My Contribution to Film

Mr. Lina is going to be filming the next movie from Friday to Monday so the long weekend we were running a few last minute errands for the film.  Mr. Lina mentioned he needed to buy a thong for the movie.  I said I could do that.  Really, it gave me an excuse to put off the zipper situation on the purple dress and it's two triangles sewn together.  I can do that.

This is made from pantie fabric from Sew Sassy - Y2705 (they spell it i.e., I want to spell it with a y, either way, it really does feel nice), picot elastic from Sew Sassy and some FOE I think I bought at Fabricland, I've had it for a while so I'm not sure.  Mr. Lina wanted it all black (oh so easy to photograph) so the FOE is actually inside out.  The proper side has silver threads on one side, when you stretch the waist band you can still see a few glimmers.  If I understand right, Mr. Lina wanted this to be as tiny and stretchy as possible.  It will be used more like a string than underwear.  The actress will not need to wear it, so sizing didn't really matter, I took the sizing roughly from a RTW thong in my drawer.  I made it a little too small for me and told Mr. Lina I didn't want it back, if the actress would like to keep the "wardrobe", she was welcome to it.

My sewing room really needs to be tidied up.  I have many shoe/boot boxes that keep things like elastic or ribbon or black bra supplies together.  It works pretty well for me.  Until I misplace the box that has the cotton knit I use for the gusset on underwear.  I must have spent half an hour looking for that box.  I still haven't found it (although I did find a RTW bra I was looking for), I ended up using a little snippet of pointe knit, same fabric I made my last Renfrew from.

Why does the couch look wavy?  I really should have taken my time last night.

The one challenge with this kind of project is keeping everything facing the right way.  Because the triangle in the back is not attached to the front, it's really easy to think you have the elastic facing the right way only to sew it all on and realize there was a twist in it.  Ask me how I know.  Between looking for the box and resewing the waistband on, this took much longer than it should have.

I also needed to get my ass in gear on the blanket.  My brother has gone back to the NWT, I think I'm healthy enough to meet my niece but Mr. Lina is still having some lingering coughing and congestion.  I don't want to go without him so I'll wait until after the film is shot.  I've started the boarder but each side has a different stitch pattern to get started so it's been slow going.  I think it's 4 rows of single crochet and then a few rows of the shells to make a wavy edge.

Sorry for the night time picture, it really is a pretty green.

I bought some pink, yellow and variegated yarns, providing options on what to use.  Mr. Lina liked all three but he really liked the variegated yarn.  I figure you shouldn't ask an opinion if you aren't going to consider it.  I liked pink best because I know who it's for but I liked yellow best because it was pretty, this felt like a compromise when I just couldn't decide.    We'll see how it looks when I have more than one row done.  I can always switch back to green for the wavy shell part.

One little whiny story.  I went to Montreal on Tuesday for work.  There were 3 newish employees who needed training on the product I specialize in and part of their time was associated with my client so I will be working with them.  My account director decided it was cheaper to send me to them rather than all three of them to Toronto.  I like training, I was happy to meet many people I work with on a regular basis but have never had the opportunity to meet.  I did not realize what the day was going to end up like.  I was on an 8am flight to Montreal (i.e. the alarm went off at 5:40am) and I was on a 5pm flight home.  Fortunately both my home and employers office are close to their respective airports, but it's still about 2.5 hours between the flight time and pre-boarding each trip to end up being in the office from 10am to 3:30pm and I spent all of that time standing at the front of the room talking.  Lunch ended up being a quick take out from the mall across the road because there wasn't time to have a social meal.  AND no time to go fabric shopping.  I mean really, what were these people thinking?  Why did I not speak up sooner?  I'd say next time but I have been with my employer over 6 years and 2 years being associated with a client that has a head office in Montreal, I don't know when "next time" will roll around. 

Anyone live in New Orleans?  The Post-Lifers has been accepted to the New Orleans Film Festival.  Mr. Lina also submitted to the New Orleans Horror Festival and is waiting to hear back.  We are thinking that we'll go to one of the two festivals, both are in October about two weeks apart so we can't stay for both.  I'm happy to have another reason to go to NOLA even if it's just for a couple of days.

Elan 645 - Retro Styling

I finished Elan 645 and worn it for a little over a week and while I like it, it's not the holy grail of bras for me.

Socks filling the cups, tee hee...

