Hi again! So this week we just got back from a trip to my favoritest city, San Francisco. It was a much-deserved get-away after all the moving and house fixing we did this spring. And all that good food and fog must have gone to my head because I came back really looking forward to an Austin summer.

Before we left, I finally finished up the last of my hand-dyed lingerie sets, so I thought you might like to see what became of my dyeing adventures.

Remember the neon lemon elastic? My original intent was to dye this cotton knit somewhat of an ecru color but instead I experimented with a mink brown.

On these next set of pieces I was experimenting with a cotton/modal knit and a Tencel knit. Both modal and Tencel are dreamy lingerie fabrics. They’re just a bit silkier than cotton, which tends to cling–Velcro, anyone? I’m waiting for a new shipment of Tencel jersey to test some more dyeing, because I think it might just be my absolute favorite.

As you can see, most of these are fairly simple styles. A few months ago a friend and I got to talking about 70s lingerie and how understated it was–feminine and flirty with a little bit of French insouciance. So I took that as a challenge to come up with simple bikini and bra styles that were easy to make and wear. Nothing screams 70s more than a little hipster bikini and triangle bra, dontcha think? Surprisingly, I spent way more time working on the bikini patterns than the bras. It took me five samples before I came up with my idea of a perfect bikini style. Maybe I imagine Annie Hall wearing these under her Saturday clothes, a little slouchy tee and wrinkled jeans. I’m a Woody Allen nerd, what can I say…

I hope you had a great week and happy June!

P.s. Is anyone else getting sidetracked by all the swimwear sewing going on around blogland? I think it might be time to finally pull out that oh-so-soft lycra I’ve been storing for the last year and get cracking on a swimsuit.

Has it really been two weeks? We’re still in the throes of moving… boxes and boxes everywhere in both places. In the midst we’ve both managed to preserve tiny corners of creative spaces for our own sanity, so I packed up everything but my sewing machine and a few lingerie projects. I’ve been tweaking another new pattern lately which gave me an excuse to play with my latest fabric love, sheer stretch mesh. The mesh I’ve been using is so delicate and soft, and of course I had to spend an evening dyeing it, too! First minty green and then a pale gold-yellow…

But it is a little picky about needles and stitch lengths. And even thread. So today I wanted to share a couple of my new favorite threads for lingerie and especially for these more delicate fabrics. Both are delicate but don’t snap under tension. I love how tailors are unequivocal about their buttonhole threads, and it was inevitable that I’d be that way about lingerie thread, too!

Gutermann A192 (or Mara 150) Fine Thread

Funny enough, it was the Cutter & Tailor forum where I first read about this as a good thread for fine shirtmaking. It is also recommended for silks and lingerie. It’s impossible to capture in photos the difference between these and their all-purpose brother above, but this is a remarkably fine but strong thread. It just sinks into fabrics and makes the topstitching on bra cup seams less bulky.

I’ve only found A192 in tailoring supply shops but it’s well worth the hunt! Mine came from from Oshman Brothers in NYC and according to their gracious owner, Gutermann is phasing out their A192 threads to a new thread called Mara 150, so you might find this thread under either name. I got one of each, since Oshman’s stock is still mostly the older type, but both are very fine, strong threads. I placed such a tiny order from them, but Mr. Oshman sent me a long email explaining the transition and the technology difference behind the new threads (core-spun polyester with microfiber core, etc.) If you want to understand thread, you have a willing teacher!

Wooly Nylon or Wooly Polyester

These are much easier to find in your local store, but I was missing out on a good secret! In knits and especially in underwear, wooly threads make the softest, airiest seams against the skin.

Until about a year ago I was in the dark about wooly nylon. And the first time I shopped for some I accidentally confused it with blindstitch thread. Oops, big difference! I ended up with a bunch of cones of plasticky thread I doubt I’ll ever use.

Wooly threads are kind of springy and spongy, and as you can see look like little cloud-strings. The most common type is wooly nylon but there is also wooly polyester.

