Free Pattern Friday: Hyacinth Bralette and Noelle Underwear

Welcome to my monthly 'Free Pattern Friday' feature, where I road test a free sewing pattern or tutorial: sometimes a children's one, sometimes an adult's one. I try to publish these posts every first Friday of the month, timed to provide inspiration for those who plan to get their sew on over the weekend. I firmly believe that, if you pick your projects carefully, sewing doesn't have to be a crazy-expensive way to clothe yourself and your family. Thanks to all the amazing pattern designers who have offered up their hard work for us to enjoy for free.

So for this month's road test and review post, I'm slightly cheating and sharing two patterns I've posted about in the past, the Hyacinth bralette pattern by Ohhh Lulu and the Noelle underwear pattern by Madalynne. The twist being that I've paired them to make a matching set! 

I had some of the Sia Animal Print Metallic Stretch Mesh from Fabric Godmother (gifted) knocking about in my stash and not much of a clue what to do with it. I tried making a stretch T-shirt, but the colour really washed me out. So with the remnants and the remains of the T-shirt I made this super fun, if impractical,  lingerie set. 

Please check out my original posts about the Hyacinth bralette pattern and the Noelle underwear pattern for the full reviews, tips, findings, alterations and verdicts. 

Free Pattern Friday: Hyacinth Bralette

Welcome to my monthly 'Free Pattern Friday' feature, where I road test a free sewing pattern or tutorial: sometimes a children's one, sometimes an adult's one. I try to publish these posts every first Friday of the month, timed to provide inspiration for those who plan to get their sew on over the weekend. I firmly believe that, if you pick your projects carefully, sewing doesn't have to be a crazy-expensive way to clothe yourself and your family. Thanks to all the amazing pattern designers who have offered up their hard work for us to enjoy for free.

Those who follow me on Instagram will know that I'm on a real undies making kick these days. I'm fully obsessed! So after the Noelle undies pattern that I road tested and reviewed a couple of months ago, I was nosing around for more free undies patterns to try. I've been wanting to try making bras and bralettes and found this free pattern by Ohhh Lulu, which looked like a good option for building up my skills and getting my head round some of the processes. I love the look of a lot of the Ohhh Lulu patterns, so I appreciated the opportunity to try one out for free before I parted with money (spoiler: I've since parted with a fair chunk of money on this website!). Thanks to this designer, and all the other designers, who share some of their hard work with the sewing community for free. 

(image source: Ohhh Lulu)

Pattern Type:

The Hyacinth Bralette is a light-weight, low-support bralette with a scooped neckline. It's a pull-on style, so no fastening to faff with. It will give you the opportunity to try using and applying undies elastics, stretch lace (if you have some, I didn't) and constructing straps. A step-by-step YouTube video is available to help if you want additional assistance. 

Sizing info:

The Hyancinth has been graded for sizes 2X Small - 3X Large which covers 32" - 47" full bust measurements. If your shape requires more coverage, there is guidance in the form of another YT video on how to slash and spread the front pattern piece to accommodate a fuller bust. 

For the rainbow version pictured in this post, I simply went by my measurements, which put me in the 1X Small sizing. It felt ok but like I could do with some more coverage, so I followed the tutorial to make the front piece fuller. I've laid the original pattern piece over my altered pattern piece in the image below:

Fabric info:

This pattern is billed as a scrap-buster, which you know I'm all about. However, it really isn't going to bust much in the way of scraps haha! It's recommended that you use jersey fabrics, such as jersey, interlock and spandex knits. If you're looking for any kind of vague support, I think you really need to make sure your fabric has some elastane/lycra/spandex content that offers good recovery and some support. It's also important to remember that different fabrics will differ in stretchiness, so that will also effect sizing. 

The rainbow version is made with some cotton/lycra jersey leftover from a couple of projects I made for my big kid. The blue version is made using stretch crushed velvet that I harvested from a thrifted dress. I also lined the velvet version with a small amount of power mesh to give it a bit more body. 

I love how you could really get invented with your fabric choice/combos, trims and embellishments. 

Findings:

This was SUCH a fun project. Once I'd started cutting out the pieces, there was no way I was going to bed until I had made it and could see how it turned out. The pattern and instructions were great, the latter with large colour photos showing the steps clearly. Personally, I prefer written/illustrated instructions over videos, but I really appreciate that the designer took the time to create that to support this free pattern. 

