National Tape Measure Day On July 14 measuring twice has extra meaning. It’s National Tape Measure Day. You didn’t know? Shame on you! The common Tape Measure elevates to an almost Regal Status on this day. Alvin J. Fellows of New Haven, Connecticut made the lives of carpenters, electricians, seamstresses as well as countless other tradesmen and craftsmen […]
Can We Make a Seamless Swim Bra? The summer is here! And what better way to celebrate summer than with a custom swimsuit you make for yourself? I have no doubts that your hand made suit can rival the suits you buy in the shops. The question is, can we make a Seamless Swim Bra like we see in expensive […]
Promoting your Breasts to a New Job! In a previous post, I talked about the job your breasts have been preparing for since your teenage years. When you are pregnant, you may get away with a retro fitted “regular” bra such as the Classic or the Shelley. However once your breasts get the promotion from […]
Open House at the Enchanted Castle! Considering I was an absolute “wreck” the week before, our Open House at the Enchanted Castle Saturday June 25th turned out to be the most fun I’ve had in a looong time! Why do I call it the Enchanted Castle? What else would you call the place where the Magic […]
Are Your Breasts Getting A Promotion? Breasts are not purely ornamental. As much as you may want to disagree with me on that, your breasts were given one job to do and that job was to feed a baby. Are your breasts getting a promotion in the near future? OK…. maybe your breasts are unemployed at […]
Working on the new website We’ve been working on the new website and really, this post is to test some settings. It’s also to check to see if anyone is looking! If you are reading this, we would love it if you would let us know about any extras you’d like to see. You may have concerns about […]
Bra-making Contest – and the winner is… Wow! I can’t believe all the great entries to our first ever Bra-making Contest!. The judges had a really hard time deciding the winners but here they are! Here are the four categories: best Modified pattern best original Pattern best Use of trimmings best Use of Cut & […]
Bra-making Contest Entries! We have chosen the winners of our first ever digital bra-making contest! And you’ve certainly outdone yourselves. We’ve received some amazing photos of some beautiful bras. First I would like to thank everyone who sent photos of the bras you made – I know the timeline was short but you stepped up […]
Hooray Pink Thursday June 23, is National Pink Day. I didn’t make this up, ladies – it’s a real National Day! So Hooray Pink, you are the only colour with a National day of its own! You know I love pink, therefore I am celebrating too by wearing my pink bra and undies! Oh yes, and a […]
14 years of Monastic Bra-making Since 2002, I’ve been teaching at the Saskatchewan Stitches Conference in Muenster. This unusual conference is Saskatchewan’s Best Kept Secret. But that’s OK. The 350 women who do know are happy to have it all to themselves. The Conference is held at a real working monastery…yes, with real monks and bells […]
Boob Camp June 2016 You always know when Boob Camp June 2016 is over because you know our Digital Fashion Show is about to start! A glorious line-up of what our students have made over their 5 days with us at Bra-makers Supply, in the heart of the Hamilton fabric district. Usually we start off the […]
Sweet Sixteen Measuring Guide Measuring for the Sweet Sixteen bralette pattern is a “new” method of measuring to figure out your particular size. But really the Sweet Sixteen measuring Guide is not that new! I have been using this method of measuring my own patterns since 1996. It uses the Bottom Cup Depth (BCD) and the Cross Cup (CCW) width […]
Sweet Sixteen Bralette Pattern If you have even glanced at fashion magazines lately, you will see that there is a new darling in the bra world and it’s hot fashion news right now! Some would say it’s not a bra at all while others are claiming “it’s the best!” Who is this new Belle of the […]
Bra-makers featured in Vogue For many years, sewing has been hidden in the closet of the upscale fashion magazines. It’s like anyone who sewed their own clothes was to be pitied, as the poor cousins of the ready-to-wear family. For more than twenty years, I have heard the inevitable “what do you mean, you sew your […]
How to Sew bras with your feet Did the Title of this post, How to sew bras with your feet, catch your attention? I was hoping it would! Well, did you know that National Sewing Machine Day was June 13? Can you believe it’s been nearly 200 years already? Where does the time go? But which […]
When Life gives you Grapefruits… Sometimes I hear breasts called different food related names, such as fried eggs, lemons, grapefruits or melons. You get the idea. We can deal with that. When life gives you grapefruits… or even a set of melons, that’s one thing. But what happens if you are blessed with both a […]
