My first (homemade) bra

I first saw the Fenway pattern by Orange Lingerie around a year ago. I hadn't thought a great deal about bra-making, but I thought it was beautiful and I couldn't wait to get started. Unfortunately, I got serious decision paralysis looking at findings, so it took me ages to find casing, closures, underwire, sliders and the various types of elastic. When the beautiful silver sliders turned out to be about twice as big as I needed the project began to lose its shine, and it all just started to seem like more hassle than it was worth. Even with such a long gap between buying the pattern and sitting down to make my first bra, I still found I had the wrong parts (closures), parts I didn't like (foldover elastic) and things I'd somehow forgotten to buy altogether (strap elastic).

I finally decided to get back on board after becoming increasingly aware of fit issues with all my ready to wear bras. Basically every time I find a bra that fits in the front, it's too tight in the back, and if it fits in the back then the underwire ends up way under my arm. Obviously either option is pretty uncomfortable, and generally I either can't wait to take off a bra at the end of the day, or just don't feel properly supported in the front. 

Since the Love to Sew ladies mentioned a broad back adjustment a few months back, I've tried it out a few times and it really does seem to improve the fit of tops on me. As the fit of the tops improves, however, it becomes ever more clear that the layer underneath could really use some work.

Before I set to work on the fit, I figured I should toile a standard size, on the off chance that Norma's block is more Nicky-shaped than, well, every other brand.

I had a free weekend and ended up making two toiles, here's the first:

This one got to trying on stage, just, but the cups were super warped because I'd stretched out the fabric of the upper cup when I was attaching the fold over elastic. It threw the shape of the whole cup out of whack, so I went back to square one and staystitched that edge first.

I started again and staystitched that edge before I started sewing, which really helped. The only issue is that staying inside a 1/4 inch seam allowance on viscose was impossible (presumably this is why the instructions don't advise it), so I had to unpick the stitches later - this worked OK for a cheap toile, but I'll be trying stabiliser or a walking foot next time to avoid damaging the fabric.

Eventually, though, I ended up with something that looked rather a lot like an actual bra, which made me feel like a bit of a superhero - even if I did have to mash the fabric into the closure because I bought the wrong size.

This basically fits exactly as I would expect a 34C to fit me, and in fact it was pretty comfy so I wore it for the rest of the day once I'd finished.

In an attempt to address my usual fit issues, I'll be cutting out a 32D in the cups next time - my thinking is that the volume of these cups should be about the same, but the distribution should suit me better without me having to alter the pattern much.

Thumbs up

-  I love this pattern - check out the fenwaybra hashtag to see some beautiful versions. The versions with contrasting upper and lower cups are my favourite -  

-  The instructions were awesome. There were a couple of moments where I way scratching my head, but that's just because I'm new to bra-making - absolutely everything you need to know about constructing the bra is in the instructions, which are clear and easy to read.

Thumbs down

 -  I'm really not at all keen on the foldover elastic. I don't know whether I dislike foldover elastic in general, or just the quality of the stuff that I've found, but it reminds me of a plastic pan scourer in texture. I don't like the sheen and I think it looks really naff in areas where it's sandwiching more layers. I've ordered some decorative elastic, that doesn't fold, to try next time. If anyone's managed to find "nice" foldover elastic in the UK then I'd love to hear about it! I've only really seen one type, in various colours

 - That I didn't buy proper strap elastic - enough said.

- I'm not generally a fan of contrast stitching, and my bra certainly isn't a great advert for it! If I make a contrast version again I think I'll change my top thread to match.

Notes for next time

- 32D in the front

- Proper strap elastic

- Foam for lower cups 

- Walking foot should help over multiple layers

- Stabiliser/starch?
- Different elastic for upper cups and back band

All in all I'm pretty chuffed with this. I thought I would find the process frustrating, but there were only a couple of tricky parts construction-wise: elastic on the top bias edge; and keeping the foldover elastic neat when going over lots of layers, which I barely managed. 

The whole process was really satisfying, thanks to excellent drafting and instructions, and I'm excited about improving the fit on future versions. Hopefully it won't take me a year, this time.

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My Anna Toile

I bought the By Hand London Anna pattern quite a while ago, after falling in love with so many versions that I'd seen on Pinterest. I think I've been putting off making it because I knew I should really do a toile first, and because I haven't really seen the perfect fabric for it. As I'm off to the Knitting and Stitching show next week, I figured I may as well have a shot at the toile before the trip, because if I can't find the right fabric there, then I never will.

I'm still ill at the moment, so just the toile-making took over a week. The PDF construction was predictably tedious, though no easier or harder than it was with any other patterns that I've tried. When it came to cutting out the fabric I had no end of fun with my Pilot Frixion pens, which make marking notches, pleats and darts an absolute dream, but I fell at the last hurdle, and I was just too tired to finish the cutting in one go.