Things I like

• Wow is this band supportive.  My posture would be so much better if I always wore a band like this.
• The back is really low.  I could wear a damn near backless dresses with this bra.

• I love purple, I find the end result pretty.
• The straps generally stay put and yet are far enough to the side to not show up under my boat neck top.
• Speaking of the straps, another successful venture making sliding straps.
• And my first bra with integrated straps as opposed to just tacking them onto the back.

• Mr. Lina also thinks it's pretty.
• My breasts are staying put in this thing.  The top less so because the lace isn't going to hold them down if I jumped, but it's a real shelf underneath.
• Of course that's my own fault for putting 3 layers of fabric in the lower cup - stretch purple satin, purple tricot against my skin and a little powernet.  It's the first time I've tried powernet in the cups, I think it's overkill.
• The directions are pretty good.  I did keep my Bra Makers Manual around because I've put my own notes in the book about channeling and for once I did that right on the first try.  For the most part I followed the directions with the bra and found them good enough.
• The underwire is actually sitting flat against my chest between my breasts

Things I'm not sure about

• The shape.  It really does lift my breasts up and out, but it's a bit like a shelf and feels a little retro compared to the modern soft cup look.  Gertie posted about the fashion of breast shape, and this looks like a lot of the retro images she included rather than the modern tshirt bra. 



Wearing a tank for modesty, but you see the pointed shape.

• The change in shape seriously impacts how this fits under my clothing.  My bust is 44" in this bra, other bras are around 43".  Some shirts have wrinkles under the arm, they just don't fit the same.
• I had a headache the first couple of days of wearing it, but that seems to be easing as the bra is stretching out a little.  This seems in line with Gerties post "Is my girdle making me dumb?"
• Something is funky under the arms, about an inch of the top band is floating away from my body.  This is likely my sewing error, maybe stretching something that shouldn't be stretched while sewn or the fabric stretching when I picked out stitches, I'm not sure.  It's not really noticeable except that I'm looking for problems.

Things I don't like

• Initially, I was going to say the band was too tight.  I really felt the headaches were due to oxygen being cut off, but I can tell it's relaxed in the week I've had it.  Wearing it on alternating days or shorter periods of time was a good call.  I'm still wearing it on the loosest setting but the headaches aren't so noticable.
• I seem to have not caught the stitches well under one of the underwire.  Elastic is stitched once on the right side of the fabric then turned under.  It is key to go close to the picot edge so that you only see the little pretty detail of the edge when it's flipped under.  I guess in focusing on the elastic, I didn't look closely at the fabric and it's  frayed and pulled through.  I have put some fray check on it, and zig zagged a little there.  Really, who is looking at my bra that closely? 

Nice match on the thread, eh?

• The cup seams are not well curved and you can see them through my clothing.  It was hard to find an outfit that would work well with the bra but that is improving as I mentally adjust to the shape and try it under more clothing.  As mentioned, it's noticable on my black Renfrew, but I still wore it. 
• My preference in RTW are partial band bras, this is the first full band bra I've made (well, second, but the first 645 was pretty but far too big).  That longer piece of fabric under the cups is rolling when I sit at a desk (again, my posture sucks).  If I pull the bra higher it helps but the underwire starts to get so high it shows up at the neckline and it won't stay there.  I think there is a reason I haven't purchased many full band bras.

So net-net, I'd say it's a wearable, functional bra but I'm not sure how many of this style I would want.  I like my partial band styles better. 

These are the bras I know I know

I did get to sew this weekend, not as much as I hoped, but it was good.  I've made lots of bras and I thought it was time to try again.  I went to take a picture of the work in progress and thought I'd post a few other bras I've made that have not worked out for one reason or another.  Then I started singing in my head "These are the bras (Daves) I know I know" courtesy of The Kids in the Hall.

Before I get into my bra history, I have to give a shout out to K-Line.  She has been doing a fantastic little series on bras.  Pretty sure this is part of what gave me the push to make another.  Sadly I haven't been in the right mental state to comment on it much, but it's a good read.  Go over, I'll wait. 

Most of my supplies come from Sew Sassy.  Even with duty etc at the boarder, it seems worth it based on what is available at Fabricland (although most of the lace is from Fabricland).  The under wire are heavy, I love the channeling (922 - not 909), the stretch satin has a nice amount of stretch to it and washes well.  My parents go to Florida for the month of February, to save the crazy shipping I stock up once a year.  My other recommendation if you are going to make bras is the Beverly Johnson book The Bra-makers Manual.  This has saved my sanity and inspired me that I could make bras and it was okay to make a few to get it right.

