Doctor T Designs

This year has felt like periods of intense sewing business at the ends, with a whole lot of not much happening in the middle. I don’t even have a good sense of how much I’ve made, so this year’s wrap up post should be an interesting review for me!

Let’s jump in to my look back at sewing in 2025:

Sewing Output

In 2025 I made:

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

TOTAL: 2 Garments + 40 Undergarments + 2 Crafts + 0 Mending Projects = 44

This year I made 44 new items, but again it was a lot of undergarment and lingerie sewing. I have branched out into making men’s undergarments though, and I helped my sister work out several patterns so she can sew more things for herself, so I would say it was about two-thirds things for me and one-third things for other people this year. I think I’m enjoying the bra sewing still because I like working with the materials, but also because I continue to find these smaller sized projects more manageable, both in terms of time and energy. Sewing a few dresses has made me want to work on other garment sewing as well though, and I really think 2026 might be a year I try to mix up my sewing projects a bit more.

Here how many times I used each pattern brand in 2025:

• 0 Burda (Non-Magazine)
• 0 BurdaStyle Magazine
• 0 Butterick
• 1 McCall’s
• 0 Vogue
• 0 KwikSew
• 1 Simplicity
• 0 New Look
• 0 My Image Magazine
• 0 Patrones Magazine
• 0 Cashmerette
• 0 Jalie
• 2 AFI Atelier
• 0 Bravo Bella
• 2 B,Wear
• 5 Emerald Erin
• 2 La Bella Coppia
• 9 LilyPADesigns
• 9 Pin-up Girls
• 0 Rubie’s Bras
• 8 Self-Drafted
• 1 Other

Bra sewing has been my main focus since the end of 2022. This year started with the Bee on a Wire class, and then I taught a class at the Bra Bee, which sent me down the rabbit hole of wanting to test a bunch of new patterns… so, the trend continues. I’ve been enjoying working on fit testing and seeing how different patterns are designed and drafted, and I’m finding a few new surprise favorites. The McCall’s dress pattern came in clutch for me again this year, so I’m thinking I really need to work on coming up with some wardrobe TNTs, because it would be great to be able to whip out favorite patterns for things other than a party dress.

Top 5 Skills Acquisitions

I don’t know that I have 5 skills acquisitions to brag about, but I do think I’m learning the value of saying “there’s a foot for that.” I’ve fallen into the habit of thinking I can just do everything with the standard zig-zag foot because I’m too lazy to change things on my machine, and assume I can make up for it with fabric manipulation skills. Yet I’ve continually found that when I use the tools I actually have at my disposal, the results turn out much better. Shocking, I know. So maybe my skill acquisition is really just leveling up my game by not being too lazy to change presser feet. I suppose I have enough to actually list out a top 5, so let’s do it:

(5) I have finally accepted that putting elastic in “in the round” just gives me a reliably better result with a cleaner finish. Slower, yes. But I’m much happier with the results long term.

(4) Some of the new feet that have been released (like the bi-level feet for the Janome 9mm machines) have been surprisingly useful and have helped me get beautiful visible stitches.

(3) I’ve also started watching the “alphabet” foot series on the Janome YouTube channel, and it’s been really helpful to see what sorts of techniques various feet can be used for.

(2) The center guide foot has made topstitching placement impeccable.

(1) The HP (straight stitch) foot and plate have been total game changes for working with fussy bra cup fabrics and precise seam allowances.

Top 5 New Tools

Did leveling up my foot game incentivize me to buy too many new accouterments for my machine during the holiday sales? Yes, yes it did. And have I used any of them yet? No, no I have not. But in my defense since a lot of them were holiday purchases, so I haven’t really had time yet. Regardless, here’s an ode to recently acquired tools:

(5) 9-hole cording foot. This is a foot aimed at decorative stitching, but I want to play with some decorative stitching ideas on projects next year, so this is another one I’m excited to test out.

(4) Sliding Guide Foot. This has been on my wishlist for literally ever. But there are so many other guide feet included with the machine or cheaper that it was always the one that could wait. I like very much the sliding guide setup though, because it really lets you customize where and how you want to use the guide features.

