Lingerie: White stretch lace Sierra bra

I have so much work to do for others at the moment that to make something for myself I carved out a bit of me-time this weekend while my daughter was at a birthday party. Despite having two other bra patterns that I want to try out, I decided to have another go at the Sierra bra. Although I can't really wear my last bra, as it is too tight, I wanted to prove that I could make it work. The Sierra is a free bralette pattern by Madalynne. If you're lusting after this bra and haven't downloaded your copy yet, you can get it from here.

Lingerie: Stretch lace Sierra bra

I don't often get to the end of making something, and then think, "Should I really blog this? It didn't really work and I don't want anyone to know." There's nothing wrong with this bra itself, it just doesn't really suit my figure, and it's too tight. More on that later though.

This is the Sierra bralette, a free pattern from Madalynne. You can download your own copy here. I just missed following along with the sewalong, but have caught up now. This is unlike any other bra that I have made before. In many ways.

Tutorial: Hemming a lined wedding dress with horsehair braid

I've altered my share of wedding dresses over the years that use horsehair braid in the hem, but have just finished my first wedding dress from scratch using it. I'm a convert. Horsehair braid, where have you been all my life? It gives a beautiful crisp finish to not only hems, but necklines too. (See Gertie's tutorial for adding horsehair braid to necklines. I followed it to put braid in the neckline of this same dress)

I only wish I had taken more notice of how the braid was sewn into the hems, and, you know, taken photos and stuff? I thought I remembered how they were done, but wasn't 100% sure, so turned to my friend Google to find an answer. Alas, the only instructions I could find either featured hand stitching the braid to the outer layer of the dress, or sewing the hem to the very edge of the braid (similar to how you would use ban-rol, without pulling it out), and either topstitching it down, or use handstitching at the top. Neither of these was the solution I was looking for.

White Linen Bamboo Shoot Top

It was only after finishing my broderie anglaise top that I realised that I actually made something n theme for the Stashbusting Sewalong this month. As is this top. The theme is "Outerwear / Seasonal Change", so both tops qualify as new tops for summer! This is actually my second attempt at making the bamboo shoot top from Pattern Magic. I tried to make one once before, using white cotton poplin, but thought I could do the front in one piece, extending to the hip. It turns out that I couldn't.

I'm kind of glad that I left trying it out again, as not only do I now I have a better starting point with the block that I've been working on to fit me better, but I discovered that I have enough white linen in the stash which will made up much better than the cotton poplin would have.

Lingerie: Blue and White Lace and Satin Bra

I couldn't wait to finish sewing the bra that I started with Sharon on the weekend. It came together quite quickly, and before I knew it, it was finished!

Lingerie: Making Bra Patterns is more fun with a friend!

I met the lovely Sharon from Petite and Sewing through the Stashbusting Sewalong FB group, when I realised through a photo on her blog that she lived close to me. We met in real life for coffee one day, and now chat regularly through email.

One of the things that Sharon has been wanting to try more of is bra making, and if you've been reading my blog at all over the past year and a bit, you would know that I've developed rather an obsession with making bras, and am constantly on the search for the perfect fit.

I swear my desk my clear at the start of the day!

Lingerie: Top 10 things to avoid in bra making

When I came to the anniversary of my first blog post on the making of bras, I started to write a really long winded post about some of the failures and successes of my bra making journey so far. It was so boring though, that I couldn't even bring myself to finish writing it, so I figured no one would want to read it either. I've taken some of the things I wanted to say, and come up with a list of common sense things to avoid when bra making. Learn from my mistakes, so you avoid making them.