Tag Archives: sewing

Elsa

Elsa

Elsa

Elsa

Elsa

Elsa

Elsa

Elsa

Elsa

Elsa
This pose is for Jenny.

I finally managed to go through the endless photos of Elsa and edit them and here they are. I’ve been so excited to share these!

These were taken at a lake in Plymouth, MA which somehow magically froze to 14″ this winter, making this photoshoot possible. Photo credit goes to some combination of my roomie, her dad, and her friend. This is such a fun costume to wear, especially when running into tiny humans at PAX and I’m so happy with how it turned out!

Next up will be the process and materials used, so look for that in a few days.

21 Comments costumes - - - - -

Lady velvet

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IMG_3822dress: self-made, pattern here // shoes: Seychelles

*The fabric for this project was provided by Funki Fabrics and all opinions, anecdotes, and messy hand-stitching are my own.

I feel like a lot of my project posts start off as “So Katie from Skunkboy posted this awesome outfit and I ran off and copied it.” This is not dissimilar from those. At least it’s not Dear Creatures for the umpteenth time!

This dress was inspired by a Black Swan dress that I decided needed to be made in navy velvet with black mesh detailing. Funki Fabrics had just reached out to me about doing a collaboration and their navy stretch velvet sample was everything I was looking for for this project.

I started off with a lady skater and didn’t change too much. I omitted the neckband and arm bands to start. I also hacked off about 1″ from the bodice and 1/2″ from the top of the skirt. I cut a 1.5″ rectangle of black stretch net and sewed it between the bodice and skirt, and then top-stitched to keep it in place. Easy peasy. For the diamond cutouts, I drew up the shape I wanted, cut it out of the dress, and sewed mesh bits in by hand. They’re a bit messier than I would have liked; sadly my Bernina is sick and I’ve been using the back-up Brother which is just not up to working with difficult fabrics.

I think if I were to do this project again I would either leave out the diamond mesh cutouts or use a more stable knit. Or you know, have a decent working sewing machine. Hah.

9 Comments sewing - - - - -

Galactic

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bra: self-drafted // leggings: pattern here //top: random brand

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

Funki Fabrics was generous enough to send me fabrics for three separate “outfits” (as much as you can call a neon bra/panty set an “outfit”) and this is the second one I came up with. As mentioned earlier, within minutes of perusing the Funki Fabrics site, I had galaxy leggings all over my brain. These were pretty easy to put together. I used this gorgeous fabric and Megan Nielsen’s Virginia leggings pattern with the minor adjustment of making the waistband 3″ tall (instead of 1″ as in the original pattern) and  then using 3″ elastic.

I was a little wary of the fabric being too thin and turning white when stretched out (particularly after a disastrous Girl Charlee order) so I was extremely pleased to find that this stuff is lightweight, has nice stretch, and is totally opaque. I can do my squats without worrying about wardrobe malfunctions!

The bra was so much fun to draft and has been such fun to wear as well. I got the idea from a Free People bra my roommate owns that I’ve been coveting for months. The problem with the original bra is there is absolutely no support and when I tried hers on I was falling out of it in every direction. I wanted it to be something supportive enough that I could wear as a sports bra but with delicate enough straps that I could also wear it as a fun undergarment for a few backless shirts I own (but haven’ t been able to wear due to not having the right kind of bra).

I used this black supplex which I absolutely adore. I want to make all my workout clothes out of this stuff. It’s much less shiny than it appears in the product photo, kind of like cotton-y swimsuit material with great stretch. I started off by tracing a soft sports bra from Target (basically this one) and went from there. I lowered the neckline and made a more pronounced V shape, and extended the sides a bit on either side for extra bewb room. I recommend putting the sports bra on and marking where your side boob hits. I cut two layers of this and sewed the top seams but left the bottom open. I added a strip of 3/4″ elastic for underbewb support and zigzagged the bottom seam closed.

Then it was just a matter of making a bunch of straps and playing with strap placement. I used 1/4″ elastic and Ada Spragg’s Bombshell strap method to make five straps, about 22″ long each. I played with placement on the mannequin, then used safety pins to pin each strap in place so I could try it on. It only took about two tries to get the placement right. Then I just trimmed where necessary and stitched them on. I also added a few stitches to where the straps all meet in the center back to help keep everything in place.

I think my summer uniform this year is going to be strappy bras and flowy backless tops and dresses. Basically my inspiration is everything on this page.

18 Comments outfit - - - - - -

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.

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