Today seems to be all about circling back to my early days of bra-making (okay, that was only three years ago). I’m wearing the very first bra I ever made, the hot summer weather has made me nostalgic for distant memories of wearing refreshingly cool linen, before it became adulterated with polyester and other mysterious substances that for some reason render it wrinkle-free, and nostalgia has also led me back down memory lane to the Marlborough bra pattern— the first one I ever used, and still one of my very favorites; my second-ever bra was also a Marlborough, made with silk scraps from other sewing projects, and I literally wore it until it was in shreds.
And therein, dear readers, lies the origin of The Great Linen Experiment. Read on.
Detail of my printed linen fabric. I love the unexpectedly bright colors, most especially the almost-acid yellow and the deep fuchsia pink. The occasional streaks of white, as if it had been brushed with bleach, add to the intriguing, vintage-inspired effect.
How to coax a palette out of your existing wardrobe;
Identifying your primary colors;
Ideas for using your palette to create new outfits;
Tips for using accent colors in unexpected ways;
Using your palette when you shop!
Once you’ve created your palette based on the clothes already in your closet, carry it with you when you shop! (Click the photo to go straight to my article. Photo is my own, also used in the published article.)
Want to see sewing stuff from Colormusing? Check out myBratelier (lingerie sewing, including bras!), and Changing Your Clothes, which covers everything from repairs & alterations to dyeing and remaking thrift-shop finds. And don’t miss all my newest projects…
Here at myBratelier, the focus is on lingerie that we’re making ourselves, but I also want to include tips to help us all shop as more knowledgeable and informed consumers. And for those of us who do sew our own bras, there’s always something more to learn, right?
Help is on the way! This slideshow from Refinery29* reveals the top 5 tips to know before you shop— straight from professional bra fitters. If you’ve never had a bra fitting, reading through their advice, which ranges from how to fasten your bra to considering tailoring, will help you shop with confidence!
Caution: Slideshow includes some illustrations (no photos) that could be considered NSFW.
With an overwhelming variety of bras available everywhere these days, where do you start? Refinery29’s slideshow will help you to see past all the color and lace to focus on fit. (Click the photo to go to the slideshow.)
The first of my sewing-related blogs was Changing Your Clothes, covering anything having to do with making the most of clothes you already have: alterations, dyeing, repairs, wardrobe planning (via color palettes, natch), refashioning. Next in line: the blog you’re looking at right now, My Bratelier, which is focused only on sewing lingerie, including bras. So when I wanted to write posts for sew-along projects started in one of my workshops, I didn’t have an existing blog that was the right fit. What’s a blogger to do?
Silly question. Start a new blog, of course! Help me welcome SewColormusing into the Colormusing family!
It’s a bouncing baby blog! SewColormusingwill include sew-along series, special technique tutorials, and general sewing fun!
Want to know more about Colormusing? Don’t miss all my color-palette-related excitement at the A Musing blog!(Click on the dots above to visit my mother ship, Colormusing.com.)
Big news: I’m one of three bra-making experts featured in a hot-off-the-digital-press article in Seamwork Magazine!
With insights from UK pattern designer Zoe Edwards, Amy Chapman (of Cloth Habit fame), and me, writer Jessica Yen focuses on making lingerie from scraps of fabric— something I love to do!* Included are tips on everything from choosing patterns strategically to make the most of irregularly-shaped scraps to my own ideas for working with color palettes.
Wow, am I glad I obsessively save my scraps of beautiful silks and laces! They’re perfect for repurposing into custom lingerie. (Click the photo to go to my first post in the series on making this bra and a coordinating panty.)
I’d love it if you would visit Seamwork Magazine and read this article, along with the rest of February’s issue, which focuses entirely on intimates. And tell me what you think! Oh, and I’d be interested to hear about your own experiences with sewing lingerie from fabric scraps.
The blatant self-promotional part: Want to see my own DIY lingerie sewing kits? I design and produce them for Colormusing, and many feature materials and trims I’ve dyed myself; all include links to blog posts I’ve written with details and tutorials specific to each kit.
And while you’re visiting Colormusing, be sure to sign up to receive Hue News, CM’s free monthly e-mail newsletter, including discount coupon codes you’ll only find in Hue News!
Hot off the press! (You know what I mean.) On November 1, 2015, Colormusing will send out its very first monthly (and free) e-mail newsletter!
Hue News, Colormusing’s monthly e-mail newsletter, will launch on November 1! (Click the logo to go directly to the sign-up page at Colormusing.com. And stay and browse the beautiful colors while you’re there.)
Called Hue News (natch), your monthly newsletter will feature:
Wondering if/why to use Colormusing’s color palettes in your lingerie projects?
Yes, color-loving folks, I’m going to let you in on a secret: The color palettes you see in the new Colormusing shop are actually available to you for free. When I create them I usually start on one of my favorite websites, ColourLovers.com. (You’ll find me there as — what else? — Colormusing.)
At ColourLovers, you’re able to download palettes, individual colors, and more, for your own use. Free.
Carmel Blue Fuchsia palette (by colormusing), free at ColourLovers. (Click the palette to see it at ColourLovers.)
This is the biggest newsflash item I’ve had the pleasure to post about so far: I’m actually creating my dream of a color-centric business, by combining several different areas of interest under a single name:Yes! Knittique (yarns, knitwear patterns, samples, & jewelry), Photo/Graphic Design (art on canvas, tutorials, & graphic files), and The Bratelier (lingerie sewing kits) are now all part of the Colormusing family— a reunion of sorts, where all the various relatives play together nicely because they all have one thing in common: color palettes.
Simply put, my photographs and montages inspire color palettes, which I apply to a constantly-growing range of projects, from dye recipes for hand-painted yarns and lingerie materials to travel wardrobe planning and custom-printed fabrics.
And the color palettes themselves, in their graphic-file forms, can be used in so many different ways, whether you need a great color scheme for your blog…
Okay, okay, I know I said the Little White projects were all done. And technically, they are: this project is the Little Black & White Bra!
And it’s also my first front-closing bra; I’ve been wanting to do this for a while now, mostly because I wanted to try making a bra with something beautiful on the back, a very popular lingerie look right now. So even though I’m starting with Elan’s B510 pattern, it won’t look much like that by the time I’m done! Or at least not in the back. Fair warning.
Here’s the back of my almost-finished LBWB:
This is the back of my LBWB, just prior to the final adjustment: shortening this white lace panel, because I feel it’s coming up too high on the back of the neck. (The chartreuse fabric is part of a bias slip I’m making; it was already on the dress form, and I thought it looked really cool with this bra.)
In a recent post, I asked the question uppermost in my mind at the time: Underwear… Or Not to Wear? In which I confessed my hesitations about actually wearing my beautiful new hand-made lingerie. And your responses (thank you!) were overwhelmingly in favor of a laundry compromise: Wash in the machine, but protect my delicate pieces in a mesh laundry bag.
Shown in my 14″ x 18″ bag: My Ombré-Dyed Bra and solid Panty. I’ve found, though, that I can comfortably fit at least 2 bras and several panties in this bag.
myBratelier 