Straps, Lace and Foam - Part 2

I came across Sew Swimmingly during the #Braugust 2018 Instagram challenge and eagerly awaited the release of the Veronica pattern. Well, I wasn’t disappointed. How good does this look? I teamed with the side strap version of the Ohhh Lulu Nora. Great Match.

I thought I would make in one of the metallic mesh fabrics I had bought from Madalynne. The choice was based on the availability of the right colour strap elastic - blush it was to be.

There aren’t any pictures of the back so I hadn’t realised it was a pull on until I bought the pattern. A big issue for me with my wide shoulders but I thought I would make it to get a feel for the sizing of a new designer, for me.

it is really hard to get a good picture of the fabric but it is gorgeous.

I started with the cut and sew foam. The bra can be made without but it’s recommended for extra support. Unlike the Jasmine this pattern doesn’t have a lining to enclose the foam so I used some silky soft foam. Unfortunately I can’t remember where I got it from!! Once I cut the foam out I put a red circle around the foam on the pattern piece so I wouldn’t get messed up when I made this again. The pieces went together well. The pattern instructions do not give a specific size for the zigzag to use to butt the pieces together. I went for 4 wide and 1.5 wide as taught in the Beverly Johnson class “Sewing Bras: Foam, Lace & Beyond”.

Then onto the fabric. The mesh is so fine it had to be lined. As I had used the beige foam I needed a more opaque fabric than the blush mesh I had so I ended up using a lilac powernet that also had some shine to it. Rather than waste powernet I first cut out in the mesh and sprayed these pieces with temporary adhesive spray and then placed on the powernet as economically as possible.

I placed the pattern pieces back over to cut around again as the mesh had already stretched out. A tip I have picked up along the way is to place paper underneath and cut through this which gives a really clean cut with lace and lots of other fine fabrics. All my pieces were the same size.

As I had two layers of fabric I wanted to minimise the bulk in the seam allowances. I graded the side seams, pushed over to the side cup and then topstitched them down. The centre I pressed open and again used my stitch in the ditch for accurate topstitching. I trimmed all back to the stitching line.

Next you place the front over the foam. At this point I machine stitched all along to keep all the layers together to make it easier to attach the band and elastics rather than just pin as instructed in the pattern.

I used the same combination of mesh and powernet for the band so I could enclose the front. The band piece doesn’t actually say cut on fold but it seemed quite obvious.

I did check the size against another pull on and it looked about right. After turning to the right side I basted the top and bottom of the band so there is no movement of the two layers whilst I attached the elastic.

I have lot of pink fold over elastic to choose from but went for a baby pink from Minerva Crafts. There are no guidelines for the amount of elastic to use other than to stretch slightly to ensure it hugs the body. I am quite happy to use this method for the sides. However, for the front elastic I measured and took off an inch and marked the centre point so I would use the same on each side and on both sides of the curve. This seemed to work pretty well.

On to the bottom edge elastic. There is no mention of width of plush elastic to use so I went with the wider of my two elastics which was 1/2”. For the band, the instructions tell you to deduct 2” from the exact measurement. For my previous make, where I just went with a gentle pull, it doesn’t hug quite enough. It is really important to trim all those layers back to the zigzag so when you fold over and use the correct size three step zigzag you are only going through the one set of fabric and the elastic.

Then on to the strapping. The instructions say to use 3/8” elastic, rings and sliders. I only had 1/2” but that worked fine. Where there are multiple elastics going through the rings it would have probably been better to use 5/8” rings. Having said that, once on and stretched in place it looks fine. There is quite a lot of bulk when attaching the rings to the bralette and I would have preferred a longer straight piece to fold over. The satin stitching over the unfinished edge does look neat.

So for a matching set. I remembered I had an Ohhh Lulu pattern with some side strapping. I had made a while ago and remembered the gusset was too wide for my body shape. So first I put the pieces together, taking into account the seam allowances and used my curved ruler to redraw the line I needed. Again I would need to line the mesh. This time I went with the blush mesh and cut in one piece using temporary adhesive spray again.

A pretty quick make after this. As the fabric is so stretchy I measured out the fold over elastic. For the legs I deducted 1 1/2”, 1 1/4” for the back and 1” for the front so I could get a snug fit. For the legs I divided into quarters to make sure I got an even fit . The waist I matched at the middle. I like the way the strapping is finished by joining at the seam allowance and then folding back on itself. I finished off with a satin stitch, again catching in the unfinished edge. This is so much neater than my first pair when I had just started to sew lingerie.

So the verdict on the Veronica. Whilst the instructions only have technical drawings and not photos, for me this was not a problem. If you are new to sewing lingerie, especially fold over elastic, it may be helpful to have a guide and maybe what width plush elastic to use. What I was impressed by was how well it fit and the look is sensational. I wasn’t expecting the halter neck to be so comfortable but it sat in exactly the right place. The adjusted Nora fitted perfectly and looks fabulous with the Veronica.