Valentine’s Day – Sew what, with Afton

Picture this, it’s 2011 I’m a 21-year-old newlywed Air Force wife who just moved from Utah to Virigina. I was working at Victoria’s Secret, selling beautiful and delicate lingerie, pajamas, sweatsuits, and bathing suits. I was always amazed at the intricate details that were in these slinky little bras and panties. I would have never imagined that one day I would make my own. Guess what?! I did!

In January 2020 I purchased the Bridgette Bralette and Victoria Panty bundle from Made for Mermaids Lounge and Lace Collection. I had seen so many amazing photos of fellow sewists sharing their makes on these sexy little patterns. I was feeling confident enough I wanted to give it a go myself. Well, I chickened out and didn’t actually do it until two weeks ago. I have had more than a few battles with my sewing machine and eating up certain types of fabric, (I even broke my first machine in 2019 while sewing up a full sequin dress) where it just left me in frustration and wanting to throw my machine out of the window, which I’m sure many of us have felt on more than one occasion. I was terrified of buying some luxurious lace fabric and have my sewing machine destroy it.

Well, I am pleased to announce that no lace was eaten during these projects and honestly, I’m SHOCKED! Now you may be wondering what gave me this recent motivation to finally attempt these patterns. The older I get the more I loathe bras. I hate the underwire, the discomfort, the sweating, and just feeling suffocated. It’s always the first thing to come off when we get home from going somewhere (that is, if I even bothered to put one on). I’ve made plenty of sports bras which I really do adore, but most times the neckline is higher and that doesn’t always work with certain tops.

Raspberry Creek Fabrics recently released their Easter fabric line, and while I typically don’t make anything for myself for this holiday, this Tonal Royal Blue and Green Blue Bonnet Floral Print Fabric, from The Cottage Core Collection by Bri Powell print really caught my eye. I’m not a floral expert and you definitely shouldn’t ask me to take care of your plants when you’re out of town, so when I first saw this print, I thought they were Snapdragons. In my personal opinion I do feel they look very similar. This print drew me in due to some sentiment, it reminds me of my grandparents. When my sister and I were growing up we would often have sleepovers at this set of grandparents’ home. While there are several memories I will cherish from these sleepovers, I am only going to mention said snapdragons. They had these flowers in their backyard. My sister and I loved them, we thought the opening looked that of a mouth. My grandma would occasionally pull a bud or two off and place her fingers at the closed end of the flower and apply pressure, then release to make the flower appear as if it were talking and we thought it was the funniest thing.

Given this sentiment I had to buy a small amount to make myself something. I only allowed myself to purchase a half yard. I can make a pair of shorts for my kids out of a half yard, even a color blocked tee. For myself though, not so much. Flowers are a very delicate thing, I thought what else is delicate, a bralette. Using this cotton spandex fabric also gave me the opportunity to make a muslin of the Bridgette bralette pattern before moving onto a full lace version. I did still however, need to purchase stretch lace trim to finish all of the edges and making the straps. This Royal 1.25″ Wide Stretch Lace from Surge Fabrics was a near perfect match to the blue in the print and made the flowers really pop. I also chose to line this version with White Power Net to give myself more support. This pattern has three different back options, for this version I chose the racerback. Made For Mermaids did an excellent job in executing the instructions for this pattern. Not only were there written instructions but also links to video tutorials if you are a more visual learner.

This first version did still come with a lot of trial and error. First, I didn’t pay attention to the cup pattern pieces in regard to which way the greatest direction of stretch needed to be. While, I did have enough fabric to re cut these pieces the correct direction I opted to just try it out as it would cause the floral to be sideways which I didn’t find visually appealing. I also realized that I should have disengaged my blade on my serger or just used my sewing machine altogether due to the fact that it left some of the lace edges looking funny. I thankfully was able to seam rip and correct by folding over some of the lace edges or carefully cutting off excess to make it blend in instead of looking choppy. Lastly, I determined that I needed to cut longer shoulder straps to fit my body. The fact that I cut the cup pieces the wrong direction also contributes to the shorter strap issue as well. Overall, I do feel my cotton version turned out rather nicely for my first attempt at this pattern.

