#braugust2019

[heids9584]

#braugust2019 Day 11, Dear Past Me @edgewaterave Dear Past Me, don't be afraid of those projects that look intimidating. You've been sewing for over 3 decades, you know how to do this...just read all the directions 1st. #braugust #hobbies #sewing #diy #sewistsofinstagram #sew #maybeitsforyou #handmadewardrobe #makingstuff #workingwithknits #lingeriesewing #bramaking #handmadelingerie #handmade #originalwardrobe #oneofakind #tailormadeshop #hobbies #sewing #patterns #makeyourownwardrobe https://www.instagram.com/p/B1FpB5NgEC8/?igshid=1azio1zdp3nud

[spinalcat]

I'm not really doing the day-by-day #BRAugust2019 challenge posts, but I think this works for day 6 (matchy-matchy) and day 7 (mix it up). Reversible Lucky Lingerie bra by Rad Patterns and Rad Panel Undies. Fabric from JoAnn. I've made several successful lounge bras/bralettes, and a couple of successful swim tops/low impact sports bras. (Still working on the fit for a high impact sports bra.) I'm really itching to try an underwire bra based on all the posts I'm seeing, but I don't know if I have the patience/precision or the fitting skills. Hmmm. #sewing #stitchersofinstagram https://www.instagram.com/p/B032qaeJn1nyQFaidd7O41ZfjfYhJ3FKzLYblI0/?igshid=1wpsoz74ngpz0

[13thsongbird]

I can’t quite believe it’s nearly October – where did the summer go? And on top of that, where did September go?? That said, I’ve been glorying in the weather here in New York this past month. We’ve still been flirting with temps in the 80s during the hottest parts of the day, but it’s much breezier and less humid, and once the sun goes down the temperature drops quite comfortably into the 60s. Much nicer than the sticky humidity and 90+ degree days and nights of August! (We’re still not quite to my ideal fall temperatures, but soon… soon…)

And with cooler temps come thoughts of fall-appropriate sewing – that is to say, things with sleeves. I didn’t do this consciously, but looking back at the projects I completed this summer, there wasn’t a single sleeve in sight! These arms demand freedom in the heat of a New York City summer, what can I say. Hindsight being 20/20, this actually may be the reason I procrastinated so long on the make I’m ever-so-slowly building up to. Minds are weird and wonderful things, aren’t they?

At the beginning of August, the Instagram sewing community blew up with sewing challenges – the ones I saw the most were #alteritaugust and #BRAugust2019, but there were any number of others. Not sure why August is the hoppin’ sewing month, but it made for a flood of inspiring Instagram pictures so I wasn’t complaining! However, I wasn’t really in the mood to commit to a sustained month-long challenge. The lure of getting in the sandbox to play with my sewing community beckoned, but it wasn’t quite clicking – until I saw someone posting about #sewcialmashup and a little bulb went off in my head. The concept was simply to mash up two (or more!) patterns and share pictures of the result during the month of August, with weekly prize drawings and some big grand prize options at the end of the month, and my mind immediately flashed to a mashup I’ve had brewing since before the new year. What a great opportunity to get my rear in gear, join the fun, but also not overwhelm myself! One project, one month – easy peasy!

(And then I procrastinated for the whole month and only worked on it the literal last three days of August… and then I started writing this blog post the first week of September and only just now got around to finishing it… Shhhhhh… I blame it on the heat. Yeah. Also, big shoutout to Girls in the Garden and Inside the Hem for hosting such a fun challenge!)

Like a lot of sewists, I was entranced this winter by the release of Friday Pattern Company’s Adrienne Blouse. A simple top designed for knits, it majorly brings the drama with sleeves that are literally the largest pattern pieces on the sheet, gathered at shoulder and cuff with 1/2″ elastic, and is a terrifically drafted pattern and easy to sew to boot. The minute I got my grubby little hands on it, I was dreaming of wearing it tucked into high-waisted pants and skirts, which gave me a moment of pause. I don’t like tucking knit tops in – I feel like they often bunch and shift under a fitted waistband, plus I’m very tall with a long torso, which can be trying when it comes to keeping tucked-in shirts in place. The Adrienne is drafted with negative ease through the body, which meant the bunching was unlikely to be an issue, but it is also self-described as “slightly cropped with the hem hitting just below your bellybutton”. How much length was I going to have to add to make this wearable?? (The answer is none – I actually find the length of the torso fairly spot-on for me. Were I looking for a cropped top I’d be disappointed, but as it is I’m pleased as punch!) Then I had a surge of brilliance – I’ve posted here before about my love affair with the Nettie bodysuit from Closet Case Patterns, and one of the things I love most about it is that it provides me with close-fitting knit tops that are un-untuckable. Why couldn’t I just whack the bottom of the Nettie onto the Adrienne, joining the practicality of the bodysuit with the swoony romanticism of the blouse’s sleeves? Both patterns are very simply drafted with similar ease and stretch requirements. Only one thing to do, and that was throw it at the wall and see if it stuck!

