Lingerie Friday: Thread Tales

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…

March is Scarcely Here

A Light exists in Spring
Not present on the Year
At any other period —
When March is scarcely here

A Color stands abroad
On Solitary Fields
That Science cannot overtake
But Human Nature feels.

It waits upon the Lawn,
It shows the furthest Tree
Upon the furthest Slope you know
It almost speaks to you.

Then as Horizons step
Or Noons report away
Without the Formula of sound
It passes and we stay —

A quality of loss
Affecting our Content
As Trade had suddenly encroached
Upon a Sacrament.

{Emily Dickinson}

There will be no Lingerie Friday today. This weekend begins…. begins so many things. March, as we say, is an energy-shifter. Austin grows twice its size during SXSW. Friends arrive from England, Derek’s birthday aka St. Patrick’s Day, and in the midst we are MOVING. Our friends are here to help us with that, God bless them. Spring has such a fast approach, and I don’t want to miss a moment of its goodness.

But I can’t wait till we are fully moved back into our house. The last year and a half we’ve been in a rental with no character while we did some remodels. Our house is a teeny cottage, cute and old (for Texas) and it has a personality. I’ll just have to figure out where to put all the sewing equipment that has grown (I mean seriously grown) over the last two years. I need like magic pulleys to store things on the ceiling.

Anyways, hopefully I won’t get too silent around here, but y’all know how moving goes!

Adjusting Your Bra Band (With Math!)

I’m making a new lingerie set using this funky yellow zebra lace from Merckwaerdigh. I find animal prints hard to resist and this one is so soft, feminine and subtle. But to make a bra from this set I have to make some pattern adjustments to the band. The matching lycra is a super stretchy 4-way lycra/spandex fabric, and if you have ever tried to make bras with new band fabrics you probably figured out that no two band fabrics fit alike!

If you were to take apart a few of your RTW bras and detach the elastic, you’d notice the bands are all different lengths. This doesn’t necessarily mean they are different band sizes, just that they were drafted with the negative ease particularly needed for that fabric. Unfortunately, most commercial patterns aren’t always clear on the stretch percent or type of stretch for which they were drafted, probably to allow for the widest interpretation possible.

There is a way to get around all this without worrying about sizes. I like to adjust my band pieces for each bra using just a little bit of math. It’s easy math, I promise!

{ONE} If you have already made a bra from your pattern, put on your bra and measure from the side seam of your bra around your back to the other side seam:

The line of the tape should be level with your underbust along the elastic hem. Try to hold the tape firmly–you want a firm number.

*If your pattern doesn’t have a side seam, you’ll need to measure from the side of your cup where the underwire is all the way around to the other side.

{TWO} Find the width of your bra back closure, with the closure on the loosest hook. Subtract this number from the back measurement you just took in step 1.

My Back Measurement 15 7/8″ – Closure Width 2 1/8 = 13.75″

Divide this number in half. This is the length of your bra band piece with no negative ease. Mine would be 6 7/8″. Now you need to adjust it for the stretch of your fabric.

{THREE} Find out the stretch percent of your fabric. I first find the direction in which the fabric stretches the most, and take a length of about 5″ or 12cm and stretch it to its maximum along a ruler.

My lycra stretches from 5 to almost 10″, which is 100% stretch. The calculation: (5″ stretched / 5″ original length) x 100 = 100%.

Using your stretch percent, you can now make some logical adjustments to your band. Obviously the more a fabric stretches the shorter you want your band to be.

{FOUR} For band fabrics, I have found that reducing length by 3% for every 10% of stretch generally works. For example, if your fabric has a 75% stretch, then multiply 3 x 7.5 to get the stretch reduction of 22.5%. My lycra stretches almost 100%, so I multiply 3 x 10 to get a stretch reduction of 30%.

I take my measurement from step 2, and multiply it by 70%. (Reducing by 30%.)

