Burgundy and Black

Recently I discovered Madalynne’s free Barrett Bralette pattern. I am probably a little late to the party, but hey at least I finally made it – because it’s a super little pattern!

I sewed it out of lace off cuts from work that were otherwise going to waste (I love that fact!) The bralette uses regular picot and strap elastic which I purchased a while back from Elle Joans (now trading under Helen Cloke as Nellie Joans). The rings and sliders were recycled from another bra. The pattern also calls for a wide underbust elastic that I initially planned to be plain black, but this ex Geoff’s Emporium bargain burgundy elastic was already in my stash and to be honest it looked more interesting!

I love the front cutout on this design, and the finish inside is very neat. Although I did change the way the underbust elastic was sewn on, sewing it in the same way as the picot elastic to avoid any raw edges showing.

The back is nice and minimal – none of those pesky hook and eye tapes that are tricky to sew on!

I had some additional quirky shaped off cuts of this fabric, and with some creative cutting managed to squeeze out a pair of undies as well.

There wasn’t quite enough fabric to cut the back in one piece, so I tried to turn a disadvantage into an advantage by adding a centre back seam and a cutout that reflects the one on the front of the bralette. Worth doing!

I’m very happy with this lingerie set – it’s so comfortable, and I will definitely be making more Barrett Bralettes in the future. Thank you Madylynne for such a cute pattern!

PS: When I opened up my box of lingerie supplies to sew this bralette, I came across a half finished pair of undies made from the leftovers of this project (which is still going strong btw)

Sewing Rules determined that I had to finish them before starting new things! I cut these from the Evie la Luve Esme Panties pattern, which I reviewed here. The reason they were never finished and thrown in the too hard pile instead, was that the front leg elastic was stretched and wavy. The fix involved unpicking two rows of minute zigzag stitching – on this day I felt dedicated enough to do it!