Pants Pants Evolution

I was feeling nervous about altering the right parts of these cup pieces, so I made myself a little color-coded visual aid.

Working on a fitting band for the LilypadDesigns Lusamine. It will be my first wired bra, other than that one Cambria fitting band I did. Exciting!

When I first started altering bra patterns I used to preserve the original seam allowances as much as possible, only taking off the allowances of the seams I was sure I would need to alter. Now that I have my irlen glasses and the true depth perception they give me, removing and adding back the entire seam allowance deepens my understanding of the final shape of the pattern piece. In a way, I can "see" it better.

BRAugust day 8: Pattern Reccomendations

My reccomendation is, of course, the LilypadDesigns Lotus nonwired bra. It's four pattern pieces are a great field on which to teach yourself bra-making and it's designed to be made with non-stretch fabrics, including wovens like my sheets and calico prints. Plus, it has the camisole option

BRAugust day 7: Most Proud

I am most proud of teaching myself how to do this.

I have a disability in my visual processing called Non-Verbal Learning Disorder (yes, like Tim Walz's kid), along with other unusual vision challenges. Videos are not the best way for me to learn anything, and blogs can be challenging for me unless the layout happens to cater to my particular barriers. But I figured this out using zoom workshops and videos from the Bra Bee and lots and lots of help from LilypadDesigns' blog and facebook support group.

These colored glasses help too by treating my irlen syndrome; they give me depth perception to a point that I didn't understant was possible for human beings but apparently most people do have that strong of depth perception. How? They told me but I didn't understand it.

BRAugust, day 6: Matching Sets

My lovely assistant Boobara Streistand is modeling my "bikini", made out of (yes) a sheet using a modified version of (yes) the LilypadDesigns Lotus pattern. The bottoms are a pair of hot pants I drafted myself.

BRAugust day 5: Work In Progress

In this, my 11th LilypadDesigns Lotus, I am smooshing size 3.8 cups into a size 3.1 frame and that starts with this crucial 3-piece juncture.

This is actually one of my favorite parts of the process.

BRAugust day 4, belatedly: Sustainability

Here are nine out of the ten versions of the Lilypad Lotus which I have made (I'm wearing the other one), in chronological order from right to left. The sheer orange one was made from a Bra Builders materials kit given to me by a dear friend; all the rest are made of quilters' cotton or old cotton sheets, with barely- or never-worn swimsuit (I got those off buy nothing) for the wings.

A note on old sheets: they are uiquely suited for clothes you wear against your skin, especially sateen ones. The tight weave is ravel-resistant even in the washer and the high thread count and regular use and washing make them soft and drapey.

BRAugust day 3, belatedly: Sewing Snacks

Absolutely delicious. These are basically flourless peanut butter cookies taken to the extreme. The thin chocolate coating, so perfect in terms of peanut-to-chocolate ratio, melts somewhat quickly in the hand so remember to wipe your fingers before you resume sewing.

BRAugust 2nd: Most Worn

This is my most recent and therefore best-fitting of the LilypadDesigns Lotuses I have made. It's all wrinkled because I pulled it out of the laundry, that's how much I wear it. But of course, I now only wear me-made bras.

Turns out the secret to effective photography is *turning on the flash*.

Happy Chanukah 4!