I feel that getting the length of the under bust elastic is key to the success of this bralette. There's no catch fastening to help you loosen or tighten the bralette. If you cut the under bust elastic too tight, it'll feel super uncomfortable. Too loose and it'll offer zero support at all. In the end, I think I found the length that feels perfect for me (bearing in mind that different elastics might offer different amounts of stretch and support also). 

The one thing I would change, and in fact did for my second version, is how the under bust elastic is applied. The elastic is applied in two stages, and you're asked to sew up the second side seam in between those two stages. But that prevents the elastic from lying very flat. Instead, for my second attempt, I applied the elastic fully with just the one side seam stitched up, THEN stitched the second side seam, which resulted in a much cleaner finish. 

I also must admit that for the rainbow version I cheated a bit and used bra straps that I harvested from an old RTW bra. For the blue velvet version, I made straps as per the instructions and it's actually really easy and satisfying. 

Regarding the fit, I must agree with the description in that this is a low-support bralette. It feels ok, but for my preferences it doesn't offer enough support to be worn all day. If you wanted something comfy to wear whilst hanging around in the house though, this might be the pattern for you. I wanted to try the blue velvet version to see if using a different fabric and adding a power mesh made much difference, but it hasn't made quite enough for all-day wear. I'm going to give the rainbow version to my big kid who will probably fit it very soon, the rate at which they're growing. 

Would I make this again?

I had A LOT of fun with this pattern, and I learnt quite a bit also. It's given me the confidence to move on to slightly more involved bra/bralette patterns, and I've since made the Ohhh Lulu Jasmin bra pattern with success, and have the Bambi bra pattern waiting in the wings. 

Emergency Free Pattern Friday (on Wednesday): Speedy Pants for Kids **UPDATED**

Welcome to my monthly 'Free Pattern Friday' feature, where I road test a free sewing pattern or tutorial: sometimes a children's one, sometimes an adult's one. I try to publish these posts every first Friday (or in this case, Wednesday) of the month, timed to provide inspiration for those who plan to get their sew on over the weekend. I firmly believe that, if you pick your projects carefully, sewing doesn't have to be a crazy-expensive way to clothe yourself and your family. Thanks to all the amazing pattern designers who have offered up their hard work for us to enjoy for free.

**UPDATE: Waves & Wild have just announced that the brand is being bought, and therefore their patterns will continue to be available. It is currently unknown if that means their free patterns will continue to be available for free going forwards. So you should probably download any you want now anyway**

Forgive the dramatic post title: I needed to catch your attention because this is time sensitive! Longer term readers of this blog might recall me posting about the excellent, free Speedy Pants pattern for kids by Waves & Wild here (and even further back, here). 

Well, W&W are set to shut up shop THIS FRIDAY! I don't know at what exact time the plug is to be pulled, but pattern purchases will cease to be an option. I believe the website will still be up for a while to give people a chance to download the files they've purchased, but the clock is ticking for any new acquisitions of their free or paid-for patterns. 

I don't know why the designer behind W&W (and formerly, Made by Jack's Mum) has decided to close up, but I wish her all the very best and send huge thanks for this phenomenal free pattern that has clad the bum of both my kids at various points for years!

Completely coincidentally, I recently printed out the pattern again and traced off a bigger size, as my little boy is in dire need of new undies. According to the size chart, my skinny 9yo should be wearing the size 5 undies, but I cut out and made these ones in a size 7 because I want them to last for yonks. And yonks they will last, as the fabric I used (that I picked up as scraps at this fabric swap) is excellent quality and perfect for this type of garment. 

You can read my previous reviews if you wish, but I would like to emphasise that these undies can be make ENTIRELY on your overlocker. Which is a total win if you, like me, often cannot be arsed to swap between my overlocker and regular machine during a quick project such as this. 

Now, GO!!!!!!!!

Free Pattern Friday: Noelle Underwear for Women

Welcome to my monthly 'Free Pattern Friday' feature, where I road test a free sewing pattern or tutorial: sometimes a children's one, sometimes an adult's one. I try to publish these posts every first Friday of the month, timed to provide inspiration for those who plan to get their sew on over the weekend. I firmly believe that, if you pick your projects carefully, sewing doesn't have to be a crazy-expensive way to clothe yourself and your family. Thanks to all the amazing pattern designers who have offered up their hard work for us to enjoy for free.

