Doctor T Designs

Although yesterday’s post was perhaps a bit maudlin, today should be a bit more upbeat. I really do think that sewing has bee a big highlight of my year and has kept me sane through a lot of stress and frustration, so I’m excited for today’s post. When 2023 started I didn’t think it was going to be the year of sewing bras. It was still a relatively new project at the end of last year, and even though it ranked as my #1 new skill acquisition in last year’s Sewing Top 5, I didn’t know quite how prophetic this bit of writing was going to be: “I’m afraid I’m going to become a bit of an addict, but I’m also looking forward to continuing my bra-fitting journey and moving on to exploring techniques to change the style lines and materials.“ This year that is pretty much all I did! I didn’t even manage to sew anything else. Projects in progress took a back seat, plans went on hold, and a lot of unexpected undergarment sewing skipped the line and became the central focus of my time in the sewing space this year.

So, without and further ado, here’s my look back at sewing in 2023:

Sewing Output

In 2023 I made:

• 0 Tops
• 0 Pants
• 0 Jumpsuit
• 0 Skirts
• 0 Dress
• 0 Coats/Jackets/Capes
• 0 Sweaters/Cardigans
• 0 Athletic Gear
• 31 Sleepwear/Undergarments
• 0 Costumes/Cosplay
• 0 Accessory
• 0 Home Dec/Crafts
• 1 Refashion/Mending

TOTAL: 31 Garments + 0 Crafts + 1 Mending Projects = 32

So, technically I made 31 new garments, which seems like a lot, but they are all bras and underwear, so none of them is a particularly large project, though some were more complex than others. I am a bit surprised by how many new patterns I tried this year, though I attribute most of that to the inspiration I got from the 2023 International Bra Sewing Bee.

Here how many times I used each pattern brands in 2023:

• 0 Burda (Non-Magazine)
• 0 BurdaStyle Magazine
• 0 Butterick
• 0 McCall’s
• 0 Vogue
• 0 KwikSew
• 0 Simplicity
• 0 New Look
• 0 My Image Magazine
• 0 Patrones Magazine
• 4 Cashmerette
• 3 Pin-up Girls
• 4 B, Wear
• 1 LilyPADesigns
• 2 Rubie’s Bras
• 1 Bravo Bella
• 15 Self-Drafted
• 1 Other

When I started bra sewing last year I didn’t think I would need to look beyond the Pin-up Girls patterns; my first bra was “wearable” and the Craftsy classes on bra making cover so many topics about how to make changes to the design of a bra. Although it really has been a year-long journey, attending the Bra Bee in August really opened my eyes to what proper fit should be and had me testing a lot of new patterns in search of my perfect fit. I’m really happy I did so – I love my Willowdale pattern a lot, and I’m also really enjoying the B, Wear patterns I’ve tried. I find myself wearing my Sahaara and Mysa bralettes a lot, and I’m wearing self-drafted underwear more days than not. I do want to return to the Pin-up Girls patterns to see if I can get them fitting better, but I also want to explore new patterns and styles next year too.

Top 5 Skills Acquisitions

Although I don’t think I learned as many new skills this year as last year with the start of my bra sewing adventure, I do think that there are a few new skills worth mentioning:

(5) Patience. People who know me perceive me as being patient, but I’m really not. I always try to do things myself to get them done when I want them done because I can’t be bothered to wait for help or confirmation. But this year I’ve learned to embrace the process and often that requires a bit of patience. There were a lot of helpful blogs and tutorials out there about making fitting bands and how to check the fit of a bra before sewing, but of course I couldn’t be bothered by any of that last year, which is why the fit of my first several bras was not as good as I had originally thought. Now that I have several properly fitting bras I have a lot more respect for the the process, and the time it takes to do it right, but also the benefits of taking the time to make a proper fit.

(4) PDF Printing. This is going to sound dumb, but I’ve generally avoided using PDF patterns. However, with bra sewing the pattern pieces are so small it makes a lot of sense to just print PDF patterns at home. I’ve found some weird scaling issues with some of the patterns I’ve used though, so I definitely feel like I’ve learned a lot about PDF scaling and paper sizes as well as putting it all together to get the pattern pieces at the end.

