Hello all!
Today I’ve got some lingerie to show you that I made eons ago, but never managed to get photos of til now. Better late than never, eh? Patternwise I used the Madalynne X Simplicity 8228 halterneck bralette as a base for the bra and hacked a pattern I’d previously made of a well fitting existing pair of pants for the bottom half of the set.
I decided to change the halterneck of the pattern because I don’t like the pressure that halternecks put on the back of the neck. A younger and more naive me decided that if I just added straps from the shoulders down to the back band of the bra it would be fine. However, it was not quite that simple, because if you move a strap that’s supposed to be at your neck to the mid shoulder it will tighten the centre front line and create gaping at the side boob area exactly where you don’t want this. At the time I fixed this issue by just ripping out the elastic and re-doing it, stretching very tightly as I sewed. In the photo below you can see the ripples in the fabric where the elastic has almost gathered the lace.
Fabric wise I got the lace, powermesh and all of the matching notions from Sewing Chest which is a UK based lingerie supply company. I just checked and they actually still have this exact lace in stock. For the main pant fabric I used a silk jersey that I bought from the Man outside Sainsburys in Walthamstow.
Pants-wise I just extended the back pattern piece over to the front a bit for a cute little crossover. I did use jersey under the lace at the back because I couldn’t quite get my head around using just lace.
Shape-wise the bra doesn’t do a whole lot, but that’s not it’s purpose. Its purpose is just to be pretty. I do love a good scalloped edging and teal is one of my favourite colours in the world.
Construction wise I think was very straightforward and didn’t take too long at all.
Next I think that I want to experiment more with wired bras, looking more at lift and shape.
Thank you so much for reading!
Lauren xx