I don’t have tons of room for serger threads, so I have a bit of a color strategy. There are a few neutrals that seem to blend with everything. Ivory, dark grey, red, nude and a light grey have been great basics for most of my lingerie. The ivory blends into most pale warm colors. The light grey blends into most pale cool colors. The dark grey is good for blacks and very dark colors.

When serging, it’s easiest to use wooly thread in the loopers and regular serger thread in the needle. And the best way to get those spongy threads through the loopers is by tying the them onto the tails of your previous looper threads, then pulling them through. I learned that one the hard way…

Do you have any favorite threads?

Happy weekend! Now back to those boxes…

If you made a bra following the sew-along, would you like to share with us? Submit your photos to the new Sew Along Gallery!

Leave a link in the comments either here or the gallery to your photos on your blog, Flickr, Pinterest, etc. and I’ll add them. Or you can email me, too!

Speaking of which, I love getting emails and hearing about your bra-making experiences and questions. Sew-alongs are wonderful for the wealth of tutorials and sometimes sense of online community, but they can have their drawbacks, too. We all learn and participate in different ways and in different paces. Getting individual feedback is priceless, and I am happy to help and hear from you!

In other news, I’m up to my ears in projects. More bra-pattern drafting, a new bra-making tutorial, and a cape. Lord knows why I made a cashmere cape in a winter that never dropped below 70 degrees, but we all need a little fantasy sewing now and then, right?

Most of all, I’ve been up to rose-pruning. Roses and lingerie-making–my kind of weekend. Every February, I go into a zone with pruning. It’s a poetic and centering activity, an annual ritual that includes climbing up arbors and tying back some (literally) bloody thorns. Yes, I have gauntlet gloves, but they don’t make much of a difference when you’re battling an 18th century brambler. After we bought our own home eight years ago, I fell in mad love with gardening and particularly roses, and seriously considered training as a master gardener. I published a gardening blog for about five years until starting this one. Sometimes I miss it, taking macro wildflower pictures and obsessing over seed-planting tutorials. It’s what pushed me to take some basic courses on photography and learn more about light and cameras. I still have so much to learn….

Happy weekend, all!

This week I’ve been thinking lots about bodysuits. More and more lingerie designers are catching on to their revival and the modern interpretations are in very lightweight yet surprisingly sleeking materials. But I’m a bit curious how I’d fit one into my wardrobe. Mostly they conjure up my occasional fantasy that I’m a svelte and angular dancer in a Merce Cunningham production.

My interest in this style piqued last summer when I first spotted this Zimmermann “Corsetierre” swimsuit at Anthropologie. It’s a swimsuit, but clearly taking its queue from underthings.

{Mimi Holliday Bisou Bisou, Mimi Holliday Pizazz, Huit Icone bodysuits}

What inspires me are the details–the waist definition, lace panels, keyhole backs and the effortless-looking fit designed to wrap the body. Sometimes I want a extra little shaping and smoothing. Am I just infected by the romanticism of their design? Your honest two cents: Do you own one? Would you wear them? With what?

Over the summer, Katherine of Blooms Endless Summer and I exchanged a few lingerie patterns we had drafted. It’s been wonderful finding online sewing friends with whom to chat about patternmaking experiments, and we both share a genuine love of pattern analysis. She was gracious to share the pattern she drafted for her Daisy bra, which I had some time to finish over the weekend.

A few moons ago I bought this comfy soft dotted rayon jersey for some Ladyshorts and, well, a lady has to have a bra to match!

Katherine drafted her bra using Patternmaking for Underwear Design by Kristina Shin, a book I’ve since bought and used as a reference in some of my own drafting. Because Katherine’s a different size than me and the book does not demonstrate drafting in measurements other than a 34B, I used my own bra blocks to adjust and grade the size and fit. In her post about this bra (linked at the top), she also included an illustration showing how she adjusted the original draft to fit her particular shape. This may help some who have have less volume on top and need to visualize what cup pieces could look like. As so many of you have figured out in the sew-along, bra fit is such a subtle thing. We all have different shapes, or a shape we’d like to be!

