Loftus Bralette

It's been a while since I last posted on here.  The problem is that most of what I make these days are samples for patterns that haven't been released yet.  I keep saying I will write the post and then just post it when the pattern is released but .... well we all know where good intentions get us....

But this pattern is different - I am super excited about this pattern, probably because I actually had a hand in designing it.  During the design process we found ourselves really struggling.  Something about the design lines we were using just were not working.  So one day I decided to just try my hand at designing a bralette from scratch. I put on my best fitting Willowdale bra, made the back of the bralette as we had currently designed, and then just attached large squares of fabrics across the front.  Then I just started pinning out seams.  Attaching elastic where I thought it was most desirable, and eventually came up with something that I liked.  I took it apart and photocopied all the pieces and sent it through to our bra pattern drafter, and this was the bra that I made from that original pattern.

I loved it, so I showed it to Jenny and she liked it too, so we decided to go with it and use this as the design for the Cashmerette bralette - which I then named the Loftus....

Since then I've made more of these bralettes than I can count.  Between the original samples, the test samples, the photoshoot samples and then the ones I've made just for myself I think I must be close to 20 by this time.

Most of them were for other people but today I wanted to show you the ones that have ended up in my wardrobe.

Loftus #1 -  is the bra shown above.  That one was made over 6 months ago and I've been wearing it regularly during since then.  Unfortunately I had to consign it to the scrap pile recently as I only ever basted it together and it's starting to come apart.  This bra was made in a 34H from cream coloured stabilised bra cup lining and a teal green lace. I think that what I love most about this version is the fact that the center panel is made from the sheer cup lining in a cream colour and whilst it doesn't match my skin tone, it does come close so it makes that center section disappear - This is still my favourite of all the Loftus Bralettes I've made - I may have to remake it properly so it can be worn again.

Loftus #2  - was my second attempt at this bra, back in the early days of development.  I wasted to test out the use of some different fabrics.  I always like trying patterns in different fabrics so that I know what to recommend on the pattern.  This bra I made with the same cream coloured sheer cup lining and center insert, but I covered the bra cups with a peacock patterned chiffon. 

I loved the way it looked when I first made it - but then I washed it a few times... It ended up fraying along all seam lines.  I do still wear the bra, but basically at this point it's just cup lining with a few stray threads over the top.  Suffice it to say chiffon did not make the list of fabrics that you can use to make this bra.

Loftus #3 - This is my least favourite version, made about mid way through development to test a few things.  First the use of fold over elastic along the neckline and underarm.. This did not work - for starters it's itchy, and second it's not supportive enough. I had to take darts out of my straps to get them to stay up. second the use of 1.5" wide elastic at the bottom instead of 2" as I know 2" is hard to find so I tested the 1.5"...but I just don't love it - it doesn't have the same impact at the 2" elastic.  Third I wanted to use a stretch fabric.  I knew from earlier experiments that using a stretch fabric over the stable bra cup lining just caused the stretch fabric to pouch out, so I tried underling the stretch fabric with the bra cup lining.  This did work, but it also meant I couldn't encase the powerbar between the two layers so I ended up leaving the powerbar out - which I don't think gives the best shape.  So yeah this one was not a huge success.  Except that it taught me what not to do.

                  

Loftus #4  This was actually a sample that I made for one of the models.  It's made from black bra cup lining covered in a black lace with red roses and is made in a size 38H. This is technically three cup sizes too big for me (34H), but I just couldn't bring myself to throw it out.  So I sewed a couple of darts through the center insert and inner cups and it's really not a bad fit considering.

What i learned from this bra is that if you are unsure what size to make assume bigger, it's pretty easy to pin it down to size.

Loftus #5  This was a much later addition to my wardrobe made after the pattern was fully finalised.   This one was made as a size test for me - I find that one of my boobs is bigger than the other and at the end of the day, that boob is often spilling over the top of the cup.   I've always wondered whether I should be making one cup size bigger on that side, but I can never be bothered trying to make separate cups sizes so I just tried making the whole bra one cup size bigger - a 34I.  I made this bra with black bra cup lining, and a royal blue velvet that is burnt out in a flower pattern to reveal a turquoise mesh underneath. 

While the fit isn't bad, it is too big overall - I obviously need a half a cup size bigger on that side not a full cup size, but I can't be bothered so will probably just make do with the 34H.  In order to make this one fit a little better I ended up taking a dart in the neckline. This is actually quite comfortable now.

Loftus #6  Going back to the original size 34H I wanted to try using a lace on the center insert.  For this one I used the black bra cup lining, a poly satin with flowers on a teal background for the main cups, and a teal lace overlaid on the center insert.

I quite like the lace look, and in person I really love how this bra looks, but these photos are showing every little wrinkle in the satin fabric so they are not doing this bra justice.

Finally Loftus #7 - This one has the black bra cup lining, then two layers of sheer blue bra cup lining as the main and a black sparkly lace on the center insert.  I also sewed this version with exposed elastic for a more sporty look and did contrasting topstitching.  

