lingerie Archives - Page 5 of 8 - Handmade by Carolyn

set de la tree frog

15/01/2016 1:24 pm \ 27 Comments \ Carolyn

My new lingerie set is inspired by the red-eyed tree frog. Yes, really! and this is my “thing” for Jungle January, the fun yearly challenge set by Anne of Pretty Greivances.

Deja vu!! because last year I also made underdaks, also froggy-inspired.

photograph credit, Carey James Balboa; source

So, hello there, Agalychnis callidryas. This little cutie is native to the rain forests that extend from Mexico down through Central America to Columbia… and thank YOU, Wikipedia. Also according to Wikipedia, its name callidryas is derived from the Greek for beautiful wood nymph. So while I am wearing it I shall imagine myself as a … bwahaha, I’m joking of course, I cannot even type that with a straight face. Lol.

It’s an exquisite little creature, is it not? the colours are quite magnificent. So bright and vivid and with those eyes; big, round and true scarlet, with a vertically aligned pupil. I positioned my two-hole buttons accordingly, and used black thread on purpose to mimic that.

Well I reckon it’s the attention to the whimsical detail that becomes the most fun thing about making your own clothes!

Actually this was all a bit fortuitous… I kinda forgot about Jungle January, then Sue posted her dress and I was like doh! Jungle January! aaaaaagh! but as it turned out, I’d only just cut all the lingerie pieces of green jersey, like the night before. I’d managed to squeak these pieces out from the leftovers of a Tshirt… anyway, I looked at the colour and immediately thought “frog!”

So, with the perfect colour fabric (Fabulous Fabrics), plus it was already cut out and ready to go, I already had the blue fold-over elastic, navy blue underband elastic and the red buttons in Le Stash… so I just needed to dash out to Homecraft Textiles for some orange fold-over elastic; bob’s your uncle.

squeezing all details into one picture…

Patterns; both knickers are the Watson briefs and the bra is my favourite pattern, MakeBra 2610. This is hands down the most wearable of the bra patterns in my collection.

Oh, I mentioned the lingerie set was leftovers from a Tshirt? well, now seems a good enough time as any to blog about that too. Lime green jersey from Fabulous Fabrics, pattern is the Nettie byCloset Case patterns, my go-to Tshirt pattern. It’s actually way too hot for me to really wear it right now, it’s 37C phew! so this is like a 20 second photo shoot happening here. I bought this fabric at the same time as the black-and-white striped fabric for this recent skirt, because I reckoned they’d be kind cool together, Tim Burton-ish, in a good way.

Actually, this project is pretty funny to me; see, the Tshirt was really my primary objective, because I wanted more colour options in my Tshirt department… the lingerie was cut out just as a “oh, what the hey” afterthought because the fabric was already out. In all likelihood the pieces would have got shoved away like the three other unmade lingerie sets I’ve already cut out under the same circumstances…. oops! must make those too… *blush*

Then Jungle January breathed inspiration into those scrappy bits, and I got all excited and super focused and enthused about making the lingerie and it became a much bigger deal in my head… I almost forgot about that Tshirt!

Later edit; I eventually got tired of the Tshirt’s lime-green colour and dyed it brown, now it’s a delightfully sludgy shade of olive!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: Closet Case files, cloth habit, jungle january, lingerie, makeBra 2610, Nettie, top, watson

palest grey/green set

12/12/2015 9:04 am \ 23 Comments \ Carolyn

A new lingerie set…
Patterns; bra is the Watson, by cloth habit; the longline version, and the ultra-cute knickers; which appear superficially like ginormous granny-knickers on the flat but seriously, they’re adorable on! are Tanga, a free pattern downloadable from Burda.
Fabrics; I’ve wanted an all-lace set and bought this lovely green lace aaaaaages ago, gathered all the bits and bobs and cut out the pieces; and then we were going away, I shoved the whole shebang in a bag and forgot about it. Doh! Imagine my delight when recently I found it again… woot! I got cracking and finished it off.
Palest of the pale, grey/green lace, white shoulder strap elastic, rings and sliders; Homecraft Textiles. Picot elastic, beige jersey lining; Fabulous Fabrics. Satin ribbon; scraps found in stash, as old as the hills.

