I know what you're thinking?  Another bra?  Really, Carolyn?

I know, I know.  I have a sickness, although I'd like to justify this obsession by saying that I'm  going to be spending many days a week in scrubs this next quarter and I figured that a couple nice, comfy soft bras would be perfect for those long days.  But comfy bras don't have to be ugly, right?  In fact, they can be covered with lace and just as lovely as can be.

Like this one.

The bra is the longline version of the Watson bra pattern.  This is my second attempt at this version because me first one ended up huuuge, because I printed out the PDF pattern wrong and didn't realize it until it was all sewn up.  Not one of my finest moments.  This bra fortunately has a happier ending.

The lace is from the Arte Craft etsy store and the entire bra is lined in nude stretch mesh from JoAnn Fabrics.  On a side note, I've also purchased white stretch mesh from JoAnn Fabrics and it dyes beautifully, making me really excited about all the future color possibilities.  The trims and bra straps are dyed with ecru Jacquard Acid dye and while beige may not be the most exciting color to dye things, I'm happy with how they came out.  I used a 3/8" plush back picot elastic for the underarms and 3/4" plush back elastic for the band.  I didn't realize how huge it would be when I ordered it and I was pretty hesitant to use it, but it actually feels really nice on the band.  Also, I added some clear elastic to help support the lace front of the cup.  It was a bit of a pain to sew on, but lining it with Wonder Tape first made sewing it on, well, wonderful.  All the lace and mesh pieces were basted together with a basting spray before being sewn together and the sewing process was easy peasy.

As for the undies, I finally got around to trying out the Watson undies pattern and I'm really glad that I did.  The pattern makes it really easy to incorporate lace into the pattern which I think makes the final product extra pretty.  The rest of the undies are made with the same stretch mesh as the bra and the crotch is lined with a scrap of pink cotton which I think looks really lovely behind the nude mesh.  I used the same 3/8" plus back picot elastic for the waist and this picot elastic for the legs.  On a side note, I'm in love with this picot elastic.  It's held up great on every project that I've used it on and it takes dye fabulously.   It is definitely my picot elastic of choice!

Marlborough Bra - Round Three - The Knock Out Round

Sometimes things don't work out so well in sewing-land.  I have more than one project to demonstrate that outcome..

But sometimes the stars align and things work out pretty darn well.  This project falls firmly into the latter category because despite being pretty new to sewing underwire bras and despite having made several untested modifications to the pattern before sewing this version up, this bra is a hit.

Once again, the bra is the Marlborough bra, but I built upon the modifications that I made last time around.  For one, I increased the total length of the band by another 1/2 inch (it's now increased 1 inch total) because I came to realize that not only was my second version too tight, it was actually way too tight.  The added length is much appreciated by my ribcage and my breastbone.  

Thanks to this tutorial I also took some time to lower the bridge by 1/2" and lower the upper cup by the same amount.  All things considered, it's a pretty small change, but I'm a big fan of the difference that it makes.  

And while this is not a modification, I also changed up the pattern by lining all pattern pieces (except the band) with lace (purchased from this shop).  I used a basting spray to baste the lace to the fabric pattern pieces and it worked...okay.  In general,  it held the pieces together but every once in a while they would come apart which was a bit of a pain.  The rest of the fabric is from a kit purchased from Sweet Cups Bra Supply.  I got two kits for Christmas back in 2014 (!) and I can now officially say that I've used both of them (I used the other kit to make this bra).  Once again, though, I used bra strapping from my stash since the amount that they supply isn't sufficient for this pattern (why, oh why, don't they increase it?).  

But you know who gives this bra the official seal of approval?  O.

She saw it hanging in the bathroom and asked, "did you make this bra?"  I told her "yes" and with stars in her eyes she replied, "It's beautiful.  It looks like a wedding bra."

Which, when you're a six year old girl, is apparently a really big compliment.  

The Marlborough Bra - Round Two

In 2014 I attempted to make my first underwire bra - the Marlborough bra.

Fast forward over a year later and I've attempted to make my second one.  I think I needed all that time to build up my patience and courage to attempt a project that can call for such finicky fitting alterations.  I'm not sure that it was such a great idea to wait that long though, because this time around pretty much felt like I was sewing it for the very first time again.

I can barely remember what I did yesterday.  Don't ask me to remember what I did over a year ago.

Fortunately, my blog post had some notes about what I wanted to do differently this time around.  I sewed a 32C once again, but I made a couple of modifications.  First I widened the bridge by about 1/8th of an inch and lengthened the band by about a 1/4 of an inch on each side because it was too tight last time.  It turns out that I didn't lengthen the band enough because it's still a bit tighter than I would like.  I also followed Kathy's tutorial on changing the shaping of the cups for a shallow bust.  This resulted in a perfect fitting cup...on my left breast.  It turns out that my right breast is smaller so I'm still getting a bit of puckering on that side.  Ah, the things that sewing teaches you about your body.