Double Lace over Foam I have a surprise for you today – not one bra but two bras in different colour ways – double lace over foam! They look completely different from each other but the techniques used to create them are essentially the same Here are the two bras – the yellow lace bra and the […]
Perfect Panty Gussets Ready to wear does some impressive sewing, like the enclosed perfect panty gussets (we never call it a “crotch”) on a pair of panties. Even inexpensive panties will have both ends of the gusset enclosed like this… Why should we even want to enclose both ends? After all, we see ready to wear panties with one […]
Big Boobs and Soft Belly Swimsuit season is fast approaching. In our part of Canada, the Victoria Day weekend is considered by many to be the first for swimming (yes, the water is still cold!) No matter when you start swimming – it’s time to dig out those patterns, shop for some spandex and start […]
National Nylon Stocking Day Break out the hosiery and grab your garter belt! It is National Nylon Stocking Day on May 15. It’s the day we celebrate the invention of nylon stockings, that much is obvious. Today, mostly we wear panty hose, but what did women do before nylon was invented? Many may not […]
Bust Out the Bras! Bra-making Contest Announcing our first ever – Bust Out the Bras! Bra-making Contest. The Bust Out the Bras! Bra-making Contest is open to all bra-makers, regardless of experience! It is a DIGITAL contest so no bras will have to be shipped to us. Just photos of a bra you have made in […]
National Bombshell Day Mark those calendars, you vixen you! May 7 is National Bombshell Day. Yes, the first Saturday of the month of May is a day reserved for recognising and celebrating the bombshell in all of us! So pay attention Bombshells – your day is coming right up! But, you may ask…what’s a […]
Peachy Pink Lace Bra Here’s just the thing for spring – a peachy pink lace bra. This one was featured in the Craftsy Class – Sewing Bras: Foam, Lace & Beyond. Let’s go Behind the Seams to reveal its drafting and construction secrets. Features of this Peachy Pink Lace bra include lace edging on the […]
National Zipper Day Today is National Zipper Day. And it is high time someone recognized its true worth and give the zipper its own National Day. It’s been a long way up for the humble zipper, the mechanical wonder that has kept so much in our lives together. Today in the garment industry, we take […]
Get Started in Bra-making! If you want to get started in Bra-making, but feel like you are lost in a maze of information, don’t worry. Here are some blog posts that will get you moving to the finish line! Just click on the link to take you to the individual posts. Don’t worry about losing […]
Bra-making in your pyjamas If you are hesitant to start bra-making on your own, why not take an online class with the Fairy Bra Mother herself, in these top-selling classes through Craftsy. Once you buy the class, you can access the class to watch anytime, forever. You can even start bra-making in your pyjamas! The […]
Alpha to Omega You may have found that you buy a bra only to find that the wire is way out toward your underarm and pokes you? Or after a few hours (or minutes) the wire slides down your rib cage. Often, there is a flat area of fabric next to the wire where the breast […]
Wanna see something truly magical? Not very much in the fabric world is news to me – when you’ve been around fabric and sewing for …well, let’s just say a really long time, you see fabrics come and go. So every now and then I really do wanna see something truly magical! The 50s and […]
The White Vintage Bra Recently a student brought in a white vintage bra, so we’ll take a bit of a breask from the blog posts on Behind the Seams of the Craftsy bras. It is very enlightening to see how far we’ve come in bra-making, so I appreciate seeing these vintage bras close up! I love […]
Navy Multiple Strap Bra Time for another peek Behind the Seams! This time, a close-up look at what I call the Navy Multiple Strap bra. This bra was featured in the Craftsy class Sewing Bras: Designer Techniques (I can’t believe there are 30 different techniques in that class!) Before we get to the obvious use […]
The Ivory and Green Demi Bra Do you remember the bra from the title card of my second Craftsy class, Sewing Bras: Designer Techniques? It’s a lovely ivory and green demi bra with a big bow at the front. Here’s a reminder. I love that bra! The Ivory and Green Demi Bra bra features: demi […]
And now for something completely different… I remember I used to watch Monty Python (what a hoot!) They had this series of skits called…and now for something completely different! So to steal a line from British comedy, this latest post is not about bra-making at all, but a fun little project I did last week. […]
Pink and Black Lace Foam Cup Bra Whew! What a lengthy title for this lovely bra – the Pink and Black lace Foam Cup Bra! What’s prettier than pink? Only pink teamed with a multi-colour pink and black lace! Featured on my third Craftsy bra-making class, this Pink and Black Lace Foam Cup Bra showcases pre-formed foam […]
