I am so pleased to announce in the Ultimate Bra-makers January challenge – we have a winner. (Actually we have 3 winners!) We had a LOT of entries and a hard time making a decision…so we asked you, our wonderful followers and Facebook fans to help us with the decision. Here are the entries, in (more […]
Hello again, my Fairy Bra Children – are you ready for February? Get thinking about your next great design for our Ultimate Bra-makers Challenge. This month, we are challenging you to make undergarments using the “Love Yourself” theme. We think the best way to love yourself is to make undergarments that feel luxurious and silky. To us, that […]
Recently, I wrote a Stretch Satin Primer, detailing some tips on choosing and cutting wonderfully luxurious stretch satin. No post on how to work with stretch satin would be complete without some sewing tips. Here are some based on my experience. Stitching Seams You can use a straight stitch if you are sewing in the […]
Stretch Satin is wonderfully luxurious and so silky, it’s almost liquid to the touch! Nothing says sexy like satin! In this tutorial, I want to share with you a Stretch Satin primer, so that you will be able to create luxurious, comfortable, supportive and sexy lingerie. Stretch satin, printed or plain, is almost always made […]
Lingerie laundry bags are an inexpensive and helpful laundry tool. In my opinion, you should have a few on hand whenever you head to the laundry room. Here are the Top 10 reasons why you need a Lingerie Laundry Bag: You will avoid stretched straps when straps get wrapped around other garments. Stretched straps are […]
Do you turn a lot of tubes? Do you make a lot of tiny spaghetti straps, straps for swimwear or bras? If so, you know the pain that comes from turning fabric tubes right side out. When our sales rep showed us this amazing gadget, I immediately named it “the stick and the straw”. Its real […]
This January 2018, Purple reigns supreme! Actually, it’s Ultra-violet that reigns…but I thought Purple Reigns was a nice play on words (apologies to the late Prince). In any case, our Ultimate Bra-makers Challenge has officially begun, and what better way to get your bobbins revving, than by picking a colour that most women love already! […]
Hello, Bra-makers of the world – are you ready for a great challenge? Fill your bobbins and clear your cutting table for our Ultimate Bra-makers Challenge. This month, for our kick-off, we are challenging you to make a garment using the Colour of the Year. Every year, the Pantone Colour Institute determines a Colour of […]
Everyone wants to improve their bra-making skills, right? How can you do that on your own? One way is to challenge yourself each month with a new fabric you’ve never sewn before, or a pattern you’ve never made before. You’ll learn techniques you never thought you could master by making something outside of your comfort […]
We are pleased to announce the re-opening of our Grand New Store on Ottawa Street North in Hamilton, Ontario. Your memory is serving you well if you remember that we have been on Ottawa Street for seven years. Our new store is just two doors up the street from our old store, but it is miles […]
Do you make up a pattern exactly as the pattern instructs? Or are you comfortable with changing…or in today’s terms “hacking” the pattern to create a new look? We took our favourite sports bra pattern, Kerri, and changed it to have the same great support and fit, but as a sports bra hack, it changed the […]
Confession time….the problem I have with store-bought underwear is the elastic at the legs. It’s got a stranglehold on my legs it seems, especially when I am sitting at the computer. To express it as a town from an Agatha Christie novel…Much-binding-in-the-groin. Here’s how I solved the problem – by making lace edged underwear. It’s fun and […]
How would you like a trip to Europe? Of course, you do! Even better – how would you like a trip that embraces the things you love – like Lingerie, Lace and …(maybe) even Latex? Hmmm? We are offering (in conjunction with Triple M Tours) the tour of a lifetime to cities in Europe known […]
We needed something special for the display window in our new store. The shop features a window that is easily accessible from inside the store, with an opening large enough to accommodate a display that is almost one metre in diameter.We decided to make a Christmas Mannequin tree. I’ve seen them on Pinterest, and we did […]
Every woman needs a little sparkle now and then. We recently started a project that (quite frankly) needed some help. It started as a plain ivory corset with a hand-sewn lace overlay. It was ok and some people thought it was stunning actually, but to me, honestly, it was ho-hum. Bland, even. That’s when I decided […]
Do you remember snow storms where overnight the world was transformed into a crystal wonderland? We do too! We decided to create a bra that invoked the spirit of a winter wonderland- crisp, clean and lots of bluey-turquoise colour. I really wanted diamonds in the fabric itself, but apparently, that was too much to ask! But […]
