

For the lower edge of the fabric petticoat, I overlocked the raw edge to provide a stable and even width guide for hemming; then folded the overlocked edge under twice and topstitched it down.

The two petticoats! I think they look so pretty together!

LATER EDIT:

I made a second, voile petticoat! It’s exactly the same as the first cream coloured one, except it’s white; because I think I cleaned Spotlight right out of the cream, whoops! This will be worn over the tulle petticoat and be like the lining to the dress. So the layers Cassie will be wearing, from the inside out are: voile petticoat, tulle petticoat, voile petticoat, DRESS!

petticoat… junction…

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: lingerie, own design, pattern tutorial, petticoat, skirt, tutorial, wedding dress

pretty turquoise lingerie set

28/07/2019 4:36 pm \ 6 Comments \ Carolyn

Oh hai! So I’m suddenly and frantically trying to blog things I’ve made in a month WITHIN the month. Something I am lately failing at dismally!

However, not much to say really. I made a bra and two pairs of matching undies.

Bra pattern is my standby MakeBra pattern 2610, now renamed DL 03; and the two pairs of undies are both my favourite cloth habit Watson briefs. I used a lovely aqua-turquoise stretch lace from Minerva crafts, and a cream coloured polyester from Spotlight, the latter has been in my stash for yonks – also used for this set, actually. Pretty pink ribbon and all matching cream elastics from Homecraft Textiles. Foam for the cups from the MakeBra basic kit I purchased years ago. Rings and sliders recycled from an old, also made-by-me bra.

I did some slightly different with the cups this time, and instead of piecing the lace to cover the cups, I stretched it over the foam cups that I’d already covered with the cream polyester, pieced in the usual way. I did this because I didn’t want to break up the pretty design of the lace with obvious seaming. Always an issue with a pieced bra cup! When you seee bras in the store they don’t really have this pieced cup thing going on and I wanted to see if I could make it happen with my own homemade bras too. I had to very slight gather the bottom edge of the lace in order for this to work, but I think it turned out ok.

I didn’t have quite enough of the lace to cut the bra band out in one, single piece, so there is piecing towards the back of the band. However I think this is subtle enough that it’s not a problem.

Extremely eagle eyed observers might pick up that the hook and eye closure are on the wrong sides here!! Now this is the reason why I usually haul out an existing bra every single time and check FOR SURE before adding these, because the one time you don’t?!!…. Of course I only discovered this when I went to put the bra on for the first time….. DOH! I managed to get it on ok at the time, but before wearing it again I unpicked them and swapped them to the correct sides. My hands are like old dogs, and are not used to learning new bra-wrangling tricks like this anymore!

I made the bra and one pair of knickers to be total lace; but didn’t have enough lace for another entire pair of undies… but well I like to have the undies different from each other anyway. In fact, I decided I liked the half-lace undies more in the end! I carefully cut and appliquéd to get them all neat and nice. After my wedding dress adventures, I now consider myself a lace-applique expert, actually

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: cloth habit, lingerie, makeBra 2610, makeBra DL03, watson

cowboy dogs

27/05/2019 1:44 pm \ 6 Comments \ Carolyn

I really only cut out this set so as to have something to work on at the recent Australian Sewing Guild meeting… since I couldn’t really take along any wedding sewing. And I enjoyed it so much, I just had to keep on and finish it immediately. Sooo nice to just make something simple and fun and trivial, just for myself! Honestly, when I’m feeling stressed, or anxious, or just otherwise unhappy, making a set of lingerie… well there’s just something so restorative about it.

The cotton jersey is from Spotlight, I just fell in love with the cowboy dogs as soon as I saw them… and who doesn’t need some ridiculous, guitar-toting’ cowboy dogs in their life anyway, I ask?!!