(3) Binding Guide Foot. This is another very recent acquisition that I haven’t been able to test out yet. This is not the same as the full on quilting binding setup (though that’s on my list…), but it can help make narrow binding on fabric edges or thin fabric straps. I have some ideas and I really want to play with it!

(2) Ribbon guide. I just got this, but I’m so looking forward to using it for stabilizing bra strap elastic with ribbon and decorative stitches. I really like this technique, but I find that it’s challenging to get the ribbon and elastic to stay straight and place nice under the presser foot. But with this guide it should be a lot easier!

(1) Bi-level foot. This is great if you want to do topstitching or edge stitching, or if you need the presser foot to ride next to a raised edge. It’s super helpful for sewing over bulky areas. I’ve been using it to edge stitch fabric straps, where the bulk of four laters of fabric makes using other feet a bit awkward.

Top 5 Sewcializing Events

Another year where I didn’t attend anything in person, so it’s going to be a bit repetitive from previous years:

(5) Podcasts. I’ve been enjoying a mix of style and sewing specific podcasts to get inspiration and learn about different techniques. Style POV Podcast, Underdressed, and Haptic and Hue are a few top choices that are a bit newer to my listen-list, as well as some more well established sewing podcasts like Threads, Stitching Tales, Seamwork Radio, and Love to Sew.

(4) Blogging. I’ve been really bad about keeping up with my reading lists this year. I tend to have intensely busy periods of time where I don’t have much of a chance to read, followed by sessions where I binge and get caught up. Often I miss the comment window for some of my favorite blogs, which I do feel a bit bad about, but I am still reading and enjoying seeing what everyone is up to, even if I’m cheering silently from the sidelines. I think so much of the rest of social media has become about feeding the algorithm, which is increasingly not showing me things I want to see. I do understand the need to feed into that system for content creators who make a living that way. But I’ve been finding myself more and more annoyed with how much time I’m spending and how little benefit I’m getting from focusing my efforts there. Plus, I think there’s something special coming from the people who never gave up on the sewing blog. Largely the people who made perfectly curated content and had massive followings have moved on to other media and other formats, but I appreciate the sense of community from everyone who is still posting. As AI slop is gaining traction in the more heavily monetized realms, I am really enjoying garment photos showing the imperfections of creation, with weird lighting and messy sewing rooms included, because at least it feels like something real.

(3) International Bra Sewing Bee/The Hive. The Hive only lasted through the end of the Bee, but it was a great community. Unfortunately I was traveling during the Bee this year, so I’ve had to watch the conference recordings and I’m sad I missed it. But it was exciting to be able to participate by recording a class, and the things I’ve learned and inspiration I’ve taken from everyone who was there has been really motivating.

(2) Sewing time with my sister. She’s had a crazy year and hasn’t sewn much, but we had a lot of fun making dresses for the Masquerade event, and working on other patterns for her to be able to use for her own sewing projects. She has some very different fitting needs than I do, so it’s also been a great learning experience for me.

(1) Bee on a Wire class! This was a class/conference at the start of the year, and it was honestly one of the best classes I’ve taken. Everyone was so open and willing to share knowledge and challenges, and it was amazing to learn from what everyone else was doing. It was an intense few weeks of sewing and seam ripping and pattern adjusting and not sleeping, but it was a ton of fun and I’m really happy I was able to participate.

Top 5 Misses

While I would say that, in general, I have been pretty happy with everything I’ve made this year, there are a few things that haven’t quite hit the mark. Sometimes I have a difficult time picking my top and bottom makes, but this year I was pretty quickly able to rank things from most to least favorite. At least it feels like all of the bottom ranked items were learning opportunities that will likely be made again (if they haven’t been already), and most are here due to construction issues rather than pattern issues. Let’s take a look:

(5) LilyPAD Haru Knickers. This was definitely a case of “I knew better but I did it anyway.” I thought the embroidered edge of this otherwise stretchy lace might cause a problem, but I really wanted to test this pattern, so I used it anyway. It’s not the worst (I can still wear it), but it’s not the best. Using this fabric also hid some of the fit issues around the top of the waist, which was more apparent in version #2. I’m hoping third time’s the charm here because this pattern is actually really great, I just haven’t had the magic combination of pattern, fit, and fabric yet. It definitely has potential to be a future favorite when everything aligns though.

