Tag Archives: lingerie

Adventures in bra dyeing

Turquoise bra

I think I’ve had turquoise on the brain for months now because of Elsa. One result of this is that I bought a lovely white bra kit from Grey’s with the intention of dyeing it and then decided on turquoise. Shocker.

It was a really interesting experiment though and I’m pretty excited about repeating it! I knew going into it that the different fiber contents of the different materials meant that they would each take up different amounts of dye but I hadn’t realized they would turn out to be completely different shades. This one reminds me of Giselle from Enchanted for some reason. I want to try doing one with a red dye to see if I can get shades of pink and red.

Now off to sew this up into a bra!

3 Comments lingerie - - - - - -

Bioluminescent bewbs + bra supply list

Neon Marlborough

Neon Marlborough

Neon Marlborough

Neon MarlboroughBra: pattern here, fabrics and supplies listed below // Undies: pattern here

*Fabric for this project was provided by Funki Fabrics. All opinions, day-glo predilections, and dyeing skillz are my own.

When Funki Fabrics contacted me a few months ago about sending me some fabric, my first thought was “I NEED GALAXY LEGGINGS.” Then they sent a follow-up email suggesting I try out their stretch lace since I’d been making so many Marlborough bras and my mind immediately went to “I NEED A NEON BRA.” I’m not totally sure where this sudden attraction to day-glow colors came from but I’m going with it.

For this project, I picked out a neon lace for the main outer fabric, a coordinating mesh fabric for lining the upper cup, and a neon matte lycra to line the rest of the bra. The rest of the materials were from a large order of lingerie supplies from Sew Sassy a while ago. Since I’ve had some people ask about where I got this “kit”, here’s a list of everything I used to make this (based on the Marlborough pattern since that’s what I made):

  • Neon lace – I wanted this bra to be lace all over so I cut out all of the Marlborough pieces in lace except for the Band. This lace is so awesome to sew. It looks delicate and almost like crochet lace but is substantial enough to go through the sewing machine without snagging or being obnoxious.
  • Neon matte lycra – I used this as my lining. I cut this out in all pieces except the Upper Cup and Band. It’s so soft and bright without being gross and shiny.
  • Neon stretch net – I used this to line the Upper Cup and to as the outer layer of the Band because the Techsheen wasn’t the right shade of neon. This stuff was just thin enough to be a second layer without being too delicate to work with. 
  • 1/2″ White Nylon Coated Bra Strap Slides (B967NC) – The nylon coated hardware is great because it takes acid dye really well! 
  • 1/2″ White Nylon Coated Bra Strap Rings (B970NC)
  • White Tubular Channeling (CH922WH) – This stuff is satiny and adds a lot of support. I still want to try making a bra that uses this channeling and no actual underwires.
  • White 3 eye Hook & Eye Tape (HE952wh) – I bought 1/4 yard each of this in black and white and just cut off however many hook/eyes I need for a particular bra (32D takes 3 while 34C takes 2). It dyes really well too.
  • White Techsheen Fabric (TechS312) – I used this for the Band. It’s low stretch and very supportive and dyes really well.
  • Underwires – I’ve tried both the UW920 and the flex lite UW927 underwires and honestly haven’t noticed a difference in comfort. I’m also not an underwire expert so probably can’t be too helpful in this area.
  • 1/2″ White Satin Strapping Plush Elastic (PE540wh) – I love these straps! Super comfortable and easy to dye.
  • 5/8″ Finishing Plush Elastic (PE440) – This stuff is interesting because the 5/8″ elastic takes acid dye really well on the plush side and not at all on the elastic side, but the 3/8″ elastic barely takes any dye at all anywhere. Luckily it’s all on the inside and not noticeable at all.
  • 3/8″ Finishing Plush Elastic (PE400)
  • 1/4-3/8″ regular picot-edge elastic – For the top edge of the upper cups. Mine didn’t take dye at all.
  • Dharma acid dye in Fluorescent Lemon – This stuff is incredible but make sure you start off with a tiny amount because it’s so vivid. My first batch turned out banana yellow because I used way too much.