I must say, Spotlight has really been stepping it up with their cute and novelty prints lately, it’s completely impossible to walk past and not choose just one to take home! Other bits and bobs; black lingerie elastic, and hook and eye fastener are also from Spotlight, the remainder of the elastics from the basic black kit from MakeBra, and the black rings and sliders from Homecraft Textiles. Coral pink ribbon bows from le stash.

Pattern; the Watson, by cloth habit. My favourite! I did my usual alterations; namely cutting the front and outer crotch piece as one, and constructing the bra front so as to be fully lined and to have all the seam allowances enclosed within the layers (tute here). For this one, I also cut the front cradle and back bands to be about 0.5cm longer at the lower edges, tapering back to the regular width at the centre back where the hook and eye closure is attached.

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: cloth habit, lingerie, watson

navy blue lingerie set

07/05/2019 8:05 pm \ 4 Comments \ Carolyn

So, items in my wardrobe I am currently very much in want, and need, of replenishing, are those that reside in my smalls drawer…. and with our Family Wedding just around the corner I reeeeeeeally wanted a lovely new set of lingerie for the Big Day! And of course, what better than one to tone in/match my wedding outfit?

So, without giving too much away, because guess what?!! my outfit is not even navy blue!!! NOT EVEN CLOSE!! anyway, this is that set!

I bought half a metre of navy blue stretch stuff and a short length of raspberry ribbon to decorate, all from Fabulous Fabrics; and imagine my delight when I managed to cut, not just my usual one bra plus two pairs of matching undies, but TWO new bras! and the requisite two new pairs of matching undies… thanks to the fabric being super wide. I also bought a very short length of navy blue lace… way too short as it turned out because cutting out the lace for my Watson bra was a headache and a half, no hope of pattern matching, and I barely could eke out a little bit of lace from the leftovers to insert into the two pairs of undies too… in retrospect I shouldn’t even have tried. Because while snipping out the jersey from behind the lace on one pair of otherwise finished and PERFECT undies, I actually cut in the wrong spot and sliced a neat little hole in the side of one. GNNNNNNNNNNNNNN! I almost cried! So I ironed a little patch of iron-on interfacing behind the hole, and it’ll be … fine. Moral of the story, don’t sew while tired, kids…. anyway, I’m not wearing that pair to the wedding!

The two bras, so one is the Watson of course, with the navy lace backed by some of Kelly’s wedding net as the lining… shhh! I “borrowed” a bit from the leftovers! and I really like that I have a little bit of the wedding dress in my outfit too! even if it is very much hidden and NOT obviously from the wedding dress. Otherwise, it is an unremarkable Watson. As usual, I constructed the cups so as to have all the seams neatly hidden away inside the lining, as per this post.

Both pairs of undies are the Watson briefs, with my usual modification so as to eliminate that awful horizontal front seam.

The other bra is my makeBra padded balconette style bra, fairly plain; but I really love this style of bra, it’s so good to have a few lightly padded T-shirt bras like this one for winter, and this is my favourite pattern for that purpose.

I used pretty silver rings and sliders with navy blue underbust elastic and bra straps for both bras (Homecraft Textiles), black lingerie elastic and black findings throughout (Spotlight), foam for the balconette bra from the makeBra basic kit, cream stretch for the linings from my stash, originally Spotlight. I’m so happy with both bras! and ONE set of the undies, at least, ahem…. and in any case I am looking forward VERY much to the day that I get to wear them!

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I’m soooooooooooo excited for the BIG DAY!!!!

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: cloth habit, lingerie, makeBra, makeBra 2610, watson

blue and green should never be seen

31/08/2018 7:01 pm \ 8 Comments \ Carolyn

I almost called this new lingerie set “frozen”; which to be honest is more like an accurate description of me, actually, while disrobing for the purposes of trying it on, haha. #comeonsummer But finally, today the last day of winter YAY!!! Around this time is typically a low time of the year for me, when I’m really flagging and running low on zip and zoom, just banking on the promise of warmer weather appearing, any minute now. I know I know; our winters are so mild, what have I got to complain about? Nothing really. And yet…? I do. Sad to say, I do. But I shall stop now. Becaaaaause… *pauses for dramatic effect* I have some new pretties!!!!

