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.
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!
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.
I know, I know, I said the Little White Project was over. But here’s the thing: Even after all the lengthy tutorials, the sewing, the dyeing, and the finishing, there are still some notes about making the Little White Bras/Panties/Thongs that didn’t make it into the previous posts. I feel, therefore, duty-bound to offer these tidbits here.
The Sewing Part: Little White Bras
The main difference between the first one and the second is the materials used for the cups. The first has lace on the upper/center cup pieces; for the second (the colorblocked one), I used the same Swiss dot/cup lining combination for all the cup parts. This meant that I’d have to finish the top (neckline) edge of the cups, though, so I used foldover elastic for this. (Click here for my post that includes a tutorial on applying FOE.)
The other major difference is in the bridge. For the first LWB, I unintentionally shortened the bridge by sewing a seam at the top of it; this created a gap between the top of the bridge and the top of the underwires— in other words, the wires extended up the center on either side of the bridge, past the top of the bridge. (Click here to see what I did about that little issue.)
I also decided to put the elastic trim at the bottom of the bridge; because I’d measured and cut my trim before dyeing it, I double-checked the length to make sure I would still have enough for the rest of the bra. (Notes to self: Good thing I always cut a little extra. This looks great! Must do again!) When I look at the bra as a whole, this really helps to make all the colors and trim work cohesively.
The sewing differences in my second LWB. (For this, I dyed the separate bra pieces before sewing them together.)
Yes, it’s that time. It’s the last part of my Little White Project, in which I’ll show you yet another approach to dyeing a bra and panty (okay, thong), using the same bra pattern (Kwik-Sew 3300), (mostly) same materials as the original Little White Bra, and the same 3 dye colors. But this time, I’m going to do something completely different with the dyes!
Before I get to that, here’s a quick recap of the various dyeing processes already done in this series:
My first 3 Little White projects. Clockwise from lower left: Panty dyed in all 1 color (3 dye colors mixed together), bra ombré-dyed with 3 colors, and thong ombré-dyed in 1 color. But wait— there’s more!
I’ve been sewing since I was 5 years old, and have been making most of my own clothes since my pre-teen days. I remember making iconic items like tie-back flutter-sleeved tunic tops and satin newsboy caps for my school friends by the time I was in fifth grade. (Don’t judge me— it was the ’70s.)
But regardless of all my sewing experience, I’ve found that there is always something more to learn. And my recent venture into the previously unknown-to-me sewing territory of bra-making is proving to be no exception.
I’ve learned a lot of new things about sewing since starting to make my own bras!
Here are 3 things I’ve learned from sewing bras.Read More »
My last post was an introduction of sorts to my current project: The Little White Bra, a.k.a. The Bra Before Dyeing (or just “Before”). Now, since this was the first time I’ve used this bra pattern, I’ll show you how I made it, including a few changes I made.
My pattern is Kwik-Sew 3300— I’m being adventurous and trying my first partial-band bra! For those of you who might not know the difference (and I’m not sure I noticed it myself before I started making bras), partial-band just means that, rather than a continuous band running all the way around the bra, including under the cups, the band comes around from the back to attach to the sides of the cups only, with a small bridge piece connecting the cups in the middle, like so:
The Little White Bra I just made, using Kwik-Sew 3300, View A with the lace upper cups and bridge. (Click the photo to see this pattern on Kwik-Sew’s site; right now it says it’s temporarily out of stock. Boo.)
Now that I’ve got my cups sewn into my third bra project, it’s time for one of the main things I’m doing differently than the pattern (Kwik-Sew 3594): adding underwires. That is, at this phase, I’ll be adding channeling to house the underwires, which will get inserted a little later. Here’s what I’ve got so far:
With my cups sewn into the band, I’m ready to tackle the underwire channeling. (Note: The embellishments won’t get sewn in place until the very end; they’re just here right now for inspirational purposes.)
Now that my second bra is finished, along with its coordinating high-waisted panty, I thought this would be a good time to collect my thoughts about this whole lingerie-making experience, and share a few things that have occurred to me along the way.
Yes— Why did it even occur to me to try making my own bras? Good question.
myBratelier 