Despite the incredibly long incubation time on this idea (I mentioned it for the first time all the way back in January when I was drafting my Pick Nine selections for 2019), once I pulled out the patterns the whole thing came together really quickly! My copy of the Nettie has an inch of length added to the front pattern piece at the lengthen-shorten line (I chose to fold out that extra length from the back piece to try and reduce extra fabric at the small of my back, which has been an issue before), so to make sure I included that I simply lined up the Nettie’s top lengthen-shorten line with the waist notch on the Adrienne. Above that point I traced the Adrienne, below it I traced the waist and hip curve on the Nettie, shifted the pattern pieces a little so the edge lined up with the fold of the fabric, and traced the leg opening with some creative fudging to make up for a little added width through the hips. Same process for the back (while Adrienne uses the same pattern piece front and back, the Nettie has differently shaped pieces to accommodate your crotch and your butt) and I was in business! Since I didn’t change anything about the armscye or neckline of the Adrienne, I could simply use the sleeve and neck binding pattern pieces as drafted, and while the leg opening did end up slightly cattywompus from the original Nettie, Heather very thoughtfully includes in the pattern instructions that the bands (which you self-draft anyway) should be 90% the length of your leg opening, so I just had to do a little measuring.

Cutting it out was simple and mostly notable for how often I had to stop to pet my fabric – I’ve never worked with double-brushed poly before, so I don’t know if it’s all this soft and kitten-like and delicious or if LA Finch Fabrics just has the absolute best DBP in the game. Either way, it’s divine, and I got 1 1/4 yard for a steal of a deal because it was an end-of-bolt piece (so no more for you, sorry, it’s ALL MINE!), which was the perfect amount to cut out my “Adrettie” without any hassle and still have some silky-soft scrappy pieces that I think I can squeeze a panties-and-bralette set out of (#sustainablesewing!!! Use up those scraps!). Construction was likewise simple and straightforward; while I own a serger it hasn’t been threaded in a few years and I have sewn everything from lingerie elastic to swimsuit lycra to chunky sweater knits using the zigzag stitch on my ever-loving Joni, so all I had to do was sit down at my machine and sew. An hour or two later, and it was SLEEVE TIME!!

I’m seriously in love with these sleeves. Paired with my buzz cut, they make me feel like I’m Fantine from Les Mis – and who doesn’t want to go about their daily life feeling like a 19th-century factory worker tragically forced to sell her hair, teeth, and body to support her beloved but illegitimate daughter by a man who took advantage of her and then abandoned her to a life of poverty??? (Fantine is one of my dream roles, y’all. I dreamed a dreeeeam in time gone byyyyy…)

Okay maybe that’s just me.

I’m slightly less in love with how far down the cut of the leg opening falls in the front – the back coverage is perfect, and one of the reasons I love the drafting of the Nettie so much, but I might go back in and carve out some of the side and front so the band sits more comfortably in the crease between my thigh and my pelvis.

I paired Adrettie with some Old Navy shorteralls, and while I’m liking the effect I’m not a huge fan of the blue-on-blue – I love a good dress-like-a-crayon moment, but I prefer a little more dynamism and contrast between shades. Still, I wore the ensemble out to a friend’s birthday and really enjoyed it, so I think the answer is clear: I need to make more Adretties to wear with my blue denim shorteralls, and I need to make some other shorteralls (and full-length overalls for the colder weather) that I can wear with this blue one! I’ve got a pair of golden-yellow thrifted jeans that I was thinking of refashioning/altering, and while they were intended to become another pair of better-fitting pants, I’m sorely tempted to chop off the legs and use the extra fabric for straps and a bib… we shall see! I also think the sleeves would look darling under a pinafore, especially as the fall weather begins to make layering more of an option again. And then of course there’s the high-waisted pants and skirts I originally envisioned this hack with!

Gratuitous cat pic!

One thing I will be doing, though, is going back and opening the crotch seam to add snaps – all this talk of layering something that I have to take off in its entirety to go to the bathroom is giving me the cold sweats, and the thought of sitting on a toilet shivering as the weather gets colder does not appeal! The mood for this autumn is dress smarter, not harder, y’all.

  We Love A Statement Sleeve I can't quite believe it's nearly October - where did the summer go? And on top of that, where did September go??

