Tag Archives: Lingerie

Kryptonite lingerie

17/05/2015 6:02 am \ 30 Comments \

As soon was I saw this kryptonite-ish print I was just like, o gawd! must have….  And, naturally, lingerie was the very first thing that popped into my brain.  Well, of course.  It was only logical.
Mixing up my sci-fi sources there, but y’know wot I mean, right?
Haha! I’ve gotta be honest, this set gave me such a giggle to make.  I’ve been humming the Superman movie theme in my head the entire time I was making it.  Really.
Da dadadaaaaaaa! Da da dada dadaaaaaa!
I’m pretty rapt with them!  I think they’re super cute.  Super cute, gettit?   Haha.  I think even Superman might approve.  Or at the very least, Sheldon.
Sorry.  I just can’t help it!  The thought of superhuman underthingies just cracks me up  🙂

Technical blahdy-blah…
Well, aside from the loud print the set itself is quite plain and featureless, really.
I used MakeBra 2610, and McCalls 2772 for the two pairs of matching undies.  All black findings and elastics.  The kryptonite print stretch fabric is from Fabulous Fabrics, the lingerie elastic I used for the undies is from Spotlight, and all the other bra elastics and findings are from MakeBra.
And I followed the absolutely fabulous MakeBra Youtube tutorial when making my bra.  Honestly, MakeBra is fair dinkum the best resource for bra-making I’ve come across, not that I’m an expert or anything, but just in my experience in making 16 of my own bras; that is my honest opinion.  They have a very nice range of findings and the.youtube tutorial is the most brilliant little tute, well worth taking the quarter of an hour or whatever to watch, if you have ever been tempted to have a go.  It demystifies bra-making and takes the difficulty out of it, but totally.  If you’ve been intimidated by the thought of making a bra, please do not be; it’s really not actually that hard!
My original review of the MakeBra pattern is here

squeezing detail close-ups into one jumbled-up shot
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“poison dart frog” lingerie set

16/01/2015 3:30 am \ 64 Comments \

Sounds like a weird inspiration  for a lingerie set?  Well this is my thing for prttynpnk’s Jungle January  🙂
I really wanted to do something a bit different, something other than big-catty.  I googled jungle animals and was immediately drawn to the splendiferous group of amphibians that are the poison dart frogs; there is a huge variety of incredibly hued, jungle- and rainforest-dwelling frogs, in the most amazing array of beautiful, vibrant colours!  The one that really leapt, or hopped? out to me was this little guy.  Meet Oophaga silvatica, a native of Colombia.  This colour morph is called “Koi”.  

I loved its pale blue/red colouring and immediately envisioned some sort of lace overlay to mimic the markings.
I did a certain amount of agonising over “what” to make, I was a little tempted to make a dressy cocktail number, but practicality won.  Keeping my new resolution to sew thoughtfully firmly in mind!
The pale aqua blue bamboo knit and red stretch lace are from Fabulous Fabrics, the baby blue shoulder strap elastic from Homecraft Textiles.  The bra pattern is my current favourite; MakeBra 2610, an underwired bra with a pieced foam cup lining.  I’m very comfortable with this style so I am super happy to have another one in my collection.  

I made two pairs of matching knickers using two different patterns; the boy leg hipsters above are a copy taken off a rtw pair and the bikini brief below are from my tried and true McCalls 2772.  This is the second time I’ve made the MakeBra pattern, the second time I’ve used the rtw pattern and about the millionth time I’ve used the McCalls… well, it feels like it sometimes anyway!  The McCalls bikini brief pattern is hands-down my comfiest and easiest to wear, but I do still like making a different one occasionally, just for some variety.