(3) Pattern adjustments. I learned a lot from the International Bra Bee, YouTube, books, and blog articles this year. One of the best things I learned was how to make an omega adjustment on a bra pattern so that I could better blend wire lines and cup sizes to get a better starting fit. I feel like when I started bra sewing I could only really visualize making the changes that were presented in the Craftsy class videos, but now I am much more fearless in making pattern alterations, and I think I have a much better understanding of the changes I need to make.

(2) Pattern drafting. Although this skill has been on my list a few years running, drafting bras definitely feels like a step up from drafting other garments that are not quite as structural and do not require as close of a fit. While I wouldn’t say I’m an expert by any means, I am very happy with my self-drafted band pattern, and I’ve used it in all of the bras I’ve made since drafting it. I’m also planning to make a custom bra draft for my sister soon so that she can have more options and a better fit for next year. 

(1) Fitting. A lot of my sewing time this year was spent trying new techniques to fit various patterns. I learned a lot about different methods and theories about how bras should fit, how to assess fit, how to adjust fit, and how to determine when good enough was good enough. Now that I’ve spent the time to fit several patterns and styles of bras, I’m looking forward to using these patterns to make more finished garments next year.

Top 5 New Tools

I haven’t had this category before but I got some fun new tools this year and I wanted to share. None of these links are affiliated or anything like that, I just want to let other people know what I’ve been using and why it’s awesome.

Honorable Mention: Scrap paper from printing mishaps. I’ve been using random bits of messed up printing for cup mock ups. This has been a great way to re-use what otherwise would have just been waste or recycling, and has been really helpful on my fitting journey this year. I really like making paper cups because it is much easier to visualize how a new pattern is going to look and if there need to be some major edits before proceeding with fabric or other more expensive materials.

(5) Bra pad inserts from Amazon. I’ve been messing a bit with my dressform this year. I’d been needing to fluff it out to better match my measurements, but my attempts to do so were a bit mixed, and I tried several iterations of stuffing this year. I don’t know how this is for everyone else, but I find that when my dressform matches my measurements exactly, because it is less squishy than I am, it actually seems too big, so I decided to size down just a bit. However, now that I’m working on so many bra projects without foam cups, I didn’t want my final pictures to look so deflated, especially if I’m going to the effort of posing them on the dress form for pictures. So I got some boob stuffers so I could get better pictures without having to pad up the form more, and it was much cheaper than ordering additional padding for my form. And the results are giving much better photos, so I’m very happy with this purchase.

(4) Bohin glass head ultrafine pins from Bra Builders. I have other glass head pins, but these are really nice. They are a bit longer and thinner than my other pins, and they are great for working with lace or other fussy and delicate fabrics. In particular, they work well with the microduoplex from Bra Builders, which was struggling a bit with my regular pins, so I’m happy I picked these up a few months ago when I got my first Bra Builders kit.

(3) Colonial Sixth Finger Stiletto from Wawak. I saw someone use this in one of the pre-recorded Bra Bee videos after the Bee had ended, and as someone who like trying weird sewing gadgets, I tried everything I could think of to find it, including reverse image lookups. No luck. Then, randomly, a few months later I heard someone refer to an awl like tool as a “stiletto” and I was back on Google so fast I’m sure I got whiplash. Having the magic search phrase I was able to find it on Wawak in about 10 seconds. Search terms are important it seems… who knew. Anyway, I ordered it and I really like it. Unlike a normal stiletto, it has 2 prongs, one which is pointy and the other which is flat, which is great if you are working with super delicate fabric, like lace. I’ve found myself reaching for this more than I thought I would, especially because I hadn’t really used a normal stiletto previously, but getting precision sewing on squidgy fabrics has made me appreciate having this tool quite a bit.

(2) Pressing ham for bust cups from BiasBespoke on Etsy. I’m just going to call this a boob ham, because that’s what it is. I haven’t used this as much as I would have though thus far, but when I have used it, I’ve liked having it quite a bit. I think I will use it a lot more next year when I go more into using fancy laces and more interesting construction techniques rather than so much pattern drafting and fitting. Now, while I could use one of my regular hams, I do really like that this is a nice rounded shape and has a sturdy stand. I’m looking forward to using it more next year.

