Sewing, now and then

karmalady I also love Lifting Pins and Needles if ever I am unsure about a new technique. I find I sew more during the winter as my main summer hobby is gardening/pottering in the garden.

I have four sewing machines now, two Singers (one basic, one computerised), a Janome and a very old Jones all-metal one which weighs a ton but still sews like a dream. I try to rotate them all, but I must admit I've got a bit addicted to the automatic thread cutter on my Janome!

I've had a look at the bralette you mentioned, and might treat myself to the pattern and have a go. There is also a free pattern on that site for children's underwear that would use up all the odds and ends of jersey left over from making my GD's T shirts and shorts!

Romola, my mum made her wedding dress from parachute silk that my Dad brought back from the Far East (he was in the RAF)

AskAlice
My late mother in law was a wonderful machinist. She had a full apprenticeship where she was taught everything.
She told me how she embroidered the name tags on Douglas Fairbanks shirts. They were taught everything, her smocking was beautiful.
Embroidery must have been in her genes as her mother embroidered the robes etc that we see at coronations etc.
My mother in law had been blind for many years before she died but she would never give up her Brothers industrial machine.

Petra, Wow, what a claim to fame! And how lovely that her mother's beautiful work is still seen and admired by so many people.

Interestingly, my mum's maternal side of the family were descended from Huguenot silk-weavers who came to East London in the early 1700s, so I think you are right that the genes have something to do with it. I do so wish my mum's dressmaking genes had been passed on to me. She did try to teach me but I wasn't that interested when I was young. I only started sewing again just before the first lockdown, and I'm afraid I'm adequate at best!

Moth62 don`t cut into your good fabric yet, always cut a toile from a cheap similar weight of fabric, or buy some calico. Try it on inside out and ask someone to pin it here and there so you get that beautiful fit

Many of us learnt the hard way not to use best fabric for an untried pattern

I have assembled bralette pattern and cut out, got some cheap but suitable fabric out of stash. I am not the typical young person figure and my underbust is about the same size as overbust. Sigh, oh well already I see that I will have to make adjustments ie lengthening the underbust and also lengthening the bra crossover

Once I get the perfect pattern then I will treasure it and keep it safe. I did this with knicker-making, took me a while but I am proud of my comfortable knickers and will now use a good quality fabric.

Actually, lands end nighties are very good quality, I have been known to get the largest ,with sleeves, in their sales and I can get 5 or 6 pairs of knickers out of two nighties

pima cotton of course, nothing less

Doh, silly me the band measurements are on the instruction sheet so I am going to print again, 2 sizes on the same sheets

XLb and 4XL b, then I will combine the patterns, XL right down to the overlap and then extend that to 4XL and the band will be 4XL

I hate tight bra bands and the 4XL will give me a snug but not tight fit.

I am in process of printing 4XL, this pattern does not combine the 2 sizes on the same page, all other pdf pattern I have used do and that makes it easier to grade from one size to another

So I need to keep the top strapping and the boob area within the XL range and just sub the 4 XL to the bottom of pattern XL

Fingers crossed, this could be easy

Oh M0nica
I another the clumsy one but sm definitely not the best at sewing and others "helped" me a lot by taking sewing off me!
I can make things and am creative but am super-slow and not very intuitive when sewing.
Grandfather, mother and uncle all tailors - my father was a milliner.

AskAlice

*Petra*, Wow, what a claim to fame! And how lovely that her mother's beautiful work is still seen and admired by so many people.

Interestingly, my mum's maternal side of the family were descended from Huguenot silk-weavers who came to East London in the early 1700s, so I think you are right that the genes have something to do with it. I do so wish my mum's dressmaking genes had been passed on to me. She did try to teach me but I wasn't that interested when I was young. I only started sewing again just before the first lockdown, and I'm afraid I'm adequate at best!

AskAlice
My late Mother in Law was a LaRoche by marriage.
My daughter has researched a lot of history Re the name and the links to the Huguenot’s

I want to show you as I go on

XL over 4XL and I needed to add size in several places. one on the back and 4 on the front. All I have done was tape the 2 sizes together first and then added the size 4 XL. To make it smooth I used a french curve and curved each each added space

Looks fine and soon I will cut the fabric and test run. I won`t be doing the sewing today, I have a gansey to finish knitting

My sewing is more again than now😀. I’ve had a dressing gown cut out since May - just sat there. I need to order a zip and really then there is no excuse.

karma that looks as clear as mud to me😀😀

I could not resist and have made the bralette, the underband is too big and cup size a tad too small, however it is very soft and very comfortable and I am wearing it now. It is light as a feather and this is going to develop into a go-to pattern. Nothing at all is cutting into me and I love it.

I did almost all of it on my overlocker including the darts. The hardest bit was inserting and sewing the back and front straps together. For that I basted then used a stepped zig zag

That was my first ever wave and wild pattern, the instructions and clarity are wonderful, top notch

Now to print off XL C cup, I just want to measure lower cup, to see if that gives me 1/2" more space.

I won`t be chucking this toile, it is good enough but I can do better. Next toile will be straight XL c cup and that will include the XL underband

I’ve made the Superstar Bra. It’s great. Also, Waves and Wild Wonder Undies are good. Easily made in an hour from scraps of cotton/lycra fabric. Could revive your interest in sewing! (I have a drawer full of Wonder Undies).