In this bra, the lining is the structural layer, a three-piece foam cup which allows for the shaping and support. The outside is only a two-piece cup meant to be made from lycra, or possibly a jersey as I used, to shape smoothly over the foam.

In these type of bras, the foam is usually joined by a zig-zag or triple zig-zag, then covered with seam tape. I have made them both with and without covering tape and it doesn’t seem to affect the feel or strength. But of course I like neat finishes! For this one I used a soft 1/4″ cotton twill tape and stitched a straight stitch on either side.

To stabilize the cradle and bridge I used a fusible knit interfacing. On top of that I stitched a lightweight tricot lining to the bridge so I could clean finish the clever little “v”. I like this part of the design, which follows the neckline of the cups to a point. I have some space to work with in my bridge so little style changes like this one are easy to incorporate.

You might be wondering, do I wear all these bras I make? Yes! Yes, all of them, and I’m nearly at the point where I have phased out store bras except for a couple of investment lingerie pieces which I splurge on for my own luxury. My first couple of handmade bras fit fairly well and while they may have not been my favorite fabrics, style or fit they still work when everything else is in the laundry! Another thing to remember is that no bra lasts forever. Elastic can age very quickly with two- or three-times-a-week wear. And it particularly does in a climate like mine, where sheer body heat breaks down highly elastic clothing. I have to replace my workout clothes once or twice a year! I’m very particular about handwashing my delicates. I lightly wash after two wears to rinse out body oils, I don’t wring, I use a very mild detergent made for lingerie in small doses. But even with that care, some bras don’t last more than a year. I too have been guilty of wearing bras way past their point of usefulness!

This is one of a few foam style bras I have made for some comfy whatever days and since I work from home I have more of those than I care to admit!

My finished bras!

This bra fits me like a dream. If you’ve been following along you’ve probably picked up on all my little (and not so little) alterations. I altered my cup to a vertical seam. I also used shorter underwires, lowered the neckline about 3/8″, and widened the straps in front–more of a demi style. My bra is made from mostly stash materials that I dyed to match the pale grey-green lace. (I’m really into blushing mints right now!)

My friend’s bra is made from Elan 645 using a bra kit from Fabric Depot Co. I made some alterations to her cup seams to fit for a softer look and lengthened her band a bit–both around the body and lengthwise for a longline bra.

Some highlights from the Flickr group and beyond…

Carolyn made Kwik Sew 3300 in a lovely blue marled knit and cream lace. And she’s a fellow knicker-making fanatic. You can read about these lovely laceys on her blog Handmade By Carolyn. Thanks Carolyn, for your amazing participation and encouragement!

Michelle joins me in a passion for collecting bra patterns. She started out with Danglez DB3 but decided she’d be better off trying Sewy’s Rebecca bra (above). Rebecca is a fantastic pattern, especially for larger cups. Michelle also informed us that Bra-makers Supply was about to release a new pattern called Shelley–as of today it’s available here. For those Sewy Rebecca fans and others who need the option of a side cup piece and multi-seaming–this one’s gonna be a big hit. I just know it. Hop over to Michelle’s blog to see a she drafted a Shelley-type bra from her Pin-up Classic pattern.

This is Mirza’s stunning black lace and red-trimmed bra from Pin-up Girls Classic pattern. You can see more gorgeous pics and read her review en le français on her blog Let’s Tweed Again. Oh Mirza, what a delicate beauty!

Ginny finished her first bra and isn’t it so beautifully made? This one uses a matching kit from Summerset on Etsy–more on her blog GinPins. I just love the ornament idea!

Melissa of Fehr Trade got the kick to revisit her bra patterns and made this decadent bra from Elan 330. In her post about this set, she also included a great tutorial about a way to finish off the top of a cup with multiple layers.