For my full lace option, I ordered the Tropic Rose 8.5″ Wide Stretch Lace from Surge Fabric. I also ordered the 3/8″ Pink Glo Satin Strap & Picot Elastic which was a nice pairing to the lace. To make things different from the previous I chose to go with the cross-back option and make it unlined. This version came together much quicker due to the fact that I didn’t have to finish the edges by adding lace trim. I also added 1.5″ to the shoulder strap pieces to give myself more wiggle room to work with which would up being the perfect length for my body. I also was lucky enough to have enough lace fabric to make a matching pair of Victoria Panties. This pattern comes together so freaking fast! If you go for the unlined full lace option like I did you only need to sew together the front and back seams, top stitch, sew together the crotch seam, and top stitch then, BAM, you’ve got a new pair of panties! I was worried I wouldn’t like these cheekies, as I’m not a fan of thongs or anything riding up my butt. I am pleasantly surprised that when I wear these, I don’t even notice that I’m wearing anything at all.

I am still in disbelief that I made something so stunning and can’t wait to purchase more lace to make more. There’s one thing I constantly have to remind myself of and that is, we can’t gain more experience and grow if we stick to our comfort zones all the time and making these patterns definitely took me out of my comfort zone. I also put together a Tik Tok for each of these makes that you can watch here and here. I would also love if you gave me a follow across other platforms.

I hope I inspired you today. Remember to always be true and always be you.

Until next time,

Afton

This post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through this link, I may get a % at no additional cost to you. Thank you! Happy creating!

Or maybe lollipop, lollipop, I can’t decide. Either way I’ve been singing both songs in my head since we took photos.

Let me back up a little bit, yesterday my kids school district called a snow day due to an incoming storm. However, you’ll see this was unnecessary when you notice a lack of snow in our photos. I understand they were erring on the side of caution because the weather can be unpredictable. As I’ve mentioned in the past both of my kids have special needs. One of those needs is speech therapy (my son has apraxia of speech, and my daughter is suspected to have it.) Wednesday is our speech day, typically it’s after school but because of school closures our speech therapist reached out to us inviting us to come earlier in the day as the worst of the storm was expected to come in the afternoon. (Still, not very eventful here. Although I’m not mad about it. I hate the cold.) We accepted this offer, at first, I was extremely disappointed to hear about this “snow day” as both kids missed Monday, and my son missed Tuesday due to illnesses. I didn’t want them missing another day of school and I honestly needed a break now that they were feeling better. Then with more thought I turned a negative into a positive, we could spend time together having fun (we also went shopping to spend some Christmas gift cards of theirs) and, bonus, I could grab some photos and video of their new Valentine’s Day tops.

I had Tayln and Ellie wear their V-DAY shirts to speech therapy so we could try to grab photos afterwards. Speech is about 15 minutes away and because of this I’m still learning that area. After speech I decided to scope out the surrounding area for a place that could make for a great background. Much to my luck just up the road was a beautiful pond with a gazebo overlooking it. I pulled into the small dirt parking lot and asked my kids what they thought. They both agreed that it looked fun, so we unloaded from the car and headed towards the gazebo. It was so serene, and I could see it become a sanctuary to just be lost in thought and enjoy nature. To add to the excitement there were a handful or two of ducks swimming around in the pond. My kids were both so tickled and this brought my daughter to forget why we were there in the first place and just wanted to look at the ducks. My son on the other hand was like, okay, we’re here for pictures can we do that first then enjoy the ducks? Because it’s still winter and it’s cold. These ducks must be fed by visitors often, as they continued to follow us wherever we went, my kids thought that this was the coolest thing. My son started spouting all the information he had on ducks, how the males are called drakes and they are the ones that are green and brown. The females are primarily brown with black specks. I was so amazed by his knowledge of this! Okay, anyway….