To answer the first bra post from K-Line, I am not comfortable taking pictures of me in ill fitting bras.  I'm sorry these are not so great pictures because my 38D/DD bras do not look so pretty flat, but I still don't have a dummy to model them for me.  Maybe if I can get this looking good and no nipple showing, but for now, you get flat pictures.  If I do work up that courage, it sure as hell won't be sexy "oh look at me" bra-porn pictures.

So first up is the bra I am working on.  Elan 645.  I'm making it in purple stretch satin, lots of support with tricot in the cup, powerknit underlining the back.  So far so good, except...  I put the black lace in on the wrong cup so it is inside out.  I realized this after I had topstitched and cut the seam allowances so I'm sucking it up knowing it's not perfect.  Right now one cup is inserted, the other is not.  It will have under wire, I think that is optional with this full band bra but I like underwire if it's fitting properly.

I have made this bra before, but the cup is much too large.  K-Line asked if people like a snug band.  I am sad to say all the bras I'm wearing at the moment are loose from being too old and stretched out.  The one thing I loved about this bra was the feeling of the band.  It's snug, you aren't fitting much between my skin and that bra, but not uncomfortably so.  It is quite sad just how much retrofitting would be required for those cups to hold my breasts because the band truly is perfect.  My breasts get bigger when pregnant, maybe one day my band will stay the same and I'll fill those cups.  Doubt it.  So realizing a lost cause, there are no straps on this bra.

Bah, this is right side up in Photobucket.

 The first bra I was really pleased with was this one.  Elan 510.  Keep in mind, this isn't the first bra I made, there were a few white ones with the bra kits from Sew Sassy first.  As directed, most of these bras would be disappointing.  I don't think they give enough support as directed with the supplies in the kit.  I figured that out quickly.  510 appealed to me as a front closing bra.  I'm on the cusp of not being able to find front closing bras.  Either they cut off at a 36 and are too tight, or they only go up to a C cup and there are spillage issues.  I thought making my own would be nice.  I did love this bra.  It didn't lift them all that much, but I had a nice shape and I could wear a deep V neck shirt well.  I would wash that out in the tub, hang it to dry and wear it all over again.  The lace cup was starting to get a little stretched out when the front clasp broke. 

So I tried to make another one.  Not nearly as successful.  This one ended up too small if I remember right.   I think the satin shrank from the steam in the iron.  So frustrating.  Adding to that, I screwed up the straps, something is twisted.  I should revisit this one to see if the magic closet has helped. 

Ever try on a bra and you just know it's not designed for your breasts?  The shape is wrong, it is just... wrong.  That's Kwik Sew 2101.

All that lovely pink top stitching, black & pink lace...  Sigh.  Love the look, but it would take more engineering to make that fit than I'm willing to do.  That said, it actually fits my mother in law well.  At some point I'll finish the straps etc and give it to her.  Someone may as well wear it.

I'd say the consistent fit issue comes down to a few points:

• Too much space in the upper cup, I'm a D/DD depending on the band, but it's not in my upper chest. 
• My breasts do not push together, again, they just aren't spaced quite like other D cups I think
• Fabric - a small change in the degree of stretch has left some bras (not pictures) just making me look flat and spilling.  Ick.
• Fabric - shrinking.  One of them must have shrunk because by the time I went to sew it up, the band was smaller than the power net.  It wasn't that way when I cut it.

Even with all these failures, that one success haunts me.  I LOVED that bra.  When this works, it will be perfect.  Until I get it right, I'm not so interested in buying more. 

Oh and to answer another question K-Line asked, I have been for a proper bra fitting.  The first time was to get a strapless bra for a wedding I was a bridesmaid for.  A couple of years later I dragged a friend to get fitted.  I was wearing the right size and was pleased to hear that.  My friend, however, did have one of those life altering fittings that drastically shrunk her band and increased the cup size.  Go figure, the bruising from the under wire stopped with the right size bra.

Signs It's Time to Pause

If you remember, my grey skirt was made because I didn't have matching thread.  I had cut out the slip (?) of a gift, but not sewn it up.  Friday night I tackled sewing now that I had matching thread.  I worked until 6ish, home at 7, went out for dinner with Mr. Lina so I did get a late start on the evening.  One thing I like about that pattern is that the pieces really line up well.  Even with me grading up 5" on the hips, notches lined up, the pieces were the same length, etc.

