Even though my valentine is far away this year, I made myself a pretty (and comfortable!) magenta lace set for Valentine's Day! PatternsFabricsIris Bralette: When I was looking through my stash, I realized that some of my recent purchases matched in color almost perfectly. I bought some dazzle tricot from Fabric and Sewing, and while it has too much stretch (40% width) for an underwire bra, I thought it would work for my Iris Bralette pattern. From the same vendor, I also bought a stretch lace fabric, and it just happens to match the dazzle fabric perfectly. The lace has quite a bit of stretch as well (60% width, 40% length), so I knew this bralette would not be very supportive, and would be just a fun lounge bra. I wanted to keep the cups looking sheer, so I used a beige stretch mesh for the lining. Lastly, the light pink power net is from Spandex World. Elodie Briefs: I like to use natural fibers for my undies, so the polyester dazzle tricot was a no-go. As luck would have it, I had some cotton/lycra jersey in my stash from Nature's Fabrics that was also an almost perfect match to the lace fabric. Go figure! TrimsIris Bralette: I've been seeing some bras and bralettes using fold over elastic to make the straps and I wanted to try it out. I saw a cool post on Tailor Made Shop's IG about using clear elastic to increase the strap support. Unfortunately, my FOE was just a little too narrow to use my 1/4" clear elastic, so I went without. The straps do seem to stretch too much, so next time I will definitely use something to provide more stability. The back strap elastic is a small leftover piece of 1/2" light pink elastic from Tailor Made shop. The FOE and beige bottom band elastics are from Sew Sassy. Elodie Briefs: The leg openings are finished with the same FOE as the bralette, and the waist uses a 1" jacquard picot elastic from Lace Heaven. Style NotesIris Bralette: I did a bit of hacking on this style to experiment, as you can see in my doodle below. I wanted to try two things: continue the neckline and underarm FOE elastics and turn them into double straps, and create underlay pieces to have some nipple coverage behind the lace cups. I used the lace overlay pieces for Front D, but I made them about 1" shorter at the top edge. The original lace overlay pieces extended almost to the top of the cup, and that was a bit overkill for what I needed. I basted the dazzle tricot pieces behind the corresponding lace cup pieces in the seam allowances, and left the top edges unfinished. I continued sewing the bralette as usual, being sure to leave a 9" extension of the FOE for each strap, and making the FOE "kiss" at the top of the cup to be sure that all raw edges were covered. Here's a very closeup photo of the cup for the details: I also used 9" of strap elastic for the back strap pieces, and at the end this proved to be too long for me. I typically need much less strap than is usually called for in a pattern, so that just has to do with my particular shape.
On this project I didn't go to the trouble of changing my threads while sewing the bottom band elastic to match each of the fabrics (like I did for my longline bralette hack), and, yes, you can really see my wonky stitching on the back band pieces. Well, that's what I get for being lazy! Elodie Briefs: I didn't really experiment too much here, just sewed Style A and followed the instructions for Style B when sewing on the wide waist elastic. That's it for this set! Have you made something special for Valentine's Day?
2 Comments
2/16/2020 06:01:37 am
I love your patterns, this bralette in particular. I truly enjoy when you utilize it as a vehicle to express your creativity.
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3/10/2021 04:43:11 am
Hi Cassie,
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CassieI design lingerie sewing patterns for everyday comfort and feminine style in an inclusive size range. Fill up your underwear drawer with beautiful custom-made bras and panties in your favorite fabrics and trims, designed to fit your body. Categories
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