Snow Day 2019
It snowed last night! I can't believe it snowed before December because we rarely get snow here in Tennessee period, and I honestly can't ever remember it snowing in November. I also can't believe it stuck because just 2 days ago it was 68 here. Its so pretty and is helping me get into the Christmas mood, even if it is a bit early.
Sorry for the crappy pics. The windows were foggy which turned into smeary when I tried to clear them, but you get the idea. haha
Well its been almost 2 months since my last post and I have gotten almost no sewing done in that time. For some reason lately, my sew-jo has been gone. Just gone. I got the notion (haha... get it) to sew 2 days ago so I decided to jump on it. For my workout clothes, I wear a shirt I made and also some leggings I made, but the 2 sports bras I own were bought from Wally World a couple of years ago. For some reason that bothered me that my workout bras were not made by me, so I got to work on making my own sports bra. I have quite a few bra patterns now, but none of them are for sports bras. I could have probably taken one or two of the Madalynne patterns and made them into a sports bra, but I decided to go a different route. I took the tighter fitting of the 2 I own and put it on some tracing paper and tried my best to trace out the pattern from the actual piece of clothing. It was a little strange because this bra was a racerback and had a cut out hole in the back and princess seams in the front, so I had to kind of guess-timate the lines a little. I could mark more or less where the princess seams started and ended, but for the curve itself, I used a curved ruler and kind of winged it.
That was actually kind of fun. I cut the front in one whole piece and also one with princess seams. More on that later.
Anywho, I didn't want to use any fabric that I cared a ton about because this was just a test, so I used this rose fabric that came in a panty kit from Tailor Made Shop a few years ago. I LOVE this fabric, but I didn't have a lot left so I thought I could do some scrap busting. Its super soft and stretchy which I love, but I needed something with a bit more stability to hold everything in place while I was working out. For the past few months or so, I have ramped up my weight lifting in my workouts, so I don't need anything with a really firm hold, like if I were doing something more cardio like. For my weight lifting sessions, I don't do a whole lot of bouncing around; its more heavy lifting while standing in one place. I recently broke my own record of lifting 100 lbs in a Romanian Dead Lift! Woo! I am pretty proud of myself. haha.
When I assembled this bra, I tried it on and it was pretty nice, but it had like 0 hold. So I went digging through my bra making supplies and came out with some power net which has really good hold, so I cut the entire thing in power net to line the inside with.
It could almost be reversible, but you can see the princess seams from the fashion fabric through the power net. I will only be wearing this at home, so I guess its reversible now!
For the inside I didn't make the princess seams, but instead cut it out a little bigger than the original so it would hold but not be too roomy. I thought if I made the princess seams that it would be too firm of a hold. Plus I was looking at the original bra that I had traced and the inside had no seams like the front did. Monkey see, monkey do. Anywho, I ended up having to make a small panel on both side seams because it was a bit too tight. That power net don't play! haha. So after I added some panels on the sides of the lining, I attached it to the 'fashion' fabric with a basting seam along the bottom, neckline and arm holes. I then added some sports elastic to the bottom to give it a little hold, similar to the original. For the neckline and arm holes, I used some fold over elastic and my nifty fold over elastic foot to help sew it on. And voila!
I was really happy with how this turned out and would like to try to make another one. Obviously I didn't do the little circle cutout in the back, so I might attempt that on the next one. Also, the whole thing could be a little bigger overall because when I traced this, I should have added seam allowances and I did not. I did think about it but I didn't think it was a huge deal, so I just went without. It has really good hold but not too tight so its comfortable during my workouts.
Also, in other sewing news, my mother in law stopped by for a visit and she brought my Christmas present a bit early. She was trying to get rid of junk in their house and said she needed to get my present out of the way, and I can see why. Its a sewing machine in a cabinet! lol. It certainly takes up a bit of room. Currently it is in my sewing room but I will have to do some rearranging to find a spot for it. Its lovely.
We're having trouble identifying it because it doesn't clearly say who the manufacturer is like Singer does. Usually if its a Singer, its all over that thing. This one we are thinking might be a White or a Mason. The cabinet looks like some of the Mason ones we have seen, but the machine itself says something on it, but its worn down.
Donald's Special? Ronald's Special? Shoutout to New Boy for jumping on the machine while I was taking pics. ((sigh))
Unfortunately, White and other companies in the early 20th century made many, many, many similar looking machines and would also sometimes switch manufacturers if the price was better elsewhere, so who knows at this point. Plus you could customize machines to say different things which further complicates our search. A few searches of the model number brought up nothing much. I thought the cabinet might hold the key because it has a pulley on the back so it lifts the machine for you instead of my Singer that you have to help up.
I'm sure its more common that I know, but I've never seen that before in a cabinet. Color me impressed, old school sewing cabinet maker who came up with this. Good job, dude. Still not much in the way of answers even with the nifty cabinet. But whatevs. Apparently I have now started a collection of vintage sewing machines along with my budding toy sewing machine collection. I think I have caught the collecting bug from the husband. God help us all...
