Tag Archives: 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

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… 🙂

bralette; copied from an old Lovable design

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: cloth habit, lingerie, McCalls 2772, own design, watson

Watson lingerie set in sand cotton jersey

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

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 🙂