Thoughts; so this is my second Watson bra, the first longline … I LOVE the look of it, well duh, LAAAACE!!! so that’s a plus. A surprise downside is the much wider hook and eye closure is SO MUCH HARDER for me to do up and undo. I didn’t expect that! but probably should have… the thing is; I’ve only ever used a two hook closure up until now, meaning that it’s second nature to me and my hands automatically operate the 2-hooks easily and breezily. A 3-hook is like a whole new brain pattern which my hands have never learned and I’m fumbling away, almost like I’ve never worn a bra before in my life… well, you know what they say about old dogs and new tricks. I’m tempted to think that for a soft, longline style like this I might even prefer my funny, basic little pull-on camisole bralette, simple and easy, save myself the trouble and expense of the hook and eye closure and the style still works perfectly fine for my likes and meagre needs.
I’m still going to wear this new set to bits obviously! just an observation.

previous Watson bra

Also, the back elastics; with the Watson you’re supposed to commence sewing them horizontally along the back from the centre back and they continue on, curving up and over the shoulders to become the shoulder straps, as pictured above. Now I don’t know if anyone else has come up with this problem too; but when I’m wearing it, the elastic does not sit flat against your body, but instead “folds” around the corner and so forms a little lumpy bump as it does so. These bumps can just be seen in the above picture, at the sharpest point of the curve where it starts being a strap. It’s a small thing but a little annoying nonetheless. SO, for this version I cut and sewed the back elastic and shoulder strap elastic on as two separate pieces. Not quite as smart looking, but the bump problem is solved so I’m not stressing over it.

The last time I made Tanga undies I discovered what a bad bad bad idea it was to situate a longitudinal seam in the crotch area … worst design concept, evah! anyway, I wrote about how I fixed that first pair by cutting out a new, seamless crotch using the liner piece. SO MUCH BETTER, and I did the same for this pair too. I cut two lengths of 5mm elastic to be 10% shorter than the side edges and zig-zagged it along the edges, between the lace and beige jersey liner. I know from experience that this is about 1000000 times more comfortable than to do it like the pattern tells you.

I used beige jersey to line the bra cups and knickers liner as well as to partially line inside the front of the knickers. This was cut using my rotary cutter to achieve sharp and clean-cut edges, and is simply zig-zagged down inside the lace. This stuff is a very good match to my skin colour so it was such a great find! Note to self; remember to keep checking Fabulous Fabrics to see if they get any more in stock…
Having a lining also helps to hide the seams, because I treated it like an underlining; the lace/linings seams are inside the garments and not between the layers. I LOVE having the neatest insides possible but sometimes you just have to sacrifice the insides for the outsides, haha.
I know, weird, right? Who even does that?!!

felled seams inside (L) undies and (R) bra cups

I faux-felled all the seams on the inside, by stitching them down lightly and trimming the raw edges close to the stitching. This is not as neat overall than if they were sandwiched between the layers but looks much better from the right side, with no seam allowances visible through the holes of the lace.
To stabilise the cup edges, I stitched short lengths of satin ribbon along the jersey edge inside.

btw; that is the stock picture of the Tanga knickers above right. It makes me slightly anxious every time I look at it… however don’t let the non-pattern matching distract you, this is a cute pattern which is free and available to all; and that’s the important thing here!

Now for some housekeeping… dk’s wife, could you please email me regarding the hedgehog pattern? thanks. 🙂
Also, I’ve received lots of emails from kind readers letting me know that commenting is working only rarely on my blog… I’m so sorry! 🙁 Like everyone, I love comments! so please know, I am working on a site update to fix the problem. It may take a short while though since I’m a complete computer dummy, but I am on it!