Kazz went on a bra-making spree, y’all. Here’s her post about this set. I think I’m going to have to pull out all my black lace now because wow. Wow. She took the “Hack Your Bra” idea to heart and is just killing her Elan 645 pattern with all kinds of styles–bustiers, longlines…

Did you make a bra and would you like to share? Let us know in the comments! Understandably, I got behind on all my blog reading, so I may have missed you if you blogged about it. If you were a secret sew-alonger you can email me, too. I’d love to hear about your project and how it went.

Over at the Flickr group we had quite the fitting expedition. I’m even in the process of custom-drafting a bra for someone! I really want to thank Norma Loehr and her generosity in answering so many of our fitting questions. And there were many!

It was such an honor to host this sew-along, chat with many of you, and I hope it inspired y’all to keep on at it! You caught the lingerie bug, didn’t you…

Note: All photos here are © their owners.

Band Elastic

If you’ve made other lingerie goodies with picot elastic, you’re probably familiar with how this is done. The first side is sewn with the fuzzy side up and a regular zig-zag, getting very close to the picots.

If you want to cut your elastic to measure, a good general rule of thumb is to cut a length about 85% of the seamline of your hem. I like to “feel” it in as I am sewing–just something that happens from experience with sewing elastic. How much tension I put on the elastic depends on the elastic quality.

I flip and on the reverse, stitch the elastic with a 3-step zig-zag. You could also stitch from the elastic side. I prefer doing it fabric side up so I can keep the puckers away:

I set my 3-step at 4.8 width and 1.2 length. (I wrote all my bra stitch lengths on a little post-it note on my machine so I don’t have to look it up every time I make a bra or panties!) The 3-step is just security to keep stitches from popping. But if your machine doesn’t have a 3-step, you can use a regular zig-zag and experiment with smaller stitch lengths.

Channeling

I know the channeling gets finicky. Readers have asked me about how I did this on previous bras so I thought I’d show in pictures!

I usually attach the channeling first, before putting in the band elastic. It’s easier to make that first pass without the elastic in the way but it adds another step and I wanted to make this simple visually.

First I lay down the channeling so its seam is right on top of the cup seam and start stitching right on that seam. To make sure I don’t accidentally stitch into the cup, I hold the channeling in my right hand, lift it up, re-arrange it as I go–while using my left hand to guide the cup seam. This has worked really well for me.

I stitch all the way to the top of the front but stop and backtack about 1/2″ before I get to the end of the underarm seam. It’s good to leave a little extra hanging off each end. This helps to finish the channel neatly later on.

After stitching the channeling I grade the seams if there are a lot of layers–and there’s quite a few here!

Before I do anything else, I close off the channeling in the front. Since the seams are still free and not topstitched down, I grab the top of the channeling with the cup seam allowances and fold everything else out of the way:

Then I stitch a really tight zigzag that almost looks like a bar-tack. Whatever it is, it needs to be secure!

The closure is invisible from the outside. (On my friend’s bra–I forgot to snap a pic of my mine!)

Time for the topstitching! I switch back to my straight stitch foot (ok, I just found out my machine calls this a “patchwork foot”). I turn the bra over and arrange the cup seams and channeling so they are folded under toward the band. If you’ve ever done an understitch on a facing, this first part is just like that. I hold the fabric on both sides a little bit taut, and start topstitching about 1/8″ away from the edge of the cup seam.

I have to keep feeling to make sure this stitch is going into the channeling. If you sewed your first pass with the channeling seam on top of the cup seam, this shouldn’t be a problem.

Then I do another line of topstitching with the first line of stitching lined up right under my foot edge. This is about 6mm on my foot. Don’t forget to stop your topstitching 1/2″ away from the underarm so you can fold it out of the way for your elastic.

Underarm Elastic

Now’s the time to put in my underarm elastic. I do my first pass just like the band elastic with the fuzzy side up. I use a bit less tension in this elastic than I did with the band.

When sewing in the elastic I have to fold away the channeling–that’s why I stopped stitching it 1/2″ away:

Before folding over the underarm elastic I put in my underwires, sliding them in from the open underarm sides toward the front.