Finally, on Sunday, I got round to constructing the bodice - please excuse the picture quality. To be honest it's a good job it wasn't too bright, as the fabric I'm using for toiles at the moment is from some £2.50 charity shop duvet covers, and it's not exactly opaque.

I was really pleased with the fit of the bodice - in that photo it's held together with safety pins at the back and on my right, so I could try it on easily, and I haven't finished the armholes or neckline. I really like the pleats at the front. The sleeves are quite generous on me as I have quite narrow shoulders, but I'm happy with this as I don't really like showing my upper arms. The neckline is simple and fairly straight - just how I like it!

Once I'd got past that first bit of construction, it was easy enough to make up the skirt and add it on. I thought the skirt would be a bit of a faff to put together as it's made up of 7 parts, but actually it's just a load of straight lines, and it's easy peasy if you have your pieces properly labelled. 

This time the back is done up with safety pins. 

I am super happy with the fit of this dress. I consulted the measurements before I started and I was closest to the 12, so I made that and sort of expected it to be a little large, but I think it's pretty perfect - I guess I have finally started to fatten up a bit after a few months off the bike, with 24/7 access to Nutella...

Anyway. the pattern's gorgeous, and I think it'll sew up quite quickly. The neckline and armholes are both finished quite early on in the pattern instructions which looks like it'll be easier than methods I've used in the past. Now that I know how lovely it is, I might make it from some of my stash fabric, because I don't want to wait until next week!

My Bettine / Frankentine Kimono wrap hack

I've written about my first Bettine attempt already. I hadn't been convinced that the bodice and neckline would suit me, and I was right, but I loved so many details about the dress (tulip skirt, kimono sleeves and deep pockets are some of my favourite things) that I couldn't let it go.

I LOVE wearing wrap tops, but before I started sewing I usually found them a bit lower cut than I'd like - so I usually ended up with a safety pin in the middle of the bust, or wearing a vest underneath, and then I gave up. No excuses now, though.

With that and the kimono sleeves in mind, I thought I'd stick with a theme and go for a super high wrap neck. Inspired by My recent make from Rosie Martin's book, and fresh from a trip to the charity shop where I'd bought some duvet covers for making toiles, I traced the Bettine top onto the fabric, with the edge centred (not on the fold), then I flipped it over and traced around it again. For my version I measured 16cm from the waistline, then drew a straight line between the this point and the corner of the front neckline. As my duvet fabric was already doubled over, I cut around the shape and ended up with two mirror images. I then cut the back of the bettine bodice out once, pinned everything together, sewed, and tried it on. The fit seemed pretty good, though the duvet fabric was relatively stiff.

I did the same on my new fabric. Sadly I didn't have enough of the pink '80s viscose left, but that's probably just as well since my pal Nikki somehow chose the same fabric for her Bettine dress (this blew my mind). Mine will become a skirt once I've unpicked the top.

Here's the fabric I went for second time round. It's a cotton lawn and was <£5/m from Abakhan, but it's now sold out! This was my first time ordering from them, and it arrived really quickly.

To construct the dress I first sewed the shoulders and then applied bias binding the whole way round the neckline, from the waist to the neck and back down to the other side of the waist. It was probably a little bit easier than the original Bettine, just because I've had quite a bit of practise with binding now, and I think I found the facing on the original pattern a little fiddly at the time.

The rest of the construction went well, though I was getting a little nervy towards the end of the hem, as I knew my bobbin was running low. In the picture below, that little piece of thread is all that was left on the bobbin when I'd finished! I'd used the same reel of thread for my spot pocket skirt, so this isn't as bad as it looks!

Anyway, if you've read any of my other posts then you can probably guess where this is going, and you'd be totally right... It's unlikely that I'm going to wear this an awful lot. Sigh.

 

I think the fabric's totally fine, and it'd probably look awesome on a fitted dress, but it's still maybe not quite drapey enough for the loose-fitting top. It also didn't occur to me at any point before I'd tried this version on that the neckline and sleeve combination bears more resemblance to hopsital scrubs than a kimono; I think the shape's fine on the toile because of the contrast between the skirt and bodice, but on this I just don't think it works at all. It looks marginally better with the little black belt I wore it with, but I think it really needs some exposed binding around the neckline, or some other detail. I don't really know what to do with it, so it'll live with my unfinished projects until I have a brainwave...

Moving on, I'm currently working on a Coco dress, a Rosa shirt, and an Anna dress, and hope to have at least one of them finished in time for a post next week.

