So, Zo... Strappy Vest Top IV

This pattens a classic. Up there, slap bang in the hall of fame. Anyone who hasn't mads a So Zo vest top is missing a vital wardrobe staple.

What can I say that I haven't said before?

It's a fantastic scrapbuster - you only need a front piece and a back piece and a choice of finishing trim. 

It lends itself to pretty much any stretch fabric - T-shirt jersey, Stretch velvet (hint hint, coming soon), Rib knit (hint hint hint), a subtle change in trim can transform this pattern from daywear to night wear, outerwear to underwear. 

It's easy as pie to fit - Want it shorter? Make it shorter! Need it wider? Increase the width placing the pattern slightly further out from the fold, or by reducing the seam allowance.

Can't find a trim to match? Make your own band from your stretch jersey and apply it like bias tape. 

Its a simple pattern with a big impact. I wanted to make something cute to wear with my new BusinkaMania Luxe panties. I had plenty of this heart-print tshirt jersey in my kit, and thought it looked more underwear than outerwear for my style. 

The only problem I came up against this time was when I came to attach fold over elastic to the opening edge. It stretched out the back piece something chronic! I tried different tensions, using tissue paper to help the foot glide, different feet, tacking the elastic first, differnt stitch widths... everything was resulting in a misshapen back piece. I think essentially the presser foot was set too low, so the double thickness of the elastic, plus the stretchy nature of my fabrics was resulting in a stretch-fest. I googled for how to amend the foot height but couldn't see anything telling me what I was looking for - Any tips would be greatly received!

Anyway, to fix the issue, I swapped the fold-over elastic for a picot elastic trim and there was no more drama, it stitched like a dream and finished the neck edge nicely. 

To match my knickers, I used little gold rings to attach the straps. I left a bit of a tail end on the picot trim to thread through which avoided any bulkiness from the jersey fabric. I hand stitched the elastic after threading through the rings and found this looked a lot neater than previous attempts to stitch close to a metal ring with the machine (hands up who's broken a needle attempting that, and the looked at the machine in shock like that Pikachu meme when it transpires that you can't stitch through metal...? 🙋🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️)  

I'm really pleased with my little matching heart set 😊💕

x
Location: Home Sweet Home
Currently listening to: Same Airport, Different Man, Julia Jacklin

BusinkaMania Patterns, Luxe Bikini Panties

Lots have things have changed since I started this blog. I'm a homeowner, I seem fairly immune to feelings of sadness, I have a little crease line on my face clearly from smiling too much, I workout every morning, I box every week, I have less and less time to blog and take snaps of my makes but one thing that has stayed the same is my absolute love for Instagram as a source of inspiration and connection with other creative, likeminded people. 

Recently (I say recently, but as mentioned above, the turn around time from make-to -blog is getting increasingly extended), I received a message from Alyona from sewing account @BusinkaMania asking if I would like to test out one of the patterns from her site. 

BusinkaMania specialises in lingerie patterns, so naturally I was well up for an excuse to get the stretch fabrics and picot elastic out! The hardest part of course was picking a pattern, there are bra patterns, knicker patterns, garter belts and matching sets all available on the website. There's cut-aways and lace edges, front closures and back closures, thongs, briefs, shorts. So much choice! 

After going in and out of each pattern about 6 times, I finally decided on the Luxe Bikini Panties - a flirty pants pattern, designed with a scalloped lace edge around the bum, and a cheeky hi-rise leg accentuated by the front and back being attached by 2 metal rings. 

What's great about this pattern, is it can be easily adapted for different fabrics. I didn't have any scalloped edge lace in my stash, but I did have a meter or two of this playful, heart-print tshirt jersey. By omitting the centre back seam and changing the angle that the back piece is cut at, you can use any stretch fabric. Without the scalloped edge, it was just a case of finishing the leg holes off with some picot elastic. 

I used thie same trim around the top and the front leg pieces. The way the pattern is designed, means that by leaving a few cm of elastic at the tops of the front and back, you can thread through the metal rings and create a really unique shape. This also means no side seams! Yay! We like this a lot. I feel a side seam on a mesh or lace panty can really disturb it's elegance.

Another lush feature of these knickers, is the lace panel in the gusset. This again uses the scalloped edge of lace to create a cute little overlay in the gusset area. I had a tiny piece of lace in the stash suitable for this and I love the effect. I'm excited to try more contrasting fabrics to really bring this out as a feature next time I make a pair of Luxe. 

The pattern is a great scrap buster - this barely took any fabric at all, and can be paired with pretty much any bra pattern in the BusinkaMania range to create a super cute set. 

There are a couple of tweaks I would make to the pattern shape next time - I find the back panel is a little high-rise on my body, I like the shape but it comes up quite a lot higher than the front panel does on me. I would also maybe make the front panel a tiny tiny bit wider for a little more coverage (more coverage?? Like I say, things have changed a little since I started this blog 😅). The knickers are really comfy though and definitely the type of style I would wear.

The pattern comes as a printable, multisized PDF, and there is a fully comprehensive instruction video for each pattern on the Businka YouTube channel, where you get the pleasure of Alyona's lovely accent guiding you through the construction. 

I'm really pleased Alyona reached out to me and invited me to have a go at one of her lovely patterns. There are also looooads of sewing tips on the instagram page so well-worth a follow even if lingerie isn't your thing 🖤 

x
Location: Home Sweet Home
Currently listening to: Speedway, Morrissey