I sewed the lace on the undies by machine but thought it ended up looking a little too… machine-y? so for the bra I sewed the lace on to the cups by hand, using invisible fell-stitching with the stitches hidden within the foam lining.  This does look much nicer, no surprises there.
I couldn’t find any blue or red lingerie elastic to match in nicely, so instead used regular 6mm braided elastic and enclosed it inside a once turned-under hem, topstitched on the outside in zig-zag stitch.  It doesn’t look quite as well finished on the inside as lingerie elastic would, but doesn’t look terrible.  And it works just fine  🙂

Those very long-tailed, decorative bows on all 3 pieces: I’ve seen several rtw lingerie sets decorated with much longer tailed bows than usual and liked how it looks, so I decided to cut my tails quite long too.  Hmmm, not quite sure now!  They do look quite romantic and pretty, but I’m starting to wonder how practical they’ll be in situ.  So these are currently on trial and may or may not get cut shorter.
Thoughts; ok I love this colour combination in theory, in practice it does feel a tiny bit on the flashy side for lingerie.  For me, I mean.  My usual style tends to run to the colourless and slightly boring, and this set is anything but! so I’m stepping outside of my comfort zone here.  But I kind of still love it anyway.  It’s not the obvious thing anyone would think when imagining “frog-inspired” but I’m totally going to think of frogs every time I look at it.  
*ribbit* 

Details:
Bra; MakeBra 2610, in aqua bamboo knit and red stretch lace, my review of this pattern here
Undies;  (L) McCalls 2772, and (R) pattern taken from a rtw pair

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Watson lingerie set in sand cotton jersey

07/12/2014 6:07 am \ 20 Comments \

I just could not resist buying Watson, the new lingerie pattern designed by Amy of Cloth Habit.  Yes, I have a few lingerie patterns now, but a few points of difference with this one allowed me to talk myself into buying a new one.  Quite easily, as a matter of fact!  I’ve always admired Amy’s beautiful creations and so adding her new pattern to my collection was always going to happen  🙂
I used a sand-coloured cotton jersey, (the Morrison remnant sale), lining the bra cups and cradle with soft, sand-coloured rayon stretch (Fabulous Fabrics), pretty scalloped-edge lingerie elastic (Fabulous Fabrics) and plush elastic for the bra straps (Homecraft Textiles).
The pattern is for a simple, soft cup bra, in either longline or regular length, with no provision for underwires, and a bikini brief.  Obviously I had to make both! and made my usual two pairs of matching knickers to go with my bra.
So, I have several thoughts about the Watson pattern…
Firstly and most importantly, I really love my new bra! I very much like the clean and modern line, the simplicity of the cut.  It looks really cute on and for my size the fitting and drafting is spot on.  I chose to make the longer line option, and am very pleased with it.  Usually I go for a padded, underwire bra, but it’s nice to have different options in the undies drawer.
I chose to line both my bra band and cups for two reasons; firstly because I prefer the cups to be a slightly thick and padded anyway; and secondly; because the way the bra is constructed inevitably means all the seam allowances on the inside are exposed.  That’s unavoidable in having a pieced cup in a single layer of fabric.  However I usually like for my insides to be just as pretty as the outsides, and so I cut cup linings and worked out a way to construct it so that all the seam allowances are tucked neatly out of sight between the outer and lining layers.

1. Do not baste the lining to cradle as the first step; instead sew the side seam so that the back band is sandwiched between the cradle and its lining.
2. Sew all pairs of outer and upper cup pieces together, also for cup linings.  Baste the cups to their corresponding lining cups all around, wrong sides together.
3.  Turn the cradle inside out, so you can sew the cups to the cradle, sandwiching the cups, right sides together, between the cradle and its lining piece.  This means that all seam allowances will be inside the cradle.
4.  Sew the lingerie elastic to the top and lower edges as normal.
5. hey presto! all the seam allowances are nicely tucked away!

The white scalloped lingerie elastic from Fabulous Fabrics is very pretty and makes a really lovely edging; however, I thought it a little flimsy to use along the lower edge of the bra, which is a more “demanding” edge and requires a slightly thicker, heavier duty elastic.  So I used my regular Birch’s lingerie elastic just for the lower edge of the bra.