(4) LilyPAD Lazulite Bra. Sigh. This one is so pretty! It’s just not the best fit. It feels like there are a lot of almosts with this project. My crazy idea with the channeling was almost good, but it caused weird wrinkles. The cups almost fit, but after having worn it a bit more I’m pretty sure the cups are a bit small. The band is almost super comfortable, but even for me as someone who likes the band to be quite high under the arm, this one pushes the limits after a full day of wearing. As much as I love this design and color, it’s just overall not a great project for me this year. I’m considering that in the future I probably need to do a larger cup with an omega adjustment, plus adjusting the band to be a bit lower under the arm, which would be more comfortable and better fit my wire. Construction-wise, I still think I would want to do this with a foam cup with boning, which will also be bit of an endeavor. At this point I’m generally reconsidering much of the fit and construction of this pattern, since it’s clear there are issues here that need to be examined in more detail if I make this again. I do want to revisit it, but it’s going to be a massive undertaking when I do.

(3) Peacock AFI Elegance Bra. This one probably breaks my heart even more than the Lazulite because I love the fabric and color combination, but this is a bit lower cut of a bra, and the upper cup seam run right over the fullest part of the bust. With the rigid lace here it’s just way too tight along that seam and gives the quad-boob from the profile. I can still wear it under super baggy clothes, but if I’m honest I haven’t been wearing it as much as I otherwise would because of that issue.

(2) Berry Dot and Winter Mint underwear technique experimentation. The Ruby Bra that I made as part of Bee on a Wire was a sort of middle of the pack make this year (it probably would be higher if I’d used a vertical underwire), but the undies are definitely not a favorite, unfortunately. The ironic thing is that these are from my self-drafted pattern, which I wear a lot. But here I tried different elastic and a different finishing technique using my coverstitch. I think something about this combination makes them have too much tension and so they feel just slightly too tight and they don’t sit the way my other versions of this pattern do. On the opposite side of the spectrum, the mint underwear I made was to test out some different lace elastics. On the one hand, they look really nice, but on the other hand, they don’t have enough tension to stay in place. I still wear these sometimes, but I usually wish I had made another choice when I do. The lesson from both of these is that even if you’ve made a pattern a million times, changes in fabric, elastic, and techniques can still throw you some surprises in the end result.

(1) Simplicity 3046. Erhm, yeah. I don’t think anyone should be surprised that this is my least favorite make this year. It’s massively too big in the neckline and doesn’t even want to stay on my body. Lesson learned is that I should always do a mockup, even for simple patterns, because it saves time in the end.

Top 5 Hits

Another year where I made a lot of bras, but I have been wearing them quite a bit, and I feel like my construction techniques and understanding about how certain materials do or don’t play well together has leveled up the quality of some of the things I’ve sewn. Overall I’ve been really happy with a lot of the projects I made this year, but here are my top choices:

Honorable Mention: Most Worn: LilyPAD Mysa Bralette. I can’t really say this deserves to be in my Top 5 this year in terms of design, but it definitely takes the cake for most worn sewn garment. I easily wear this at least once or twice a week depending on how often laundry gets done. It’s super comfortable and what I tend to wear on days when I stay at home. I made this version after realizing I needed to size down in the LilyPAD patterns, and I’ve been super happy with the results of that experiment.

(5) Pin-up Girls Freja set. Of all the patterns I tried in Bee on a Wire, the Freja took the most work to fit, so I’m super proud of how this turned out. It also looks amazing in this kit from Bra Builders, and the matching underwear turned out super cute too. I actually wear this a lot and the only reason it’s not higher is because I sized this for a super long wire, which isn’t always as comfortable as some of the patterns that use a shorter wire.