[heids9584]

#braugust2019 Day 10, Most Worn @nelliejoans I'm all about comfy and pretty. #braugust #hobbies #sewing #diy #sewistsofinstagram #sew #maybeitsforyou #handmadewardrobe #color #workingwithknits #lingeriesewing #bramaking #handmadelingerie #handmade #originalwardrobe #oneofakind #tailormadeshop #hobbies #sewing #orangelingerie #makeyourownwardrobe #lace #berkleybra https://www.instagram.com/p/B1Ad8UHgfUt/?igshid=1hfjsy4trxmsi

[heids9584]

#braugust2019 Day 8, oldest wip @eclipse_lingerie_studio Apparently I finish the hard stuff, but not the easy stuff. One needs an elastic band on the bottom, the other simply needs straps. Maybe ill finish them tonight. #braugust #hobbies #sewing #diy #sewistsofinstagram #sew #maybeitsforyou #handmadewardrobe #color #workingwithknits #lingeriesewing #bramaking #handmadelingerie #handmade #originalwardrobe #oneofakind #tailormadeshop #hobbies #sewing #makeyourownwardrobe https://www.instagram.com/p/B07WVJXggYC/?igshid=15w3gqynsjszl

[heids9584]

#braugust2019 Day 7, Mix it up @mmadalynne My mix it up is a little different than yours. I started a set as a gift for a friend last year, but was really struggling with finding the right fold over elastic....so cassette tapes and polka dots coordinate, right? (Obviously the set is not done yet...a year later....) #braugust #hobbies #sewing #diy #sewistsofinstagram #sew #maybeitsforyou #handmadewardrobe #color #mixtapes #cassettetapes #spoonflower #lingeriesewing #bramaking #handmadelingerie #handmade #originalwardrobe #oneofakind #tailormadeshop #hobbies #sewing #makeyourownwardrobe https://www.instagram.com/p/B07VwMDAWNb/?igshid=18icvwkh8r6sv

[heids9584]

#braugust2019 Day 5, color inspo @sewyourownwardrobe A majority of my everyday wardrobe looks like I channel Wednesday Addams. I really do like color, I'm just drawn to black. Here are a few of my favorite items that have a little bit of color. #braugust #hobbies #sewing #diy #sewistsofinstagram #sew #mystyle #handmadewardrobe #color #lingeriesewing #bramaking #handmadelingerie #handmade #originalwardrobe #oneofakind #tailormadeshop #hobbies #sewing #makeyourownwardrobe #orangelingerie #berkleybra #esplanade #lansdownebra #mmadalynn #ohhhlulu #cindybodysuit #madeformermaids #bridgettebralette https://www.instagram.com/p/B0znPhrgL_A/?igshid=1db2ld48kqe80

[heids9584]

#braugust2019 Day 4, maker(s) to follow @zaziepatterns I follow so many makers! One of my favorites for lingerie/swim projects is @the_twisted_poppy . Her work looks great, check out the bra with the embroidered kitten tulle! I do a lot of other garment sewing too, @emilyhallmandesigns has amazing complete outfit collections with great commentary in her stories (and she has an adorable dog!) #braugust #hobbies #sewing #diy #sewistsofinstagram #sew #handmadewardrobe #handmadelingerie #handmade #originalwardrobe #oneofakind #tailormadeshop #hobbies #sewing #makeyourownwardrobe https://www.instagram.com/p/B0ww7R5Ag6A/?igshid=15pfqwc3wdhhs

[heids9584]

#braugust2019 Day 3 cutting tools @brabuilders I'm all about scissors. Between the ones I've bought myself (usually clearance Fiskars when they have fun handles) and the ones that my grandma had (part of #thegrandmaarchives, also know as the stuff that came with the house), and the ones that were gifts, I've accumulated quite the collection. I have certian pairs I use certain fabrics, too. The ones in the 3rd slide are from my grandma and by J. Wiss & Sons, and Champion Kumfi-cut Even though I have a rotary cutter, I rarely use it, and when I do it's only with a ruler. I accidentally cut the end of my middle finger off as a kid playing with my mom's rotary cutter...so yeah not my favorite tool. I only have half a fingerprint on that finger now! #braugust #hobbies #sewing #diy #sewistsofinstagram #sew #scissors #shears #pinkingshears #rotarycutter #fiskars #kumficut #gingher #jwissandsons https://www.instagram.com/p/B0svDUdgSIH/?igshid=owzunl0r1le

[heids9584]

#braugust2019 Day 2 Plan of Attack @vanjonsondesigns I'm not big on planning or strategy. I see something I like in a store or online...see that it doesn't come in my size, I look for a pattern that resembles it, and I make it. I swam competitively for over a decade, plus another decade of teaching and coaching swimming. Most of swim wear I've owned revolved around those tasks, so I go out of my way to have more exciting options now. This purple suit is a mash up of the Cindy bodysuit and the Hyacinth bra from @ohhhlulu. Both fabrics are from @joann_stores cosplay line. They are 4 way stretch, but the purple has a cool satin-esque finish to it. My not so professional approach to my own items leads to ballpoint pen on the lining sometimes....because I don't really plan. #braugust #handmadewardrobe #handmadelingerie #handmade #handmadeswimwear #swimsuit #handmadeswimsuit #swimwear #originalwardeone #oneofakind #cindybodysuit #ohhhlulu #hyacinthbra #hobbies #sewing #diy #sewistsofinstagram #lingeriesewing #sew #brasewing #makeyourownwardrobe https://www.instagram.com/p/B0rv2-Ug0Hd/?igshid=12kjz0b03s8bd