Aqua Lingerie

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I've lost a little weight in the last few months, and I thought a new bra would be a good idea. I used the Freya pattern I copied, and made the band about an inch shorter. Next time I will also take a little out of the lower cup, although this is perfectly wearable, and if I were not now so picky from having beautifully-fitting bras, I would think it was just fine.

I used an aqua lycra from Fabric Depot that has kind of a frosted look, and is a very nice weight. I dyed the closure and the strap elastic, which is a double-sided plush with Natori woven into it.

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I used this on the lower band edge as well. I used a white picot edge elastic for the upper band edge, and clear elastic inside the lace upper cups. The lace was already dyed to match.

The panties have the same lace at the sides, and I used my favorite boy-leg method with simply a cut edge at the bottom, and bar-tacks at the lower edge of the lace-joining seams. The front of the panty is made from a Victoria's Secret satin lycra fabric I got from a co-op. I got several colors of this, and it's pretty, and very shiny, but it had a lot of fold lines which do not seem to want to come out easily. I'm hoping they'll finally relax and fall out on their own, as they're from the shipping, not a bolt fold. It also snags very easily, so I'll have to be careful with it.


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I thought a half-slip would be fun as well, as my favorite one (from an old Nancy's Notions kit) is getting pretty tired looking. I measured it for the dimensions of this one, and also added a strip of the frosty lycra for a little oomph, as well as to tie it into the bra a little more. The lace hem is so easy to do when you use scotch magic tape to hold it while you sew. This is when a knee-lift for your presser foot really comes in handy, as you'll be repositioning your fabric each time your lace takes another turn.

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After you have the lace attached, remove the tape slowly, first on one side of the stitching line, and then the other. I then stitch a second time maybe 1/4" away from the first line, for security. You can see the finished inside here, including the frosted lycra strip. I used a serpentine stitch to flatten the seam allowances. You can use any decorative stitch for this, and lingerie is one of the places you can use all the decorative stitches on your machine that usually look a little juvenile on adult clothing, so go wild! If you click on the photo link below, you'll be able to see a much larger photo, and the stitching will show much better.

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I sewed the side seam of the slip after attaching the lace to the hem, and I left the lace side seam area unstitched, for a slit, and just turned the edge of the lace twice to finish.
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I used the same white picot elastic for the waist of the panties and the slip.

I have a couple more panties cut out, and another bra as well, in a different color. I need to be thinking of lighter colored sets for spring and summer, but this was fun to make.