Lekala 5241 or Modern Pattern Sewing Red Slip

I did forget a few things. 
A.  I sewed the whole seam down forgetting about the cute slits at the front.  I was lazy on this front.  I could have unpicked the 2 seams but meh, it's stretch fabric, I put in a lot of extra fabric for her hips, pretty sure she'll have room to move.

B.  I cut the SA too big.  I use my overlock stitch on past versions as they were sheer and I didn't want to see the seam allowances.  As much as sheer wasn't an issue, I went to sew it the same way but I had cut wider than that.  I will admit to trying it on (over clothing, we have similar bust measurements) and realizing this was WAY too big at the sides and around the bust (although the extra at the bottom fell nicely).  Sadly this was after I had put the bias tape on so it was a true PITA to fix.

C.  My sewing machine is not a mind reader.  More on that shortly.

D.  Pictures.  Yep, ran out of time.  I was suppose to be at the bride's house at 3:00 (20 min drive).  I finished it a bit past 2, then wrapping, out of the shower at 2:30, I managed to leave at 3...  Sigh.

So the sign that it is time to pause in a project and go to bed.  I had it done, bias tape along the top/straps (black satin bias tape that Fabricland sells by the meter), all it needed was a hem.  I was getting tired, it was midnight, but I thought I'd push on so all that all I had to make were panties the next morning.  I bought a double needle a while ago but really haven't had a chance to use it.  In theory, this should be quick and easy.  I practiced with a scrap to see if I wanted to put some interfacing or tissue to stabilize but honestly, the part that looked best was left alone so I went with that.  Then I realized I should overlock the hem.  Switch feet and overlock so it doesn't shed so much.  Then go back to the double needle.  That was my downfall.  I did not change the stitch back to a straight stitch (see item C above) although I did put the width back to 1.  I was so confused why it was going through so much thread, then it struggled with every vertical seam, eventually coming to a standstill.  That's when I noticed the back didn't look the way it did on practice, way too much thread back there.  I rethreaded a whack of times and go figure it looked the same.  I went to bed with the hem half done and completely confused.

Next morning I look at it, use some scraps, see the same thing happening (because it was still doing what it was set to do), rethread again...  I finally looked at the stitch setting and realize my mistake.  I went back to the hem and broke a double needle trying to go through a big lump of thread I was too lazy to pick out.  Sigh. 

So off to Fabricland.  10am on a members 50% off day, it was better than the craziness I expected.  I stayed away from fabric but I did stock up on notions and two double needles.  Sewaholic posted today about the triple stitch with the warning to sew carefully because 3 threads are a PITA to pick out.  Let me tell you, a double needle of overlock stitch was looking pretty painful until I finally saw the pattern of where the bobbin thread was.  After breaking one needle, it all needed to come out no matter what time was involved.

Ah well, it was finished in time, black lace panties were made to go with it.  The bachelorette itself was fun.  I like the bride, but honestly, some of her friends are a tad shallow and I said I'd drive, I wasn't sure how it was going to go.  Fortunately a very good friend was also part of the party, we had a great time.  Dinner was at The Chef Upstairs. 

This isn't us, it's from: http://www.thechefupstairs.com/interactive_dining.html

It's a cool mix of dinner and cooking lesson.  I got to plate the beets.  Dinner was not very Sera-friendly (carrot risotto is hard to adapt to being carrot free) but the chef was a trouper fixing what he could and I ate a lot of beets.  Good thing I like beets.  We were going to head out to a bar in Toronto, but the bride was feeling a little headachey and wanted to go somewhere closer to home.  Ended up at the pub where Mr. Lina and I had our first "let's meet for drinks and see if you look anything like I remember from Oktoberfest" (lots of alcohol at Oktoberfest, neither of us remembered names correctly, although he was closer than I was).

The boys had a longer day than us, beer tour starting at 11am.  They went to 4 microbreweries in Toronto, dinner then went to watch the hockey game at a pub.  They had some pub frustrations and ended up meeting up with us at the same pub.  Mr. Lina was crazy drunk, but oh so very happy drunk.  It can be annoying being the sober driver around drunks, but how do you get upset when he's asking for "hangaburs" as we approach a McDonalds?  In the drive thru he was muttering in frustration at the seat belt because he tried to tickle me and couldn't reach.  Ah, it was fantastic.