At this point you need to decide whether you want your channeling to be closed on top of the elastic or folded into it. I’ve done both and it really depends on how thick the channeling is!

Right below my thumb is where I’m going to close the channeling with another “bar-tack” again:

I need enough room to fold down my elastic and stitch another 3-step–this is where that wire play I talked about comes in handy. I can’t tell you how many times my underwire has reached right to the fold of the elastic–a recipe for underwire and needle disaster!

After closing off the channel and stitching down the underarm elastic, this is what it looks from the outside:

Almost there! Now I attach my straps and finish off with my hook and eye. Every pattern has a different width at the end of the band for a hook & eye attachment. You usually need to adjust that to fit your particular hook and eye width before you sew in your strap elastic:

That’s it! My bras are done and I’ll be back Monday with photos and some roundup questions. Happy sewing weekend everyone!

Hey all, I’m gonna take a little pause today before my final construction post. I’m running a little behind but I hope to be back tomorrow! In the meantime, a strap interlude…

This might seem ridiculously simple but I could never figure out which end went where through the slider. Maybe it’s because I’m lefthanded–the visuals always look backwards. So this one’s for the lefties out there!

First I cut my straps. I like to cut each about 19 inches for insurance. The left side is going to be in the back. The right side will connect to the front cup with a ring.

1. Threading the end through slider, with the wrong (often fuzzy) side of the strap facing up. I fold this bit down and stitch a secure seam.

2. Looping the right end up and over and threading it through the slider…

3. Pulling it all the way through to the left…

The straps are sewn at the end but it’s always nice to have them pre-assembled. And I’m glad I checked–I forgot to take my own advice and buy extra strap elastic! The Bra-makers notions kit includes less than 18 inches of it. So you can see in the top photo I changed my game. Thank goodness I had a small bit of my silk left from which to make straps–and they had to be small. They were made super easy thanks to Steph’s very clever rouleau tie tutorial at 3 Hours Past.

My straps are assembled similarly to the nude ones, except the adjustment is going to be in the back rather than the front. How do you like to do your straps? Do you favor the adjustment in the front or back?

Starting to looking like a bra now! Today I’m going to assemble the band and insert the cups.

Since I am lining the cradle of both bras, I used the lining to finish the top of the bridge. With right sides together, I stitched a 1/4″ or 6mm seam across the top. I turned this right side out, pressed and topstitched about 1/8″ away from the top.

If you don’t have a lining and interfaced this part, you can turn down the center top by 1/4″ and topstitch. Another idea: if you’re using fusible interfacing instead of a lining, you could also sew the fusing to the top of the bridge glue side up, turn and fuse for a totally hidden seam.

On my bra, I wanted the band seam to be hidden inside the lining so I sandwiched the band pieces into the cradle and lining and stitched the side seam and top of the bridge at the same time.

Then I turned it all ride side out and basted the layers together so they can be treated as one piece.

On this one I sewed the band in separately…

Now it’s time to sew in the cups. I think this is the trickiest bit by far. Everything else after this is a breeze! But I promise, that with some practice, you’ll be kicking it out!

There are a lot of different techniques for sewing in cups. I like to sew both sides with the cup on top and the cradle on the bottom and–as I mentioned yesterday–I go at it without pins.

I start with the left cup. Remember how I cut with the scallops with the lowest point at the seam? I line up that point right with the seamline on the bridge and start sewing.

The band is facing up and the right side of the cup is facing down. I sew all the way around the cup to the underarm, lining up the notches.

You can also see in the above picture how I keep the two curves opposing each other right up to the edge of the foot.

On the right cup, I start at the underarm.

When I get close to the top of the bridge, I slow down and release the presser foot a few times to rearrange the layers, so that the scallops meet just at the end of the stitching line.

If you’re having trouble with puckering, it helps to release the foot pressure every so often if the layers start to bunch together. Speaking of which, it’s totally normal to end up with a few puckers now and then. Just like sewing sleeve caps. I unpicked one bra like 5 times–ugh… That was actually my impetus to go cold turkey on pins. Since then no more puckers and I stopped cursing my machine. (I know my mom is reading this–I remember you yelling at your machine, too! There was that velvet Christmas dress…)

Happy sewing y’all. I’ll be finishing off the bra tomorrow!