A small complaint about the pattern: I had to do a bit of detective work to determine the lengths of elastic required because unfortunately they do not seem to be included in the pattern.  I searched and searched and could find absolutely no clue in the instructions as to how long I was to cut my elastic pieces!  Nor the straps!  Strange.  So I dug out my KwikSew 3300 bra pattern to measure the strap piece, and also checked out the tables in it for a guide as to how long I should cut the lingerie elastic for the Watson bra edges.  Luckily, the KwikSew pattern has terrifically helpful tables outlining exactly how long you should cut your elastic, for each size.  Thank goodness for that!
Same story for the undies; I had to get out my McCalls 2772 bikini pattern and measured the waist and leg elastic guide pieces and used these same lengths for these knickers too.
I’ve now jotted down on my Watson instructions all these elastic lengths I need so I don’t have to go looking for them again.  Because I’m sure there will be more Watsons in my life.  🙂
Ok I only have one more complaint, and that is that metric measurements are missing from the instructions.  Yes, I can convert them myself, and I have, for future reference, and noted them down directly onto my copy.  But it would have been helpful to have them included in the pattern.  Along with those elastic lengths.

The bikini brief undies are plain and simple little things, definitely my style.  I only realised upon viewing the pattern pieces that there is a horizontal joining seam right across the front of the crotch, with open seam allowances on the inside.   I wanted mine without a seam, so I spliced my front and crotch pattern pieces together and cut the front as one piece, and then cut one separate crotch lining piece from white cotton jersey.  This is sandwiched between the back and front pieces when joining together, so that all seams allowances are nicely tucked away inside.  This is the same method I learnt from my regular McCalls 2772 bikini pattern, and so I know it gives a nice comfortable result.  And no unsightly seam!

I’m very happy with the new set!  It is so comfortable, also the colour alone means I’m guaranteed to wear these a tonne.  I was actually pretty desperate for this set… yes, sounds needlessly dramatic, but I have tonnes of white dresses and shirts.  Which I favour.  Meaning my white/colourless lingerie gets more wear and tear than the colourful stuff and as the lingerie drawer gets weeded out it’s looking a bit too colourful in there lately.  Clearly I have been extremely bad at planning and keeping up with lingerie requirements.
But now, I’m on it!  Stay tuned for another exciting episode of Watson, coming soon to this station.  Featuring some luvverly lace, mmmmm  🙂

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“watercolour” floral lingerie set

27/07/2014 9:40 am \ 48 Comments \

Another lingerie set, and a new-to-me bra pattern.  This is pattern 2610 for a balconette style bra by makeBra, a Finnish lingerie pattern company.  The two pairs of matching knickers are my usual McCalls 2772.

The watercolour fabric is from Fabulous Fabrics.  When I made my floral birthday dress last year, I originally wanted to make a lingerie set from the fabric and was talked out of it.  Obviously I do not regret making that dress instead; it’s one of my favourites! but that floral lingerie set was still in my head, crying out to be made.  I really really wanted realise it, too.  So recently I snuck out and sneakily bought 50cm of a different splashy floral stretch knit and quietly made it without showing the fabric to anyone who might talk me around hehehe…  Note to self; 50cm is the perfect length to cut out a bra and two pairs of matching knickers.

The makeBra pattern; well, I LOVE it!!  I’ve been hankering after a balconette style bra, one designed specifically for a foam lining.  I really do prefer a foam lining. All my current bras are made using KwikSew 3300 which is an absolutely terrific little pattern, but it’s not specially designed for a foam lining.  I usually forced a foam cup lining on it, found a way to make it happen, but it was always flying against the spirit of the pattern, if you know what I mean.
I bought a paper pattern in one size, which is a money saver.  You can get it in a multisized pattern if you’re not sure of your exact size and that costs more.  I’m familiar enough with my needed size that I decided to go with the single size  and I’m happy to report that it does fit me beautifully and the sizing is spot on.
At the same time I bought two basic lingerie kits; black and ivory.  THESE ARE FABULOUS!!!!!
It was a real pleasure, and so much easier, to sew a bra using such high quality materials and findings.  Up until now I’d been making my own shoulder straps and underwire casings as per the KwikSew pattern instructions, and using rings, sliders and underwear elastic from Spotlight, which is meh, kinda-ok standard.  Hey, absolutely nothing “wrong” with that of course, but now my eyes have been opened to how using proper underwire casings and really nice lingerie elastic is SO MUCH BETTER.  I’m talking rtw quality here.

