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 panties in your favorite fabrics and trims, designed to fit your body. Categories
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