If anyone has any tips on choosing fabrics then please let me know - I do an awful lot of thinking and reading before I buy anything, but feel like I'm still getting really basic things wrong. I hope all your makes are going better than mine!

xx

My ultimate shift top

I've had quite a productive few days of sewing. Yesterday I finished my spot pocket skirt, a crochet hat, and this ultimate shift top.

I started this spontaneously after an absolute nightmare with my attempt at an ultimate shift dress (pattern by Sew Over It).

This should have been an easy make, but I was going mad for French seams, wasn't concentrating, and attached the front of the dress the wrong way out... I painstakingly inverted the darts and then realised that I'd been following the wrong set of instructions and should have inserted the all-in-one facing right at the start. I decided to cut down the facing and use it only for the neckline, and took this as an opportunity to try out bias binding on the armholes, so I did get something out of it. It's made out of quite a slippery tartan viscose that frays a LOT, and the pattern isn't quite centred, which is really quite obvious as the pattern is so bold. It's shelved for now and I'll probably finish off the hem when I next run out of things to do.

Anyway, this post is supposed to be about the top I made with the same pattern, so let's get on with it! As I said, I started it after a disaster. I wanted something straightforward to restore my confidence, and this did the job nicely!

The fabric was a cotton poplin from So 'n' sews that I'd actually bought for making some gifts, but as my stash is pretty sparse, it was needed here.

It all went pretty smoothly, until... Can you spot the mistake I'm about to make?

I didn't!

The bias binding that was supposed to be hidden on the inside of the top became a weird design feature, and an opportunity to try some very exposed top stitching. It would definitely look better if I'd unpicked and started again, but I just didn't want to, OK?

I'm quite pleased with my stitching, and I think it even looks quite good on the inside!

So there we have it, my ultimate shift top. Yet again, this is something I don't see myself wearing a huge amount - weird binding aside, I think the pattern is just better suited to a more drapey fabric - something I didn't think through as this was such a spur-of-the-moment make. It's quite a satisfying pattern, though, and I think I'll probably be making a few shift tops and dresses in something lighter for the summer. The fit is OK, but as I find with a lot of, particularly sleeveless, tops, the fit on the shoulders isn't quite right on me. I think it's probably because I have quite narrow shoulders. Again, this is something I think I'll be able to work on with my homemade dress form, which I'm starting tonight!

Bell's Palsy, 2017 sewing goals and StackMyKnitsUp

General update
I've been ill for most of January so far: I had a virus that knocked me out for a week, and now I have Bell's Palsy on the right hand side of my face. I've been assured by the doctor that, as it's probably related to the virus, it should get better in a few weeks and there shouldn't be any permanent damage. For now I can't really do any of the stuff that I usually do; I'm slow, tired, and screens are painful to look at for more than a few minutes, so while I wrote most of this post about a week ago, it's taken until now for me to have a good read-through.

I had a lot I wanted to achieve sports-wise this year, and needless to say I am WAY behind on that front. I've ridden less than 30 miles this year, and I haven't run since November thanks to the broken toe. Honestly I'm thinking I need to shelf my cycling and running goals altogether and concentrate on meeting a step goal instead, because I feel a million miles away from being able to do even half of what I'd planned.

Sewing
Sewing-wise, I've purchased a few patterns but have not done an awful lot with them. I've printed and cut the pieces for the Sew Over It Ultimate Shift dress, and I'm hoping to finish it by the end of the week, as by all accounts it's quite straightforward.

As I'm still quite new to sewing, I've been really keen to come up with a #makenine list, but I've been struggling to make decisions. I am definitely going to be making these, though:

   Sew Over It Ultimate Shift Dress (in progress)
   Spot Pocket Skirt from No Patterns Needed book (in progress)

   Birch Yoga Pants - these will be a gift and will need to be done early in the year.

   By Hand London Anna Dress

   Homemade dress form (I'm not sure if this counts!)

I also love, and have bought, these patterns, but I'm undecided about what fabric to use:
 
   Sew Over It Ultimate Trousers
   Tilly and the Buttons Rosa Shirt/Dress (Rosa from the Sewn vlog made an awesome dress from Liberty needlecord, but I also love Tilly's own kitty shirt)

On the "maybe" pile are some miscellaneous ideas that I've had, that may or may not come to anything:
   Tilly's Miette skirt
   A raglan t-shirt

   A cardigan 

   A kimono style wrap dress to pull on after summer swims
   Pyjama top from Wear Lemonade (free pattern)
   Sorbetto (free pattern)

   Pink cord tulip skirt (draft from my own khaki one) 

Skills-wise, I think I still have a lot to learn about the basics, and I think that I'm still at the stage where I'll learn something from every pattern I use. I'm really pleased that I've already managed a few things like sewing with jersey, but I think the main thing I learned in 2016 is to take my time tying up loose ends, and finishing things properly. I'd like to work on/try some nice hand-finishing - blind hems, slip stitch, and all sorts of basics that I feel like I might have been taught 20 years ago in school. I think a priority also has to be fitting toiles and trying some re-drafting. I'm really excited to make my dress form as I think it'll help a lot!