(4) Winter Berry AFI Maya Bra set. The serendipitous pattern matching is just too much on this one – how could it not be in the top? I also really like the amount of lift I get from this pattern. It’s probably a tiny bit tight, which is why it isn’t higher on this list, but overall it’s probably one of the best things I’ve made this year.

(3) Black AFI Elegance Bra set. Interestingly, this pattern made it to both the bottom 5 and top 5 lists! This is my second version of the pattern, where I used an entirely stretch upper cup, and the fit issues were fixed. I have to be honest, out of all of the patterns I’ve tried so far this year, the AFI Elegance is the most comfortable. It also took quite a bit of work in the Bee on a Wire class to adjust the band and cups, but this has become my go-to set, at least when I’m wearing dark clothes. I also love the bottoms I made to match; I tried a different leg elastic and it’s the perfect amount of tension when paired with the softer jersey fabric. This overall set is definitely a go-to for me, and I really should make more next year.

(2) Josey Bra. It was a tough call between the Josey and the AFI Elegance. The Josey edges up a bit just because I love the color, the lace, and all of the details I added to this bra. I also love the way the Josey fits. I did have to cut my wires to get a perfect fit here, and I may see what I can do about adjusting this pattern for a different wire length in the future so that I don’t have to do that, but for now this fit is probably the most custom and best overall fit and shaping that I have in all of my bra patterns. I’m so glad I re-did this pattern with the Bee on a Wire class, and that I used such a pretty kit of materials to make it.

(1) McCall’s 8340. If it wasn’t surprising that Simplicity 3046 was on the bottom, I also don’t think it should be a surprise that McCall’s 8340 was on top. I’m still in love with the pattern, it looks great in all of the fabrics and in all of the lengths. I especially like this dress because of the memories I was able to have while wearing it, and I think it’s both super comfortable and really pretty. I hope I have a reason to pull it out of the closet again soon!

Top 5 Reflections

Although I don’t feel like I focused much on new skills this year, I do think I got much better at using the skills I do have. Here are my big takeaways from 2025:

(5) As much as I have been trying to have slow and steady progress, that isn’t really how most of my sewing gets done. When I’m at home and not traveling, it’s easy to get into a routine where I can sew a bit each day and make that kind of progress. But being not at home as often interrupts this quite a bit. When I look at my sewing output for the year, much of it was done in obsessive overdrive, taking advantage of the free time I did have and pouring it all into getting as many projects done in that time as possible. I don’t feel like lack of interest has kept me out of the sewing room, but it’s mostly been a lack of time and energy. I really think I need to take a hard look at this to try and really prioritize projects. I do think it’s why I’ve been on such a bra sewing kick the past few years. Aside from completely overhauling my underwear drawer and leveling up my construction and fitting skills, I feel like that sort of sewing generates manageable projects I can accomplish in the time I have allotted. I don’t think it’s the only reason I’ve become obsessed, but it does factor in.

(4) Sometimes the way forward is going back to the beginning. Several years ago I swore off the AFI patterns because I didn’t know how to properly pick a size and my fit sample came out very weird. However, AFI patterns have been in my top 5 lists the past two years, and primarily because I went back to the drawing board each time and started over. Even the mint Josey that I made this year was a complete do-over from the pattern I was using last year (though I still wear the Joseys from last year a lot) as was the Lusamine I just finished. As you learn more it’s ok to realize you were going down the wrong path and start over. It’s probably annoying, but it may end up getting you where you want to go a lot faster than all of the crazy things you were doing on your own before that point.

(3) Never underestimate how much fabric can impact a project, especially when dealing with stretch percentages. There are a lot of patterns this year that failed in one iteration but were amazing in another, and it was all due to the fabric that was chosen.

