Happy New Year, dear sewists!  After a short winter holiday, I am back at work.  Today I wanted to share with you a pattern hack for my latest panty pattern, the Tulip Hi-Cut.  While developing this pattern, I had considered a lace back option, but I already had too many varations.  During my holiday, I decided to come back to that idea and try it out as a pattern hack.  I hope you enjoy the following tutorial.  Happy Sewing!

I made myself a bra and realized at the very end that the bridge wasn't wide enough at the bottom. Instead of tossing it (or torturing myself by being squished) I realized I could add more room to the width of the bridge. Separator wire to the rescue! ​

One of the biggest rewards for me in creating lingerie patterns is helping sewists tweak patterns to get the perfect fit for their bodies.  I think many of us turn to sewing our own clothes when we can't find what we want or need in the stores, and sewing at home can be a lonely and sometimes frustrating experience when our projects don't turn out right. 

Over the last couple of years I have created quite a few blog posts for pattern alterations to get the perfect fit in bras/bralettes and panties.  I have a blog category in my sidebar where you can find them all, but with so many now it is a bit cumbersome to scroll through them all.  So, I have created a single page dedicated to the pattern alteration posts, and you can find what you need more easily.  I hope these alterations are helpful for you to get the perfect fit.

If there are any other pattern fitting topics for bras and panties you'd like to see, leave me a comment below.

Until next time, 
Happy Sewing.

Today I am going to share with you two ways to adjust the gusset length.  There are two possible issues when it comes to gusset length, and each has a different solution.  The gusset length can either be too short, and extra length is needed, or the gusset position on the body is incorrect (but the overall length is fine) and the position needs to be readjusted.  

Today I am sharing with you the beautiful creations of my pattern testers.  Not only do they help me iron out problems and inconsistencies with the instructions, they inspire me with their creative choices in colors and fabrics.  I hope you enjoy seeing their work as much as I do.

I am so happy to share with you my newest pattern, the Tulip Hi-Cut.

I was so happy to see my UPS man today when he delivered my Ditto Form!  ​Here she is, modeling a bra I've been working on.

My typical gusset lining for panties is white organic cotton jersey.  But when working with lace and other sheer fabrics, the lining will be visible and white is possibly not the best option.  I draft my panty patterns with the gusset seam higher up in front than typical RTW panties, so the gusset is more easily seen on the body.  If nobody else is going to see your undies, then maybe a white lining doesn't bother you.  But if it does, I wanted to share with you three other options. (The panties in the following photos are the next pattern I am working on! Stay tuned!)

This example uses red lace and red mesh fabrics, so I used a red cotton/spandex jersey for the gusset lining.

In this panty, there is green lace for the front and black mesh for the back.  The lace has such a beautiful floral pattern I really wanted it to pop, so I matched the black mesh back and used black cotton/spandex jersey for the gusset lining.

Here I have a lining in a light tan color behind the coral lace.  Finding a fabric relatively close to my skin tone was harder than I thought it would be.  I eventually found this bamboo/cotton jersey from Koshtex on Etsy.  If you can't find a fabric close to your skin tone in yardage, look for a cheap t-shirt.  I have seen cotton camisoles in Walmart in light beige and brown, so that could be an option.

Do you like to adjust your gusset lining fabrics to match or prefer a white gusset?  One of the things I love about making my own lingerie is having the chance to not only get a perfect fit for my body but make all the choices for colors, fabrics and trims to fit my personal needs.

​Until next time, happy sewing!

First off, I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who filled out the survey.  I asked for ten measurements, which I know was a bit detailed and took a few minutes of your time.  Thanks to your help, I can expand my size range.

The results of the survey were surprising to me in several ways.  I am even more glad now that I put out this survey, because it proved that some of the assumptions I had made were completely wrong.  I thought I’d share with you some of the findings.  I have no formal scientific training, so data analysis is not my specialty.  

I would like to expand the size range for my bras/bralettes going forward, and to do that I need your help!  I need more size data to increase my size range and also improve the fit of my current sizes. 

If you would like to help, please fill out the sizing survey.  All answers will be anonymous, and only viewed by me.  I need only 10 measurements and your underwire size.  This survey is for open to all sizes; every bit of data helps me! 

​Thanks so much for participating.