The makeBra website also has this absolutely brilliant video where you can watch someone making a bra.  I was soooo impressed at how quickly and easily that girl whizzed up a beautiful bra in the video, I cannot tell you.  Gobsmacked.  It was a revelation!   On viewing that video I realised how difficult I’d been making it for myself, by using less than good quality materials available and “making do”.  She didn’t even pin her underwire casings anywhere to sew them on, compared to my homemade, bias-cut, double folded voile underwire casings requiring 7000 pins to hold it evenly in place…. man!   Well, now; I know.  I didn’t use pins either this time and I think the finish turned out pretty nice!

And her machine…  *drool*  My poor little old Janome is nowhere near that smooth.  But I’m banishing any and all machine envy thoughts.  I love my dear faithful little Janome.
I do have one tiny hmph with the makeBra pattern; you have to go to the website to get the full instructions, including elastic lengths etc.  I mean, no real biggie, I’ve noted the relevant elastic lengths in with my pattern now, but would it have been really so hard to include that info in with the pattern?  What if your internet was down when you wanted to use your new pattern?  I would say that is my one pet peeve with modern-day online pattern services: I think when you buy a pattern, you should get with it everything you need by way of instructions, and you should not have to search through some website to find necessary information.
But small grumps aside; essentially a fantastic pattern, went together like an absolute dream.  There will be lots more of these in my life  🙂

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Chocolate…

17/07/2014 11:00 pm \ 48 Comments \

… mm mmmmm, it looks just exactly like Bessie has had a giant big vat of melted chocolate poured all over her, yes?
So, after I cut the pockets out of this delicious chocolate brown silk charmeuse for my suede jacket I wondered if I still had enough of it to make up what I had originally earmarked it to be.  Which was a petticoat.  So I just went ahead with it, whimsically; since I actually have no designated thing to wear it under yet and now it’s hanging all alone on its hanger in the wardrobe.  An orphan, a sad and lonely little thing, the petticoat with no dress.  And it’s such gorgeous fabric too.  Shimmery soft and delightfully whispery against the skin.  I’m going to looooove wearing it, one day.  
Maybe I’ll be totally, wickedly, gloriously self-indulgent and give it to myself for a summer nightie this year.  Maybe.  If I’m good  😉
The fabric was from Fabulous Fabrics and the pattern is Vogue 1160, which is really a dress pattern.  This is the accompanying petticoat, which is a very nice, quick and simple little pattern.  The pieces are all cut on the bias which makes for a beautiful drape.  I looked at the underbust darts on each bodice piece; two of them, both quite wide, and just had to laugh.  Not with my bust!  I eliminated some bodice width by folding the pattern piece a little between the 2 dart markings and in lieu of darts gathered excess width into the relevant area of the skirt front.  Silk charmeuse gathers just beautifully and imo the soft gathers are prettier and look much nicer than a dart.

The side seams are sewn in French seams and the shoulder straps are tiny spaghetti straps.  Turning out skinny straps is usually a pain in the neck, but not with this slippery stuff which turns out like a absolute dream.  A dream, I tell you!!  
I almost feel like making another one straight away just so I can turn out more spaghetti straps.  🙂