(2) Sheer cup lining is not what I should be using to line cups. I’ve been using sheer cup lining for the past few years to line all of my bra cups, but I’m realizing that I’m losing out on a lot of shaping from the stretch of the knit fabrics by doing that. There was a class several years ago where the instructor said that the fabric should match the malleability of the tissue. At the time I wasn’t really comprehending what that meant, but this year I finally feel like I understood that. After the Bee on a Wire class this year I’ve tried not lining things (which has been great), as well as lining a few things in bra tulle, which is likely what I’ll use if I want to line a cup moving forward. I still like sheer cup lining for making the bridge, and I suppose there might be a world where I use it for cups in the future for very strategic design purposes, but, in general, I think not lining everything in sheer cup lining has been a revelation.

(1) There’s a foot for that. I know, I know – I already said this. But I do think that knowing when you just need to use what you have and when you have a better tool (and how to use it) is an important skill. Plus not being too lazy to use the better tool. Or the better technique for that matter. In the moment the quick choice may be gratifying for the speed, but when actually crafting or making something, you have to live with the results of that choice in the long term. And rarely does speeding things up in the moment give a result that will be satisfying in the long term. It’s something that’s hard to remember sometimes. I might need this mantra on the wall next to my sewing machine… or on a t-shirt.

Top 5 Goals for 2025: How’d I Do?

At the end of 2024 I had a few things I was hoping to get done this year:

(5) Organize and streamline the fabric stash. I’ve been working on getting the rest of my sewing space in order, but I particularly need to figure out a plan for the fabric stash. It’s chaotic and taking up a lot of space, and I think there’s probably a lot that I could reduce because my idea of what “my style” is has changed a lot over the past decade and a half of sewing. Erhmmmm… yeah. That’s going to be a big ol’ nope. Fabric stash management continues to be a challenge, and something I need to put time into, but it keeps being that thing that’s easy to put off until later due to lack of time or energy, and 2025 has not been a year full of a surplus of either of those.

(4) I want to get back to wardrobe planning and filling out my closet with some garment sewing. In particular I really need some new work trousers, but I’m starting to run low on work tops too, especially now that I seem to be on Zoom every day. I’ve also got a post on style essences that’s been sitting in drafts for literal years at this point that I really want to finally post. I would like to replace a lot of items that are too small/worn/etc. I also want to be a bit more on top of sewing some of the trends I actually like – such as the metallic trousers that were everywhere in the fall and winter inspiration images this year. My goal is to focus on this a bit more next year in the hopes that I can stop having a wardrobe full of nothing to wear and start having a few specific go-to pieces or looks I can pull on the off chance I want to get dressed up. This one might get half credit. With Kibbe’s new book this year, I did spend quite a bit more time thinking about style in the theoretical sense, and re-considering my pattern stash and wardrobe goals. And although I did not do a lot of sewing this year, my clothing needs were rather paramount, so I have filled out my wardrobe a bit with some ready-to-wear and second hand shopping. I probably spent more on clothes this year than I have in maybe the last decade; certainly the last five years, at least. Having clothes that fit and more options has been nice. I still long for self-sewn clothes, because RTW fit is just never going to be perfect, but I hit the point where I just couldn’t wait that long. I will say that thinking about what I want to sew and how I want to dress, and what I actually need has made most of my purchases feel like good investments. I’ve been tracking my wear of new items on the Indyx app, and it’s been gratifying to see cost per wear going down quite a bit on some of the pieces I’ve bought and worn for work. It’s also been helpful to pinpoint which garments I feel like I’m still missing and want to sew to supplement or replace other garments that are starting to wear out or get a bit small. So I don’t think I get the full point, because I haven’t been sewing things, but I will give the half point for trying some considered style updates and actually implementing changes that bring things closer to my actual wardrobe goals.

(3) The white whale! A button front shirt is still on my list, as I fear it may ever be. But who knows… 2025 could be the year where I finally fit a button front shirt? I don’t think you can have a spoiler alert at the end of things, but spoiler alert: it was not.

