Last finish of the year - Pauline Alice Bailen dress

I previously made this as a slip, but found it also made a great nightdress.  So using up fabric from the stash I made another one.

This is a quick sew and used up some fabric I've had for about 3 years and didn't know what to do with. Its a polyester so not great for daytime wear but should be fine for a nightdress.  Time to sew was only around 2 hours which included time for making my own bias binding.

Another lingerie make

This is another of my modified Eva bralettes.

This is made from maroon lace with flesh coloured lycra underneath and with foam cups.

lingerie and machine embroidery

The Ohh Lulu Grace panties offer the option of using a mix of woven and knit fabrics, meaning those scraps of pretty wovens can be used.  I bought the pattern in their recent Black Friday sale.

The first pair I made were these.

The front and back were a polyester with a slight stretch from an op shop.  A friend gifted me the fabric.  The navy sides are remnants from a Visby Henly top.  The gusset is lined with cotton.  I made the recommended size for my measurements and the fit is perfect.  They are very comfortable to wear.

Also shown above is a boring white bra.  Just cause I need a boring plain white bra.  This was made using the Cloth Habit Watson bra pattern.  Fabric is left over from a long slip that I cut down into a camisole.  So the skirt part was used for the bra.

I made this Biscornu cushion, design from Sweetpea

I'm going to be getting a new lounge suite so I want some new cushions to brighten it up as it will be in a neutral colour.

Pauline Alice Bailen Dress

I need a basic white slip for wearing under dresses.  The Pauline Alice Bailen dress fitted what I needed. What is more, it is a free pattern on their website.

Their description:
The Bailén pattern is cut on the bias, semi-fitted with front bust darts and with bias binding straps and bias binding finished seams at armholes and neckline. Easy to make and with two lengths, it can be worn as a dress or a top.

Now if I was to wear it as a dress it would need to have a t-shirt under it.  But as a slip or nightdress, perfect.  

I bought some white satin from Spotlight for this and made my own bias binding from the satin.

The seams are french seams so nice and clean looking inside.

I made a size 44 graded to 46 at waist and hips.  The fit is fine for a slip or nightdress that needs a bit of ease.  However it really gapes around the underarms and if made as a dress would need taking in a lot at the bust, I would need to re-do the pattern to a size 40 at underarm, graded to 44 at bust dart, graded to 46 at waist and hips.  

The next time I make this will probably again be for a slip or a camisole.  Changes I would want to make would be:

• Change neckling to size 42 from underarm to the top of the bust dart - size 44 at bust dart, leave grading as already prepared so size 46 waist and hips.

As this is their free pattern it is meant to give confidence into their sizing, however with this I don't feel I'd have the confidence to buy from them given that the bust sizing is so way off.  If I were to buy I would definitely need to muslin first. As there are other indie designers that I am confident in the fit, I just don't think I could be bothered.

However I have got myself a nice slip and pattern I can use again for a slip or camisole.

Total sewing time was 3 hours and satin cost $10.50 for 1.5m x 150cm from Spotlight.  As it is cut on the bias the dress required the 150cm width - a narrower  width wouldn't be enough.

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.

Daffodil quilt and Cloth Habit Watson

All the rows of the quilt are now finished and joined together.

Next step is to add the border with Wordsworths' poem "I wandered lonely as a cloud".

I also made the Cloth Habit Watson bra and briefs.  This time I wanted to add foam cups.  The first bra I made was from left over fabric.

The pattern is designed for stretch fabrics, however the foam has no stretch and this ended up way too small.  However the matching briefs are a good fit.

I had another go at the foam cup bra, this time going up a cup size. 

This time the fit is pretty  much spot on.  There is a little gaping where the cup joins the cradle.  I've already altered the pattern, adding a dart to the cradle so next time there shouldn't be any more gaping. The fabric is scuba from Spotlight and I've plenty left over for more briefs. 

I prefer the scuba fabric for these bras.  The top one, made in an ITY was really too flimsy, even though the cradle was interfaced with a tricot interfacing.

Cloth Habit Watson, Itch to Stitch Visby Henly, machine embroidery

I've been keen to try the Itch to Stitch Visby Henly top.  With the raglan sleeves, placket and cuffs there is an opportunity for colour blocking.  I recently bought fabric for this, thinking this would make a great top for cooler weather.  However when I took the fabric out it was much thinner than I imagined.  I won't be able to wear this until spring.   The pink that I had bought for the sleeves was very sheer.  However I love the colours so went ahead and made it anyway.

 I'm not sure what was wrong with me, whether I was put off because I was disappointed with the sheerness of the fabric, or whether my head just still isn't right after the upheaval of the last couple of months but I made soooo many mistakes on this.  The first was the sleeves.  There are double notches on the back of the sleeve and single notches on the front.  I somehow did single notches on both front and back.  My fault, the pattern piece definitely shows 2 notches.  Unfortunately I attached the sleeves to the front, single notch to single notch so not an issue.  Then I came to attach the sleeve to the back and oh oh, single notch again on the sleeve.  When I compared the sleeve to the pattern piece I could see I"d sewn the back of both sleeves to the front.  Not only that but it was serged so to try and unpick on such a fine knit would be disastrous.  I decided I'd just have to go for it and hope that the sheerness of the sleeves would disguise the twistiness of the sleeves.

Second mistake was the placket.  I could clearly see on the pattern piece that there was a large X on the bottom for stitching.  I ignored that and created a buttonhole at the bottom.  Uh.  Had to stitch over the top of the buttonhole.

Anyway I think this doesn't look too bad actually and will wear it in spring as I do love the fabric.  I've just bought some more fabric in a heavier weight knit and will try it again for a winter piece.

