Madalynne Intimates, Noelle Bra II

I love the Noelle bra pattern from Madalynne so much that I decided to make another! Incase you missed my last post- the pattern is a FREE (!) PDF download from Madalynne's website. Just click the link and you could have your hands on it right away!

With experience of making one already on my side, I was armed with a few ideas before setting off with my second Noelle. First up I took a little off off the pattern at the waistband. Really I just evened out that slant as my underbust before you get to my waist is a bit more | | than \ /.


This time I didn't bother to hide my seam allowance between the outer and lining fabrics. Instead I just stitched the seam as normal as it would be easier to adjust if I found the bra to be too big at try on stage.

I cut from red velvet from my stash for the front, stretch lace from Abakhan for the back and band and lined with a 4 way stretch mesh from Amazon. I used the same lovely lace trim as I did before as it worked so well.

Where I attached my band to the bra I decided to follow the instructions (!) and use zig zag stitch instead of overlocking. This makes for a flatter seam and therefore less bulk whilst wearing.

Also this leaves a seam allowance ideal for attaching the elastic to without having the stitching showing on the outside. This only took 4 attempts to realise!! But well worth the unpicking. The elastic gives secret support without showing at all on the outside.


Again I recycled old bra straps for the straps. This time I did plan to make my own but Abakhan told me they only did bra elastic in white (mental). The joining hoop is actually from a woodwork shop! This is what you get if you ask your dad to source bra supplies while you're at work! Does the trick though!

Only mistake was a pretty annoying one though..... I got the nap of the velvet the wrong way round!! So stroke it upwards not downwards! Or better still mate, don't stroke me at all. It did make me feel slightly better though when I found a velvet skirt in high street shop Peacocks with nap going in the same direction. Maybe it's perfectly acceptable ;)

#Sexy17

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Location: Ball Street Bridge, Kelham Island, Sheffield
Currently listening to: (Ghost) Riders In The Sky, The Ramrods

Self-Drafted Gemma skirt

I was on the train platform waiting for the 9:11 to Manchester when I saw a girl totally dressed for autumn in lovely shades of muted orange. As luck would have it I was just about to hop on the train to visit Abakhan, and in the bargain bins downstairs I found this lovely jersey in the exact same shade! I bought the lot without really knowing what it was I was going to make. I knew a full dress in orange was going to be a bit too much for me no matter how muted the shade, so decided instead on a circle skirt for swishing around in the leaves.


Without a pattern in mind I decided to draft one from an old shop bought skirt. The skirt is made from four equal panels, cut with straight grain down the centre of each and a simple waistband reinforced with elastic.



To make the panel pattern I drew around half of one of my skirt's panels onto pattern paper then cut it out on the fold so I could be sure it was symmetrical. I made sure the length was the same as my skirt and also importantly, that the width of the panel at the waist was the same. I then added a 1.5cm seam allowance around the top and sides as well at 1.5cm for the hem.

For the waistband I simply measured my waist where I wanted to wear the skirt and drew a rectangle that long plus 3cm seam allowance x (the depth x2 plus seam allowance x2). So, my depth was 4cm plus a 1.5cm seam allowance making 5.5cm x2 for the inside and out.


Once everything was cut out of my fabric the first step was stitching together all 4 panels then testing the fit. It feels a bit loose at this point but obviously it's all brought together when the waistband is attached. If it had been much too loose it would have been easy to increase the seam allowance on the panels to make for better fit.

I cut a length of 4cm wide elastic to match the length of my waistband. I stitched together the waistband ends, making sure the elastic ends matched the raw edges and also each other. Next step was to turn the waistband right side out and fold it over the elastic, encasing it inside. To attach to the skirt I matched up centre front and centre back points and stretched the waistband out a little as I overlocked the two together.

A quick hem to finish stitched down with a twin needle.

Easy! Will definitely be making another Gemma!

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Location: Hawkstone Park and Follies, Shrewsbury
Currently listening to: Satellite, Sultan Bathery