Tag Archives: Makebra 2610

Kryptonite lingerie

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

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

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: lingerie, makeBra 2610, McCalls 2772

“poison dart frog” lingerie set

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

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”.

photo credit, Alonso Quevedo Gil/Fundacion ProAves

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

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: jungle january, lingerie, makeBra 2610, McCalls 2772

“watercolour” floral lingerie set

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

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 🙂