You may have seen in my last post, I wanted to try embroidering onto soft bra tulle with my creative 3.0. For that project, I chose a small design, which I then cut out and applique onto a bralette, like a motif. It worked really well, despite the very fine nature of the tulle. So I wanted to give it another go, this time with a larger design that I would leave on the tulle and then cut out to make a bra.
I used one of the in-built designs on my creative 3.0, a lovely butterfly
I used the 120 x 120 hoop and stabilised the tulle with some solvy, making sure it was nice and tight in the hoop. Bra tulle, while it is very fine, has little to no stretch, so it's actually proving a good base to embroider onto. I used a variegated thread, rather than changing colours, this created a lovely neutral look whilst still providing some interest.
Voila! Success! and isn't she lovely!
I dissolved the solvy and left it to dry, after which it needed a good iron to smooth out the embroidery. Bra tulle is made of Nylon, so I use a silk organza pressing cloth and a boob ham for this. What's a boob ham you might ask? I'm not sure that's the technical name for them, but that's what i call them. It's basically a rounded pressing ham, great for pressing those small, fine cup seams on a bra. You can find them here
Now for the design process! I knew I wanted to make a neutral bra, and gathered up some supplies from my stash. The great thing about bra making is that it takes very little fabric, so is great for stash busting. I had some pieces of nude bra tulle, and various elastics in lovely sienna and pink tones that worked really well with the colours in the embroidery.
The pattern I used is my tried and true Evie wired bra from the Lingerie society, you can find it here It's a really simple two-part cup, perfect for this project.
Starting to come together! Although the embroidery is quite a bit stiffer than the two layers of soft bra tulle, it works as it's only a small piece. With the stabiliser removed it's still soft and pliable to form a lovely shaped cup.
I bound the top of the cups with some foldover elastic. If you haven't tried it, get some now! GAME CHANGER! It's really easy to apply and gives a lovely finish to both knits and wovens. I use it a lot in lingerie making, but it's also great for necklines and creating straps. You can find a good selection here
And she's done! I'm really happy with how this worked and keen to try more embroidery for lingerie. The possibilities really are endless.
Julia Mulcair is the owner of Pitt Trading, an Australian online fabric store and the lingerie society, a monthly subscription service for lingerie sewers. She grew up around fabric, and has been sewing for 30 years.
Julia focuses on garment sewing, with a particular love of lingerie making. She shares her makes on Instagram and YouTube and is always working on the next lingerie design!
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