Karmalady you have inspired me: I do sew regularly but most of my wardrobe is store bought...and very simple: t-shirts and jeans and sweat suits. I need new bras and panties and I think that given your info on patterns, I will be making them!

I always designed and sewed my own clothes in the past. However these days the cost of fabric makes it uneconomic, so I hardly ever do so now.

Your posts are lovely, nice to have a sewing group at long last

I have cut out the XL C cup bralette and there is the extra room below the cups and now I am certain that this size will fit me. There is flexibility in the overlap so I could make the XL underband a little bigger. I think I will buy some more fabric, the thinner jerseys seem to be best as the bra is lined. Cost for my bralette today, not counting the pattern is around £4

KnittyNannie, I just don`t need anything else, I wish I did but now I only have space for the bralettes. My knickers are my pride and joy, proud to hang them out for all to see. I got my trimming from etsy, a big roll from fashion avenue called fancy picot 10mm

I need to knit now or the gansey will not be finished

Karmalady, I'd talk sewing all day, every day if I could! My twin sister and I are manic sewers and rarely buy any of our clothes. I have wardrobes and drawers full of me-made clothes going back years. I keep a spreadsheet showing date, pattern, fabric etc of all my makes and the total each year is dozens, most for me!
I've cut out a skirt and two matching tops today!
Quizzer, unfortunately fabric can be very expensive these days, although by waiting for sales and buying online, you can still get good value. Of course, it's not going to match the prices of Primark or Supermarket clothes, but my me-made clothes last me for years.
I better stop going on about sewing now!!

Fabric shops seems to have disappeared even tho I live in a city. I have always done simple sewing jobs like curtains and self and other half being short, always hems to adjust. I eventually had to abandon an electric Singer after several repairs. Now I have Janome and like to give it a bit of work to keep it ticking over. Some craft items during covid kept it busy.

I like that Twinnytwin, I also keep track of what I have made, a catalogue of stash samples, what I paid etc. I use A5 files and an A5 notebook and give everything a rating. The As are excellent and the patterns are perfect. C is never to be made again

I keep all my patterns in A4 pattern envelopes and my overall pattern stash is described on blank business cards in small files, so I can easily pick out eg a skirt. This is stash that I have accumulated for very many years and including good quality bargains. I did all that catalogue work two years ago, such a good time doing it and then I stapled tags onto every item of fabric

Talking about fabric, I have just bought a large quantity of top quality pima cotton jersey, all in one colourway and destined for several matching bralette and knicker sets and maybe a t shirt and dress. I saved £19 a metre and it cost just about £9 a metre, good brand too. The bargains are out there but it helps to know the good brands and the gsm, which gives the weight of the fabric

My problem will be after pre-washing, I will have to lay it along two airers right across my room, best dried flat and not pegged. Every bit of fabric in my sewing room has been pre-washed, it gets rid of shrinkage

kits are often good value too, I once bought a maison fauve pilar jacket kit in corduroy from beyond the pink door. The resulting jacket is wonderful

The cord made a horrible fluffy mess in my sewing room but it was worth making

Grandma70s

I haven’t sewn anything (except the odd button) since needlework at school stopped being compulsory when I was about 12. To me it is the ultimate boring occupation.

My mother was marvellous at it, and made all my pretty dresses and ballet costumes when I was a child. Perhaps I don’t sew because I know I could never compete.

That's me...I am not remotely interested in sewing. 🤣🤣🤣

My mother was an excellent seamstress and made not only dresses etc but our coats too. Of course she could whistle up a quick dress or skirt in no time and well matched seams etc. I started quite well but then had to do sewing at school, when the way you had to do things was each individual next thing, such as tacking or hemming or whatever, and then line up for endless time to show the teacher before being allowed to carry on. It was so slow and boring, I was already fed up with a dress I was making before I had even finished it off. I used to do a lot of knitting, but preferred someone else with the skill to sew it up to match the quality of the knitting, as I felt my sewing up was not good enough. But actually I have always felt it is a shame to do things you dislike rather than use your own skills. So yes go to the sewing class and learn how to make whatever you want, but my way was a "swap skills" that I used to set up in womens groups and with friends. So an example was that my son grew very quickly and any trousers he had the hems were never long enough to last him long. A friend with another little boy, hated cooking or rather baking, so I suggested that I would buy the material cotton etc for the trousers and she could pay for the ingredients. So she made a great pair of trousers with extra long hems , which fitted and lasted well. I in turn made what her son wanted for his birthday, which was a football field. So made a rectangular sponge, put home made raspberry jam in it, covered it with very light green icing to be the field, put cocktail sticks and the nets used round oranges to be the goals, piped white lines for all the usual things, and added his subbuto people to play with a washed white aniseed ball for the football. He was delighted with it and result we were both pleased with our exchange of skills and enjoyed doing the things that we were good at! Incidentally another popular thing on the menu was my easy offering of mice to eat! That was a green jelly on a shallow metal tray to be the grass, halves of pears from a tin for the bodies, cherries for the noses, pine nuts for ears , currants for eyes and a licquorice tail. The children were keen to tell their mums that they had eaten mice at the party!!

I’ve just finished a bridesmaids dress for my youngest DGD which was made of dupion silk with a tulle overlay , lined in silk/ cotton mix. Made a matching waistcoat and bow tie for youngest DGS. Finished thank goodness.