(1) Famoré Cutlery serrated duckbill scissors. For as long as I’ve been sewing, there’s been a generalized hierarchy of specialty scissors sewists need. The primary being fabric shears, followed by pattern paper scissors, pinking shears, small scissors or snips for detail work, and finally duckbill scissors for appliqué. There are others, of course, but these are the most common. I have had a set of duckbill scissors before, and I really couldn’t understand the fuss. I really didn’t like them and I ended up using just my small scissors for everything. However, after a few unfortunate lace incidents, I thought I’d try the duck bills again, though I decided to try a brand I’d seen promoted by some of my favorite YouTubers and Instagramers, so I ordered some from Famore Cutlery. They have two different sizes of duckbills, and you have serrated and non-serrated options. Let me say, it’s been a world of different and I almost want to replace my entire scissor collection now. The Famoré prices are very reasonable and I’ve been using them as much as I can on every project, just because they cut through everything so easily. This is easily the best purchase I’ve made this year. (Side note: It seems that their website is going through a bit of an overhaul right now, but hopefully those links work again after it’s back up and running.)

Top 5 Sewcializing Events

I didn’t attend any in person events this year, but here’s where there’s still a lot of sewcializing online:

(5) Pattern Review. I wasn’t able to participate in any challenges this year (the timing was bad and I was traveling a lot), but I have appreciated posting pattern reviews and getting comments there as well as here on the blog.

(4) Instagram. I haven’t really been posting there (I stopped at the start of the pandemic I have been trying to limit my social media time and just haven’t felt the desire to try and keep up on that platform – I much prefer posting here on the blog), but I have been looking at what everyone else has been making and getting lots of sewing inspiration. I haven’t been as interactive there as I could be, but I do appreciate what the sewing community shares and how amazing and creative everyone is.

(3) Blogging! It’s been really fun to keep up with everyone out there who is still maintaining sewing blogs and has been commenting here. I think that there is always so much creativity and inspiration in the sewing community and I really appreciate being able to share it with everyone.

(2) Sewing time with my sister. Even though it’s not always spent dealing with easy sewing problems, it has been really fun to see her skills develop this year and to help her level up, but also to see where her interests are and what projects excite her that never would have occurred to me. She’s the reason I started bra sewing, so it has been fun to have someone else who can geek out over new patterns and supplies with me.

(1) International Bra Sewing Bee! This was my first year attending the Bee, and I learned so much. I am really looking forward to next years Bee, and I’m hoping to also save up for Vault access over the next year – there are several past presentations that I’m really curious to listen to if I’m able. I was a bit overwhelmed while it was happening and I was not as active on the forums as I could have been, but I really enjoyed learning from everyone who presented and attended and I’m looking forward to the Bra Bee again next year.

Top 5 Misses

While I wouldn’t consider too much of what I made this year as a miss, there are definitely some projects that I just don’t reach for as much as the others.

I considered ranking this as number one, but instead I’m going to give an Honorable Mention to the AFI Atelier Exquisite Bra. I bought and traced the pattern, but this project didn’t move past the first fitting and is now living in the “on hold” section of my project queue. The Angie’s Twin from B, Wear is a similar style and gave me a much better fit from the envelope, so I went forward with that pattern instead and left this pattern in the first test fit stage.

(5) Sadly, coming in at number five is the underwear I made from the Buffalo Gals Bra Builders kit. The pattern is a TNT, but this was a bit of a construction fail. I tried a decorative leg elastic, but it’s much stretchier than the picot or fold over elastics I’d been using, so the leg openings are a bit too loose and it tends to ride up over time. I still wear it, but it’s not the best undergarment I’ve made this year.

(4) Coming in at number 4 is the Bravo Bra #2. Technically speaking, this garment construction and fit are fine, but I don’t love the shape on me. The cups are just a bit pointy and as much as I tried to round them out, it just never gave me the silhouette I was looking for. I find that I never reach for this bra because I have better options with all the other styles I’ve been making.

