white lace

Hello friends! Here are a couple of underwear sets I made last month. Or the month before...or something. 

I managed to squeeze this entire first set out of just over 2 m of six-inch stretch lace. The 2 m that I bought ended up being about 2" too small to cut out the last piece for the undies, so I had to go back for more. And while in the poorly lit corner of Fabricland nothing seemed amiss, when I got home it became apparent that although the final piece of lace was the same pattern, it was a DIFFERENT COLOUR. ARGHHH. As you can see in the below photos, one crotch piece is definitely cream coloured, and not white. Thankfully the difference isn't very obvious when they are on or in certain lighting, but it still bothers me.

For the undies I used this pattern (if you google it, a link to the instructions on Youtube will show up), and left off the lining. I don't find it to be the most flattering cut on me, but they are sooo comfortable I still wear them a lot and really need to make more pairs. And they're quick and easy, which is a major bonus. 

The top (the whole set actually) was inspired by this one (there's a little nip action in that image, fyi). I used the cup pattern from the Project 22 blog as a base, but made them a fair bit larger. Because I cut scoops into the bra band to make a bit of a cradle, rather than sewing them onto straight elastic like they were drafted for, I needed to add a small dart at the outer edge of each cup. I did this after everything else had been assembled, and put them as close as possible to the lower seam, so they are not obvious at all, but I'll try taking the wedge off the pattern for next time. The only other change I'd make is to make the cups slightly shorter. As for the cradle/bra band, it's just a slightly tapered rectangle/tube thing.
If that doesn't make enough sense to make your own, let me know and I'll be happy to explain it in a little more detail :)
Unfortunately, the local fabric store only carries 6" lace in white and occasionally black, but as soon as I get my hands on some different colours, I am going to make a couple more of these sets, because they are so comfy but also pretty!

The second set I jokingly refer to as the 80's virgin bride set, because although it isn't totally captured in the photographs, this white lace from fabric.com has neon yellow thread outlines. It's pretty 'effing amazing if I do say so. It's made with the Bambi and Grace patterns from Ohhh Lulu. They are available separately, but you can also purchase them together and it's a little cheaper.

I intended to sew this one on the sewing machine, but it was not behaving well at all with the holes in the lace, so I stuck with the serger and had no problems. To finish the leg holes of the undies, I serged around them before using a twin needle, which gave the stitches a little more to attach to and helped a lot, though I still had to go super slow.

The only alteration I made to the bra pattern was to raise the lower cups 3/8". The pattern calls for some of the pieces to be cut on the bias, but I cut all mine straight grain because I wanted to keep the pattern going in the same direction, and the lace has enough mechanical stretch to it anyways.

In the pattern for the bottoms, the sides are made out of stretch material. Since I wanted it all the same fabric, I sized up and sewed them with a slightly smaller seam allowance, as well as relying slightly on the mechanical stretch. They fit perfectly– once they're on. Getting them on, however, does take a bit of a wiggle. Worth it.

Thanks for reading!