Sunday was recovery for Mr. Lina.  We were suppose to play Dungeons & Dragons, but he wasn't mentally up to running it and there was some miscommunication so one player couldn't make it.  There are 3 D&D themed board games that are a great time, highly recommend (and no, you don't need to know anything about D&D).  We played The Legend of Drizzt.  The characters are from a series of books I didn't read but for Mr. Lina bring back fond memories.  It's a great cooperative game for 1-5 players. 

Image from the Amazon site linked above.

If you are interested in board games, I'll add the occasional review.  I grew up playing with my dad and brothers with rules like "we play until 8pm or when Clone cries".  You know that rule was created based on experience.  As a result, I didn't want to play board games and I'm pretty fussy.  If it gets overly competitive, too "screw your neighbour", or boring as hell (why does anyone play Monopoly?) I'm not interested.  We're usually playing games that are a little less traditional than Clue, unless you go looking, you won't hear about them.

Well, off to bowling tonight.  I have the itch to sew after two projects finished in short order.  So rewarding.  The problem is that work is going to dominate my time.  Too much on my plate right now. 

Cheeky panties

I won't be modelling these for you, but trust me, they are aptly named as cheeky panties.  I like this style because they are sexy, comfortable (when the lace is right) and with only 2 seams dead easy to sew.

I stole the pattern from a RTW pair I bought.  They were okay, but the lace isn't all that stretchy or soft, so honestly, mine are better.  Looking them over, I realized that if you folded them in quarters, the two pieces were identical.  Ideally you want stretch lace elastic, at least 5" wide.  If you are smaller, the proportions may work out okay for 4.5", but I like even a little over 5".  The top part needs to be able to stretch enough to reach your hip measurement. 

The white pair are one of the original 3 pack of RTW, the purple is what I was making for myself.  The bride got a pair like this last week (and a black pair) but I didn't get pictures at the time. 

As mentioned, there are really only two seams, the front/back and then across at the crotch.  You need to cut two pieces of lace so they look like this.  One is folded in half and how I cut it, the other shows it opened up.  The third rectangle is for the crotch.  The RTW do it in a diamond tacked down, but I like the rectangle myself. 



It is important to look at where the pattern is ending on the lace when cutting, it's nice to have the flowers or whatever look symmetrical.

I've mentioned I don't have a serger, I use the overlock stick and foot.  The stitch on my machine is 19 and I've put a picture of my overlock foot.  It makes a huge difference in getting the fabric to line up right and not roll.  Because I am using a sewing machine, there really isn't a seam allowance to these, just the width of the stitching.  If you are using a serger and will be cutting as you go, you would need to add that on.

This is what it looks like with the front to back seam sewn, now there is just the little seam at the crotch left to sew. 

Fortunately I did a good job in matching the pattern.  This is going to be the front.  Sorry it's upside down, it's rotated in photobucket.

Now that the front is determined, it's time to add the cotton crotch.  I've used tshirts, but now I have a bit of ribbing I bought in black, white and pink to chose from.  It doesn't take much.  I have put the RTW and my version over my ham.  The RTW uses a diamond and tacks it down at the corners.  I like a larger rectangle and sew it all around.  Although it won't fray, I sew around the edges of the rectangle, I like the look and it keeps it from stretching out too much.  This something I do differently than RTW, they centre it on the crotch, but honestly, that's puts it further back than I think is ideal.  I put it 2/3rds to the front.  I folded mine over so you can see where the crotch seam is.

And the inside, all sewn down.

Once that is sewn down, the last thing to add is a little bow to the front and you are done.  Ta da!

Pretties

As mentioned, the bachelorette is over, the outfit was finished.  Although I really do think I did each seam twice, it turned out nicely.  I don't have a ton of pictures because there wasn't a whole lot of time left for house cleaning never mind pictures, but these will have to do.

First, a messy shot.  At this point I have the cups together, the back band and the skirt is attached.  You can sadly also see the state of my sewing room.

The skirt is attached when the back elastic was added.  I don't have a serger, the seams on the skirt are using the overlock stitch.  The skirt is in 4 pieces, it widens out a bit to the bottom for some flirty skirting along the hips.  You can still see my seam allowance marked on the back band and the T for the strap locations.

