Sewing instead of exercise

Recently, I had to give up exercising altogether for a few weeks.  I usually exercise in the mornings, before the rest of my household has got up.  I was still waking up early, so decided to use this extra time at my sewing machine.  Seriously, I only exercise for health reasons.  I would much prefer to sew every day!

My daughter seemed to be busting out of her bras, so I decided to sew her a couple of new ones, in the next size up.  The Orange Lingerie patterns seem to fit her well, usually only needing both the front and back straps moved inwards a little.

This first one is the Boylston Bra, with the upper cup modified slightly and all elastic straps.  Can you see where I cut a hole when I was trimming the seam allowances?  This is the first time I have done this.  Bummer.

I bought a few new patterns, for variety, and the next one is the Lansdowne bra.

When she tried these on, they seemed a little big.  I think she fluctuates in size, so then I dropped back a size and made another Lansdowne.  On the bra above, I didn't line the stretch lace, because it is not that stretchy, but I think the lower cup really does need to be lined if you use a stretchy fabric, so I mended my ways for the next version.  I dyed the lace, mesh and elastics used for this bra.

This fit her, but it didn't have the push-up effect that the pattern promised, so I took some of the volume out of the lower cup, mostly towards the side, and tried again.  This gave more of the push up effect, but I moved the straps in too much on this version.  The black fabric is a lingerie lycra, that stretches on one direction, but not in the cross direction, so you can use it for both band and cups if you lay the pattern pieces in the correct direction.  I love this lingerie lycra, but don't know where to source it again.

Time to move on from the Lansdowne and onto the Devonshire.  I dyed this lace and elastic yellow ages ago.  I saw something similar in a lingerie book.  the inspiration version was beige and yellow, but I decided I liked the ivory with this particular shade of yellow.

One of the things I love about the Devonshire pattern is that it has a chart showing the wires used for the pattern draft.  I have 34B and 34C  wires in two lengths.  It was easy to compare these to the chart and make the changes required for the pattern.  You could choose to cut down the wires, but I don't have the tools necessary to do a neat job of that.  I raised the CF of the cups by about 1 cm, to accommodate my longer wires.

I like the variety of the patterns, but I think the Boylston is the best fit for her.

That was altogether too much selfless sewing, so I sewed up something for me.  This is the Cloth Habit Harriet bra.  I spent ages fitting this the first time around, and now it is time for that fitting to pay off with a quick sew.

The grey fabric is a knit, so I lined the lower cups with the same material that I use to stabilise the bridge and front band.  It is not as soft as bra tulle, and afterwards I thought I might have to cut it out because it did not feel great, but I have worn it for hours at a time and not noticed, so I think I'll leave it in.

Happy sewing!