Monthly Archives: December 2021

A Birthday Gift to Myself

It’s my birthday and I wanted to take the time out of my busy sewing schedule to make something special for myself. This year, I chose underwear!

I have several bra and panty sewing patterns and kits that I have collected in hopes to sew up pretty underpinnings for myself or others. I just love the pretty laces and fabrics that go into making lingerie sand find that making them up brings me great satisfaction and joy.

For this project, I chose to make the Watson bra and bikini set from https://clothhabit.com/ that I downloaded and printed out in PDF format.

I had some nude colored stretch gallon lace, some mesh and lining also in nude, and the specialty elastics and findings needed to make this set already on hand, so I just got to cutting and sewing this asap to have done in one day for my birthday.

The materials

I cut the bra cups strategically so that the pretty scalloped lace edges would be featured on the front and bottom edge of the bra, as well as the bikini.

Cutting out the bra cups on the lace
The bikini pieces cut out

I cut the same pieces out of lining to give the bra some structure and modesty, and sewed them all together as instructed.

I used my serger for some of the seams, using my handy Wonder Clips so not to sew over any pins.

Serging the cup lining and lace edges
More serging, using Wonder Clips of course

I got about 1/2 way done, but then had to stop for the night and rest my eyes. Things were going quite well with both parts and I was quite happy to see it coming together, so I pinned what I had done so far to one of my dress forms and called it a night.

Making progress!

After only one broken needle and a little trouble sewing the shifty mesh and lace, I finally got it all finished in time to snap a few phots, shower and wear it out (under my clothes, of course) for my birthday dinner with my dear husband and a few close friends and family members.

Bra and Panty Completed!
It’s a little large for my tiny mannequin, but you get the idea…

Another great birthday make! Cheers!

Fringe Benefits

I’ve been thinking about making a kimono like this for a long time. I’ve made a couple of them for myself in the past, had some lovely material on hand that was perfect for this style, and have a current client that I am making a manly version for as well, so the time was right to just go for it.

My fringe velvet kimono

Many of my ideas stem from images I find down some rabbit hole also known as Pinterest. I have a few pins to share, but these are just a few to spare you the boredom (and to save you some of your own Pinterest time suck):

Velvet Kimono with Fringe
Another Velvet Kimono with Fringe
Catch my drift?
My kind of outfit

So, with this amazing silk burnout velvet that I had purchased from Mood Fabrics on hand all I needed was some fringe for the hem and binding for the edges.

I really like Simplicity patterns for straightforward and uncomplicated patterns like this one Simplicity 1108, one of their Easy-to-Sew patterns. https://www.simplicity.com/simplicity-storefront-catalog/patterns/brands/simplicity/simplicity-pattern-1108-misses-kimonos-in-different-styles/

Using a simple pattern like this one it didn’t take long and was truly easy to sew. I used view D and added trim and wide binding to the sleeves:

Simplicity 1108 pattern

The most difficult bit for this little number was the fabric. The velvet wants to shift and dodge around while sewing, and the fact that it was silk also made it tricky and delicate to manage. Sewing on the binding was the pits as the two slippy materials did not want to behave and it just shifted all over the place.

Then there came applying the fringe and many inappropriate swear words were used. Ugh. I had to sew it on carefully by hand as my sewing machine refused to cooperate or participate in that nonsense.

Now I can appreciate why these kinds of little tops are so expensive. Yes they are simple garments, but MAN, all of the above factors really take a toll on one’s patience! Plus that fringe was not cheap, much less that fabric.

Well, as usual, the time and effort paid off and I now have a lovely and special top I can just slip on over a nice tee and jeans, or my leggings and I’m ready!