6.875 x .70 = 4.8″

That is how long I want my new band piece to be along the hemline, from the stitching line of the side seam to the line where the back closure is sewn. My current band piece is 5.4″, which was a good fit in a heavier powernet.

To shorten this piece, I slash down the middle and overlap. until the new hem length reaches 4.8″. Then I retrace the band and smooth out the lines. Voila–a new band piece!

*Note that it’s important to take these measurements between the seam lines and not the edge of the seam allowance. Seam allowance doesn’t count toward length!

Of course math isn’t the whole story and there are other factors which will influence the fit, including how tightly you pull your elastic while sewing. But I have found this to be a good starting point so I don’t end up with too-loose bands. As always testing is always your best friend!

Body Scanning, For the People

My measurements change, and frequently. It all depends on chocolate or circuit training. Or the time of the year. I am more athletic in the summer. I’m dormant in the winter. A few years ago I drafted some close-fit slopers, which I’ve occasionally used as a “body map” to correct dart and length placements on patterns, but it was time to do some re-measuring. I really want to try some pattern drafts from a few of my new-er books and every drafting style always has its own specific measurement needs.

And obviously there are some measurements that you can’t do yourself–and some which are very particular to posture. I definitely straighten up for myself. And take little smidgens off here and there. I subconsciously cheat!

So I hopped over to a friend’s house for some help in taking my current measurements. Some of the results surprised me and I wondered if she may have been holding the tape too loose. I wanted backup data. How else could I get measurements? Ooh, perhaps a body scanning? After a bit of googling about fit technology I discovered a startup company from Berlin called UPcload, who designed software that scans your body through a laptop webcam. Web 2.5 plus German technology = now that’s what I’m talkin about!

Like the few 3D scanning technologies that have trickled down to retail, this is aimed at shoppers who want to find better-fitting store clothing and it supports itself through retail partnerships. But I was curious what it could do for me in terms of pattern-drafting measurements.

ETA: And IT’S FREE. (Oopsy, forgot to add that.)

So here’s how it works. After a simple sign-up process the software connects to your webcam and a flash movie begins taking you step by step through a set-up process in front of your laptop. First it has you change into tight-fitting dark clothing, with a helpful guide on what constitutes tight–and pull up your hair if you have long hair. To get an accurate body profile you move the laptop and yourself until you fit into a frame. Then you hold a CD or DVD in front of your stomach as a point of reference.

Then another movie starts taking you through the measuring process. I forgot to take screenshots of the process as I was doing it, but these are the poses…

It’s all demonstrated by this cute 20-something couple who seem very happy about the whole thing; their apartment is much cleaner and less colorful than my house (no white walls here!).

The whole thing took about 10 minutes with some swishy disco “scan” noises and voila! body measurements.

So you might be wondering, how accurate are they? I was shocked! Most of my width measurements were spot on within .5 cm of what my friend had measured. The lengths were different but those were the ones I suspected my friend had taken too loosely, so I went with UPcload’s. Of course UPcload’s measurements are minimal and I needed several others specific to the draft I am working on, but at least I got the basics!

Anyone ever done a body scanning (outside of the airport, of course!)? I’d love to hear about it. Or have you ever had a tailor or other professional measure you?

Additional notes: If drafting custom-fitting patterns is your thing, I highly recommend European Cut by Elizabeth Allemong. There are some great drafting explanations in that book, but worth the price alone is the extensive chapter on how to measure–where to hold the tape, how tight to hold it, when to use aids, etc. Few patternmaking books go into that much detail. There’s always The Art of Measuring, reprinted by Center for Pattern Design. But then that’s vintage drafting and specific to tailoring, but I’m definitely curious about it!

Lingerie Friday: Bodysuits

Annnd she’s back with Lingerie Fridays, my little weekly dose of lingerie design, inspiration and sewing. As if the dosage hasn’t been full-strength around here! And clearly it’s going all around: y’all have seen Maddie’s adorable new free pattern, the Amerson Undies, right? I can see some very cheeky bloomers popping up around the sewing webs. (Yes, a terrible pun…)

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?