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

ivory Ruby

24/11/2015 7:05 am \ 31 Comments \ Carolyn

Hello!
I’ve made a new slip; which looks superficially rather plain and boring, belying the hours of of care that has been lavished upon it, haha! Bias hemlines! aaaaugh! *insert Munchian scream here*
Pattern; the Ruby slip, designed by Sheryll of pattern scissors cloth. I downloaded it years ago but this is the first time I’ve used it! I’ve wanted to, but actually felt a little shy of doing so since she made her blog private for quite a long time. Anyhow, now she’s back … yay! and so I feel ok about using and linking to her pattern again. Thank you so much for the wonderful pattern, Sherry!
Fabric; a fine and slithery ivory crepe from FabulousFabrics. The slip is cut on the bias, so hurrah for large-scale floor tiles! I can’t say how many times I’ve found them super useful for lining up grain lines, selvedges, bias lines etc etc when laying and cutting out my pattern pieces. And especially when you’re dealing with a slippery slithery fabric like crepe, which is so dodgy it can deviate and deform at the slightest provocation.

Sherry’s pattern is designed for a lace bodice but I cut my pieces all from the crepe, with a double layered bodice front and back. The skinny skinny spaghetti straps are encased within the two layers on the front bodice, whereas at the back (pictured below) I hand-tacked them inside the bodice, not within the two layers, to enable easy unpicking/readjustment in the case of the straps stretching out over time. The under stitching of the bodice lining is visible in this picture here too.

Those skinny straps, by the way; I know everyone probably has their own individual way of turning them; I tie the seam thread ends through the eye of a wool needle and let it drop/push it through through the tube, turning the tube out. A wool needle is generally quite blunt enough to use for this purpose and unlikely to get stuck in your fabric on the way, but if you’re worried about the point being a little too sharp you can always put it through eye first.
Also; cut your straps a few centimetres longer than required, so you can trim off the ends that invariably turn out a little scrappy-looking after turning.

I sewed all seams as French seams but just overlocked the bodice-to-dress seam on the inside to finish it *blush*
Picking my battles here…!
The slip then spent a week hanging up on Bessie to let that bias drop out as much as possible. Then I spent aaaaaages measuring and measuring and re-measuring and double checking that hemline, first on both Bessie then myself to be absolutely sure it’s straight, before cutting it to length.
The length is determined by the fact that this slip is tailor-made to go under another dress I’m in the process of making right now, by the way; but I do hope to wear it with other things too, of course 🙂

In the close-up above, at the very lower edge of the picture can be seen some white stay-stitching along that hem… if the fabric is very light and slithery like this, I generally stay-stitch a stitching guideline, situated a few millimetres outside the measured lower edge of a bias-cut garment, on the machine. Then I trim the seam allowance outside that, it gets rolled up and I stitch along and into that machine stitching when hemming. The benefits of this stay-stitching are threefold: it not only makes it a heckuvva lot easier to stitch a hand-rolled hem, it stabilises the fabric substantially and prevents the bias from stretching out too much while you’re stitching, the dreaded lettuce leaf edge! AND also keeps your hem on the straight and narrow as it were, keeping it even and helps avoid any little dips, ducks and dives in the final product. Even the best hand-roller is bound to roll a little bit more, a little bit less every now and again. Nit-picky; I know, but every little bit helps I think, and after all that careful measuring to ensure the hemline is perfectly even, it makes sense to safeguard it and keep it as straight as is humanly possible for the stitching of it too, yes?
Also as seen in the picture; I often don’t “roll” the French-seamed side seam under twice at the hem either, but turn it up just the once for its short bit of hemline… why? frequently it’s too bulky and often creates a little dip or worse, a “flip-out” of the hem at that point if I’ve tried to force it. Probably my bad sewing, but there it is, I get better results like this!

