In order to not stand around in just a bra, I figured I'd show these two makes together.
I spend too much time trying to think up things to do with tshirts. You know the ones I mean - those heavyweight, oversized, shapeless, screen-printed tshirts that we all get too many of for free. A few of them work to sleep in but they last a long time! So this pair of Papercut Anima pants was brought about as a trial run to use up some shirts. Since the pants are sleepwear they are totally allowed to look silly plus I get to wear a bunch of tshirts which I do actually like - I spent six months working with MSF last year - and I've done a bunch of trips with the American Alpine Institute, so both of these shirts have some emotional value to me and I'm happy to make them continuously useful.
The anima pants pattern is my standard one, size XS - I didn't shorten the legs this time, but I have lowered the front waistband by removing a wedge that I tapered out to nothing at the side seam, plus obviously I got rid of the fly and pockets.
In order to use four tshirts for this pattern, I cut each tshirt apart at the sides and across the top, and then I sewed the bottoms together, like this:
Even with this magenta tee, which was a size S ladies cut, I had enough to make an entire pant leg with some room remaining.
I went kind of crazy with the waistband and it was bad, so I had to totally remove something like 5 rows of stitching (I measured my elastic wrong and it was about 5 inches too long...) and then I went for the minimalist waistband with no stitching in it. The elastic stays in place so I'm content for now. This version of the anima pants, seeing as it has no pockets, no fly and no string in the waistband - is a pretty minimal version and is easy to make. It took a few hours including tshirt prep.
So the bra top! I bought this as soon as it came out. After all, lacy bra thingies are so in right now! I wanted one! The lace is from merckwaerdigh's etsy store, the cream coloured powermesh is from tailormadeshop. I used really bad fabric glue to stick the layers together and then the idea of making this bra top faltered. It was a few months before I came back to it. There was only one review which mentioned sizing, and the reviewer used her normal bra size rather than following the size chart, so I did that too and cut a 32C. I marked each pattern piece with the side that should be along the scallops and I found cutting out easy. Sewing was easy and quick too - just a couple of hours. I found the instructions to be adequate and not confusing at any point. However because of my crappy glue, I had to then zigzag all free edges (luckily this is invisible in the lace) because the mesh was flopping around otherwise.
The band is tight enough to be supportive, which itself, in non-stretch lace, is a problem because although I can get this top on, it's nearly impossible to get off. The back is much lower than the front. I was debating just removing 2 cm off the spot where the back narrows to see if that helps, although I suppose it's not too important. Also, the cups fit mostly ok, but I think I'll take a wedge off the center front piece for my next try. The lace is also really itchy.
I have a nice kit from tailormadeshop to make another one of these, which I'll do with those two small changes, but I recommend using stretch lace, and not using powermesh on the band, especially if you have wide shoulders or a muscular back like I do.
I spend too much time trying to think up things to do with tshirts. You know the ones I mean - those heavyweight, oversized, shapeless, screen-printed tshirts that we all get too many of for free. A few of them work to sleep in but they last a long time! So this pair of Papercut Anima pants was brought about as a trial run to use up some shirts. Since the pants are sleepwear they are totally allowed to look silly plus I get to wear a bunch of tshirts which I do actually like - I spent six months working with MSF last year - and I've done a bunch of trips with the American Alpine Institute, so both of these shirts have some emotional value to me and I'm happy to make them continuously useful.
The anima pants pattern is my standard one, size XS - I didn't shorten the legs this time, but I have lowered the front waistband by removing a wedge that I tapered out to nothing at the side seam, plus obviously I got rid of the fly and pockets.
In order to use four tshirts for this pattern, I cut each tshirt apart at the sides and across the top, and then I sewed the bottoms together, like this:
Even with this magenta tee, which was a size S ladies cut, I had enough to make an entire pant leg with some room remaining.
I went kind of crazy with the waistband and it was bad, so I had to totally remove something like 5 rows of stitching (I measured my elastic wrong and it was about 5 inches too long...) and then I went for the minimalist waistband with no stitching in it. The elastic stays in place so I'm content for now. This version of the anima pants, seeing as it has no pockets, no fly and no string in the waistband - is a pretty minimal version and is easy to make. It took a few hours including tshirt prep.
So the bra top! I bought this as soon as it came out. After all, lacy bra thingies are so in right now! I wanted one! The lace is from merckwaerdigh's etsy store, the cream coloured powermesh is from tailormadeshop. I used really bad fabric glue to stick the layers together and then the idea of making this bra top faltered. It was a few months before I came back to it. There was only one review which mentioned sizing, and the reviewer used her normal bra size rather than following the size chart, so I did that too and cut a 32C. I marked each pattern piece with the side that should be along the scallops and I found cutting out easy. Sewing was easy and quick too - just a couple of hours. I found the instructions to be adequate and not confusing at any point. However because of my crappy glue, I had to then zigzag all free edges (luckily this is invisible in the lace) because the mesh was flopping around otherwise.
The band is tight enough to be supportive, which itself, in non-stretch lace, is a problem because although I can get this top on, it's nearly impossible to get off. The back is much lower than the front. I was debating just removing 2 cm off the spot where the back narrows to see if that helps, although I suppose it's not too important. Also, the cups fit mostly ok, but I think I'll take a wedge off the center front piece for my next try. The lace is also really itchy.
I have a nice kit from tailormadeshop to make another one of these, which I'll do with those two small changes, but I recommend using stretch lace, and not using powermesh on the band, especially if you have wide shoulders or a muscular back like I do.
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