I made my usual Itch to Stitch adjustments.  Size 8 in bust and waist, graded to 12 hips and lengthened 1".  It probably didn't need lengthening as it is quite long, but I like the extra length.

Another recent make was my first Cloth Habit Watson bra.

I say my first, because I'm sure there will be a lot more.  This was my muslin and fits perfectly.  This is made from a purple scuba that I overlaid with a purple stretch lace.  It is very comfortable and pretty easy to make.  Though once again, my head isn't where it should be and I made mistakes.  The most notable being forgetting to make up the straps before sewing to the bra.  This resulted in the only way I could get the rings and sliders on and workable were by sewing them inside out, so the sliders are inside the bra strap instead of outside it.

I've also made some machine embroidery.  Including a cover for my sewing machine that I have been wanting to make for over a year.

The design is from Embroidery library.  Sewn onto a pre-quilted fabric and bound with bias tape.

I wanted to  make a quick gift for a friend so made this crazy patch notebook cover from Kreative Kiwi.  I still need to buy a notebook to fit inside it.  I added a lining once the machine embroidery had finished.

another matching set - a modified Eva and modified Nixie briefs

My second matching set.

The lace is an aubergine and gold, with a gold spandex lining.

I found the Eva was gaping, even when sewing up the centre front, and just a bit too tight.  So I modified the cups using the ones from the Barrett bralette and also lengthened the bands a bit.  to modify the cups I put the pattern pieces for the Barrett cups on top of the Eva pattern pieces and traced around them.  I eliminated the peek a boo of the Barrett by drawing a staright line down.  I was then able to sew the 2 cups together down this straight line.  This is a much better fit, no gaping and much comfier to wear.

The pants were the Nixie briefs.  I altered the pattern by drawing where I wanted the lace to be on the front pattern piece.  I then traced this and cut out the lace pattern for the lace fabric and cut the spandex from the full front pattern piece.  I then applied the lace with a reverse applique method.  As I have no patterns for partial lace panties, I have no idea what is the "correct" way to do it, but this worked for me and I'm very happy with the result.  There is elastic on the back of the lace at the waist so it doesn't sag or gape.

Barrett bralette and Nixie briefs

My first matching set - ever!  Well I've reached the grand old age of 54 and NEVER owned a matching bra and briefs set.  It was about time that changed.  So here is a Barrett bralette my Madalynne Intimates - a freebie and a matching pair of Nixie briefs by Jennifer Lauren.

These are made from a scuba that was on the clearance table at Spotlight.  The bralette is lined with bra tulle, again from Spotlight.

These are very comfortable and the bralette fits better than the Eva.  I've redrafted the cups and band of the Eva to more closely resemble this and will have another go at another all lace bralette.

Lingerie - a bra and a bralette.

I haven't posted for a while because I have spent the last few weeks working on the fit of the PinUp Girls Classic bra.

This fits me much better than it does Betty.  I made about 4 test bras first, using different size bands, different size cups until I worked out that 36B was the best fit.  As well as the fit I needed to add a 1/2" dart to the side seam between cradle and band and I did a rounded cup adjustment to reduce the pointed effect of the bra.  I'm too old for Madonna type silhouettes!

I had ordered wires, but they aren't right for me, digging into my sides.  This bra has underwires as optional, so I chose to not use the underwires. 

This bra is made of a red tricot with black rigid lace.  The band is powernet.  I dyed the elastics and the powernet band. I am so proud of my sewing on this, I think it looks very professional, if I do say so myself!

After  a couple of weeks of this I wanted my next one to be a bit simpler so I put together this bralette.  The pattern is from an Alison Smith Craftsy Class and is the Eva bralette.

This is made from a stretch lace and cups are lined with spandex.  This didn't take long at all to sew and I didn't make any test garments first.  The only issue I had was the front ended up slipping to the side leaving me rather exposed.  I found stitching up the front of the cups fixed that problem, though it has made it rather snug fitting.  I may go up a size next time, or add an extra 1/2" to the bands.

More lingerie adventures

Continuing my journey on learning lingerie making I've made my first slip.

This is the Ruby Slip and is a free pattern from Pattern Scissors Cloth.

I added a bow and beads after taking the photo above.

The main fabric is a peach stretch satin.  It has a chocolate and cream lace on the bodice and a chocolate lace on the skirt.  The skirt is finished with a shell tuck hem.  The side seams and seam attaching skirt to bodice are all french seams.  It has rouleaux straps.

This took me ages to do.  I've made complicated dresses in a shorter time than this, but I really enjoyed making it.

I changed the pattern slightly.  The original has all lace bodice.  I wanted lace trim only at the top of the cups.  Their website describes how to change from an all lace bodice to the lace trim.  I'm not sure if I didn't follow their instructions on how to change it, or if the instructions need a bit of tweaking.  I found that the front overlap was huge.  I ended up chopping off about 2 - 3 inches off the middle.  This meant my careful mirroring of the lace in front was all for nought.   I also had to put a couple of 1" darts in both of the lace side cups as they were gaping.  With the adjustments the bodice now fits well.  According to the size charts I should be a size 14 so made that, but find it a tad tight for a slip.  Next time I make it I will add 1/4" to all of the side seams.  It is also quite short,, falling just a few inches below my butt.  So next time, depending on the purpose I may lengthen it, or shorten it into a camisole.

Other changes I made were to add the lace inserts into the skirt and do a shell tuck hem.  For the straps I had some bra strap from an old camisole that I put on the back so I can adjust the length of straps if needed.