Do you know what stops most sewers from making their own swimwear? In a word, it’s the cups. You might be able to muddle through inserting one pair of cups in one swimsuit, but what if you want to make that swimsuit over and over again. If you are swimming in a public pool twice […]
We held Boob Camp October 2017 recently and it was a bittersweet time for all of us. It was to be, not only the last Boob Camp in our old building but our last class of the year. We had hoped to be in the new location to have these last few classes, but it […]
A lot of you have commented on our Spider bra we made for Halloween. It’s on our Ashley mannequin in the window of the new store (along with a life-size witch who cackles when folks walk by) A lot of you also asked how we made the spider bra. I didn’t originally intend for this to […]
Here we are again as we finish up another one! These are the makes from Boob Camp August 2017. As you know, we always start off making the basic white Classic bra just to perfect the fit. Then we start playing with colours, fabrics and techniques to make some really lovely bras. Here they are: […]
I love it when a customer brings in a garment from ready to wear so we can see it. Not only is it good for us to see what the trends are for that season, it gives us a chance to see behind the seams – and really check out the construction. In this case, […]
Every now and then someone brings in foam cups from a ready to wear swimsuit for us to match up to what we have. Most often we have something very similar if not identical. However recently someone brought in a swimsuit top that had triangle cups but they weren’t like ours. How can that be? […]
You probably already know that bra-making is not an isolated skill set. We borrow skills from all aspects of the sewing spectrum. But when Bra-making meets Quilting, you just know something special is about to happen. That’s exactly what happened when bra-making and quilting combined for a Canada 150 project, you know the magic is about […]
Did you ever meet someone with whom you had so many common interests and you bonded right away? That’s how I felt about Joan McKenna on our European Lingerie Tour. Joan teaches college level sewing classes in San Diego (and is now their Program Director!) It wasn’t the first time I had met her – she […]
If you have ever wanted to glimpse into a fascinating world of which you know nothing, I strongly suggest you take a class in which you learn how to work with latex. I took such a class recently in Amsterdam, where I went with 19 other ladies (and one gentleman) on the European Lingerie Tour. One […]
While we were in Amsterdam with the European Lingerie Tour (I wrote posts about each stop in London, Paris and Amsterdam), we made a stop to what must be the Mother of all Lace Stores. Yes, ladies, we went to Kantjeboord, in Amsterdam. I did not include it in my recent post on our travels in […]
The European Lingerie Tour Amsterdam, hosted by Mrs. Weaver and Triple M Tours had us travel by train to the wonderful city of Amsterdam, where canals and bicycles are the norm. The city is famous for many things and we did our best to see as many of the highlights as we could. I love the houses here, but […]
On to our second city in the tour – here is the European Lingerie Tour Paris Edition! Along with Mrs. Weaver and our energetic band of 20, we left London and travelled via the “Chunnel” (the train tunnel under the English Channel) then overland to Paris. This trip only took us a surprisingly short 4 hours. […]
I just got back from the European Lingerie Tour 2017 hosted by Mrs. Weaver and Triple M Tours and what a time we had! An amazing group of 20 women (and one gentleman) in three iconic cities full of lingerie. We had classes, tours and lots of chocolate! Would you like to come on a virtual tour […]
Once you’ve got that first bra under your belt, so to speak, women often turn to the Shelley Bra pattern for their second bra. It’s a great pattern. However the seam join between the power bra and the strap can be bulky. So what do you do then? Some women add a short strap extension […]
Recently we finished Boob Camp February 2017, where students come from all over the world to learn bra-making here at Bra-makers Supply in the heart of the fabric district in Hamilton. We had some wonderful students here with us, including one from the Cayman Islands (who brought us some lovely Caribbean Rum Cake!). We also […]
Our lovely Shamrock Valley bra was created using our Shamrock Valley Quartet. If you haven’t used a Quartet as a starter to sew up your own DIY bra, then perhaps this bra will serve as inspiration. There are three unique areas we focused on for this bra. a netting overlay on the cups and frame […]
This past week we had our annual Mardi Gras Bra week long festivities! Lots of fun for everyone here at Bra-makers Supply, including students in our week long Mardi Bra Boob Camp. We are so pleased to announce our Mardi Bra Contest Winners! We chose to run a bra-making contest to get us out of […]
