The Bra & The Bra Cupboard

On Monday, I finally had some time in the studio and made a bra using the same lace fabric as my frivolous dress from June. It's rather bumpy but my friend Sarah tells me that's the in thing - to see the lacy, bumpy surface of the bra through the t-shirt. Hmm... guess I'll be out of style because that's just not me. I'm all for smooth and sleek, elegant and expensive looking.




Doesn't the picot edge look great along the bottom? This is the band elastic. I've been doing "series work" with these bras. Each time, my construction steps are more confident and neater. YES YES

The bra is a copy of Wonderbra 7422, my favourite RTW. I didn't notice that bit of fluff by the armholes until my friend Allison pointed it out. Apparently the RTW version has it too - both only when I'm holding my arms down tighter against my side. I'll just avoid doing that and perhaps add a bit of width along that edge on the next one. The fit is very comfortable.

On Monday, I talked about my book Setting Up Your Sewing Space and how I'm not that same person anymore - well not totally that person. Some things remain the same like my love of structure and organization. I've acquired so many bra making supplies lately that they were disorganized and messy. That doesn't work for me.

One significant way that I'm different is that I no longer need new, top of the line, matching whatevers. Instead, it's a challenge to use what I already have. I bought a bunch of these glass jars with lids from the dollar store for a dollar each quite a few years ago. They contain the rings, sliders, embellishments, and odd lace bits. The plastic containers are from my dyeing supplies. They were bought in the bulk food section at the grocery store for a few cents each. I have over a hundred of them. These ones contain channelling in black and white. I wrapped it so I can pull out from the center without messing up the whole length.

These boxes are from Christmas cards. I folded 5" x 8" index cards in half and wrapped them with lingerie elastic, lace, and strapping. They fit into the boxes perfectly. I used one of the lids for the underwires. They are in sealed bags each labelled with the range of sizes. All these supplies are in the cupboard over my desk where my books used to be. It's now the bra cupboard.




Lingerie fabrics are slippery so digging through the box to find one piece mixed them all up. Now they're sorted into sealed bags by band and cup fabric, laces, and co-ordinated purchases. The bags are top-up in the lingerie supplies box along with the bra patterns.

To make a bra, I simply pull out the box and then the appropriate pattern and bag of fabrics and go to the cupboard for the parts and pieces. Organized. Perfect. I function best in a clean, well organized studio with open spaces and neat but closed storage. The box is labelled for in the closet storage. That's another thing that remains the same. I LOVE THESE BOXES.

I need to make another bra fairly quickly. After accidentally dying my white one grey and then taking it apart to create a pattern, I have a shortage and since I need to sew versus buy, and the bumpy frivolous bra won't work under t-shirts, I need another (or two, or more) smooth one. My color choices are black, white, dyed, pink, or green.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - some sewing time

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Personal Growth - Even more than the threat of a pending strike, an injury, time off work, and no paycheque brings spending to an absolute halt. Overall, it hasn't been that difficult. I imagine that's partly because I have a stashed up studio and partly because I'm too tired to think about it right now. Surprisingly, I'm not missing shopping at Fabricland and only missing eating out a little bit since it's so difficult for me to do that anyway. What I'm really Really REALLY missing is buying books. I love to read and I love to learn and I absolutely love new information. I've had a few chats with myself about why I don't need a new book and how I could read that one over again. Mostly it's working. I'm quite proud of myself. My money management skills were learned the hard way. It's nice to know that I have some self control and discipline and the ability to creatively use what I have rather than buy new. This is good.