(2) I would like to sew a suit. Or maybe 2. Perhaps getting one pattern worked out and making 2 versions in different fabric, because I’m sort of over the awful polyester suits available at department stores and want to make something in a nice wool or linen. I caved and bought a new suit. I was at an event and had several trouser related incidents… and this after I’d already replaced zips and done other mending and maintenance work on them over the years. It’s still not the amazing high quality wool suit of dreams, but my suits go through a lot of wear and tear, and I needed something to get me through the next few years. But properly tailoring something is still high on my radar for future sewing plans.

(1) Increase my library of bra pattern options. Now that I have a better sense of my size in the LilyPADesigns line, I want to try a bunch of their different styles and pattern options. I also want to re-fit a lot of the B,Wear patterns. I’ve realized my original versions are s bit small, and I didn’t use wire spring in that band draft, which I have realized I prefer. I also want to try a new (to me) brand – Make Bra. I’m curious to see how they fit, and I especially want to try making their sports bra pattern because my current sports bras are starting to get a bit small and have been through the wash a few too many times. I also want to try some of the Porcelynne patterns because there are some interesting styles there as well. So, yes, probably I will still have lots of bra sewing next year, but hopefully with fun and interesting projects! I’m giving myself the point here. I mean, sure, I really only did a deep dive into the LilyPAD patterns, but that still counts. I’ve got other patterns queued up for fitting next year, and as much as I’m starting to feel the pull of wanting to sew other things, I also still want to work on bra sewing too. So we shall see how it goes next year!

Overall I’ve got a score of 1.5/5, which is not as good as last year. But honestly, 2025 being what it was, I’ll take it.

Top 5 Goals for 2026

I feel like I’ve seen a lot of people declaring 2026 as the year of “being gentle” and not setting a lot of self improvement goals. On the one hand, this year has been a lot. So I get that. But I also think having some sort of aspirational goals can be helpful, even if it’s just an annual spot-check of where you are mentally. And I’ve never been good about sticking to blog goals anyway, so it’s really not that much of a change for me. And maybe rather than being super aspirational (like cleaning out my stash) I just focus on the projects that have been bouncing around in my brain.

(5) I’d like to try some of the Cashmerette patterns, or some indie patterns. The last time I was trying a Cashmerette pattern it was part of the great button down shirt failure, and I didn’t get farther than a second muslin. At this point I think my starting size would be a bit different, so I’d be starting over. I have been interested to try some of their designs and see how I fit in their sizing, as I’ve been more interested in wearing more classic lines lately, and their multi-cup sizing should theoretically cut down on pattern adjustment time a bit.

(4) I’d like to take a deep dive into wire free bra patterns. I tend to wear wireless styles around the house, so it would make sense to have more options for these. Plus, there are a few that could be good as sportsbras, which have also been on my to-sew list for quite a while.

(3) I’d also like to try some new patterns or re-fit some of my old favorites. Re-fitting the Cashmerette Willowdale is high on my list, but I’d also love to try some of the Make Bra patterns next year, or a few of the Porcelynne patterns I have.

(2) I really want to do a deep dive into the B,Wear patterns. I did this a few years ago, but those bras are starting to run a bit small, and B,Wear has expanded their size range on some of the patterns that I had to manually fudge a bit in the past. I would really like to go back to some of these patterns because I think the styles are great, and I’d love to see how they fit when I am able to start in the correct size.

(1) The button down shirt! At this point it’s a running joke on the blog, but I still want to get over the hurdle and make one!

(Bonus) I’d really love to make a coat next year. It’s been a long time since I’ve done a beefy tailoring project, and the one thing I really haven’t been able to bring myself to purchase is a nice coat, because I know I’d rather spend the money on quality fabric than on a pre-made polyester thing that’s not keeping anybody warm. I don’t know if I will have time for this, but I keep looking at patterns I’ve save to my planning board, so the itch is there.

2025 Final Thoughts

Somehow I feel like I’ve both not sewn at all this year and sewn a ton. Most of my sewing tends to be October through March, and tomorrow I’ll be posting about a lot of sewing that’s been happening this month. I know this pace can’t continue indefinitely, but I’m excited to see what 2026 brings and what sewing projects I get to work on next year!