Month: June 2020

Tuesday Project Roundup: A Tale of Three Bras

Karen

(Heads up, I’m gonna talk about fitting the Cloth Habit Watson Bra pattern, which necessitates talking about BOOBS. You’ve been warned.)

After I blogged about realistic projects for working from home, I got antsy to try the Watson Bra and ordered an elastic/notions starter kit from Porcelynne (seems to be out of stock at the moment). It gave me enough elastics and sliders and closures for three bras, which gave me enough tries to get the fit really dialed in.

Here are all three testers, and I am so tickled with all of them. I MADE BRAS! This pile would be AT LEAST $80 to buy.

I made useful clothing from GARBAGE, essentially:

 

OK, on to the fitting:

The Watson Bra is sized by subtracting your upper bust from your full bust. Now that I have muscles, there’s not a ton of difference between those measurements–it’s all between my full bust and underbust (where the bra band sits). I’m a 32C in ready-to-wear, but the Watson size chart  put me in a 34A for this pattern. I was dubious, but I also usually wear an underwire and this is wireless, so I just went with the recommended size to start.

Bra #1: 34A

As I thought, the band was too loose. I can wear it on the last hook but I can tell as it stretches over the day. Surprisingly, the cups fit pretty well. I put it on and said WOW, because the unlined cups just stretch over everything and give you such a nice “perfected” silhouette (especially compared with the “tank style” wireless bras I’d been wearing, which just mushed everything into place).

Verdict: Hallelujah, no more uni-boob! Definitely wearable, but the band’s a little big.

Bra #2: 32B

The cup pattern piece for the 34A and the 32B was the same (the sorcery of sister sizing) so this one really just got the band dialed in. As I thought, a 32 was good. (However, turns out I hate the longline version.)

I was curious as to where the cup seams should hit on this for the best fit–I didn’t see any info about that in any pattern review. With an underwire, I know they should go flat against the chest, but the seams here and on Bra #1 were slightly up ON the boob versus hitting down at the base of it.

Verdict: NO THANK YOU to the longline. Band was spot on. But what about cup seams?

 

Bra #3: 32C

The cup seams on this one hit lower down, flush against the rib cage, but as I wore it all day the cups didn’t feel quite as secure, like things were just starting to think about falling out. I also noticed a difference in the amount of lift, and I can only conclude that the cup seam is supposed to hit the boob itself in this pattern? (I don’t really know, honestly.)

Verdict: I can wear this (with a slightly tighter strap than usual) but the 32B is the winner for security and support.

 

Final Thoughts:

I love the Watson Bra! All three tester versions are wearable and comfortable, but now that the fit’s dialed in it’s like wearing nothing. But it’s also really glamorous and gives a great shape (which is, after all, the point of a bra in the first place).

The instructions are excellent and even dictate what type of stitch and length and width to use. If you’re an adventurous beginner, you could make this. And I regret waiting so long to try it–because now I’m a little obsessed with making bras.

 

BOOBS!

 

It’s Monday

Karen

And it’s raining, and all I want to do is follow Toby’s example here:

But it’s a short week, at least. We can do this.

(Photos by Doc, best Toby photographer ever.)

Friday Links

Karen

1. The brown bear cam from Katmai National Park in Alaska is live. At time of writing this morning, there was a bear just chillin in the waterfall, waiting for a salmon to swim into his mouth.

2. Bob Dylan has a new album out? And an interview with another old guy in the NY Times about many things. I had to laugh at this:

There is a lot of apocalyptic sentiment in “Murder Most Foul.” Are you worried that in 2020 we’re past the point of no return? That technology and hyper-industrialization are going to work against human life on Earth?

Sure, there’s a lot of reasons to be apprehensive about that. There’s definitely a lot more anxiety and nervousness around now than there used to be. But that only applies to people of a certain age like me and you, Doug. We have a tendency to live in the past, but that’s only us.

 

3. This just makes me laugh:

The Revolution Will Be Fashionable

Karen

Here’s a couple of articles from the NY Times* today about Black Lives Matter protestors and the dress code of anti-fascists:

The Dress Codes of the Uprising

There is a long tradition of Sunday best in the African-American community dating back decades before the civil rights movement, Mr. Ford said. In that sense, he said, the organizers of the march were not playing respectability politics as much as declaring ownership over their own history.