My son’s choice of fabric was this red and black multi-stripe from Raspberry Creek Fabrics which is part of the “For You” collection for Valentine’s Day 2023. I showed him the adorable panel that would pair with it and said yes, I now opt for the adult panels for Tayln. We chose French Terry for the fabric base to make sure he would be warm and cozy. I’m a sucker for Bow Button Fabric’s ribbing (see what I did there), so that is what I used for the neckband, cuffs and waistband. The ribbing she carries has a great stretch and recovery and it holds a press SO WELL! Sav’s sweatshirt from Greenstyle Creations is my all-time favorite slouchy sweatshirt for adults and kids. Tayln is usually between sizes in all patterns because he is extremely slender but also very tall for his age. For this pattern he was between size 7 and 8, I chose to make a straight size 8 since this pattern is already intended to be slouchy and oversized. When he first tried this on, he was unsure about it and in his words thought it “looked girly.” I reassured him that a girl or boy could pull it off and that he looked very handsome in it. This made him feel much better about wearing it. What do you think? Doesn’t he look so handsome and very cozy?

My daughter was a complete spit fire when it came to taking these photos. As I stated before, she saw the ducks and that was all she cared about. After my son finished his pictures, I pulled a lollipop out of my pocket to give to him as a thank you for taking pictures. (The pictures are for me; they could care less about them.) This caught Ellie’s attention rather quickly. “WAIT! YOU HAVE LOLLIPOPS?! I WANT ONE!” I reminded her that she would earn hers after some photos. She pulled herself together (somewhat) to take pictures. The idea of this soon to have a yummy lollipop brought a huge smile to her face while she proceeded to try and stand still but couldn’t help but jump up and down yelling “lollipop, lollipop, lollipop” over and over.

Ellie did not much care to pick out her V-DAY fabric, so I chose for her. I know she loves candy, so of course she’d love the Red Black and White Sucker Heart Print Fabric. This is also from the same “For you” collection from Raspberry Creek Fabrics. I again, chose French Terry as the fabric base (and also used the same ribbing as what I used for Tayln’s.) In 2021 I made Ellie a Hannah hoodie from Sonia Estep designs, which has since been discontinued. I used a neon fuchsia and carmine brushed French Terry from Fab Clique Fabrics and cut out a heart shape to make as the front pocket as I did for her hoodie last year. I also included elbow patches. Since then, I’ve decided to incorporate a heart applique to her Valentine’s tops.

I was initially so torn on which pattern to use for Ellie. Ultimately, I decided on the Janie top from Petite Stitchery Co. I considered making the panel a pocket like I did last year but decided it would take away from the elasticized waist in the pattern. After I cut out the pattern pieces, I took the front bodice and placed it face up on my cutting mat. Using a projector to cut out patterns is such a game changer and time saver (and it saves some trees), anyway, I like to open Cricut Design Space and add a heart shape design. With the projector I am able to project this image over my cut mat, the same as I do when cutting out a pattern. From there I play around with the sizing I want to use for the front applique. I am a visual learner so this helps me to ensure I will be happy with the final outcome. Once I decided on the sizing, I removed the bodice from the cut mat and centered the panel with the heart. (I still use youth panels for Ellie by the way.) Then I simply use my rotary cutter to cut out the panel. I was afraid that the panel alone against the sucker/heart fabric would blend too much so I cut out a slightly larger heart in black French Terry to separate the two fabrics. This also helped bring out the small hearts in the fabric. I write in more detail on this from last year’s blog post if you’d like more information on how I added it to the bodice etc. This will help me from repeating myself (I already do that enough as a mother, LOL)

She’s enjoying her reward, that’s for sure!

I think that’s it for me for today! We definitely made some fun new memories yesterday and I plan to bring them back to this gem again. It’ll definitely be more enjoyable once it warms up. I also made a TikTok featuring some video from our shoot if you want to check it out! I hope I gave you fellow crafters some inspiration today, and if I did, please let me know because I’d love to hear! Always be true and always be you.

Until next time,

Afton

Saying goodbye to the ducks on our way back to the car.

This post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through this link, I may get a % at no additional cost to you. Thank you! Happy creating!

Category: Valentine’s Day

Victoria who?

I’m a sucker for you.