Alrighty, how’s it going y’all? I’d love to hear. I know some are still fitting and some of you have made two or 10 bras by now! Me, I’ve made better friends with my Canon than I ever thought possible…

Before I break out the sewing machine, a couple of things that I’ve been using on my bras.

A straight stitch foot. I use my foot as the seam guide–the distance between the needle and the edge of this foot is exactly 1/4″.

Of course, don’t forget to switch to your zig-zag foot when sewing your elastic. There’s a big Ask How I Know. Which is why I have extra needles…

I use a stretch needle, size 11/75. This has been perfect for elastic and lycra, but also seems to work best on all the tricot-type fabrics. For lace I sometimes go to a very small needle. I’m always experimenting!

assemble the cups

How you proceed on your cups depends on whether you are fully lining your cup, or just lining one part (like the bottom)–or not lining at all.

On my friend’s bra, I’m using lace only on the top cup, as an overlay on the regular bra fabric (in this case, simplex from a bra kit). I want the cross cup seam allowances to be totally hidden inside the seam, so I stitched the three layers together with the lower cup sandwiched in between.

“sandwich” turned right side out, before topstitching…

On my bra, the outer cup is entirely lace and the lining is interfaced silk charmeuse, so I constructed the two layers separately:

To flatten the seams, I turned the seam allowances over to one side and edgestitched onto the allowances, just a tiny width away from the seam.

Your pattern may have instructions to press open seams and topstitch on both sides. Or topstitch the seam allowances together to one side. This is really up to your preference and how thick your material is! Most often, I like to edgestitch which flattens the seam enough for me.

So when I was first starting to make bras, I struggled with rippled seams across the cup. Oh the dreaded rippled seam in knits! Since seam rippling is usually caused by one or the other layers stretching too much, here are a few things to try:

• If your machine has this ability, try lightening the foot pressure.
• As you are sewing, try not to pull or stretch the fabric in any way–let your hands simply be a guide.
• Try sewing without pins! When sewing two different curves together, or concave and convex curves, pinning pulls one layer into the direction of the other which can cause the length to stretch. It takes some practice at first, easing off a pin here and there. Eventually I went cold turkey pin-free! Which has improved my curves sewing and feel for fabric handling.

finish the top of cups

At this point I want to finish the top of my cup! If you are sewing a continuous trim that finishes both the cup and bridge, you’ll wait till you’ve sewn your cups into the band.

Both of my cups have two layers on top–the scalloped lace and non-stretch lining. To finish the edge of the lining, I tried a technique based on one of my fave strapless bras. I sewed a strip of sheer tricot along the outside top of the cup with a 1/4″ seam allowance.

Then I turned, and top-stitched this down along the inside. I could have done this in reverse, too–which would totally hide the seam. It’s pretty soft as it is. The tricot is cut along the least stretch so it stabilizes things a bit.

To keep the lace from shifting around on top, I tacked it down in three spots with a small back-and-forth zig zag stitch (almost like a bartack!). I saw this done in an Elle Macpherson bra and liked its invisibility.

Since my bra has a vertical seam, I tacked down the lace to the lining with a couple of straight stitches right at their joining seams.

After you’ve finished the top of your cup, you can baste the layers together around remaining edges, so that the cup will be treated like one piece. I do this just inside the seam allowance–it’ll all get hidden underneath channeling and elastic! When basting stretch lace, it sometimes wants to stretch past the lining, as you can see in the above photo. It’s just the nature of stretch–I try to keep the excess toward the bottom of the cup and just trim it off!

other cup finishes

There are loads of different ways to finish the top of your cup! I’m always experimenting.

l to r: foldover elastic as a binding, decollete or clear elastic along the bottom of scallops, picot or piping elastic, lace and lining layers sewn right sides together for an invisible finish (which I wrote about here).