(3) Coming in third is the BJ’s Bralette. I stand by my assessment that the pattern itself is good, but after trying the Mysa and the Sahaara, I would I think the BJ’s bralette would be better for someone with a smaller cup volume because it doesn’t have as much shaping. Of my bralettes I find that the BJ’s pattern has the most boob escapage while I’m sleeping, and it has also suffered a bit of a fabric fail. The stretch lace hasn’t held up well in this pattern, tearing loose from some of the fold over elastic bindings, which pushed it a bit higher up on the fails list than it probably otherwise would have been.

(2) It took me all year to accept this, but number two on this list is the self-drafted boyshorts pattern from the Craftsy class. It might be that I need to make some alterations, or that I don’t know how boyshorts are supposed to fit, but I find that every pair I’ve made has been annoying in some aspect. I still wear them over my store-bought undergarments, but I just don’t love the way they fit, especially compared to the Craftsy panty draft, which is so comfortable I don’t even think about wearing it. I haven’t made too many boyshorts, and while perhaps I should re-examine this pattern to see if I can get a better fit and give myself more pattern options, right now I am not too motivated to update this pattern.

(1) And finally, my biggest sewing fail in 2023 was: the Freja Bra! Now, as fails go, this one wasn’t really that bad. I would still consider making this bras as a good learning experience, it’s just a terrible fit. I didn’t really know what good fit was, and since I made my first few bras using foam, the poor fit was hidden a bit by the added structure. The Freja was my first non-foam bra and I tried a lot of new construction techniques and pattern alterations for lace, and I still am very proud of the construction of the bra. But at this point I never wear it. The wires are too big, the cups are the wrong shape, and it’s generally kind of a mess when I put it on. I still appreciate it for the learning experience it was, but in terms of a wearable garment, it’s definitely the biggest fail from 2023.

Top 5 Hits

Happily, this year also had a lot of hits for me and it was really tricky to narrow it down to just five. 

(5) The Sahaara bra pattern. It took me a while to get this pattern worked out, and I made some modifications for my next set, but I have found that I am wearing this bra a lot more than I had anticipated when I made it – both as the sleep bralette and as the wire-free bra version. While I would say that I still prefer my wired bra patterns, the Sahaara is a surprise hit and I want to make another soon.

(4) Although the Margareta bra didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped, I really love the underwear I made to go with it. I need to make more of this style – it’s visually interesting, intricate but fun to sew, and comfortable to wear.

(3) Coming in third is the Olivia Bra-lette. Even though I only made this recently, I am surprised by how much I like this style of bra. The fit is comfortable and supportive, and it’s a great way to use lace.

(2) In a (very surprising) second place is the Buffalo Gals Jessica’s Twin bra. When I first made this bra I thought it was a bit too small and the two piece cups weren’t as easy to shape as some of the patterns with more pieces. However, after finding myself in an unexpected situation where I wore this bra for a few days in a row, I must say that it has a lot of support and lift while being incredibly comfortable. Although the cups aren’t quite as round as as some of my preferred patterns, I think this ends up giving a slightly vintage vibe without going full cone bra. Plus, I seem to garner compliments while wearing this bra – it just makes clothes look good. I will say I think it could have been knocked out by the Angie’s Twin were it not a fabric fail, but in terms of an overall success, this pattern and fabric pairing is well deserving of its second place spot.

(1) And finally, my top hit for 2023 is the Cashmerette Willowdale pattern! It’s probably a bit of a cheat to include all of the iterations it took to get a perfect fit, but these are the bras I find myself reaching for the most. And it really was the Willowdale classes from the Bra Bee that got me inspired to come back to bra sewing as much as I have been during the second half of the year and really work to find a perfect fit. I’ve been enjoying exploring other patterns lately, but I’m excited to come back to this pattern and make some more version of the Willowdale soon!

Top 5 Reflections

In yesterday’s post I reflected on the year as a whole, and it was a bit of a downer. Today’s reflections are probably a bit more insightful and inspiring though because they are a bit more focused on sewing specifically, and the motivation that can come from that.

