Doctor T Designs

This month the Bra Sewing Community is celebrating BRAugust! It’s primarily an Instagram Challenge to post about Bra Sewing every day, but I’ve largely gone away from posting on Instagram so I decided to do a weekly summary here on the blog, instead of the daily posting just to keep a bit more manageable of a schedule.

The prompts are based on the schedule put out by the Bra Sewing Bee (originally posted in The Hive). Here’s what we’ve got going on this month:

So without further ado, let’s jump into the prompts!

August 4 – Sustainable Sewing

I don’t know that I really think much about sustainability with bra sewing, but I think there is a lot of sustainability in sewing custom undergarments or custom clothes in general. I have seen arguments that the acid dyes used for bra parts don’t produce the same kinds of chemical waste as polyester dyed materials (I haven’t dyed materials yet myself, but I do order a lot of dyed materials from Bra Builders). Many of my stash materials are also from the LA Garment District – I have a lot of random bits of scrap fabric from when Michael Levine had The Loft, as well as other stores that sold deadstock fabrics, so arguably a lot of my sewing is done with materials that would otherwise have been landfill. I also think that because a lot of undergarments are so small, it’s possible to use up leftover scraps of fabric which might be too small to use for other projects, aside from perhaps something like color blocking. Arguably, small batch sewing and custom fit clothes will have much less impact from the waste perspective (and hopefully have more longevity in a wardrobe) than garments produced in the fashion industry, so even though the most sustainable thing is to do nothing, if we assume we need to wear undergarments and clothes, I think there’s definitely some wins from a sustainability standpoint when you make them yourself.

August 5 – WIP

Right now my big WIP is getting my sewing space back to some level of organized after I had to tear it apart for duct work. I got it back to functional, but it’s still a lot of chaos and messy half-put away things, so I really want to get this back to a more organized state this month. I do have a men’s underwear pattern cut out and ready to test, and I want to make some matching underwear for all the bras I sewed last month. I’ve also got another project in the planning stages (just waiting for some elastic to arrive) so hopefully I will be sharing that soon!

August 6 – Matching Set

So many of my projects have turned into matching sets! I was really on a run last December and turned out some of my favorite matching sets at that time, as well as during this year’s Bra Bee.

August 7 – Most Proud

I think the best work I’ve done was on the silver Sahaara I made as part of this year’s Bra Bee, as well as the lace Jessica’s Twin and Margareta I made last year. I think these all have the perfect mix of great fit and really precise sewing that make a real hit when it comes to lingerie sewing. I’d love to make more creations like these.

August 8 – Pattern Recommendation

There are a lot of great patterns! In The Hive we have groups based on breast shape and common fitting issues, which has been really helpful to find others with similar problems and also good recommendations for starting points. If you have a narrow root with a lot of projection, I would recommend the LilyPADesgins patterns, the Josey by La Bella Coppia, and all of the B,Wear patterns (which I don’t think get enough love on the internet because they are fantastic). I also highly recommend the Cashmerette Willowdale and Loftus if you have a lot of projection. I think the Sahaara is a great pattern, but might be better for someone with less projection than me, if you want an easier time fitting the pattern. I know there are lots of other great patterns drafted for people with different body shapes, so if you have different needs than I do, you might want to look at the Emerald Erin Black Beauty or the Orange Lingerie, Pin-up Girls, or AFI lines. As for bottoms, I’d also highly recommend the Bravo Bottoms #2 if you are looking for a boyshort pattern that won’t cause the same weird wedgie issues that so many of the other drafts seem to do, and as a bonus it also comes with multiple style options in the same pattern.

August 9 – Where do you get your sewjo?

I get inspired by a lot of things, but mostly fabric or seeing other garments or designs. I am especially inspired by beautiful color combinations, sparkly things, or artwork based on my book fandoms. I’ve recently been working through style workbooks from Gabrielle Arruda (I’ve been a bit obsessed with her YouTube lately and need to do some posts on it), and was playing around with making an inspirational mood board. I’m not sure I’m fully done with the process yet, but I keep coming back to this one that I’ve made for myself:

Looking at beautiful things inspires me to create, so if I need to get my sewjo in gear I’ll either look for inspirational images online or I will sort through my stash to find a pattern or fabric to inspire my next project.

August 10 – Don’t wear it, but LOVE it

I was so proud of my lace Freja when I made it because of the pattern matching on the lace. I was even more obsessed with the Aries pattern because I think the design is beautiful, but I don’t wear either. The Freja was the pattern that made me realize I didn’t really know how a bra should fit, and the Aries was too small, despite my adding a lot of projection to the pattern. The are both really pretty to look at, but I don’t wear either of them.

And that’s it for this week of BRAugust! I’ll be back with more next week!