Later edit;

Jillian asked about turning spaghetti/rouleau straps; thank you Jillian! Fabrics like this slippery crepe are rarely a problem but in some thicker and/or stiffer fabrics, turning out a strap can be a bear. The less fluid the fabric the less easily it can be manipulated into turning inside out into a little tube… and yes that starting bit is always the most awkward bit!
Firstly; it’s important to trim the seam allowances so as to be of a much smaller width/lesser thickness than the final tube will be.
Also, never never allow the fabric to bunch up excessively, but keep teasing the tube along, a little bit at a time, slowly but surely 🙂
Another little trick I have used successfully is to sew the end centimetre or so of the tube seam tapering inwards into a slightly skinnier tube at the very end, as pictured above left. The skinnier end does pull into and turn inside the wider “main” tube a little easier than if it was the same circumference. The tapered end bit can be trimmed off after the strap is turned out successfully.

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: lingerie, pattern scissors cloth, petticoat, ruby slip, tip

some random tips for sewing lingerie

08/10/2015 5:20 am \ 23 Comments \ Carolyn

There are a bajillion great posts out there with good tips for sewing lingerie; hopefully this one is adding one or two new pieces of info into the pot…

Pattern pieces: If your pattern pieces are half ones it’s well worth doubling them to make full pattern pieces, that do not need to be placed on a fold. This is useful for many reasons; one is pattern placement when it comes to lining up lace motifs, another is getting the most economical layout on a small piece of possibly expensive lace. Also if your pieces are to be cut on the bias… some knickers patterns are suitable for fine wovens like Liberty, and need to be cut on the bias and it’s only about 1000 times easier with a full pattern piece than folding the fabric accurately for a “cut on the fold”. Mark the bias line on all new pattern pieces too.

I also prefer to splice together the knickers front piece and crotch piece of my Watson brief pattern (see above) so as to make them one piece and eliminate that horizontal front seam. The crotch lining is sandwiched between the (new) knickers front and back pieces along the curved joining seam, and is stitched down with the leg elastic at the sides, but otherwise sits loose at the front. I prefer this to having a front seam!

Usually I save paper by taping together scrap pieces or even newspaper to make the other half pieces; for frequently used patterns, or if the original is a fragile tissue paper pattern, the pieces can be traced as whole new ones on thin, sheer plastic which is more durable (above). For this I use plastic table-clothing, sold in 30m rolls from the party section of Spotlight.

Also, I jot on the actual pattern pieces the lengths of elastic needed, to save re-measuring for each new project.

When sewing the ends of the rings and sliders; cut, pin and sew the pairs together and at the same time. It’s hand down the best way to guarantee the two sides will be identical, if such things as symmetry are important to you. Actually the same goes for anything there will be a “pair” of in the project.

Satin ribbon trim; I always “heat seal” the cut ends of ribbon bows so they don’t fray during wear. Just hold the cut end of the ribbon close to a candle flame and carefully watch it as you sloooowly move it closer; it gets to a point where it starts to melt away in the heat. This happens pretty quickly so you need to keep a close eye on it and pull it away the very second you see it happening.

Hook and eye tape: I prefer to buy separate hook and eye tape if it’s available but my closest store sells only “bra extenders”. I’ve found these to be an adequate substitute if I can’t find the proper arrangement; the pieces can just be picked apart quite easily. If the “hook” piece is too long the extra length can be cut away and the edge zig-zagged. It’s not as neatly finished or as professional looking, but it’s perfectly fine in a pinch.

Sewing edging elastic onto lightweight and super-stretchy fabrics …
Super stretchy fabrics are obviously perfect for underthingies but also obviously come with their own little challenges… and one of them is the dreaded “lettuce leaf” edge happening.

yes, this is my own work *hangs head in shame*

I’ve found it very helpful to sew a long basting or stay stitching 6mm (1/4″) from all edges before attaching any elastic. I know, straight stitch on knits, *horrified gasp* it’s a huge no-no and I could get blasted for this! but meh, it works out pretty good for me 🙂

I mean, everyone has their own, slightly unique way of attaching elastic, I’m of the school of thought that whatever works, works; and lots of different ways are going to work.
The lettuce leaf occurs when the elastic is overstretched while sewing it to the edge of the fabric, and it’s pretty easy to do this when sewing with a particularly stretchy fabric. It’s better for the elastic to be sewn to the edge of the fabric “flat” that is, for the elastic to be stretched to the minimal amount and for the fabric to be stretched not at all, while sewing them together. A stay stitching helps to prevent this, and after the elastic is attached and before the final zig-zag you can pull out those initial basting/stay-stitching threads, if you like; to keep things looking nice and neat and tidy.