In other news
I did manage to do a little bit of painting. I have plans to make a whole series of these for my craft room our guest bedroom, sticking to a crafty theme, and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out! Children of the '90s might notice the reference to a certain Prodigy track that attracted a fair amount of controversy at the time. If incorporating something into a knitting-related pun doesn't neutralise it, then I don't know what will.

Blog goals?

I'm really new to blogging and I don't think I'll ever be the sort of person who can churn out beautiful posts, but (after this one!) I'm going to aim to have at least one decent photo per post. Because my screen-time is so limited at the moment my main goal is to take fewer, better pictures. This should get me better at using my camera, and it'll mean I can spend very little time deleting and editing bad photos!

xx

The wrong dress for me (Bettine)

As promised, I did make my Bettine dress from the glorious hot pink '80s triangle print fabric. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a disaster, but it is all my fault!

Bettine

There's nothing wrong with the pattern at all, it was lovely to work through and even easier, though more time-consuming, than the Agnes tops I've made. Unfortunately, it's just not the right dress for me! I knew the blousy top wouldn't suit me all that well, and that I'd most likely want to raise the neckline, but... the pockets! The comfort! It was definitely the cute, relaxed look of the dress that appealed to me more than any notion that it'd look good on me. I even hate having elastic around my waist to the extent that I have a history of chopping it out and removing it from shop-bought dresses, so why...? Oh never mind.

I do like the tulippy shape of the skirt, and the pockets are just brilliant. I'm going to have a shot cutting away some of the existing bodice, and cutting another piece from my leftovers to make a wrap bodice, so we'll see how that turns out. Perhaps a little over-ambitious, but I'm sure I'll learn something anyway!

I'm now on the hunt for another dress pattern, but I'm not too sure what to go for. It's pretty much a toss up between Butterick 6094, Sew Over It's Betty, and By Hand London's Anna dress. Betty's my favourite by a long way, but I've read that fitting it is pretty tricky, and I'm not sure I'm good enough to handle that yet. I really need to make some decisions if I'm going to have a dress for Christmas!

Pattern suggestions on a postcard, please :)

Nicky xx

Changing pace

In my last post I mentioned I was considering whether to do a race or not - in the end I decided not to and handed my number to a member of my running club. He got an awesome time and I'm really glad that I didn't force myself through it!

Last week I  played my first ever game of rugby, during which I managed to break a toe, so I've been forced to stop doing most of the exercise that I normally enjoy. In all honesty, though, I was being pretty lazy beforehand. I've found it really hard to motivate myself to get outside when it's been so cold and dark in the evenings. So while there's a chance that I'd be fine on my bike, I don't want to make things worse (or get stranded down my hill), I'm ticking the boxes by eating well, doing lots of walking, and using my excess energy up on HIIT style workouts so that I can come back strong!

While I'm almost nostalgic for HIIT workouts because it's been so long, it is hard and there's no way that it can fill all my time, so I'm using the spare time to get things done. Normally "go for a run/ride" is pretty much constantly at or near the top of my to do list, and without them I've found it relatively easy to finish a few long-term projects.

My Agnes top on kitty jersey (from eBay)

First up, crafts! I've been planning to make this top for a few months now, and this Sunday, I just did it. Not without cutting out two left sleeves, but never mind. This was the second item of clothing that I've made from scratch, and also my second Agnes top (pattern by tillyandthebuttons.com). It went much quicker since I already had the pattern cut out from my first (pink, stripy) effort. I guess it counts as my first "pattern hack" too, since I changed the front neckline, as the neckline on Agnes is really low and I want to be covered up in this weather. The result looks like pyjamas, but I've worn it out anyway, under a gilet, as I think it's really cute!


I've also sewn up a few gift bags and a cushion that have turned out quite nicely, and on top of that I've been experimenting with the double needle on my sewing machine, and tried out an edge-joining presser foot to tidy up my topstitching. The double needle worked fine once I'd tweaked the tension, but the presser foot has been returned as (despite assurances), it wasn't actually compatible with my machine.

This weekend I'll be sewing up my first Bettine dress (also from Tilly and the Buttons) from this crazy 80s viscose, so hopefully next week I'll be looking pretty cheerful!

If you've managed not to break a toe then share your tips, or just let me know what you're up to and give me sport envy!

Nicky xx