I used the full height neckline on this for the first time.  Up until now all the bras I've made for myself had the lower neckline height, but I thought I should give the higher one a go.  If I were to make it again I would add 1/4" width to the top of the center front insert as I feel like it's pulling the straps in a little as it is.  But it does make a very supportive bra.  I can do jumping jacks in this which is unheard of for a non sports bra.

So as I think you can guess from this post I really love this pattern.  I've been wearing basically nothing but Loftus Bralettes for the last couple of months and I can't see that changing any time soon.  

Green Snake Skin accessories

 Who doesn't want fake green snakeskin accessories?

This fabric ( a synthetic vinyl) was another of those "I have to have some of that" purchases.  I was originally thinking of making a jacket out of it, but then I realised I don't like wearing jackets out of  vinyl fabric, they're just not that comfortable.  So instead the fabric just sat at the bottom of the stash for a couple of years.  

But then I was looking for some fabric to make a new pair of shoes out of - and well what better than this fake snake skin in lime green. And I have to say I love these shoes.  They are not the best shaped shoes that I've made, but they are close.  

One day I will have this shoe patterns down perfectly,  hopefully next time. But in the mean time I'm going to enjoy wearing these shoes everwhere.

Once my shoes were done I knew that I had to continue - that last wallet I made didn't turn out that great - my cards keep falling out of it, so I decided it was time to make a new wallet too.  It took me two attempts to get the inside cards slots to work correctly, but I got there in the end and I am in love with this wallet.  It's perfect in every way.

Last but not least was a small shoulder bag.  I made two major mistakes when making this.  The first was sewing the strap inside out and then trying to turn it. I was able to do it eventually, but it wasn't easy.  The second was the flap over the front, I was making up the pattern on the fly and I forgot to account for the width to cover the top of the bag, before tapering to the point.  so the flap doesn't entirely cover the bag opening.  Oh well it'll still work ok. I put a zipper pocket inside the bag to keep any valuables in at least.

Kineton Top

 Well this post is well over due - I'm finding it hard to take photos of my makes now that the remote doesn't work on my good camera...plus in this case, there is that pesky problem of I couldn't post photos till after the pattern was launched.

This is the top version of the Cashmerette Kineton dress. To make this I lengthened the top pieces of the pattern  by 2" , left off the skirt and just finished the bottom of the skirt by turning the lower edge up twice at 1/2" each and threaded 1/2" elastic through the resulting channel.

The fabric for this top is my favourite part.  Its a beautiful peacock chiffon fabric.  I didn't know what I was going to make out of it when I bought it, I just knew I needed it.  Then when this pattern rolled around I knew it'd match the pattern beautifully, but also that I'd never wear it as a dress, so I decided to make it shirt length instead.

Unfortunately it didn't quite turn out as planned.  I have no issue with the cropped length as shown, but when I wear it, the bottom band creeps upwards to settle at my smallest part, right under my boobs, and that is not a good look.  So I really only wear it if I'm willing to continue tugging it down the entire time - which is never.  I'm actually contemplating add the skirt to it as at this point I think the dress would get more wear than the top does.  Such as shame as I love the neckline and sleeves of this pattern and I love the fabric....

Kimball Bomber Jackets

 I'm finally able to share my favourite makes so far this year, not one, but two really cool Kimball Bomber Jackets by Cashmerette.

 

The first one I actually made quite some time ago - November 2021 to be precise, right after we finished creating the pattern.  It's made from all the scraps of fabric left over from the Upton photoshoot sample.  From them moment I saw this fabric I was in love. I mean what's not to love.  Teal, neon pink, waratah looking flower pattern.  I was very careful when cutting out that Upton dress to keep all the scraps as I knew I wanted to try and use them....and when we designed this pattern I knew it was a match.  I was originally going to just use the scraps pieced together as the quilted sleeves, but when I looked at my left overs I had enough to do the entire jacket, which was good as I was struggling to find a coordinating fabric to go with it.   In the end the front pieces were able to be cut as is.  the back needed to be cut in 4 pieces with a seam down the center back and then angled seams down each side and the sleeves used up all the little pieces of scraps.

I cut my sleeve out of the batting fabric and then just starting quilting the pieces directing onto the batting.  I was able to make a basic pinwheel design in the center of each sleeve, but you really can't see it which is a bit of a shame.

Since the jacquard  fabric was quite thin, and I knew that a non warm jacket was not going to get a lot of use in my wardrobe, I decided to underline the front and back pieces in the cotton batting as well.  This also helped when piecing my back pieces together to keep the shape as well as giving the jacket more structure as well as more warmth.  The one downside was that it meant that I couldn't leave the inside bare so I ended up fully lining the jacket. I cut the front back and sleeve pieces from a black poly satin fabric I had in stash and sewed them together, attached the lining to the main body, right sides together, along the neckline and bottom band and sleeve cuffs, but left the center front un stitched so that I could easily turn everything inside right.  I then added the zipper and zipper facing to the jacket as per the instructions so the facing is not attached to the lining but sits over the top of it.  I quite like this constructions.