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: lingerie, seams, tip

mocha set

04/10/2015 3:19 am \ 21 Comments \ Carolyn

… for me!
Fabric; slithery, slinky-malinki poly knit from Fabulous Fabrics in a divinely luxuriously glossy mocha shade; all elastic and other findings from Homecraft Textiles. I wanted to make a Sierra bra for myself too; and while I love lace-y underthingies, this time I went for smooth, sleek and sophisticated, with a grownup vibe more befitting to an ancient old crone such as myself.
Haha, no really, I do have a nice selection of frillies already and just wanted a change of pace 🙂
Features; none. Letting the fabric glow on its own with absolutely nil embellishment.
LOVE this unadorned look, I mean I adore pretty bits and bobs too but sometimes the simplest and plainest of styles in a sophisticated colour and liquid-y fabric like this feels just as gorgeous!

Technical blahdy-blah: I cut two backs, clean finished the seams within the layers, and also lined the front/cups with self fabric to about centre front. I just left the lining CF straight edge floating unfinished on the inside; it’s not going to fray or anything and doesn’t show up at all. The remainder of the fronts/straps are single layered. The lower edge is finished with elastic, folded under and zig-zagged on the right side, just the same finish as the top edges and all edges of the knickers (as pictured below). I cut the elastic 7% shorter than the edge it was to be attached to, measuring the paper pattern pieces.
That black hook and eye tape at the back is bothering me, but well, colour options here are pretty limited. I’ve found Homecraft Textiles to have the absolute best array of lingerie elastics to be found in Perth. Well worth hitting up.
2x pairs of undies, both super plain Watson briefs. Boring and barely worth a photo… close-up for elastic-attachment detail purposes only.

Full set: so normally I love my things to be photographed looking artfully arranged to best show them off but couldn’t resist going the full Merchant and Mills here.

artistic dishevelment and not a randomly chucked down pile of clothes at all

What is that aesthetic anyway? just kind of throw it down in a messed up crumpled heap on the floor, y’know? just like when your teenagers kick their grotty clothes aside as they step into the shower or something, and leave them there. For days, if you don’t ~~nag~~ gently point it out.
*deep breath*
Embrace the crumple.
Feel the crumple.
BE. The crumple.

Hehe, not to diss Merchant and Mills! I actually have the workbook myself… a recent birthday pressie, and heavy hints had nothing to do with it at all! *cough cough* and I love a lot of the stuff in it! Just that the screwed-up-and abandoned-on-the-floor thing cracks me up. The new cool… OK!
Actually, my clothing is more usually kept like below…
Aaaah, that’s better! *sigh of contended happiness* ooo, did someone say neat freak? Order and method, my friends. Order and method:)

Happiness factor; plain, but supremely happy with that plainness, and I love the wraparound bra style; it’s nice to have something a bit different. Construction, smooth sailing all the way. For visual purposes I’m deducting one point for the black hook and eyes at the back. 9/10 🙂

Details:
Bra; the Sierra by Madalynne, free to download here
Knickers; the Watson briefs by Cloth Habit.

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: cloth habit, lingerie, madalynne, pattern review, sierra, watson

pink lace Sierra + Watsons

03/10/2015 6:29 am \ 17 Comments \ Carolyn

OK, so I couldn’t resist downloading Madalynne’s free bralette pattern the Sierra and giving it a go! Plus I made the usual two pairs of matching knickers to go with it. These are both the Watson knickers, by Cloth Habit.
Fabrics; pink bamboo knit and pink, slightly glittery, lace from Fabulous Fabrics, all elastics and other findings from Homecraft Textiles
I made this set for Cassie. I bought materials to make a Sierra and Watson set for me too, but mine is quite different in style.