Sorry for the crappy pics. The windows were foggy which turned into smeary when I tried to clear them, but you get the idea. haha
Well its been almost 2 months since my last post and I have gotten almost no sewing done in that time. For some reason lately, my sew-jo has been gone. Just gone. I got the notion (haha... get it) to sew 2 days ago so I decided to jump on it. For my workout clothes, I wear a shirt I made and also some leggings I made, but the 2 sports bras I own were bought from Wally World a couple of years ago. For some reason that bothered me that my workout bras were not made by me, so I got to work on making my own sports bra. I have quite a few bra patterns now, but none of them are for sports bras. I could have probably taken one or two of the Madalynne patterns and made them into a sports bra, but I decided to go a different route. I took the tighter fitting of the 2 I own and put it on some tracing paper and tried my best to trace out the pattern from the actual piece of clothing. It was a little strange because this bra was a racerback and had a cut out hole in the back and princess seams in the front, so I had to kind of guess-timate the lines a little. I could mark more or less where the princess seams started and ended, but for the curve itself, I used a curved ruler and kind of winged it.
That was actually kind of fun. I cut the front in one whole piece and also one with princess seams. More on that later.
Anywho, I didn't want to use any fabric that I cared a ton about because this was just a test, so I used this rose fabric that came in a panty kit from Tailor Made Shop a few years ago. I LOVE this fabric, but I didn't have a lot left so I thought I could do some scrap busting. Its super soft and stretchy which I love, but I needed something with a bit more stability to hold everything in place while I was working out. For the past few months or so, I have ramped up my weight lifting in my workouts, so I don't need anything with a really firm hold, like if I were doing something more cardio like. For my weight lifting sessions, I don't do a whole lot of bouncing around; its more heavy lifting while standing in one place. I recently broke my own record of lifting 100 lbs in a Romanian Dead Lift! Woo! I am pretty proud of myself. haha.
When I assembled this bra, I tried it on and it was pretty nice, but it had like 0 hold. So I went digging through my bra making supplies and came out with some power net which has really good hold, so I cut the entire thing in power net to line the inside with.
It could almost be reversible, but you can see the princess seams from the fashion fabric through the power net. I will only be wearing this at home, so I guess its reversible now!
For the inside I didn't make the princess seams, but instead cut it out a little bigger than the original so it would hold but not be too roomy. I thought if I made the princess seams that it would be too firm of a hold. Plus I was looking at the original bra that I had traced and the inside had no seams like the front did. Monkey see, monkey do. Anywho, I ended up having to make a small panel on both side seams because it was a bit too tight. That power net don't play! haha. So after I added some panels on the sides of the lining, I attached it to the 'fashion' fabric with a basting seam along the bottom, neckline and arm holes. I then added some sports elastic to the bottom to give it a little hold, similar to the original. For the neckline and arm holes, I used some fold over elastic and my nifty fold over elastic foot to help sew it on. And voila!
I was really happy with how this turned out and would like to try to make another one. Obviously I didn't do the little circle cutout in the back, so I might attempt that on the next one. Also, the whole thing could be a little bigger overall because when I traced this, I should have added seam allowances and I did not. I did think about it but I didn't think it was a huge deal, so I just went without. It has really good hold but not too tight so its comfortable during my workouts.
Also, in other sewing news, my mother in law stopped by for a visit and she brought my Christmas present a bit early. She was trying to get rid of junk in their house and said she needed to get my present out of the way, and I can see why. Its a sewing machine in a cabinet! lol. It certainly takes up a bit of room. Currently it is in my sewing room but I will have to do some rearranging to find a spot for it. Its lovely.
We're having trouble identifying it because it doesn't clearly say who the manufacturer is like Singer does. Usually if its a Singer, its all over that thing. This one we are thinking might be a White or a Mason. The cabinet looks like some of the Mason ones we have seen, but the machine itself says something on it, but its worn down.
Donald's Special? Ronald's Special? Shoutout to New Boy for jumping on the machine while I was taking pics. ((sigh))
Unfortunately, White and other companies in the early 20th century made many, many, many similar looking machines and would also sometimes switch manufacturers if the price was better elsewhere, so who knows at this point. Plus you could customize machines to say different things which further complicates our search. A few searches of the model number brought up nothing much. I thought the cabinet might hold the key because it has a pulley on the back so it lifts the machine for you instead of my Singer that you have to help up.
I'm sure its more common that I know, but I've never seen that before in a cabinet. Color me impressed, old school sewing cabinet maker who came up with this. Good job, dude. Still not much in the way of answers even with the nifty cabinet. But whatevs. Apparently I have now started a collection of vintage sewing machines along with my budding toy sewing machine collection. I think I have caught the collecting bug from the husband. God help us all...
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