(5) Things will come in time if you work at them. The quest to make a well fitting bra and underwear has been a year long journey for me, but I am finally starting to make some well fitting and beautiful things, and it has been worth the effort and the wait. I am honestly surprised how much sewing I was able to do this year, but I am really happy with how that time was spent because I learned a lot and was able to make a lot of useful and beautiful things.

(4) You don’t know what you don’t know. Another way to think if this is that it takes time to develop new skills, even if you have different sets of adjacent skills. This seems rather intuitive, but this year really cemented the idea that construction and craftsmanship is different than fitting which is different than drafting design changes. As much experience as I have sewing and fitting regular garments, doing the same for bra sewing required a whole lot of learning this year.

(3) Never say never. When I started sewing I had zero desire to make anything boring or practical that could be bought in a store. I only really started bra sewing last year because my sister wanted to learn. But bra making has become a new rabbit hole I’ve fallen down and I’m a bit obsessed. I guess the lesson here is to just try things – you never know what you might be excited by.

(2) Find your people, and then learn from them. I am so happy I found out about the International Bra Sewing Bee this year. It was like finding a group of people just as obsessed as I was about this subsection of the sewing community and being able to learn so much from all of them. I got year-long access and have been going back and re-watching a lot of the recordings and videos and every time I pick up a lot more information. It has been so great to have this resource and I am so thankful for everything I learned from the presenters at the Bee.

(1) Listen to people’s advice… they are usually right especially if they went through it themselves. Specifically, I would take the advice of people with regards to bra fitting. There are so many tutorials about making test bands and fitting bands to work out a bra pattern before sewing to together. While I don’t really regret going through this process in the way that I have, it would have saved a lot of the “good” materials if I had done more testing on the Freja and Ruby before making them. I do plan to return to these patterns next year to see if I can fit them better, but for now I think my lesson is to just listen to advice when it comes from a place of experience.

Top 5 Goals from 2022: How’d I Do?

At the end of 2022 I had a few things I was hoping to get done this year:

(5) “Be more intentional with scheduling sewing time. I think that I need to really schedule time to sew and be dedicated to it, otherwise my plans really drop off and I end up not really making much of anything. Having a lot of projects in progress has been both a bit crazy this month, but also very motivating to get into my sewing room and work on something. So maybe my goal should really be to always have a project in progress? Even if that project is working through online classes, reading a sewing related book, or catching up on a sewing podcast. I think I just need to have something going to keep the motivation in place and get me going back to my sewing space regularly.” This really didn’t happen a lot at the start of the year, but my sewing was pretty consistent during the second half of the year. There has been a lot of crazy unexpected things this year, and the challenge has really been balancing everything. I do think that sometimes when I am very focused on sewing projects I don’t spend as much time on other things as I should. I also think that I could still work on carving out a bit more time each day to work on things, so that I can perhaps have a bit more consistency during the early part of the year. I’m giving myself half credit here; the goal isn’t quite where I want it to be, but it’s definitely better than it was a year ago.

(4) “More pattern drafting. I have really been enjoying drafting undergarments based on the Craftsy class instructions, and I really liked drafting my trouser patterns a few years ago. I am always shocked how well self-drafted patterns turn out, though I’m not sure why I am… they are literally my own measurements! I’d love to spend more time learning this skill in the new year.” This year I drafted my own bra and I’m currently working on a pattern for my sister. I will give this a pass, as bra drafting is fairly complex. I feel like I’ve also leveled up in terms of making pattern adjustments, based off of what I learned from drafting, so I’m giving myself a pass on this one.

(3) “Return to blogging a bit more. I was really happy I started a monthly wrap-up series this year; it at least kept me posting even when I didn’t feel like I had a lot to write about. I’ve had a lot of post ideas percolating in the back of my brain for a while and I’d like to get back to writing about more topics than just summarizing what I did or didn’t finish in a month. I think I will keep up with my monthly reviews, but I also want to get back to writing more about style inspirations, sewing organization ideas, pattern inspirations, and more. I’m not sure I’ll be able to go back to my reviews of every pattern release that drops, but I do miss looking at pattern trends and inspiration for what’s new.” Another partial credit here. I have been blogging more, but not necessarily about the things I listed here. I have been enjoying posting about projects and about the in-progress pattern alterations, but I’ve definitely been sidetracked by sewing bras and undergarments and haven’t focused much on style systems or applying that to sewing plans. I have enjoyed the monthly roundups still though, so I expect those will continue.