The Sierra bra is a really cute and interesting design for smaller chested ladies, and is something a bit different in a bra design, which I like. Well, we all love a bit of variety, yes? It looks kinda complex on, but it’s really a fairly straightforward, wraparound bra; and for a simple soft bra with no shaping or obvious support, does feel nicely secure and snug when worn. And did I mention; it’s freeeeeeeeee!

Cassie chose the fabrics, including that pink lace. That lace! Looks so pretty and girlishly innocent and totes adorbs, right?!
Well, so did that kid in the Exorcist, just saying… and unpicking fine-grade slinky stretchy bamboo knit away from delicate lace; tendril by freaking tendril is NOT the joyous meditative pastime to sake and soothe your soul like you want your hobbies to be.
Initially I intended to have the two fabrics entirely overlaid for the whole set, like the bra, and the bra went together really well. Then I made a pair of knickers with the two overlaid like that. The lace then showed itself to be completely wrong for knickers. It was such an ordeal and they looked so hideous that I was just too depressed to even bother salvaging any of it… that got emotionally binned, and I had to walk out to eat chocolate and sulk in front of the TV for an evening.
Went back to it the next morning with renewed vigour. Did think about not having any lace on the knickers at all. But she wanted it to be a nice cohesive set, so some lace had appear somewhere, and it’s all worked out, I think. I like the knickers to match the bra but still be different to it, like this.

There’s nowhere to put a little decorative bow on the bra, part from just below the shoulder straps like this, and I actually love it! my favourite bit of the bra. It’s also a nice way to hide the stitching of bra cup-to-ring. I sewed the bra shoulder straps as two regular ones rather than halter; but she’s thinking about that. If she decides she wants the halter I’m gonna change it, because I think the halter is a lot easier to put on in this design. Update; yep, changed it to halter…

I think the set did eventually turn out very nice and the bra looks really cute on. Cassie is happy so I’m happy. Well, I’m happy now it’s finished.
Happiness factor; well the memory of those failed knickers hasn’t faded away completely, so I’m awarding this project 5/10 overall. It’s gone up since yesterday, believe me!

Bra; the Sierra by Madalynne, free to download here
Knickers; the Watson by Cloth Habit

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: cloth habit, lingerie, madalynne, sierra, watson

a strange lingerie set

14/09/2015 4:30 pm \ 17 Comments \ Carolyn

I fully admit it; this could very well be the weirdest, most bizarre thing I’ve ever made! I had toyed with the idea of making a lingerie set to complete my one year one outfit… er… outfit; but rejected the idea as being impractical and unwearable; then re-embraced the idea, then rejected it again. And found myself pondering it again… and then dismissed it again. Finally I just decided to have a go, although this part of my project was in danger of never ever getting blogged!
So; lingerie, made using ONLY locally sourced materials; quite a challenge, quite a challenge. My set is very very simple; a string bikini top and high waisted knickers cinched in at the top with a drawstring.
As per the criteria of the challenge, I could not use anything not made here in Western Australia … which ruled out elastic, findings, thread and even FABRIC! Hmmm, yes, quite a challenge… Like every other part of my outfit for this challenge, I had to make my own fabric. Fortunately I had some pieces of merino felt leftover from my dress, and I made another small piece to complete the knickers, so my set is mostly made from scraps, yay! The yellow blanket stitch edging is in locally handspun merino yarn from Bilby Yarns, that I dyed myself using sour grass from our garden; here. The bikini strings and the drawstring are a single crochet chain.
In my early planning stages, I had contemplated knitting some knickers and bra from my handspun Western Australian merino yarn, and actually found a free pattern for a knitted bra too! but rejected that idea… why? well to be perfectly honest, this set is probably not going to get a hekkuvva lot of wear! if any! and so I really wanted to minimise the use of my beautiful handspun yarn. I felt OK about using my leftover felt though, since that was made from my own labour.
The bra is self-drafted, if you can call two, felted-together, darted triangles a self-drafted pattern, ahem. I gave them a gentle cupped shape by cutting darts from the lower edge and felting them closed with my felting needle, just like I did the darts in my dress, so the darts are seamless; and felted them together at centre front the same way.
The knickers are loosely based on the Tried & True knickers pattern, by the Makers Journal, an undies pattern designed for non-stretch wovens. This design is a little on the low-rise side which I modified slightly by making it a higher rise design with a drawstring to pull them in at high hip level, also the crotch and leg holes have also been cut away significantly with a deeper curve to the crotch and straighter front leg-line; I did this because the fabric was a tad on the bunchy side around this area otherwise. When they’re on the knickers look like tap pants, flaring out a little from the waist and away from the hips, and are actually quite cute, believe it or not!