Ok, so elephant in the room: yes, I am posting pics of myself in my pants on my blog. Now we've got that out the way. So I've fallen down a Pinterest underwear inspiration rabbit hole recently, in advance of trying to make myself some nice sets of undies that actually fit and feel supportive. If you're interested, you can see my board here. Although Pinterest has made it virtually impossible to tell which pins I've added and which they've suggested. ANYWAY. A lot of the undies I've been pinning are what can only be described as Big Pants. Now, I'm usually a committed hipster undies wearer, but I thought it'd be fun to experiment with a different style. Enter: the Noelle pattern by undies designer Madalynne. 

I first discovered this pattern when searching for free patterns to suggest to the Patrons of my podcast, Check Your Thread, when I was planning an online undies sew-together session. Thanks, as always, to all designers, including Madalynne, who offer some of their hard work up to the sewing community for free. Onward...

(image source: Madalynne)

Pattern type:

What I would describe as Big Pants, the website would describe as 'feminine, everyday high waisted underwear'. The waist and leg holes are meant to be finished with picot elastic. 

Sizing info:

The pattern isn't the most size inclusive, covering natural waist 23" - 41" and hip sizes 33" - 50", which is divided into sizing XS - 3XL. I made the size M, as per my measurements which I felt was the correct choice. That said, the stretchiness of your fabric will effect the fit greatly. 

Fabric info:

This pattern seems to have been designed mainly for stretch lace with a power mesh/net lining. However, the list of suitable outer fabrics does include jersey or any fabric with a 4-15% spandex content resulting in a 30%-40% stretch. I prefer cotton jersey with Lycra content for undies, so I used a scrap of such a fabric that has a little less stretch than perhaps would be ideal, but ultimately was fine for this project. I chose not to line these undies because honestly who lines undies?

Findings:

The biggest surprise for me, aside from that I quite like wearing Big Pants, is that this pattern doesn't include any instructions! From what I understand, this pattern appears in Madalynne's book, 'Sew Lingerie: Make Size-Inclusive Bras, Panties, Swimwear & More; Everything You Need to Know', which, I assume, tells you how to make them. The instructions can also be accessed in the form of a Creativebug online class, which currently costs $9.95. Aside from those definitely not-free options, you're on your own. 

That said, if you've ever made undies before, you will be able to figure out the construction easily enough. The head-scratching occurs, or at least it did for me, with trying to work out how long to cut the elastic. In the end, I did some maths to work out the percentage difference between the leg holes and waistline, and the lengths of elastic required on my own free undies pattern, and then measured the leg holes and waistline of the Noelle pattern to which I applied the same percentage difference. This worked out well for the leg holes, but I feel the elastic at the waist should have been a tiny bit tighter.  

There's a bit of faff involved in actually obtaining the pattern pieces: you go through the online shop to access a download that is actually just a page from which to then access a document that includes the pattern pieces and some info on supplies and cutting. The pattern consists of a front piece and back piece, with a shaded area on the front piece to show the shape from which to cut the crotch lining piece. Rather than tracing that crotch lining piece off the front piece, I just printed out the lower part of the front piece twice.  

The pattern pieces came together easily, using only my regular sewing machine because I couldn't be arsed to rethread my overlocker for what I was hoping would be, at best, a wearable toile. My fabric wasn't the greatest quality, but they've definitely come out wearable. That said, because I was using fold over elastic, rather than the suggested picot elastic, the crotch has turned out a bit wide. If I were using FOE again, I'd narrow the crotch area. 

I also found them to be too high, particularly at the back. Even with my highest waist jeans, they peek out over the top! For future pairs, I'd skim off about 2cm from the waist edge, but leave the waist elastic the same length or even tighten it a bit as that came out a smidge loose. 

Would I make this again?

With the adjustments stated above, I can DEFINITELY see myself using this pattern again with some nicer fabric. I'll even bother to thread up my overlocker to make the seams on the inside neater. I'd also like to play around with creating seam lines and panels with different fabrics. This pattern is a great canvas for all sorts of potential undies making.