It’s a bit embarrassing actually, since this lingerie set has been all cut out, elastics and all the other bits and bobs present and accounted for, and the whole lot merely awaiting the sewing together bit for…. *mumble mumble* months now. Actually I believe I mentioned it the last time I presented a set of underwear, here on ye olde blog. I did a bit of a cleanup of my sewing space (Tim Gunn voice, there) and the pieces of this set got “tidied” away into my laundry cupboard, out of sight and out of mind. SAAAAD!! Anyway, it’s made now.

I’m very happy with this new set… I really love to have matching sets, and it’s even more pleasing if I can make the two sets of undies quite different from each other, and at the same time match each other, and the bra. Tick!!

Patterns:

Bra, or more accurately “bralette” I suppose, since it’s a fripperous little thing with no underwires or anything serious like that; it’s basically my own design, the same design I used to make this neon yellow one here. I draped the lace onto Bessie and cut and pinned and tried on here and there… and ta da!

The two sets of matching undies are made using:

1. the Watson briefs, which I’ve used a million times before. Not even exaggerating there. Oh, ok, maybe a little then 😉 And

2. the Tanga lace panties pattern a free pattern available on Burda style here. I’ve made this pattern up three times before; here, here and here. They look absolutely adorable while you’re wearing them, but the design is just not my favourite… the sides are completely unsupported and so have a tendency to slowly slide down your hips; meaning I’ve never felt 100% secure in them. But they really are soooo cuuuute! so here we go again… this time I downsized from a medium to a small, because it occurred to me, that maybe the medium is simply too big. I cut out a medium first – this lace is not cheap!! – but pinned the small on me, to see; and yep, small fits just fine. Got high hopes for these ones!!!

Oh, and I also did my usual, and very essential, crotch fix as described here.

Materials; Blue lace from Homecraft Textiles, green silk jersey was a hand-me-down scrap from Mum. Bralette is lined with a light peach-coloured swimwear lining fabric from the Fabric Store ( I have quite a lot of this) Elastics and all other findings from Homecraft Textiles. The blue fold-over elastic on the green watson undies was leftover from a previous project, this set. The lace knickers have a green panty liner, because it shows through the lace obviously! whereas the green undies have a white liner, because not enough fabric!

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: cloth habit, lingerie, own design, Tanga, watson

seagull set

10/06/2018 3:48 pm \ 18 Comments \ Carolyn

O hey!!

So, what to make when you just want a super quick and easy project? usually I would reply joyfully and with complete confidence “a lingerie set!”. And I mean, I know I’m really going to enjoy wearing this, what turned out to be a nice and very pretty set, in my opinion, and I really love it, and all’s well that ends well. But I guess every now and then I need to remind myself to never ever get blasé about inserting elastic. Honestly, when all goes smoothly then it’s all so easy and you wonder what all the fuss is about; when it doesn’t then, just saying; zig-zag stitch on thin stretchy jersey, in matching coloured threads is the ABSOLUTE PITS to unpick. THE PITS, I SAY!!!

Pattern; both bra and two pairs of matching undies are the cloth habit Watson, definitely my favourite tried and true nowadays. Construction of bra modified to have a full lining with all concealed seams, as per my tutorial here, and undies altered so as to not have the horizontal crotch seam, as per usual.

Fully lined… and it’s difficult to see, but I always under stitch the front V of the bra/lining, so as to keep the lining nicely tucked inside

Material; seagull printed cotton jersey from Spotlight… so pretty, I couldn’t resist the instant I saw it! It’s a nice quality and I think the duck-egg blue and soft teal wavey/wonky stripes are really lovely, and of course seagulls are pretty apt for a beach-loving girl like me! I bought it on a trip there with Cassie… she bought some too, for a Tshirt, I think? Lining is a soft thin, polyester; white elastics and findings from Homecraft Textiles; raspberry mini-bows made by me and recycled from a previous set.