The ribbing is a fairly light weight, shiny black ribbing as I couldn't find anything else that matched, but I was able to find zippers that matched the teal in my fabric perfectly so was able to use them at center front and the zipper pockets.

I love this jacket.  Though I do find that it send to choke me a bit when worn done up.  Despite my measurements putting my all over the place I made a straight size 12 from the plus size range.  The only change was the sleeves.  I found that the normal sleeve was too tight, but the full bicep sleeve was too loose, so I used the full bicep sleeve and just just a small small bicep adjustments to it.

My second Kimball is a new one, just finished today.  This one came into being as I was rummaging through my fabric scraps the other day and came across the left over fabric from this coat I made for my best friend.

This is the most beautiful fabric, a boiled Melton wool in a beautiful royal blue.  I knew that it would look stunning as the quilted sleeves for a Kimball.  And I also knew just want fabric to use for the body.  A quilting cotton that has been in my stash for years just waiting for the right project.  It's a blkack background with blue geometrical circles all over and then big bright medallions in shades of prinks, greens, red, yellows, all colours really.

The Kimball however is not designed to be made out of quilting cottons - it needs something with more body - so I decided that I would underline the cotton with more of the wool, that way it's nice and warm and the right weight as well.  Apart from this one change, for once I made the pattern exactly as written - what a strange notion.  

For the pattern I used the same as above - a straight size 12 with full bicep adjusted down, but this time I used my moulage pattern to re-cut the neckline - basically adding a high round back adjustment to get it to sit better around my shoulders and neckline.

Construction wise - The sleeves are quilted with one layer of the wool, one layer of cotton batting and an inner layer of a eggplant coloured poly satin.  I used a denim coloured thread twisted with silver to quilt the sleeves.

I used a pretty purple double fold bias tape to bind all my seams inside.  
 

 Ribbing and zippers are all black.

I probably should have done some better pattern matching on the front of the jacket, but I didn't even think about it until it was pretty much done and I tried it on, so oh well it is what it is.

Apart from that one minor detail I really do love this jacket!

Ames Jeans

After making a couple of pairs of jeans for our last photoshoot I was inspired to try and make a pair of jeans for myself that are actual jeans - all the bells and whistles - I wanted to use the rivet press whilst I still had access to it and make a pair of jeans that looks store bought....and I think I almost managed it.....

I say almost as I decided at the last minute that I couldn't leave the back pockets blank - that's just not me, so I sat down an sketched out a number of different designs, mainly based around different animals. In the end I decided to go for the stylised elephant.

I'm so happy with how he turned out, it took a lot of very slow sewing to get those curves smooth - in places it was one stitch at a time - sew one stitch, then pick up the presser foot and adjust the fabric, sew another stitch ...and repeat.

The pattern - I decided to try out the Ames Jeans from Cashmerette since I'd just sewn them twice.  Based on my measurements I sit between a size 12 and 14 through the hips and legs but then I'm a size 20 or so at the waist.  So that I what I started with.  I cut a size 14 from the ankles up to the hips, then graded out to a 20  using the apple pelvis, keeping the extra height from the size 20 as well.  

I had the original muslin I'd used for one of the photoshoot pairs of jeans - they were a size 20-22 so it was actually quite easy to unpick them and recut my pattern out of the existing pieces.

Then came the fun part of trying to get them to fit - because they certainly did not fit straight out of the packet.  The first thing was there was a lot of extra length at the sides.  At the center front and center back the height was pretty good but I had to take about 1.5" length out of the side seams between waist and hips.

The next issues was the back under the bum.  They fit fine through the hips but there was a lot of extra fabric at the back of my thighs.  I pinned out a fish eye dart from the middle of my butt down the back of my thigh to my hips.  I took out about 3"in total.

I needed a knock knee adjustment to get the bottom of my legs to sit straight, then finally I flared the bottom of the legs from the knee down, cutting it up the middle and adding about 4" extra width at the bottom on both back and front.  

I made all these adjustments to my pattern pieces, then recut my muslin yet again and this time I was quite happy with the fit.  A few minor tweaks taking out of bit of width here and a bit there and I was good to go.

It turns out that I could have take a bit more fabric out of the front pelvis, but other than that I'm really happy with the way these are fitting.  

So now I could go ahead and make them up.  I used a standard copper topstitching thread on these, made the pocket bags out of some left over plaid cotton.

Even added in the belt loops - which I'm very happy about since I actually find that I need to wear a belt with them.  I think I underestimated the amount of stretch in my fabric since, even with my standard elastic waist they still slip off my hips.

The only change I made to the construction of these pants is to add some elastic into the waistband.  As my waist and hips are basically the same dimensions I find that even with a beautifully contoured and fitted waistband my pants still slide off my hips.  so by added some negative ease into the waistband with a piece of elastic I can usually keep them up.  It makes them look not so nice when they are not on the body, but once they are on you can't tell.  Can you tell there is elastic in that waistband?

Overall I really love these pants and am so glad I made them.  One or two more tweaks to the pattern and I think these will be staple in my wardrobe.