It was, he said, “a repudiation of stereotype and white supremacy. It’s not copying white power structures. It’s a powerful statement on its own.”

And, linked from that article, Why Anitfa Dresses Like Antifa, which is full of some delightful phrases:

(Antifa groups…trace their lineage back further, to those who fought against the rise of Hitler; generally, where there is “fa,” there’s been “antifa.”)

and

“Uniformity of characteristics” and a visual sense of equality have a way of, as research published in 2015 put it, giving “rise to feelings of solidarity.” It’s why soldiers and police have uniforms. It’s why sports teams have apparel for themselves and their fans, why brands have logos and consistent colorways, why fascists get slightly too-short versions of David Beckham haircuts and pin frogs to their lapels.

 

*You can get a NY Times subscription for just $4 a month, but if you’ve read all your free articles, you can also use Pocket to save them and then read them in full there.

Tuesday Project Roundup: Belated Shirt

Karen2 Comments

The new JoAnn store opened in my neighborhood about a year ago. My brother and sister-in-law went to check it out a little later, and my brother sent me a couple pics of prints from the quilting section. I offered to make them into shirts if he wanted to buy them…and here we are nearly 12 months later, with one finished:

I used Simplicity 3852, which I’d made for him before (seven years ago?!). I took a gamble that it would still fit, but sewed it with 1/2″ seam allowances instead of 5/8″ for a little more room, just in case. (It fits!)

I had a hell of a time fusing my interfacing–to the point I was ready to order a steam press and ended up throwing the rest of that interfacing yardage away–so I hope it stands up to washing ok.

Quilting cotton isn’t ideal for a garment but man does it take stitches well:

Solstice

Karen

Saturday was the summer solstice and we went out to the Great Salt Lake to see it, as per tradition.

We met my brother’s family there and Skyler announced, several times, “I LOVE the Great Salt Lake!”  I do too. It still has dignity and calm, despite every thing that’s happened to it. (Maybe a solstice metaphor there?)

Friday Links

Karen

1. Happy Juneteenth! I am ashamed to admit that until this week, I had a foggy idea that June 19th was the date of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. No, it was June 19th, 1865 when the news of the Civil War’s outcome and the ending of slavery in the U.S. reached the last group of enslaved people in Texas. Suddenly this phrase I’d been seeing on protest signs made a lot more sense:

(via Eiselle Ty, who has lots of info)

2. For no reason whatsoever, here’s a bit about how apples go bad and how they spoil each other.

3. And here’s a bit about what Georgia O’Keefe cooked.

Things I’ve Seen Online

Karen


This showed up on Pinterest, by the artist Caitlin Keegan (she illustrated Sister Corita Kent’s “Some Rules for Students and Teachers” and they are delightful).

 

This is a good bookend to the first one: The point is to keep trying. Let’s grow! (via)

 


Good old Lisa Congdon again.

 

And finally, Doc sent me this on Facebook. I feel this, deeply.

Wednesday Poem

Karen

This was in the Pome newsletter last week and, while I don’t usually go for a prose poem, I like it–“A long trip of days like song.” Here’s hoping.

 

Better Days are Ahead

Better days are ahead. The days of the child musicians in tune with the parks. The days of the orbiting earth and other meetings like kisses. I say better days are ahead. Days with cigars and beautiful women. Days of brides like flowers. Better days will come. Days without hate or war. Days of moon and sun. The days fiery red candles will come for dinner. Happy days are coming. Seas and friends will come. The sunrays speak of the day. I mean the day of the next big star. They say better days are ahead. The dream day will come. The days of marvel are to come. Legitimate police. Days bright as fire that sound like thunder. Days of angels and guitars. Days of metal trumpets. Better days are ahead. Do not be discouraged. The days of paid debts and banquets of grapes will come. The days like circuses will come. The tamed lions and elephants and hyenas will come. The days of the peaceful jungle will come. A long trip of days like song. The vast Nile now a furrow. The days of liquid flames, of flying men, of galaxies, of women who will come as the night.

Miguel James
trans. Anne Boyer