I’m including this picture of the back of the bra; because for a long while now I’ve been putting the rings and sliders in this position, which is back to front from how it’s recommended in the pattern. I’ve tried it with the findings at the front, but found this way uses less elastic, and sits more comfortably for me. Yes, you do have to have the straps adjusted to the right length before you put it on, but I just like it this way, for the moment.

I made my usual two pairs of matching undies

Pretty raspberry mini-bows! I’ve probably said it a million times, but navy/pink is one of my all time favourite colour combinations! Now for a brief post-mortem, if you don’t want to read a good whinge, stop now!

So, my biggest mistake was absent-mindedly picking up a length of navy blue underbust elastic and inserting it fully to the lower edge of the bra, with two passes of zig-zag stitch PLUS a single row of basting stitches too, including requisite thread changes for colour … before remembering that “oh yeah, I had actually gone out and bought some white elastic for this set and the blue elastic was supposed to be for a different set I have cut out right now …. *grrr* what a dweeb. That took a good hour or so of unpicking in front of the telly… to get back to square one…

The other mistake was to try out a shortcut I’d thought of in my head by stitching the picquet elastic on the undies, jersey side up . i.e. elastic underneath; and stitching with a negligible seam allowance on the cotton jersey, to avoid having to trim it after the first pass of zig-zag stitch. This was a big mistake for two reasons; firstly, turned out I’d stitched too close to the picquet edge and stitched it FULLY DOWN! but couldn’t see that I’d done this because it was underneath, and secondly, the jersey edge kept wanting to buckle and slide underneath the needle, because it didn’t have enough of a seam allowance to the right of the needle to stabilise it going underneath my machine foot. Yes, I should have gone slow to check that all was going well, but I arrogantly zoomed ahead, struggling with the buckling but making it work with SHEER BLOODYMINDEDNESS and a smattering of judiciously applied cursing; and stitched a whole waist elastic on before conceding that indeed, this was a disaster. Result, another lengthy session with the seam ripper. See comment in the first paragraph about unpicking. Moral of the story; don’t try to shortcut this step! I’ve learnt my lesson!

SaveSave

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: cloth habit, lingerie, watson

I made some stuff…

31/01/2018 1:27 pm \ 25 Comments \ Carolyn

So, what are the latest whatevers to wing their way out of the atelier, hmmm? Well, I’ve been making LOADS of things, just nothing much to show for it, as yet. Remember I mentioned I was making a pattern? Well, making a pattern comes with making a truckload of muslins, of course. I’ve actually made 13 dresses in the last month alone, albeit they’re made from old sheets and are a bit rough, but still. Am I going to count these in my “one refashion a month” resolution? no, that wouldn’t be fair. How’s the pattern coming along? swimmingly! which is fab… I’m almost at the testing phase, I will be incredibly happy to get there after 8 months of preparation. 8 MONTHS!

In more tangible making results, I made a little romper for Sarah’s new little boy… Sarah LOVES stripes, so the descent into stripe-matching madness struck once again. I used Butterick 6372, which I’ve made twice previously, and just altered it slightly to be a romper, and added that cute little pocket. Would you believe I re-did that little pocket THREE flipping times?? First I made a curved bottom pocket, which was pretty awful, followed by a flat bottomed pocket. Equally awful. I do really like the pointed bottom pocket though, I think it’s super cute. It’s my favourite part about the whole romper actually!

The striped cotton terry is from Spotlight, hopefully the last piece of fabric I will buy this year, given Project Stash Reduction is a goal this year. The red cuffs and pockets were culled from a Wildcats Tshirt from my refashioning pile. Thus partially fulfilling my once-a-month refashioning resolution #virtouslyRubbingFingernailsOnChest.