I've been wearing this bra around for the past week and have figured out some additional changes that will need to be made in future bras.

1) The underwire ends a little too low on my armpit side so I think I'll raise that side of the bra a bit to allow for a slightly taller underwire (as it was, I had to snip off part of my underwire to make it fit this pattern).  Just a side note about snipping off parts of your underwire.  I just cut it using wire cutters and then dipped the edges in Plasti-Dip, as recommended by Amy.  Just a word of caution - Plasti-Dip is addictive and you'll leave the process wanted to dip everything in your house in this mixture.  We may or may not have dipped a Strawberry Shortcake doll in Plasti-Dip.  Consider yourself warned.

2) I'll add some additional length to the band so that it fits better around my ribcage.

3) I'm debating reconfiguring the cups and bridge to allow for more of a plunge style  Part of me feels that I should wait until I have the basic bra perfected before I start messing with bigger elements and part of me says "just go for it."  We'll see which part wins.

As for the sewing, I used the Marlborough instructions, but I also relied heavily on Cloth Habit's bra sew-a-long.  I can not say enough good things about all the work that she put into putting that sew-a-long together.  Thank you!

I used fabric from a kit from Sweet Cups Bra Supply, although I used bra strapping from my stash since the bra strapping in the kit was too short.  Plus, I wanted my strapping to match my lace.  Speaking of which, both were dyed using Jacquard acid dye in the chartreuse color way.  The lace is from Tailor Made, which also seems to sell beautiful bra making kits.

Alright, folks, that's a wrap.  Now excuse me while I go put my shirt back on.

Watson Bras Galore

I've been a bit of a lingerie making machine around here lately, thanks to a series of fortunate events.

1.  After several months of being put off of dying lingerie supplies because I didn't have the "right" dye, I said screw it and decided to give it a go using regular old Dylon dye that's available at just about every big box craft store.  It's probably not the cheapest option for someone trying to dye a lot of fabric, but for a newbie like me, it worked perfectly.  As an aside, from my extensive (read: five minute) internet research, apparently the secret to dying nylon is using acid, so I added a cup of vinegar to my dye bath to make it acidic.  It seemed to work just fine although some elastics did take up the dye more than others - most likely due to their different fabric contents.

2. After fretting about not being able to find any lingerie supplies locally, I found that the Pacific Fabrics in Bellevue offers several fabrics that can be used for bra making.  In fact, they have quite a large supply of miliskin and stretch mesh that works perfectly for bra making.  The stretch mesh has reduced stretch in one direction so I used that direction to support the cradle and I used the other direction to make the bands.  I did, however, have to purchase notions off of the internet (I purchased a bunch of them in bulk about a year ago).  The elastics, bra strapping, and hook and eye fabric are all from Sew Sassy while the metal rings and slides are from Bra Essentials (I bought them all in gold so I wouldn't have to worry about matching them to certain fabrics and I'm really happy with this decision).

3. After spending the last several months in scrubs for school, I realized that I didn't need a structured bra and a soft, comfy one is an awesome choice for everyday wear.

I should note that since my last bra making bonanza, I've had some failed attempts and I've learned a couple things from them.  Like the fact that using a super stretchy spandex (like miliskin) for the entire bra is a bad idea (it ended up huge and with no structure).  I then tried to make an entire bra out of power mesh and that ended up on the opposite end of the spectrum (like a bullet-proof bra).  Trial and error, people.

Okay, now on to the bras (all of them Watson bras)!  I made the same size as last time with no modifications.  Instead, this time I tried to focus on using the right fabrics and improving my lingerie sewing skills.  They're definitely getting better, but to be honest, they leave a lot to be desired.  Oddly enough, the part that I have the hardest time with is sewing the tops of the cups to the rings.  On almost every bra I made it looks like a severely inebriated person completed this step.  And there's no picking those stitches out once you double stitch them in!  I know that because I tried and I ended up ripping a small hole in the fabric.  You can just imagine the sounds that came out of my mouth as I did that.

As for the undies, I used the free So Zo undies pattern that I've used for years.  I altered the pattern to use with lingerie fabric rather than fold over elastic.  I've heard good things about the Watson undies pattern and someday I may get around to trying them out, but for the time being I'm really happy with the So Zo pattern.  The undies are made with either all miliskin (with some cotton for the crotch lining) or miliskin for the front with mesh on the back (you know, for all those times I really want people to be able to see my butt).