I was a bit stumped on how to do a narrow hem on such a thin, sheer fabric.  I've mostly done circle skirts on the lingerie so a narrow hem is possible with patience.  This had a scoop to the front, the curve was pretty sharp, I did something similar for two brides, but it was 3 years ago, I couldn't remember how I got around it.  Google to the rescue.  I decided to do a close fold, iron that to give an edge, then put my zig zag on 0.5 stitches and I think a width of 3.  Once that was sewn down, I trimmed the extra fabric.  I found my snippers worked okay but it highlighted that a small pair of scissors would be a nice Christmas present.  As would a narrow rolled hem foot.  Still, I'm pleased with the result.

And a natural light shot, doesn't it look blue?  The colours are somewhere between the two, not as blue as this but more blue tones than pink as above.  Without something to model this, it's hard to photograph, but I'll draw attention to a few aspects.  The straps are in three parts.  First the elastic across the top back/sides loops through a slider.  Then a 3/8" tube of the skirt fabric.  Then adjustable straps with strapping elastic.  It's my first time doing adjustable straps (I don't really need them for me) and I think I made them too long in my fear of doing it too short, but all in all, I shouldn't have avoided adjustable straps for so long.  It wasn't all that bad to figure out with my Bra Makers Manual by my side.

And a better picture of the cups/front.  You can see a little clearer that the skirt comes around the cups but is open at the front.  The underwire casing ended up going a little above the lace, but I kind of like how that looks anyhow. 

I did make panties to match, two pairs in fact.  One in the same lace as the cups and another in black lace.  I do cheeky panties, a bit like these from Victoria's Secret.  I don't seem to have pictures of the ones I made her, but I made a pair for myself (just to be sure I remembered, it's been a while) and cut out a second.  I'll take pictures of the second for a mini-tutorial.  They are seriously easy.  Two seams and you're done.

I still feel like I'm paying for the lack of sleep.  Mr Lina and I gave up on going for a hike because it looked like it was going to rain, opting instead for all you can eat mussels at our favourite Louisiana seafood place and came home to have a little wine.  We both needed some down time tonight.

Morning after the night before

Oh I am so not 20 anymore.  We had a grand old time at the bachelorette last night.  Much good food, good presents, laughs, alcohol, and dancing was had.  It all suited the bride to a tee.  Somehow I managed to push a glass of water on the bride at the end of the night but not myself, so I woke up with a headache.  Not truly a hangover, but I think it was a sleep deprived headache.

And how did I end up sleep deprived?  It's that gift at fault.  Lessons learned:

1. It will always take longer than you think.
2. Just because you've made something before doesn't mean that you won't screw it up.
3. Don't sew at 1am.

That last point may hint at the sleep deprived status.  Thursday night I stayed up well past midnight and managed to sew two seams wrong.  The cutting was all fine, I didn't screw that up.  Friday I started around 7pm and granted there were some breaks, but I was mostly sewing until 1am and it was past 2 when I fell asleep.  The specific lesson comes from trying to sew the underwire channeling into the cups while over tired.

I generally screw this part up so you'd think I'd learn, but even with my notes that make sense to me when I leave them, they don't when it's 8 months later.  The process is to sew the channeling into the cup seam allowance, then cut the seam allowance and turn it into the cup for a partial band bra.  It is important to sew on the correct side of the cup (which is not really intuitive) and the correct edge of the channeling.  I did one thing wrong on one cup and the other thing wrong on the other cup.  I didn't realize the wrong side of the cup until after the seam allowance had been cut.  You want to talk about precision sewing?  Yipe.

What sent me to bed was when I looked down to see this:

The problem here is that the front closing bra is first basted to the cup, then you sew the channeling, turn the channeling, sew the channeling twice to get that nice 2 lines of top stitching.  And what to I see?  I cut the seam allowance too close and it's now fraying.  That little bit of fabric is going to take the brunt of pressure to hold those breasts together and it's fraying.  Under 3 rows of stitching.  Black thread on black channeling.  The channeling has it's own line of stitching that my stitches are on top of.  It's a nightmare to unpick, but that's what I was facing at 1am.

I chose to go to sleep.

I will post more pictures of the final result tomorrow.  But lesson learned.  Less sewing at 1am.

Bra Sizing: Clear as Mud

I mentioned yesterday that I forgot to take the band measurement on the bride.  How foolish.  So I figured I would ask her bra size knowing most people don't quite have it right, but I do have her bust and upper bust and I know what she looks like.