(2) “Come up with a new wardrobe plan. I feel like I’m really back to square one in a lot of ways. I did a lot of thinking about this before the pandemic, and I’ve come up with a lot of mini wardrobe ideas that I’ve never really executed over the years. I feel like now that I have (what I hope is) a somewhat predictable schedule for the next year, I need to take a real assessment of what I have, what I actually need, and what I want to sew. I definitely want to work on some fun projects that will test my skills, but I also want to be able to fill some wardrobe holes I’ve noticed over the past year or so.” This is sort of a fail, and sort of not. I have identified that I need to overhaul my underwear drawer, and I have been working on that. I’ve just fallen a bit further down that rabbit hole than I expected, so actually thinking about how to craft a visible wardrobe of clothes that are worn as outer layers has been neglected. I’m willing to give it partial credit though, as I think having a solid set of foundation garments will be important to build a wardrobe on top of moving forward.

(1) “I want to finally sew a button-front shirt. This is my cursed project. I’ve started and stalled on it about 5 times over in the past few years, and it’s been on my to-sew list for over a decade. It didn’t fully pan out in 2022 but I can feel it… 2023 is going to be my year!” Yeah, ok. 2023 wasn’t my year for this in any way, shape, or form. We will just keep moving it along to the 2024 goals list…

Overall I’m giving myself a score of 2.5/5, which is better than my score from last year. A lot of partial credit here, and I’m happy to take that! It means I’m at least starting to work on things I’ve been wanting to, even if I haven’t been able to give them as full of attention as I would have liked.

Top 5 Goals for 2024

My goals for next year are mostly about tackling unfinished projects, getting organized, and using materials I already own instead of acquiring more:

(5) Make a sports bra and more athletic wear. I want to try to use some techniques in the various drafting books I’ve acquired to convert one of my patterns into a different style to get a nicely fitting sports bra. I’d also like to make leggings and some more tops to workout in.

(4) I want to make a pattern from Burda or one of the Big4/1 next year. It’s been a while since I’ve used one of these patterns and I sort of want to go back to my roots. Plus, after spending a year making undergarments, I need to add a few more regular garments to my wardrobe. I’ve got several projects that were half-started before I went so deep into bra sewing, so I’d like to finish some of those if I could.

(3) The button front shirt is still on my list. I really want to figure the fit out and make something practical to wear!

(2) Design and create more fun and interesting bras, obviously. I’ve have really enjoyed having a focus on bra fitting this year, and next year I want to focus on creating interesting things from all of the supplies I have accumulated this year. I’m really looking forward to jumping into my Bra Builders BRAdvent box, using a lot of the kits I couldn’t resist, as well as using a lot of the fancy laces I’ve accumulated. I’m also excited to try new bra patterns; I want to explore wire-free bras a bit more. While I like the support of a wired bra, I have enjoyed having alternative options to wear around the house on low-key days.

(1) Organize my sewing space. I last did a deep organization in 2020, and it’s become quite chaotic again since then. I need to figure out a better fabric storage method, because a lot of my stash is difficult to access and difficult to find. Having major house issues this year and needing to move a lot of stuff around really didn’t help, but my system has gone bad to worse and I feel like a good bit of organization will also help inspire me to get back to sewing some of my long-term projects and not just the latest shiny thing that shows up.

2023 Final Thoughts

While 2023 as a whole was definitely not going on the record as being one of the best years ever, in terms of sewing it has been a really good year for me. I gave sewing more time where I could, and I got a lot more done this year than I had realized. It’s definitely a case of overestimating what you can do in a day and underestimating what you can do in a year. I know I’m going to have to slow my sewing rate quite a bit for the first few months of 2024, but I’m going to try to keep a slower but steady pace as much as I can, because I do think that sewing has been really helping me manage my stress and given me a creative outlet which I’ve been missing for quite a while. I’m still a bit surprised that 2023 became the year of the bra, but it’s been a fun journey and I’m excited to sew more in 2024!