Watson

Ever since Amy at Cloth Habit released her first pattern the Watson Bra & Bikini back in the fall, I have been super excited to try it. Since it was my first real bra I figured I would wait until the sewalong at the beginning of this year. Then the whole time the sewalong was happening, I was super busy with school. Figures. 

To save myself a bit of hassle for the first one, I ordered a kit from Blackbird Fabrics (yay Canadians!). I chose the dusty rose kit. That's pink! I haven't bought anything pink since I was about 7 years old, but I was blinded by images of Fortnight Lingerie (yay Canadians again!). But it is less of a girly pink, and more of a grown-up rose, to be worn by some elegant woman who has her entire life together (so not me in the slightest, but I'll fake it). I had a bit of trouble figuring out which fabric was which because I am clueless, but it worked out in the end I think. Mostly what I found confusing was lining the cradle with fabric that doesn't stretch at all.

I didn't make a muslin-just couldn't bring myself to- so this was the very first attempt. I am not a super accurate measurer, so I made a 34B based partially on my measurements and mostly on the fact that its the size I wear in RTW. Which is apparently an illusion, because when I was done, it was quite a bit too big in the cups and the underarms.
Because it was a first try, I figured I may as well do my best to make it fit better so I would know for next time. I decided to take in the tops of the side seams and the center seam of the cups. So I took fairly large wedges out of the side seams (nearly an inch on each side), and then I am very glad I tried it on before hacking into the cup seams because the fit was WAY better. The cups are still a tad loose, but I know I wouldn't be able to take them in in a tidy way so I decided to leave it. It is not super supportive this way but I still have been wearing it a lot.

Other than the fitting issues it worked out really well. There's plenty of room for improvement obviously (one side got a bit of a gather in it when I sewed the hooks on), but for a first try I am super happy with it.

I did initially make the matching bikini, but apparently I have delusions not only about my bust size but my behind size as well, because the underwear was too big as well. Sometime I will try sizing down (from a small to an extra-small), but instead I used the Gia pattern from Ohhh Lulu, which is a pattern I have used before and a style I wear more anyways. I unpicked the elastic from the bikini and used some of the leftover fabric from the kit.

Anyways, I've definitely caught the underwear bug going around. Thanks for reading!