So she says she is a 38D, but recently was measured as a 32FF (or G) but didn't believe it.  I kind of figure they are probably on to something here myself.  I looked up my handy dandy chart in The Bra Makers Manual  and the underwire for a 38D is the same as a 32G, she's just wearing a band that is too loose.  Now the bra I want to base it on (Elan 510) doesn't do a 32G so now I'm doing some quick adjustments to make the 38D cup fit to a smaller band.  This fabric is pretty stretchy for a daily wear bra so I would have done that anyhow, but now I have a concept of how much.

It's all cut out and I'm having some geometry issues putting the cups together.  I don't know why but tonight it's just not fitting together right.  It's going to look good if the pieces would just cooperate.  I thought maybe stepping away to check email might help.  Here's hoping...

Fall Sewing Objectives

I really do want to make the focus of my blog about sewing.  There just seem to be a few things going on lately that aren't sewing.  So here is what I will be sewing:

1.  Lingerie for the bride.  The bachelorette is on Saturday so that needs to start tonight.  I think I've done more than enough thinking, it's time to get to cutting.  I'm hosting the party so time needs to be allocated for house cleaning too.  I went to start on this and realized I didn't measure her under bust.  Silly me.

2.  Rooibos.  I missed the sew along, but that's okay, we all sew at our own pace.  I have traced the bodice pieces, but not the skirt/pockets.  I want to do a muslin of the top half, I'm mostly worried about how it fits at the bust. This is the fabric I have in mind.  It's pin striped on one side and plain on the other.  The colour is a bit redder than the picture.

3.  Bras.  I have made quite a few and really only had one that I liked and then the front clasp broke.  Most have ended up with too much space at the upper cup.  I'm a D cup, but the fullness is not across my chest.  Here are the patterns I have at the moment (with the Rooibos fabic behind them):

• Elan 510 - The only front clasp bra.  So far this is the bra that worked out best and I bought it because it's hard to find a front clasp for a 38D in RTW.  I've had fails from not pre-shrinking the satin and wouldn't go around by the time I was done.  One of the first versions I didn't realize that seam allowances were not included.  On something as fitted as a bra, that's a HUGE difference.
• Elan 645 - I've made one up, and I like it, but again, too much fullness to the upper cup to bother with straps.  I think with some tweaking it has a lot of potential. 
• Kwik Sew 2101 - Oh my this was not designed with my breasts in mind, you can fit a fist between my chest and where the straps meet the upper cup.  The one version I made of this fits my MIL well, at some point I'll finish the straps and send it to her.
• Kwik Sew 3166 - well, this is more corset/bustier than bra, but so far I've chickened out.  I'll make it eventually, but probably not yet.  I need some functional bras before I make Mr Lina happy.

My parents go to Florida for February.  Two years in a row now I have bought a whack of stuff at Sew Sassy and shipped it to them to save myself the customs fees.  I bought all of my bra patterns from them.

4.  Sencha  I will make Sencha work.  The one that did work fits my work wardrobe well and it's been fun on the weekends too.  I'd like to try version 2.

5.  Whatever suits my mood.  :)  I come up with these goals and lists and generally make half of it.  Either something else comes up (which reminds me, Halloween is not in that list) or I just don't feel the passion to do what is on the list. 

I should open a store apparently

Tonight I thought I would spend a little time digging around my sewing room.  See what I had to go with that swirling purple/grey/black fabric.  I had bought 8m of black lace elastic, but at half price, that just made sense to me regardless of this project.  I can always find a use for that.

So here's what I found:

Again, I've put a piece of white cardboard behind this so the fabic is brighter in the picture than life.  The purple satin at the bottom is not irridescent, it's just satin and more plum than the picture shows and matches the darker purple parts of the fabric well.  The black fabric is pantie spandex, the black lace is the one I bought.  But I found purple, silver, plum, and silver and purple lace too.  I do have a tendancy to buy it when Fabricland has it 50% off, the assortment is always pretty limited so when I find a nice colour, I snap it up.  The one thing I couldn't find was my silver stretch satin.  I know it's in there somewhere.

Ah well, not sure I'm closer to deciding on what this will be, but my sewing room is a bit tidier.  I am sold on the sheer swirly fabric.  It says bride to me now. 

Mr. Lina is sick I am sad to say.  Woke me up at 6 or so this morning coughing.  He has spent the day in a Neocitron stupor and I spent the day at work avoiding him.  So far I feel fine, just my seasonal allergies driving me crazy but that's ragweed for you.  Here's hoping he stays doped up enough through the night to not keep me up coughing.  I'll be clearing off the guest room bed just in case...

