Lingerie Anatomy

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

One of the tricky parts of lingerie making is sourcing all of the supplies! Still to this day, I order my supplies from all over the world... shipping can get expensive and sourcing everything is time consuming (this is just one of the reasons why handmade lingerie is a little more costly). 

Almost all lingerie requires a variety of elastic. A bra alone requires strap elastic, band elastic, and trimming elastic.  Most bras require a hook and eye closure and you need the ring and slider hardware to assemble your straps. To make matters a little more tricky, all of the elastic comes in a variety of widths, from 1/4" and up!



Rings and Sliders - I like to use nylon coated metal rings and sliders. They come in a variety of colours and sizes. I always prefer to use metal over plastic for durability.

Strap Elastic - Generally plush on one side (the side that goes against your skin), and matte or shiny on the exterior. It comes in various widths, with the standard being 1/2".

Bra Back Closures - These hook and eye closures come in various sizes, with the average being 2x3 hooks.  The inside of these are plush, so they're soft against your skin.

Fold Over Elastic - I like to use fold over elastic for finishing the upper edge of bras and for waist and leg lines of panties. It comes in a million shades of elastic, and if you can apply binding, you can apply fold over elastic.

Band Elastic - Just as the name implies, it goes around the band, or lower edge of the bra. One side is soft and plush and it often has a decorative edge. Band elastic comes as narrow as 1/4", and up to 1" wide. My preference is 1/2", or 3/4" for larger bust sizes.

I've assembled some kits, in black, ivory, pink and navy, that contain all of the most often needed lingerie supplies in the most common sizes. Each kit contains 1/2" strap elastic, with 1/2" ring and slider set, 1/2" plush band elastic, satin fold over elastic, a 2x3 hook and eye closure, and two satin bows, hand tied by yours truly. There is enough elastic to complete 1 bra and 1 pair of panties.




View my supplies on Etsy


In addition to the kits, I've added a few remnant grab bags to my sewing pattern shop. I've been cleaning out my sewing room, and found a lot of odds and ends. These bags contain various elastics in various lengths and are perfect for practice and small projects. The elastic in these vary in length from 14" to as much as 2 yard lengths.

View the Remnant Grab Bags on Etsy

Honeymoon

Saturday, July 11, 2015

Dan and I have been married for a few years now... Our wedding was a lot of fun, but if I could have a second one (with Dan of course), there are lots of things I'd do differently (or remember to do, period). Surprisingly,  I seemed to neglect to make myself any wedding lingerie... a fact which I remembered the day before our wedding. Ever since I've been slightly obsessed with blue and white Bridal pieces. I guess it's like the old saying, "the lingerie maker never has any lingerie on her wedding day" (ok, I totally just made that up, but you get the idea)...

As much as it would have been nice to have a bridal trousseau full of pretty lingerie, we spent our Honeymoon camping (like, in a tent camping) and hiking, and I mostly found myself wearing layers of hoodies and track pants. In my imaginary second wedding, I think we'd go someplace remote but a little less rustic. Something with a hot tub and spa. Somewhere where I could have pranced around in these things...

I had the opportunity a little while back to work with model, Mathy Pacquette and photographer, Kim Gaudreau.  They put together this beautiful shoot, showcasing a few of my new pieces. I just love how the photos turned out and am excited to share a few of them with you.

Lace and Ribbon Side Tie Panties
Model: Mathy Paquette
Photography: Kim Gaudreau
Hair & Make-up: Camille Lacasse

Silk Sleep Mask
Photography: Kim Gaudreau
Photo by me, including my very own wedding dress! And yes, you can bet I put it on after taking this photo.


Fleur Romper
Model: Mathy Paquette
Photography: Kim Gaudreau
Hair & Make-up: Camille Lacasse

Fleur Romper

Merlot Lace Lingerie Set
Model: Mathy Paquette

Photography: Kim Gaudreau
Hair & Make-up: Camille Lacasse


Around the house...

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

When we purchased our home, not a whole lot had been done to it in the last 20 or so years... We got it for a good price but it needed a lot of updating. We've been here for a few years now and have changed all of the exterior doors, insulated the basement, installed a new bathroom vanity, some new flooring, jacked up the floors, have painted every room, updated wiring and electrical, installed a dishwasher and new appliances, and have done some landscaping. It still feels overwhelming, the work that needs to be done... we need to tear down and rebuild the falling down garage, repair the crumbling chimney... and I'd love to put on a small addition for my studio so that we can go back to having three bedrooms for guests (or a sibling for Isabel?).  But, that's not for a while yet.  Of course, we are having to do all of this on a very tight budget!

