I bought this pretty raspberry/cream tie dye cotton? jersey from Stone Mountain fabrics in San Francisco during my trip over there with Yoshimi in late 2019… always with the intention of making a new lingerie set. Five year later and finally, ta da! I actually had it all cut out several years ago, and then it languished, and languished… The fabric is a tad on the thin side, not too thin but just a little. I think it might have some bamboo in, it has a slight hint of that tell-tale slipperiness. Maybe that’s why I left it for a while. Jerseys are so variable, it’s honestly quite amazing.
I used my old favourite, the modified Cloth Habit Watson bra and undies pattern. (see here for my usual modifications) and made my usual bra with two pairs of matching undies.
Because of the slight thinness of the fabric, I lined the bra band completely with a clotted-cream coloured cotton polyester stretch from my stash that I’ve nibbled away at, bit by bit over many years for lingerie purposes. It has such a great sturdiness to it and it’s the perfect shade of cream. The undies lining is from the same stuff, and for the cup lining I used more of the tie-dyed jersey. I invisibly hand stitched the cup and lining together along the seam, for stability.
The elastic is a mix of white and cream colours. I actually bought all new bits for this project back in 2019, something I haven’t done for a while! and it was all neatly bundled up together in a little bag with the cut pieces, ready and waiting for me to sew up. Past me was so considerate. The strap elastic and rings/sliders were from Homecraft Textiles, the band elastic from a MakeBra lingerie kit, the rest from Spotlight.
This is the first time I’ve used some of this cream-coloured band elastic from the MakeBra kit (above) … it doesn’t have an obvious decorative edging like just about all the others I’ve used, but instead has one slightly thickish rounded ridge along one edge. When I first bought this kit the lack of a distinct decorative edge confused me so I wasn’t really sure what to do with it but just decided to give it a go using that subtle ridge as the bit that shows. I’ve decided I like the clean edge and it looks pretty nice actually!
When I first pinned on that white white white hook and eye closure it just looked so glaringly white I had to try something, so soaked it in a cup of black tea for a bit. I think I overdid this a bit! the colour turned out a little too strong. Oh well, we live and learn!
I used a mixture of red and ivory thread for topstitching. No reason, just that I had it and wanted to mix it up a bit. I really like doing subtle little features like this.
I had a small amount of leftovers so ran up a quick pair of sockettes using the Sytt och Prytt Florens ballerina sockette pattern. (see here). I don’t always blog about these when I make them but I actually wear these sockettes a LOT: with shoes that need an invisible sock, also as a kind of “slipper” for around the house to keep my feet clean, and also over my tights on not-too-cold days to protect them inside my boots/shoes. The heel and toe area of tights is always the first thing to go and I’ve found that having a thin sockette protects them from wear and tear just that little bit longer, so it’s worth wearing them. I mean, they’re not gorgeous or couture or anything, but so handy, a good way of using leftover scraps, and very quick and easy to make.
