My first screen-printing effort obviously lent itself best to something comprised of smaller pieces that could be cut to avoid the more glaring imperfections in the print, ahem! A set of lingerie sounded like a plan 🙂 My poppies print was pretty bad really, but it still felt precious to me just because I’m a silly sentimental thing. There was extensive contemplation of, and moving around, the pattern pieces on the fabric before I braved snipping! And bias placement is such a fabric hog. I considered disobeying and naughtily cutting the undies on the grain but didn’t want to court disaster. I cut the bigger undies pieces from my later, more successful print placements (at upper left of my fabric length) and cut the smaller bra pieces from the in between scraps and from my first, badly placed prints (at lower right) and mirror-matched as much as possible the print placement on front pieces and back pieces of the bra.
The bra pattern is KwikSew 3300 with modifications to account for using a woven fabric as opposed to a stretch knit (as described here) This time I cut the back pieces to be 6cm longer at centre back, and narrower to fit the purchased hook and eye clasp. This is my eighth time making this bra pattern up so obviously I love it! It is one of the original designs of the late Kerstin Martensson, Swedish founder of KwikSew and a talented pattern maker. The style is very much to my taste, which is why I chose it of course! and over time I’ve fine-tuned the fit by shaving off a little bit here and there,: so it fits me really well.
The bra lining pieces were cut from the white unprinted bits around the edge, and the bra underlining and undies liners from ivory jersey knit. I chose black lingerie elastic to match the black centres of the poppies, and fortunately my Spotlight currently has lingerie rings andsliders both in white, so they match each other. Woot! I stocked up!!
The two pairs of matching knickers are based onThe Makers Journal Tried & True, the third and fourth times I’ve used it, and I’ve altered this pattern too to suit my personal tastes. The first time I made it pretty much to pattern, the second and subsequent times I have made it to have a more substantial liner (as illustrated here), to be less high-rise, to scoop in at the front leg more, and to scoop out at the back leg more to give more bottom coverage. These are small alterations but even 1cm makes quite a difference when you’re wearing them. The closest I have made to the original pattern is the pair pictured on the far right in this post here.
Details:
Bra; KwikSew 3300 modified for woven fabric as specified here, screen-printed white cotton, my review of this pattern here
Matching undies; The Makers Journal Tried & True, modified, my review of this pattern here
