Lingerie sewing

I haven't blogged for a while.  Not because I've not been busy though.  I've made 5 jumpers since the last post, but they aren't quite finished.  Why not?  Well a long story.  It starts 5 weeks ago when my embroidery machine broke down.  The timing was out following a tangled nest. I took it into my sewing machine shop for repairs and was told it would take about 2 weeks before I got it back.  It turned out I'd stripped the gears.  Then the technician got pneumonia.  That was the first delay.  The second delay, well it needs a part from Janome Australia.  The warehouse in Australia is closed for 3 weeks while they move. All I can do is wait.

In the meantime I had decided I would really like a coverstitch machine to finish knits more professionally.  Especially after my blue Sew Over It Heather dress started ripping the stitches at the hem, even though it was finished with a twin needle.  The sewing machine shop is a hike across town, so I want to wait until I have to go back to pick up my embroidery machine before looking at their coverstitch machines.  Hence 5 jumpers ready to hem.  It is already getting too warm for wearing jumpers, so I guess I've got a head start on next winters jumpers.

I've also got an Itch to stitch Jacqueline hoodie all cut out. It has a lot of topstitching which I wanted to do on the coverstitch.  But I really need a hoodie, right now,  that I can do up with a front zip.  I really only have 2 decent sweatshirts and both are pull over style, not always convenient, especially now weather is changeable and sometimes I need to get a sweatshirt off as it is too hot.  I may have to give in and sew it on my sewing machine.

Anyway in the meantime, what to do?  Answer - bras.  These are my heavily frankenpatterned version of the Alison Smith Eva bralette.  This time I wanted to try with foam cups. The pattern doesn't come with foam cups as an option, so I had to draft my own, one pattern for the cups with centre seam removed, and another pattern for the fabric cups, slightly larger so I can do a rolled hem finish.  Another change this time was to add adjustable straps.  Now I'm happy with the bralette, though it doesn't bear much resemblance to the original pattern.

The first one was made from left over fabric from one of the Sew Over It Heather dresses, a lovely textured black ponte.

The bands are power mesh.  To finish the bottom hem I used a shell hem for a decorative finish.

Inside of the cups have white tricot to cover the seams.  Hard to see from here, but the foam cups are covered with a rolled hem 

Back view of the bra.

The second bra was made from a lovely embroidered tulle, black with blue flowers.

Inside of the cups, the seams are covered with a bright red tricot, for a vavoom. As it has a lace edging I couldn't use a rolled hem, so instead finished the raw edges of the foam with a black bias binding.

Finally I made a pair of Cloth Habit Watson bikini briefs.   These are made from the same textured ponte as the first bra.  I had a tiny scrap of the embroidered tulle left over so added it to the top of the briefs.