Doctor T Designs

January has already been a busy start to 2024! Work is moving along at full steam, I’ve already traveled to judge a competition, and my sister has come home for a visit. This hasn’t left a lot of space for selfish sewing, but there was a bit of unselfish sewing prioritized this month, so even though I don’t have a lot of finished garments, I do have a few sewn items and some in-progress photos to show off.

Sewing Progress

Working on some sewing projects was high on the priority list for my sister’s visit, so we worked on fitting the self-drafted bra pattern I made for her and testing out some new-to-her patterns. One of the benefits to her visit was that we could go in together on some bra sewing supplies to consolidate shipping or split fabrics; we did a joint order from B, Wear and we also strategically placed a Bra Builders order just before she flew out, and our kits arrived mid-visit. We were both in love with the new Imperial color from Bra Builders, and decided to split a Sahaara bra kit. From my first Sahaara (and now second), I knew there would be plenty of fabric in the kit and so we just ordered 2 findings kits and it was perfect. We tried out a 32C for her. Comparing it to her other patterns, I preemptively took in the back band a bit and it fit really well without any additional alterations. She wore it on her flight home and reported that it was super comfortable and has been living in it since. I showed her some new construction techniques, but did most of the sewing myself, due time constraints of the visit. But not to worry; she got a few additional kits to take with her so I’m sure she will get the experience of sewing a Sahaara for herself soon.

While she was here we also planned and cut into a kit she had ordered from B, Wear. We used the band I drafted for her along with the Freja cups for one bra:

And we used the same band pattern with the Ruby cups for another:

Happily her pattern pieces are pretty small, so she can easily get two bras out of the fabric from a single kit. I supplemented a few of the notions for her, and she still needs to get some extra rings and sliders, but she she left with two mostly sewn bras to finish up on her own. Each was meant to teach her some new techniques for working with lace and scalloped edge motifs and for sewing a gothic arch front. She also sewed fold over elastic and bra foam for the first time with the Ruby bra, so lots of fun learning during her visit!

In other sewing related news, I’ve been really into Just Get it Done Quilts annual sewing room declutter challenge. Even though the content is definitely very quilter focused, there are a lot of prompts in the YouTube playlist that are applicable to anyone with a significant sewing hobby, and her general organization videos are pretty helpful too. Of course, because of everything that’s been happening in January I haven’t been able to completely follow along, but I have been trying to get the sewing chaos somewhat under control, especially since I have bra-sewing supplies exploded all over my cutting table at the moment. It’s a bit out of order from the playlist, but I did work on organizing some of the embroidered tulles and lace trims I’ve pulled out and set aside for these projects, just because they have been all over and not really organized in any way. Seeing it all together makes me realize how much I have, but it just means I can be very picky with making any additional purchases this year and I can focus on using what I have or buying components for specific projects. But having it organized is so much more helpful than having everything wadded up in bags or scattered in different boxes – it makes me very happy to look inside my color-sorted storage bin:

Probably I should go back to the prompts of the playlist, but I also know that the “patterns” and “fabrics” organizations are much more intense for garment sewing and so I might leave those for the end since they will definitely take a lot of time. My patterns are actually pretty organized (if overly numerous), but my fabric is chaos. It feels like every time I’ve tried to get a system in place, something happens and it all ends up in whatever box is convenient and scattered. It’s definitely something that needs to be addressed because I don’t have a good storage solution, and after a year of sewing nothing but bras, there hasn’t been a lot moving from stash to circulation, which is something I want to remedy this year.

Sewing Delays

Of course, helping my sister sew her projects meant less time sewing my projects, but that’s ok – it was still fun sewing time! I also had a lot of work and travel in the middle of the month, and many weekend events throughout. The plague has also befallen my house after my dad returned from a work trip (my sister’s return trip has been dubbed “Escape from Plague Mansion” – she didn’t change plans, she just lucked out that her flight left several hours before my dad got home). My entire family has been sick and energy has been really low the last few weeks of this month, which definitely decreased productivity levels. Despite this, I feel like I still got some good sewing time in and I’m really happy with everything I worked on this month. However, being a bit low energy, I’ve been spending more time in bed and have been re-watching Atelier, which hits so different being older but also now being obsessed with sewing undergarments. On the first watch-through I definitely identified a lot more with the younger character who is struggling to find her place in the workforce and the world. This time, I identify a lot more with the shop owner, who has to manage difficult situations for her employees and wrestle with the difficult decisions of being in charge. I enjoyed this show when I first watched it, but I think I appreciate it so much more now. It’s really fantastic. 

Finished Projects

Since I did most of the work on the Sahaara set for my sister, I’ll take the sewing credit for a finished project here. Because we ordered the kit with the intent to split the fabric, I wanted to make sure she was able to take her portion of the kit with her, but just ended up finishing it while she was working on designing and cutting out her other bras. I ran out of the FOE in her portion of the kit, so I had to finish the top of the underwear with some black FOE from my stash, but she didn’t mind and I think was very pleased with how this turned out, and with how comfortable it was to wear after the fact.

Of course, after making her kit, I was inspired to re-test the fit of the Sahaara pattern with leftovers from my first kit, so I ended up with another Sahaara for myself:

After finalizing this project, I felt pretty good about some final tweaks to my copy of the Sahaara pattern, so I used my portion of the Imperial kit from Bra Builders and ended up with a third Sahaara for myself. I’m really happy having a few to rotate between, and I think I have enough that I can put the pattern away for a while.

I also made a quick set of underwear to match the B, Wear Olivia’s Bra-lette I made late last year. I have decided that I really dislike wearing the boyshort pattern (and need to consider major alterations before making it again) so used up some scraps of lace to add a matching bottom to my underwear drawer:

WIPs & Upcoming Plans

Since my sister will need to finish her own partially-done bras at home, I don’t need to worry about them in my current WIPs (though I will try to get pictures to share when they are finished). It’s definitely been a Sahaara month, and I’m happy with what I’ve made, though I feel ready to move on from that pattern for a while. In my immediate plans list, I also want to try some new-for-me techniques for covered foam bras, finally make the Aries pattern, try some LilyPADesigns patterns, and, after my recent travels, I have decided I also need to make some more beige bras to use under light colored shirts. Also, despite the sad sewing, the Angie’s Twin has proven to be one of my most comfortable bras, so I need some more of those as well. I do want to move on to some non-undergarment sewing (shocking I know), but before that I think sewing up some of my now overflowing stash of undergarment supplies will be priority for the next few months. I did finally feel like I could let go of a significant portion of my (barely used) ill-fitting RTW bras (my sister found a really good charity to donate to), but I haven’t yet achieved a fully self-stitched underwear drawer, so I’ve got some more sewing to go.