I made a little cotton jersey lining for the knickers, and have loosely tacked it in with running stitch This small piece of fabric is the only part of the set that does not fit the criteria of my one year one outfit challenge; but I’m sorry, I just consider a liner to be an absolutely essential thing to have in a pair of knickers. I’ve done my absolute best to eliminate non-local elements in all of the components in my one year one outfit, but you can only go so far for this challenge! and I’m drawing a line at unlined knickers.
While making them I was reminded of Sheldon fashioning historically accurate undergarments from linen just to wear to the Renaissance fair… so funny!… meaning, yes; I’m fully aware that this is just about the silliest set of lingerie ever, but I made them mostly from my leftovers and using my “experimentally” dyed yarn so I don’t consider making them to be too much of a waste of resources. I think I made them just for fun, really! Think of it as wearable art!

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: dyeing, embroidery, felting, lingerie, one year one outfit, own design

Lace-y bralette + undies

10/09/2015 1:59 am \ 28 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve made a new lingerie set and I think it turned out quite noice.
This little soft bralette design has been bouncing around in my mental wish-to-make-list for yonks. It’s more of a pull over the head, lacy camisole than a bra really; and is a near-copy of a Lovable bralette I used to wear donkey’s years ago. I’ve even kept the original one tucked away in a drawer, just to try to reproduce it one day. That day has come, weeeee! I’m very happy with my copy, even though the lace I used is a bit too wide. It’s such extraordinarily pretty lace though, so that’s an ok compromise in my book.
The reason I wanted to make another one for myself is that the original one really was such a nice thing to wear under big loose tops or something a little sheer. The lace shoulder straps look really pretty if they happen to peep out and don’t really look too much like a “bra”.
Also I wear a lot of white/ivory in summer, so white/beige underthings are always very handy.

It’s super comfortable, and although it doesn’t look particularly supportive, it actually is. Pictured above on poor long-suffering Bessie, that joining seam appears to cut right across her bust in a most uncomfortable way; however Bessie is actually bigger than me. On me the shoulder strap lace comes down and around and sits perfectly moulded underneath my bust and so it’s actually does give a surprisingly good amount of support. I’m fairly fortunate I guess in that I don’t need much, hehehe… well, hey; there’s got to be some advantages!!

I made the usual two pairs of matching undies to wear with it; at bottom is my old favourite McCalls 2772; above it is the cloth habit Watson knickers, which I also like a lot. They’re very similar designs, I like wearing both. The Watson sits lower on the hip and is thus a touch broader in the beam; the McCalls sits at high hip and is is actually cut a bit slimmer. I added some lace scraps to the fronts for decoration and bravely snipped away the poly-knit from behind; something I haven’t done before.

Fabric notes: Clotted cream poly-knit and gold satin ribbon from Spotlight; my hand hovered over the ivory ribbon but on the spur of the moment I honed in on gold! I love how it gleams quietly and luxuriously against cream and ivory.
Ivory stretch lace and lingerie elastic from Fabulous Fabrics. This lace is 8cm wide, and yes; it works fine and is super pretty. I mean, no way was I going to walk away and leave that in the store!!! However my original bralette had considerably narrower lace, 5cm. I still need to keep my eye out for some 5cm lace so I can someday have another go at that perfect reproduction. I think the ideal combination would be 5cm wide lace for the straps and 8cm lace for the cups. But it’s hard enough finding lovely stretch lace even in plain black and/or white/ivory here, let alone specific widths, and in matching colours! The search continues… 🙂