Sewing for Yourself

@sarvi, @talialmi, @rpankow
Thanks for all your help, ladies! I had a wonderful shopping Friday in NY, and I appreciated very much all your advices.

I’m cautious about bra straps at work, but not at home. Spaghetti straps and racer backs are both pretty casual for me.

Thank you, Rebecca and @talialmi!

I will be close to Tender Buttons, I’ll pay a visit!

Two very nice fabric shops with a lot of selection in the Boston area:
Gather here in Cambridge
JP Knit and Stitch in Boston

Hello Maria:

I live relatively close to Rochester, MN and have heard nothing but good things about Ginny’s Fine Fabrics, located at 211 South Broadway Street. I personally haven’t visited as just having discovered the place existed. But it sounds like it could be a garment sewers dream of fine wools, silks, cottons and linens. I hear the…[Read more]

Hello Maria:

I live relatively close to Rochester, MN and have heard nothing but good things about Ginny’s Fine Fabrics, located at 211 South Broadway Street. I personally haven’t visited as just having discovered the place existed. But it sounds like it could be a garment sewers dream of fine wools, silks, cottons and linens. I hear the…[Read more]

Thank you, Sarvi! That discussion forum is just what I needed.

Is there a particular Lisette fabric you’re looking for? I’m not sure if you’re looking for the ones sold originally at JoAnn Fabric, which I think are out of stock, or the most recent collection, Woodland Clearing, which is not part of the Lisette line (but in my opinion has a nicer feel to it, I have tried both).

If it were me, I would do my…[Read more]

I’m another no-intentional-bra-strapper, and while I keep meaning to buy a different style of bra that will allow me to wear a racerback style (which I actually find very comfortable as well as liking how it looks) I somehow have never gotten around to it, which probably reveals something.

yes to both!

I love racer backs, all my favorite tops and dresses have them. I find that if I situate my straps appropriately they barely show, but I wouldn’t care if they did. I do have a little clip thingy that hooks on the straps between the shoulder blades for fancier affairs at which visible straps might be a faux pas.

Not for me I’m afraid. I really haven’t (deliberately) shown my bra straps since my early 20s, and I don’t intend to! Yes for evening and sports wear but I have no need for evening wear.

Around this neck of the woods..teen girls show straps and most moms don’t, so I guess it depends on the target for this pattern? I prefer shirts that I don’t have to find/wear a “special bra” with. But if it had a built in that would make the difference. 🙂

I like spaghetti strap tops, but only if I can get away with being braless in them (I’m small-breasted, so that usually means layering with a snug tank). Racerback tops always look like activewear to me, and I definitely wouldn’t wear one that showed the bra band itself. I am not a fan of visible bra straps – I think it looks sloppy (and that’s…[Read more]

I love when women wear spaghetti straps! If anyone is concerned with visible bra straps for us less perky creatures, I’m a great fan of the clear bra strap. As for racer back tops, I personally can’t stand them. I feel like they belong with active wear and in a workout setting alone. That said, I don’t like the fit of racerback anything on myself,…[Read more]