A Bra for Amy

When my friend Amy found out I was making my own bras she asked if I could do the same for her. Of course I said "heck YES!!!" After a few failed fitting attempts I had her try on a bra I had just made myself using the Queen Elite from Needle Nook (see side bar for link). The band was too big but the cups fit fairly well, being a smidge too big for her, and the wire size was perfect. Using this information I traced off the next smaller cup than what I used. I used the same pattern piece for the underwire and shortened the back to basically make it a size 32 band. I made an ivory colored trial bra and I think it fit her really well. I gave it to her so she could wear it and see how it really fit. She said it was a winner so I made her a "real" bra in black. The fabrics and notions are also from Needle Nook. The stretch lace was some I got in a bundle off Ebay. Here you can see it on my dress form:


The cups look all wonky because the bra doesn't fit my "model". It kinda gives you a better idea of what it looks like than if it was just laying on my cutting table. Trust me, I tried this....

Something else I added was a power bar. This is a little something new. I've read about it in my bra making books but hadn't tried it yet. Power bars are used kind of as an inner sling to provide uplift. This is especially important to us curvy gals. I really like how it turned out and will do this to my own next time. You can see it here:



Okay, sorry for all the technical sewing gobbledygook. I know a lot of you sew bras too so you'll get me. ;-D This is also an attest to how perserverance pays off. I just want to make sure all you budding bra-makers out there (Andrea, I'm talkin' to you!) don't give up! It can get frustrating for sure but the hard work really pays off. I learned a lot by fitting someone else, too. I really enjoyed the process and hope I can do it again. Hey, maybe this is the start of a lucrative career for me. That would be awesome! Spending all day sewing....and playing with pretty fabric and lace... hell YEAH!

Sports bra prototype

Well, I already posted this over at PR and on the lingerie sew-along I belong to but I thought I might share it over here too. I think my mom reads this sometimes so she can get a sneaky peak! (Hi Mom!)

Most women can attest that as soon as they find the perfect RTW bra it becomes discontinued by the manufacturer shortly thereafter. Well, this happened to Mom recently. So frustrating, isn't it?! Anyhoo, I had her give me one of her older, worn out bras to see if I could replicate it for her. This is the prototype I came up with:

The original is a sports bra with molded cups. I used the method suggested in Beverly Johnson's book about laying pieces out on a foam board and then using pins to "trace" around all the parts. I folded the cups in half until they laid flat and made a 2 piece cup from that. Here are the pattern pieces I came up with:

This was the first time I attempted copying a RTW bra and it went quite well. Faster than I expected. It sewed up extremely fast too which is fantastic! If it fits her I can whip her up a drawer full in a day! Cool! You can get a better idea of the style here on the form:

The original also has a power bar which I traced off but did not add to this bra. If everything fits I will add it next time. This here is just one layer of a heavyweight Victoria's Secret Satin that I got from Kathy's Lace & Elastic Outlet (see side bar for link). She get's fabric from them every once in awhile and I was lucky enough to snag this.

I'm currently working on a bra for me! I really need some more and this one is going to be red and black. Va va vavoom! I have quite a bit of red 50 denier tricot I bought from Needle Nook so that's what I'm using for the cups. Well, the top cups are going to be from black and red lace I got from Elingeria in a grab bag. It should be cute and maybe a little sassy....

Well, I'm off to get laundry started and load the dishwasher. Gotta get this joint cleaned up a bit!

Have a great Monday!

Oh, on an end note... Here is another hightlight from Colorado!

The dinosaur museum in Woodland Park was actually the first thing we did after checking in to our room. I had forgotten! My son LOVES the dinos so it was a highlight. Here's a funny tidbit: another little boy came up to Conner and told him not to touch the bones and that there was a sign that said "Do Not Touch" (I'm guessing he had heard this a few times himself). Well, Conner didn't like that too much so after the boy walked away he promptly turned to his daddy and said: "The dinosaur bones come alive and eat that boy!!" How stinkin' cute is that!? Somewhat violent....but funny, and a good story to tell!

Home!

Well, we're back. We actually got home late Thursday. And can I just say, I feel like shit! I caught some kind of cough while we were there and it really sucks! I'm feeling a little better today though so that's good. We had the best time and I really didn't want to come home. You know, back to the real world of laundry and dishes. We crammed so much into the 5 days we were there. It rained on us 4 out 5 of those days but it was cool 'cause we got everything done in the morning and the rain didn't come till the late afternoon. Well, except on Saturday. We got to our motel pretty early and decided to go check out the Garden of the Gods. The picture above is from there. It is just gorgeous there and we went walking around and hiking on the little trails. The sky started rumbling over the mountains and we saw lighting far off. We decided to make our way back to our car and, of course, it starts sprinkling. Then comes the downpour! So, everyone in the park runs screaming towards the rocks to find shelter. We were completely soaked through! It was fun though. Probably when I caught this damn cold.

More highlights to come!