Continuing the quest

Time to take up the quest for a bra pattern that fits. Getting closer but not there yet. I made the Willowdale bra again with a larger cup. The fit of the cups was much better but there was still something not looking good and the cups are a little too low at the armpit. 

When trying it on I was fiddling around with the bridge part and realised it needed to be narrower. 

How is it that you forget these things? I have done such a change in the past and it makes a lot of difference for me! I didn’t want to unpick (would have been a lot) and have sewn a seam and will wear it to see how it feels during the day. 

 

In the next two photos the changes I made to the pattern for the next one. First the center front/bridge  

The second change is to make the bra a bit higher at the armpit. 

A photo of the two kits I bought. I want to be sure I use these with a pattern that fits, so they won’t be used for the next one.  I bought these at Small bobbins

Two bra patterns

 I am in need of a few new bras. My lingerie drawer is full of old and worn items, or items that don’t properly fit any more. Or even never fitted well, which made them unloved and unworn. Those items now have been removed. I ‘harvested’ some hardware and to the bin it was. 

As I love trying a new pattern and hadn’t tried a new bra pattern in ages I bought two new patterns. The Gunsan bra by Bwear and the Willowdale by Cashmerette.

The line drawings are from the respective websites. Very different styles with the Gunsan having one pattern piece for the cup and shaped through a dart and the Willowdale with 4 pattern pieces for the cup and thus more subtle shaping. 

With the Willowdale I was rather disappointed by the way you define your size. On the website they say ‘step by step instructions for choosing your ideal bra size’. What they do is what most pattern companies do: take full bust measurement and underbust measurement and the difference defines your size. Nothing special at all, and as so often (spoiler) not correct for me. A company like Lilipadesigns does include bottom cup depth and hemisphere for example. Much more step-by-step.

First I tried the Gunsan bra. Sort of knew it wouldn’t be quite right for me but had to try. I used all the materials I always do and as described. The fit is not too bad actually, but there is too much of and east-west pointing on me. Not posting full photos online of me wearing the bra so it’s not properly visible, but I think you can see it a bit  

With the Willowdale you get all sizes which I like when I want to use this pattern for my daughter or daughter in law.  I did use the size as defined by my measurements but ended up with a bra that is really too small.  The band is more or less okay, though I have to use the tightest setting on the hook and eye closure, which should not be the case actually. I can live with that and easily alter that in a second version. But the cups are too small. So much so that I am wondering whether to go up one cup size or two. 

Really irritated by this as I had high hopes from this pattern, the brand has a specialisation for patterns for curves and the shape looked promising. I will try again in a few weeks time. A few other priorities now. 

A bra

Another make for my daughter. About two years ago  I saw a bra online made in a lovely lace that I thought my daughter would really like. As it wasn’t a rtw bra I looked for the lace and found it. But it was sold by a shop outside my country and shipping costs were so high that I didn’t buy it. I forgot about it until I saw a very similar lace at Suzanne’s lingerie supplies. A shop in my country! So I bought it and made this bra. The lace is not mirrored so it was not possible to make it symmetrical, but it’s okay. 

This bra pattern is a copy from a rtw bra. The black one is my first iteration. The cups fit perfectly but the band was a bit too narrow to my daughters liking. Must have been the material. Probably the powernet I used didn’t have the same stretch as the original. So I made the band a bit wider on this new one. Hope it’s good, the bra has yet to be given to her.

It was nice to sew lingerie again, haven’t done that in a long time. My lingerie drawer should get a serious update though.  I bought a new bra pattern for myself months ago and have yet to make it. Perhaps I should get myself work on that. 

Sewing for my daughter

I have been sewing quite a bit for my daughter. I joked when I called her recently that I she spoke with her personal dressmaker😆

Joking aside, she loves wearing the garments I make for her which makes it a joy to sew for her too. We went fabric shopping recently and she chose this striped linen for the combination below.

The shorts are a Burda pattern. She showed me a rtw pair she loves and this Burda pattern was very similar. Size 38 withouth changes, never happens to me.

Below the steps for the slant pocket. I always interface the edge because ir’s cut on the bias. 

When pressing I make sure the outside fabric is folded a bit inward, so the edge is less visible. 

After topstitching ready for further construction

The gilet is inspired by a rtw piece too, of which I don’t have a photo. Base for this was a gilet from an Ottobre issue.

In the meantime this ensemble has been with my daughter a few weeks now and she loves to wear it. 

A few answers

 Recently I found some comments that were not published at the time because after 7 days I want to monitor them. If I don't do that I get lots of spam comments. Thank you for all who commented, either published earlier or later! 

A few questions came up: Chepmweno asked which pattern I used for the blue/white dress that I wore when I started blogging again. That's a very old pattern, from Burda April 1993! Which was a great issue, I could make a whole summer wardrobe from it. I wondered why I hadn't used patterns from the issue at the time I realised I was pregnant of my daughter then. Later, in the childhood years of my children I didn't sew much for myself and the issue was forgotten. Till about 30 years later ☺

I do include a photo of the line drawing, perhaps it makes it easier to find a similar pattern.

Barbara asked for the pattern pieces of the top from my previous post. Here they are. From left to right it's center front, back en side front. Apart from armhole facings this is the pattern. 

She also asked about Bemberf versus Venezia lining and my answer wasn't posted (I have a few issues with Blogger). Venezia is not the same, but feels lovely on the skin. Bemberg is lovely too, but much harder to get here. Both are anti-static. 

That's it for now, I've been working on a few things for my daughter, Will come back on that in another post. 

Vogue 9006

This pattern has been in my stash for a very long time. I always loved the style of view A but somehow never got around to making it. 

Until very recently one of my students wanted to make a top like this and I took it out again. She has elongated the pattern and makes it into a dress. 

The pattern was out on my table now and I decided to finally make it too, as I had this very nice viscose for which I sought a pattern.

As the centre part is not cut on the bias, as usual with this kind of neckline, this pattern really needs a fabric that drapes well. There are two more views in the envelope and they are cut on the bias. I kept the grain as indicated, as the print might look a bit weird on the bias.

 

Quick sew

 Do you sew something easy after a more complex or time consuming project? I certainly do. 

So Saturday I sewed a pretty simple top. With a pattern I have used before, though that must be around 15 years ago. 

It’s Vogue 1519, a Kay Unger pattern for a top and skirt. You can’t see the details of the top in the envelop photo, you need the line drawing for it. The skirt is ‘just’ a wide skirt, nothing special about it, apart from the fabric used for the photo. The top is very nice:

Sorry about the bit of my chaos in the background, this is my top:

The instructions are very extensive and let you insert a zipper in the back and line it. Probably a wonderful way of doing it and very couture, but a little too complicated for what I wanted. It is a stretch top that with a good quality fabric doesn’t need lining imho.A zipper? Stretch fabric with such a neckline? The instructions also say to use stretch fabric so I don’t get that. Well, one of the reasons we sew is that we can do it our own way, which is what I did.  For the neckline I used elastic that was sewn with a little tension to the edge, then folded over and topstitched. 

Other then that it was easy enough to sew and I am loving the result. 

@Barbara on the question about Venezia lining vs. Bemberg: I thought it was similar but after checking it isn’t. Bemberg lining is not quite common here and despite being from a man made fibre, Venezia is lovely to have as lining. 

@ anonymous with the question on Burda sleeves for shirts: usually I have no problem with wrinkling because of too much ease with Burda patterns. It can be a bit difficult when the fabic is stiff. Setting in sleeves still is a time consuming thing, even after my many years of sewing.