I absolutely loved working with these fabrics from Funki Fabrics! I was a bit worried about the fabrics being too stretchy but the combination I used seems to work great. Plus the colors coordinated perfectly so the whole bra is just a lovely glowing set.

Apparently my neon kick is sticking around because (as you may have seen on Instagram) I’ve recently dyed another bra set hot pink and then purchased some neon coral lace for a Watson set.

Prepare to have your retinas burned out.

9 Comments finished sewing project - - - - - -

Bewbs

Marlborough bra

A few weeks ago Norma of Orange Lingerie released a pattern and my world exploded in a flurry of elastics and underwires. Ok, explosion might be an overstatement but I’ve made four in the past two weeks and I have plans for so many more. SO MANY.

Bra-making was something I’d always admired from afar. I figured it was something I could probably learn but I had no idea where to begin. Most of the sewing projects I do require matching thread and maybe a zipper, occasionally buttons. Easy peasy. You go to Sew Sassy’s website and they have 8000 kinds of elastic and they each come in ten different widths. I decided the simplest way to dive in was to just buy a kit.

Marlborough bra

I found an Etsy shop called Hooks & Wires that sold bra kits in all kinds of amazing colors for $18 and emailed the lady about two colors I was interested in. She only had a few kits listed but I checked her sold listings and she was happy to dye the ones I’d requested. Two weeks later I had two gorgeous kits in the mail, including everything I’d need for the Marlborough bra (I checked with Norma first!). I also asked for materials for matching undies to be included (an extra $12 per kit). The Hooks & Wires kits are great! The only things I didn’t like about it are the bra closures and the channeling, which were flannel-y. I prefer the more substantial satiny ones I ordered from Sew Sassy.

Marlborough bra

My first bra turned out wearable albeit a bit messy, which I was expecting. I had lots of issues with the underwire channeling, which I later figured out was because I was doing it incorrectly. Whoops. My next bra turned out even better (although still had the same channeling issue because I hadn’t figured it out yet) and is my second favorite bra right now.

Marlborough bra

For my third bra, I did some experimenting. I had extra fabric leftover from the kits so I cut out all the pieces, dyed them black, and used some black Sew Sassy hardware (elastic, closures, sliders, underwire) to make another one. I’d also bought some black lace for the upper cup piece. This one is my absolute favorite.

Marlborough bra

The fourth one was also dyed from extra fabric from one of the kits and I also experimented with dyeing the hardware. As you can see some of it took to the dye better than others. I forgot to take a photo of the process but I mixed some RIT dye, boiling water, and vinegar in a mason jar. I dropped all the pre-cut pieces in, swished them around, and left the jar in the sun for a while. I added some more boiling water after about half an hour. I think it sat in the sun for about an hour. The color turned out pretty awesome, although there is some splotchiness. I need to get better at remembering to make sure the dye is completely dissolved before dumping everything in. Oh well, it’s totally wearable.

Marlborough bra

I don’t know if you can tell from the photos but I’ve been making these guys in two sister sizes because I can’t for the life of me figure out which one fits better. The black and blue/purple ones are 34C. The pink one is a straight 32D and the red one is a 32D with about half an inch added to each band piece (so technically a 33D?).

Marlborough bra

Other resources: 
-I haven’t finished reading Norma’s book but so far it’s been a great help.
-I can’t remember why but I bought a yard of this stuff to use as bra lining ages ago and it’s lasted me forever. I’ve been using it to line the lace upper cup only (especially if I’m using a lighter weight lace) so I’ll probably never run out of it. I’m planning on doing an all lace bra next so I’ll probably line that whole bra with this stuff.
-For more crazy bra kits Merckwaerdigh does some with really gorgeous prints. I haven’t used them because of indecisiveness in the form of I-want-all-of-them.
-Also Sarah has recently started stocking gorgeous bra kits at Grey’s! I’m having a similar indecisiveness problem. I’m going to be that weirdo with 50 bras. My bewbs have never felt so supported.

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