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Lolly-pink lingerie set

22/05/2014 11:50 am \ 19 Comments \

Fulfilling a need rather than a want, I made another lingerie set for myself.  It’s not speccie* but just a bread-and-butter everyday set, with a Tshirt bra and two pairs of matching plain undies.  The fabric is a strawberry pink cotton/lycra blend from the Fabric Store in Melbourne, bought for the specific purpose of a new lingerie set but I was a little shocked when I dug it out of my stash.   The colour was a bit more er, pink! than I remember.  I’m sure it used to be a lot closer to my skin colour.  Honestly, I swear it got pinker while it was sitting marinating in my stash.  Seriously!
Anyway.
The bra is made using KwikSew 3300, modified by adding in foam cup inserts within the layers of the cup and hand-pickstitching the cup to the inside layer.  The two pairs of identical matching undies are both the bikini bottoms of McCalls 2772, another old favourite that I’ve used for all my undies.  It has a nice high-cut leg that I think I prefer to the boy leg cut.  I have a small handful of boy-leg style undies and I find I’m always itching to hoist them up at the sides all day.  Maybe I should wear a boy-leg more to get used to them.  Get out of that rut.  OK, next time.  Maybe  😉
This is my favourite sort of style; a plain and simple little set, easy and comfy to wear with the perfect amount of padding and structure to keep me happy.  Basics.  Comfort food for the smalls drawer.  🙂 
However;
I’m boring.  I know I’m boring.  I’m boring myself too!  My new set is not exciting.  Well, are basics ever exciting?  This was definitely a cake exercise, not icing.  I want to make icing now.  I think I need to break away from the tried and true and make a more wow set next.  I’m actually investigating a few different bra patterns *gasps*

*”speccie”; spectacular

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Nettie; by seven

30/04/2014 9:27 am \ 46 Comments \

The very clever Heather of Closet Case Files has released another pattern, this one is a must-have basic, the bodysuit, available here.  Named Nettie, after the totally gorgeous Nettie of Sown Brooklyn.
Of course, I say “must-have” and I didn’t actually have any.  But I’m rectifying that now since everyone knows that bodysuits are super useful and way superior to a tucked in tee when it comes to winter warmth.  So good to have that thermal layer underneath everything else.  I used to have a few bodysuits years ago which did hard duty all winter long but I don’t know if they’ve gone out of fashion favour? or what; because they are pretty darn hard to come by nowadays.  Even patterns for bodysuits are pretty few and far in-between.
Thank you so much Heather, for asking me to test the pattern, and for filling this gap in the sewing pattern world!  🙂

Hmmm, seven Netties… seems excessive for one person? well they’re not all for me.  Occasionally I make things for other people.  Occasionally  😉
The instructions stipulate to size up if you are tall or if you think your fabric is a little firm; and yes indeedy; this.  My first version was in a mystery black knit with just a medium stretch, bought in the Morrison remnant sale, and it turned out a little er, bottie-baring for me!   Fortunately I have a petite daughter who can absorb into her wardrobe everything that is too small for me.  🙂  And then I went up a size for me. 

The red, orange, green, pale taupe and white coloured Netties are all in a super stretchy viscose/rayon knit from Fabulous Fabrics; and for this stretchier fabric I didn’t need to lengthen although I did cut the sleeves at the size up.  The fit is snug and fabulously comfy.   

The white long sleeved tee is for my niece; her measurements matched the smallest size on the size chart and so I just ran it up quickly to test the fit.  It was on the tight side for her too; so when starting out I do recommend erring on the side of too big, just to start with.  You can always shave a bit off!
For the crotch closure I used strips of black snap tape; leftover from my Issey Miyake tucked dress.  Obviously it would be every bit as quick to hammer in a coupla snaps though.  Really, the Nettie is a wonderfully quick and easy project, the kind of thing you can run up to wear an hour later.  The hardest part of making the body suits is finding scraps of woven for the crotch bit to match your fabric!  I had nothing matching my green so used self fabric stiffened and stabilised with fusible interfacing.

I did something a bit different with the sleeves on my green one; I made them super long and put in a little thumb hole, finished with a band just like the neckline.  Built-in hand warmers!

The pattern comes with multiple variations; a high, mid and low back neckline, and a high and low scoop front neckline, and with long, elbow-length and short sleeves, and a body-con dress.  And obviously you can slice it off at hip level too and just have a tee.  So much choice!  If I’d had the dress option earlier I totally would have made one of these too…   
I made some with elbow length sleeves and some with long sleeves, and some high neck and some scoop.   I made them all with a high back neckline just because winter is around the next corner here, but I think a high front neck/low scooped-back neck Nettie would be an absolutely stunning summer evening option; worn with a huge oversized flouncy skirt, hair up in a bun.  Imagine!
Also, I reckon if you made it with a closed crotch and a scoop neckline wide enough to allow you to step into it then the Nettie would work beautifully as a dance or workout leotard too.  The sides are quite low-cut  allowing for full bottom coverage and minimal chance of a wedgie wardrobe malfunction.

