Sets

Just a bit of blog catch up here.  I showed you lingerie bows way back in June, and it has taken me until now to show you the finished product.

 

Liberty 2

Fabrics & notions:
Front: Liberty tana lawn
Back: Rayon lycra knit (left over from this shirt)
Sides:  stretch lace, bought at Cozy Ma's in Cairns
Elastic:  kit bought from merckerwaerdigh.  I was not very happy with this kit.  A bought a few kits at one time.  Some of them were okay, but in some, the elastics felt as though they had already perished and some just did not have the recovery strength that I like to use.  In this kit, the band elastic was so poor that I substituted white elastic from Spotlight.  Shame really, as it spoilt the matchy-matchy effect. 

The Bra Pattern:
The pattern is my own draft, which has been evolving from the draft I drew from the book "Patternmaking for Underwear Design", by Kristina Shin.  

In this diagram, you can see how my draft compares to the original.  The original is in blue and mine in red.  I needed less volume in the upper cup.  I also shifted the horizontal seam line so that it sits above the bust point rather than on the bust point.  This is a little difficult to tell immediately from the diagram, until you realise that I need less height vertically because of reduced cup volume.  Moving the seam line above the bust point gives a less pointy effect.  The bust point is not marked on the diagram, but it sits not quite a third of the way down the bust seam of the lower cups.

The knicker pattern:
The knicker pattern is also my own draft.  The precursor is shown in the set below, which is based on my cheekies bikini bottom design (originally drafted from Stuart's site).   To adapt the pattern for underwear, I moved the placement of the crotch seam, added an additional seam for a gusset, split the front panel into the different fabric sections and added width to the woven panel to account for the lack of stretch in the woven fabric.  There is a centre back seam providing shaping, to give a close fit.

Daisy:  This next set is based on the same patterns.

Fabric and notions:
Fabric: lingerie lycra from elingeria, still available.  This fabric is lighter and stretchier than I am used to using for bras.  I think that I should have modified the band pattern to account for this.
Elastic: kit bought from merckerwaerdigh.

The pattern was the same base as the Liberty 2 bra above, only I followed the directions in Shin's book to make a padded bra.  If you look closely at inside of the bra, you can see that the fabric is wrapped over the top edge of the padding.  (You can also see that I was short on padding, hence the 2 different colours and the extra seam on one cup)  The padding is in 3 pieces, but the outer cup is only 2, with the lower cup pieces stretching over the padding.  All the lycra pieces are cut a teensy bit smaller than the padding and stretched.  I guess this is to keep everything neat with no ripples on the outside.  The cradle is backed with a non-stretch fabric.

Whilst I am talking about Shin's book, I have also tried her draft for briefs, tested and shown below in scraps from my remnant drawer.  The briefs have a modern, close fit.  This fit relies on the stretch of the fabric (compared with the CB seam in my cheekies draft).  I do prefer the cheekies.

Next up is a pyjama set that I made in a very soft rib.  I have not sewn with rib very often.  This singlet fits me when I go to bed but is swimming on me like a tent by morning.  I have another piece in a different print.  I'm not sure what to do with it.  Should I cut it much narrower to account for the stretch or perhaps choose a different style altogether?

The singlet is based on Jalie  2565  and the knickers are cut from a pattern I made from a Calvin Klein pair.  The leg cut is low on these.  I didn't notice it to be so low on the CK pair, but when I went back and checked, the CK pair ride up to my natural leg line whilst I am wearing them.   

The next set I made last Christmas, using fabric from elingeria and Jalie 2568 and Jalie 2915.  Only I was visiting my sister at the time, and unfamiliar with her washing machine, I had a colour run from something else when the top half was in the wash, turning it slightly green.  My washing machine is an old second hand one, and nothing ever runs in it, so I am used to chucking all my colours in with my whites.  Or maybe it is the different waters in different places.  Whatever the difference, I am disappointed that it happened.  These briefs are a little too brief for my liking, but possibly I cut the wrong view from the pattern.  Possibly, this pattern was intended for a wide stretch lace waist.  I would have to go back and check to be certain.

And lucky last, a silk set I made from scraps I found when I was working on my slip patterns last year.  I cut the top from the Twinkle sews flapper camisole and found that my original pattern was printed out 2 sizes too large.  I didn't notice this at the time, possibly because of all the extras sewn on the outside.  It was very obvious after I made this version and I had to go back and fiddle with the princess seams as best I could.  The bottoms were dodgies, cut without a pattern.  They were too small originally, so I added a side panel of tea-dyed stretch lace.