There was a little bit of leftover striped fabric, so I also made an adult sized beanie, using a pattern made by Andrea of fabric epiphanies. I’m afraid though that I couldn’t for the life of me work out how to print it up so the sizing square was the correct scale… three attempts later, and eventually I settled for “pretty close”. I estimated my beanie is actually about 7-8% bigger than the pattern, and then Sarah informed me it is too small! aaaagh! It is a pretty cute pattern though, I will still probably give it another go one day 🙂

The stripes do match up all around though, both inside and out, a matter of personal pride for me. I bound the beanie using a strip of blue merino, given to me by Mum.

So, after cutting the romper cuffs and pocket from the Tshirt, I still had quite a chunk of Tshirt leftover, well this wouldn’t do! I immediately realised, as you do; that I could get two pairs of knickers and a bra from the leftovers. Well, I’m sure that is the first thought anyone would think, hmmm?

I used the cloth habit Watson pattern, and cut out a bra plus two sets of matching knickers… yes, it was an XL Tshirt. I avoided as much of the advertising as possible and tried to stick to just the Wildcats logos as much as I could.

As I was making it, it occurred to me… is jungle January still a thing? See, in the past few years I’ve been in the habit of making a set of underwear for jungle January, and one of the things about the basketball is that the Perth Arena is known as “the Jungle” during the Wildcats games. Like, they’re always screaming “WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE!!!!!!” and going on about “…. HERE IN THE JUNGLE…!!!!” “Jungle” I guess because, wildcats. Anyway, it occurred to me that I was serendipitously making a jungle-themed set of underwear again. Without even meaning to! Win!!!

Do you wanna hear something funny?

I’ve been in the throes of making this set for several weeks now, fitting it in as light relief in between working on my pattern, you know; and I took it along to the sewing guild meeting yesterday in the hopes of finishing it up. And there I had the joy of seeing Emma also making a Watson bra. Except her’s was really beautiful; super pretty, with chartreuse lace, pink and blue elastics, generally all round gorgeous and very feminine. Just absolutely lovely in every way. Such a contrast to my sorta … lowbrow one made from an old basketball Tshirt, With logos, and everything. Like something a teenager might wear. Or more like, refuse to. Omigawd, so embarrassing. I swear I don’t try to be like this. It just happens. Every now and again, I think back to an anonymous commenter who used to frequent my blog, and who couldn’t resist from pointing out my 1) immaturity and 2) unnecessary penny-pinching-ness, among other things. Ahem, guilty as charged!

Fully lined with a lightweight stretchy stuff that I discovered during my stash clean out… My tutorial for fully lining this pattern to enclose the seams, is here

I thought about not posting this next one… but wellll, here goes… I’ve also made another thing, squeezed out from the Wildcats Tshirt, I mentioned it was an XL yeah?! I also got a little cropped top, much nothing to write home about at all… I made it specifically for my new workout aspirations. I hadn’t made any working out or losing weight resolutions on New Year’s Eve … but just lately I’ve been feeling a bit stodgy and decidedly… “matronly”, is the only word I can think of. So I decided to do something about it, and purchased the Kayla Itsines Bikini BodyGuide. One thing you’re supposed to do before even getting started is take a picture of yourself, preferably in a sports crop top and little shorts, and then take a new picture in the same ensemble every week as you work through the guide. So obviously I had to make myself a little crop top, asap! I used my customised version of the Closet Case Nettie bodysuit pattern and whipped up this super basic thing, just edged with a line of white overlocking thread around all the edges, which I think looks nice with my little white shorts. I made those too.. they’re are the eponymous Carolyn pyjama shorts. I rolled them up a bit, to show as much abdomen as I dared. Hopefully, it’s going to become a more shapely one in a few weeks! Don’t worry, I will not be posting a new picture here every week, but I’ll probably do an summary when I finished the course!

I started out with the beginner’s schedule, and practically killed myself just doing day 1!!

before…