I made something!

After getting addicted to Atelier on Netflix (it's in Japanese- the acting style is weird, but it got really addictive to read it and see such pretty fabrics...) I decided I wanted to learn to sew bras. Turns out it was a huge blogging trend like a year ago, so apparently I'm late to the game.  But that meant Craftsy had a class for it (actually, now 3 of them! I've taken two...)  and lots and lots of bloggers had reviewed a lot of patterns!

I settled on Watson from Cloth Habit.  And I bought a kit from Tailor Made Shop on Etsy. Having someone else figure out exactly what supplies I needed made this easy!

And yesterday I made my very first bra!  (My "dress form" is a bit fatter and a bit flatter than me, since it's a pillow- but you get the idea...)

 

You can see it isn't perfect.  I need to get used to sewing to the very edge of the elastic so the fabric folds over nicely. I missed in a few places.  I also used the wrong elastic for the straps, which then means I used the wrong one for the ribcage band. The straps were supposed to be a pretty patterned elastic, but it looked too thick, so I used a different one. So now the straps just look like elastic...

Another look- this was more successful than the matching bikini bottom, mostly because I learned just how little you need to stretch the elastic.

And my big mistake: I thought I did well with the seam allowance, but I must not have, because my band turned out much narrower than the hook and eye fittings.  I might try to find single hook fittings and switch these out.  But it's underwear, no one sees this!  Except you guys- but y'all won't tell, right?

I have leftover fabric that I am trying to dye, and so far it looks like the fabric is taking the dye beautifully, so I will make a second one. I have elastic in my stash but will need to find all the notions. I might tear apart an old bra that doesn't fit to get the metal pieces, those don't go bad!

I had trouble with a few things on this.  First- I broke two needles. The first one was because I was using my quarter inch foot, and well, you can't zig-zag with that. Oops. The second was when I was sewing the strap onto the bra, I hit a ring. Needles don't go through metal.  The second was with my machine "eating" the fabric when starting new seams. I ended up using a "leader" like you do in quilting- a small piece of fabric that I stitched on, and then lined my new fabric up with it. That worked just fine.

One other lesson learned: when searching "Watson Bra" to look for tutorials or blog reviews, make sure to add "sewing". Otherwise you get photos of Emma Watson in a bikini.

After I make another of these, I'm going to eventually try underwire and foam cup bras. The only problem is the bras I wear are really cheap- and to make those will be really expensive... so it's kind of hard to justify- but man it's so much fun!

Project Not Pictured

I recently decided I wanted to join the ranks of sewing bloggers who make bras. I signed up for the craftsy class- it looked pretty easy. (Um, well, the sewing, not the fitting).  But a kit was really expensive, so I thought maybe one without an underwire would be the way to go.

I bought the Watson Bra and Bikini pattern from Cloth Habit. There are a billion blog posts about this. It looks easy-peasy.

I started with the bikini, because I had supplies on hand. Well, easy it was not.

The elastics were a disaster. Either I read the pattern wrong or it doesn't tell you exactly how much to use for the legs. Jalie patterns do this for skating dresses (which is where I got my confidence I could do this okay). 

My leg elastics are too loose, my waist elastic folds over when I wear them. They don't lay even close to flat when not being worn. It just looks like a giant mess.

The one benefit of this disaster though is I learned my preference is for a bit more coverage on my backside, and a little higher on the front, so I can fix that for the next go round. 

Now I have to decide if I want to unpick the elastic, or just waste the $2-3 it costs...