Fabric shopping

When I posted about a few possibilities for my friend the bride, I said fabric would likely dictate what I ended up doing.  So, I think I have the fabric.

I found a few fabrics with potential.  The purple swirls to the left is sheer and pretty soft, it's on a mostly white background so it's a bit brighter than against pale skin.  It would drape well for the skirt and the mix of colour would provide a little more modesty but still hint at what's under there.  The lace across the middle is 5" wide stretch lace, good for panties, midriff elastic, I'm not sure it's quite wide enough for bust, but I have others stashed away that might be 6".

To the right is a charmeuse, it's polyester too.  Not great, but honestly, how long is this going to be worn?  At least it would be machine washable.  I'm not sure that I want to use much of it for this project, it's soft, but not sheer.  Although it does look nice beside and behind the sheer fabric.

So...  what to make.  I still like the bra with skirt idea, but none of this is stretchy and that bra needs a little give.  I do have black spandex pantie fabric (from Sew Sassy) or purple satin I could make the bra out of.  That could work.  The black wouldn't be overly supportive but this is not intended for all day use anyhow.  Solid bra then with the swirly skirt.

The more I think of Lekala 5779 the less sure I am.  There really isn't any way to add support to it.  I know I like a little oomph to my lingerie and I suspect the bride would like that too. 

Hmm, decisions, decisions...  I think I'll sleep on it.

Planning

Well I am actually doing pretty well on my to do list this weekend.  Went to the farmer's market, had a nap with Mr Lina this afternoon, and did some weeding in my flower beds and I actually went for a run after he left for the special effects contest.  So no swimming, but a run and we're planning on going for a hike tomorrow is pretty good for me.  I only went about 2 km, but given that I haven't run in a very long time, that was enough for my poor lungs, I'm still a bit wheezy.  Go asthma go.

I titled this planning, so let me get to planning.  I have a friend getting married and I'm hosting her bachelorette on Sept 10th.  After I got married, I looked at the lingerie I was given and thought, hmm, not much too this really, I can do that.  So I did.  And now it's a bit expected amongst my university friends to make them a gift. 

The bride has a figure a bit like mine, full bust, full hips (more bum actually than hips but I'm a bit like that too).  Based on what I saw at her Stag & Doe, she's lost weight since I took her measurements.  Past that, I think figure wise, whatever suits me will suit her.  She has blonde hair, fairly pale skin, so I don't want too pale of a colour.  I still have to dig through my stash and see if I have something that suits her.  I don't think I do.

So, some options...  I'm going to either self draft or rely on Lekala.  Ever been there?  They are a Russian online pattern company, terrible directions (many are only in Russian) but I like a lot of the patterns.  Twice now they have put up 3 sizes of everything free.  Fortunately, one of the sizes lines up fairly well with me, I think they will work for the bride too.  I try to keep in mind the personality of each of my friends when picking lingerie.  I really believe we all will be at our most sexy when we believe we are sexy and constantly fiddling with something is not sexy, not wearing it because it's too sheer is also not sexy.  I think this bride is fairly comfortable with her body, but I don't know how "oh look at me" she will be.  Less crazy sexy and more classy sexy.

I have made 5241 before.  Both for myself and my SIL.  Mine was in a sheer polyester with satin bias tape for trim.  I really like it actually.  Flattering, but it really doesn't do anything for a full bust.  No lift in that slip.

5779 is something I've always thought about for her.  If the waist part is snug, then it will give her bust a little lift, make her waist look small and slide over her hips/bum.  I dunno about doing it in satin though, maybe something that is at least a little sheer and stretch lace for the waist will be more forgiving if she's lost weight like I think she has.

The other option is more self drafted.  Wide lace elastic across the bust and a circle skirt.  I have one like that, and I've made this for one of my friends, it's flattering and if the wide lace is wide enough for us full busted girls it's a bit of support.  I know my B cup friends have commented that it's enough support for them. 

Another option is taking Elan 510, a front closing bra I have made a few times now, and putting a little skirt along it.  I have made something similar for two friends (but with wide lace elastic across the bust) and heard positive feedback.  I have something similar that does open to the front, and made one for myself, it's flattering.  So picture this bra, those panties, but with a sheer skirt around the bra.

Hmm... so many options....  I think the fabric will tell me what's right when I find it.