Excited about sewing lingerie again

The last time I was interested in making lingerie was in 2008 and I didn't think of keeping a blog to catalog my adventures (or more so, failures). Now I've become excited again, and I'll go about creating my perfect bra in a more organized fashion. I thought that it would be useful for others to see how I progress so I decided to create a blog.

My project started anew last Tuesday when I impromptu decided to make a pair of panties. I copied some worn-out panties I had, and created a pattern that is, I think, rather functional and fits me well. First I made a pair of orange panties with white plush elastic that I dyed after they were ready (a botched dye job, they are stripy now). At night I couldn't resist it and nervous of keeping the neighbors up I sewed another pair, this time from a green men's t-shirt that said "Ladies Required - Suspension testing". Only the "Ladies required"-part shows in the finished panties:

Here I didn't use elastic for the thigh holes, I just stretched the fabric while sewing and used a wide zigzag stitch. As they are they fit me well and I don't see much strain on the seams. But I'll let you know how these behave when I'm wearing them. (I used a thin ballpoint needle, 70, to sew these.) 

Today I inventoried my supply of bra-making materials and had to ask myself what on earth I was thinking when I ordered them. I didn't even have a proper pattern but I have enough strap elastic and findings to make 10 bras! Too bad the fabrics I have I have no idea how to use. (I'm still really insecure about stretch, the direction of it, how to cut lingerie pieces etc.. but no doubt I'll learn a lot in the next weeks.)

This time I'm starting with a ready-made pattern and I'll modify it according to the advice in the Bra-makers manual. I read  parts of the manual today but it seems rather theoretical now that I have no test bra to compare it to. I've ordered a pattern from Elingeria, I hope that I'll get it by the end of the week. I also ordered some toile bra kits (and a more expensive lace kit for when I have a decent pattern and more experience) from Sewing Chest. Here's to hoping that my packages arrive sooner rather than later!

p.s. I'm someone who doesn't find comfortable ready-made bras and tend to hate underwires, (I need a far wider wire than the ones used in the ready-made bras, at least compared to cup volume) so I will mostly, at least in the beginning, focus on creating wirefree bras. Boning on the cups interests me though, so stay tuned for experiments!