Over the last couple of weeks we checked a few things off our to-do list that have been lingering for a while. When we replaced the doors, the walls that are still lath and plaster crumbled... so, we repaired the plaster in the side entry, filled all of the cracks that appeared when we had previously jacked up the floors, and painted. I still need to put down some new flooring on the stairs, but for now, our side entry way looks 7000% better. No exaggeration!

our crumbing house!

Clean and bright!
 We had begun to plan to do our garage build this summer, but there is total chaos outside our house from now until October. Our entire street is torn up and we've lost a good chunk of our front lawn. The street is being widened and new sewer and water pipes are being installed. It's been an inconvenience (not to mention ugly and noisy), but when it's done everything will look new and pretty!

the summer of construction.
To escape from some of the ugly and add some privacy, Dan put up some lattice pannels on our front porch. I absolutely love it! It's like we have an extra living space now. We bought a small patio set for out there and how have a nice cool place to sit back and relax (after all of the construction crews have left).  And look how much my gardens are filling out!
My gardens are filling out.


But the really BIG thing that we have recently done is having painted all of the awful orange wood paneling that covered our entryway, stairs and upstairs hall. It wasn't your average wood paneling. It's this deep-grained, shiny, horrible orange paneling that was a nightmare to paint (and in general, a nightmare to look at). None of the corners or seams were finished very well so we went through a ton of spackle. I think at one point, part of one of the walls in the entryway was used as a bulletin board, or possibly a dart board... it was absolutely covered in holes.  Underneath the paneling is more crumbly lathe and plaster, which eventually will be removed. But, for anyone who has done that before you'll know it's a terribly dusty job, and not one I want to do with a small baby crawling around the house! The house feels so much brighter and cleaner now.


This window seat is what made me first love this house.


How our house looked when we bought it, and after we installed new flooring.
We keep toying with the idea of moving, but every time I look at the houses in our modest price-range, I never see anything that even compares to how much I like this house (warts and all). Maybe I'm just sentimental because we have done so much work to it. There is still so much to do... it is overwhelming. But each time we finish one project, I begin to love our little house even more!!!

Isabel started crawling a few weeks ago, pretty much right at the 8 month mark. Life is now really hectic. She's pulling herself up to standing and cruising around on her own around furniture. I can't believe how much she has changed in just a few weeks. She's starting to really be like a kid now!  She has 6 little teeth, is nibbling on finger foods (she is a cookie monster!), gives slobbery wet kisses, and says "dada" pretty much non stop.  She's a total cutie, and if you follow my Instagram you can get lots of Isabel Spam.


Free Pattern for July!

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

I've got thick thighs. They're muscular from carrying around lazy pugs, hauling babies up stairs, and... a they're little chubby due to my love of ice cream and chocolate and poutine.  When I was younger, I used to be very thin, but age has but a few extra pounds on me. I don't really mind, but one thing that is a little annoying is when you're wearing a skirt or dress on a hot summer day and your sweaty thighs rub against one another as you're walking... The dreaded thigh chafe.

I tried making lace bands, but they just rolled up or fell down. I tried powders and creams, but those didn't last. So, I made some 1990's style bike shorts... and finally found something that works!

Get the Pattern Here
These are your basic fitted bike short. They have no side seam, and the pattern consists of only two pieces: The Shorts Piece and a Gusset. I added a gusset so you can wear these a la carte if you wish. 

It hasn't been terribly hot here this summer (not complaining), but I've still been getting a lot of wear out of these. They're great for under too-short skirts and dresses, or for wearing to bed with a tank top! I'll be honest... I sometimes just wear them all day because, let's face it, they're kind of cute.

I've added a size to this pattern: XXL. I personally find the sizing to be generous, especially if you sew these out of a good, 4-way stretch fabric.


These shorts don't require much... just some stretchy knit fabric (cotton/lycra is ideal), some wide stretch lace, a little fold over elastic for the waist (though I'm sure you could also make a casing and use regular elastic), and some thread. I've already made myself 3 pairs of these!


This pattern will be available for FREE for the month of July on Craftsy. After July it will no longer be free, so download it while you can!

PS. Today is my birthday!

PPS. I named these after Hilda the curvy pin-up.

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