jellyfish on my bra

So… April kinda snuck up on me, and today it’s the 30th. This is slightly nice, as I had a goal to not eat refined sugar in April, and I’m looking forward to some cookies (remembering that this is about Not eating all the sugar, it’s not a free license to eat everything I want tomorrow). On the other hand, it’s Me Made May tomorrow, and I haven’t exactly decided what I want to do for that.

I am therefore going to distract you by talking about my bra.

(I’m still working on how to photograph bras, but I think this music stand + socks idea is the best so far! This is not, in fact, a piece of music I’m learning, and I have no idea why it’s open to this page.)

This is the thing I dreamed about when I was overseas and not able to sew. It ended up being only the third thing I made when I got back – I kept thinking I had everything and then discovering more bits and pieces that I needed – but it is everything I hoped for. I used the Harriet pattern again, and modified it by adding 1″ on each side of the back – which is, I hope you’ll notice, quite a lot. I am not particularly impressed by the fact that I needed that much extra to make a fitting bra when I measured according to their recommendations.

These close-ups are designed to give you a view of the fabric: it’s technically birds and flowers and the like, but to be honest I just think of jellyfish every time I look at it (especially the photo on the left). Which I am entirely ok with. The fabric is leftover rayon scraps from a top my sister made; I only just fit the pattern pieces on, with very little left over, so that’s an effective use of scraps. It’s lined with a fairly sturdy cotton, chosen mainly for being the only plain navy fabric I could find. I didn’t line the lace with anything, which may have been a mistake from the support perspective, although I love the appearance. I did stabilise it with a line of transparent elastic sewn along the top (this was done after the cups were inserted, because I forgot, and was insanely tricksy to sew. Have to work out a better way of managing that next time).

The lace, underwire casing, most elastics (other than straps) and duoplex (for the back) started out white. I dyed them using the darkest blue iDye poly my store had, which turned out to be a mid-blue rather than the navy I hoped for; I was initially dubious but actually I love it, now that I’ve finished the bra; I love the effect of the two different solids with the print of the fabric.

Now that I’ve told you about the bra, and had some time to think about Me Made May…

I think my goal is to wear everything handmade I own, that is seasonally appropriate (giving myself a pass on the three or four super summery dresses here). I don’t particularly want to be holding onto things for sentimentality, apart from possibly the first item that I ever made – so I’m going to try them out. Actually, I’ll modify that: I have the option of wearing a thing or giving it away (to a friend, or an op shop) if I try it on and am not willing to wear it for the day.

Now to catalogue all the things I have to wear…

(I said at the beginning of the year that I wanted to do May completely me-made. Well, I actually have a lower proportion me-made than at the start of the year, because I’ve changed my mind a bit and am ok with the fact that my wardrobe isn’t completely me-made. Most pertinently, I have no tights. I haven’t had a lot of sewing time this month, so I’m prioritising things more heavily.)

Have a good week friends!