OK, I’m now baulking at posting a picture of myself in the pale taupe one sans outer layers; with my skin tone the overall effect is just a bit too er, nude?!  but I have worn here it in a daily outfit already  🙂
Thank you for a fantastic pattern Heather!
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A pale set

31/10/2013 8:27 am \ 128 Comments \

I’ve made another new set of lingerie…  fairly plain and simple and prosaic but that’s ok since plain, simple and prosaic are my middle names.  Three more of my middle names, that is.  I have lots of de facto middle names, deployed in this blog selectively and when it suits my purposes to describe the various facets of my personality and how it applies to my wardrobe. 
*eye roll at self-craziness*
The bra has no foam insert, thus the sad, limp, popped-balloon kind of a look it has in its picture above…  It does have an extra, underlining layer of cotton jersey in the lower bra cup which gives it a nice thickness.  But no padding = no visual appeal, I do admit that.   Droopy and deflated  🙁  It looks heaps better on an actual body.

The fabrics have all been in my stash for yonks; an ivory coloured cotton jersey (Spotlight) that I’ve also used for all my white Tshirts and a white stretch lace (Fabulous Fabrics).   Also, white lingerie elastic and decorative mini-bows made using creamy-peach coloured ribbon.  Unlike my previous lingerie set which was all yellow-y, the presence of pure white here enabled me to use the bright white rings and sliders on the straps of the bra.  It’s a pain that Spotlight has such limited colour range; maybe I should get global and go internet-notion-shopping for other colours.  Maybe…
I made the straps using this very pro-looking ivory lingerie strap elastic.  I spotted it in Homecraft Textiles, and bought some to try it out.  

yo, looks like a REAL bra!!

Pros; it looks real clean and neat, and gives the bra more of a professional RTW look, plus it is very strong and sturdy and feels like it will last for aaaaages, even possibly outlive the bra itself and be re-cycled for future bras too.   
Cons; looks definitely “lingerie-y” if it was to peep out under a top, whereas I think a turned-out fabric strap looks like a little camisole and doesn’t scream “BRA!!!” quite so loudly.  Plus it’s more expensive to buy notions like this as opposed to making your own straps from the same fabric as your bra. Oh well, I bought enough to make one more bra, sometime down the track.

I bought the white stretch lace to fix up these undies, and there was so little left on the roll at the time I just bought the rest.  Fortunately, that happened to be just enough for the bra upper cup pieces and another pair of Tanga knickers.  These knickers are the easiest thing in the world to make and they look super cute on, but I hated that awful seamed crotch in my first pair and ended up re-constructing the whole crotch…  for this second pair I eliminated that crotch seam right from the word go.  I cut both the lace crotch and the cotton jersey panty liner using the panty liner pattern piece.  I cut two strips of regular elastic 10% shorter than the length of the crotch edge, laid them inside the edges of the panty liner, turned under to encase and pinned to the inside of the crotch piece and then zigzagged all layers together, stretching the elastic to fit.  This makes for a very comfy pair of knickers, with no.. er, wedgy issue  🙂

don’t worry, these are as yet pristine and unworn

The other pair of matching knickers is the bikini bottoms of McCalls 2772, in the same ivory cotton jersey as the bra.  I really like my lingerie sets to co-ordinate together in some way, and it tickles me even more when the two pairs of undies in a set are different from each other but both still recognisably match the bra, somehow.  The mix of cream, white and ivory in this set is very peaceful and calm, and very pleasing to my eye.  And I expect it will be nicely unobtrusive under my pale summer wardrobe.

Details:
Bra; KwikSew 3300, cotton jersey and stretch lace, my review of this pattern here
Lace knickers; Tanga knickers, a free downloadable pattern here, modified to have no crotch seam
Jersey knickers; the bikini bottoms of McCalls 2772 with lingerie elastic attached as for knickers.

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