Bra and Swimwear Sewing

I have an odd question, but I hope someone can answer it.

I am an unusual size, so I require custom-made swimwear, and find it
extremely difficult to buy a bra. I'm wondering if I should try and make my
own swimwear (and bras), instead of paying so much money to have them made
for me. But... I've rarely sewn before, and have an old, semi-faulty
machine.

Can someone who has made these items tell me: is it extremely difficult to
sew them? Something best left to the experts? Or could most people do it,
with some practise, some books, and a couple of sewing courses.

There will be a huge outlay of money needed- new machine, sewing courses,
books, and even practice fabric. If its almost impossible to make bras and
swimwear, I'd rather know first, instead of spending so much money only to
fail. I can't really afford the money to do this, but long term it will work
out cheaper than continuing to pay for custom stuff.

Yes, I have read the rec.crafts.textiles.sewing Underwire and Bra FAQs, but
of course they don't answer questions like this!

Lisa

Lisa Merriman wrote:

I have an odd question, but I hope someone can answer it.

I am an unusual size, so I require custom-made swimwear, and find it
extremely difficult to buy a bra. I'm wondering if I should try and make my
own swimwear (and bras), instead of paying so much money to have them made
for me. But... I've rarely sewn before, and have an old, semi-faulty
machine.

Can someone who has made these items tell me: is it extremely difficult to
sew them? Something best left to the experts? Or could most people do it,
with some practise, some books, and a couple of sewing courses.

There will be a huge outlay of money needed- new machine, sewing courses,
books, and even practice fabric. If its almost impossible to make bras and
swimwear, I'd rather know first, instead of spending so much money only to
fail. I can't really afford the money to do this, but long term it will work
out cheaper than continuing to pay for custom stuff.

Yes, I have read the rec.crafts.textiles.sewing Underwire and Bra FAQs, but
of course they don't answer questions like this!

Lisa

No, they are not difficult, but they do require experience and a little
special attention: the fabrics are harder to handle than standard
dressmaking fabrics, and you need to use special needles for the
different stretch fabrics (these are readily available, and not too
expensive). There are several books and patterns about that can help
you, but it isn't my main area of interest, so I don't have them
bookmarked.

Check the archives for previous discussions on the topic, and see what
folk recommended.
--
Kate XXXXXX
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.diceyhome.free-online.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

I have made my own swimwear in the past, it isn't too bad to work with the
swimwear material, mostly stretchy stuff, Spandex or Lycra will work. And I
have made myself my own panties and bra's. For the underwear, I use a
single knit fabric, which you can get at your local fabric store, and I
started using that for the bra's just to practice on, but at
http://www.sewsassy.com/ they have lots of things needed for what your
asking for. I have bought from them, and their prices are real reasonable.
But maybe you can find something near you, or even search the web to see if
you can find any1 else.
I have the Kwik Sew patterns for my bra's. and Kwik-Sew has a book out,
(hopefully still available), called Beautiful Lingerie, by Kerstin
Martensson, which I use for my panties. And in the book are the master
patterns, which I copied so I would have the master patterns if by chance I
would gain or loose weight. I first saw this book in a library, borrowed it
for the few weeks, traced and copied some of the patterns, but they all
looked so good, so went to my local book store, and they could get it for
me, so ordered it. Hope this helps you out.
Good Luck on your projects.
Maine-iac Rose
@---

"Lisa Merriman" wrote in message
u...
I have an odd question, but I hope someone can answer it.

I am an unusual size, so I require custom-made swimwear, and find it
extremely difficult to buy a bra. I'm wondering if I should try and make
my
own swimwear (and bras), instead of paying so much money to have them made
for me. But... I've rarely sewn before, and have an old, semi-faulty
machine.

Can someone who has made these items tell me: is it extremely difficult to
sew them? Something best left to the experts? Or could most people do it,
with some practise, some books, and a couple of sewing courses.

There will be a huge outlay of money needed- new machine, sewing courses,
books, and even practice fabric. If its almost impossible to make bras and
swimwear, I'd rather know first, instead of spending so much money only to
fail. I can't really afford the money to do this, but long term it will
work
out cheaper than continuing to pay for custom stuff.

Yes, I have read the rec.crafts.textiles.sewing Underwire and Bra FAQs,
but
of course they don't answer questions like this!

Lisa

On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 16:33:44 +0800, Lisa Merriman wrote:

I have an odd question, but I hope someone can answer it.

I am an unusual size, so I require custom-made swimwear, and find it
extremely difficult to buy a bra. I'm wondering if I should try and make my
own swimwear (and bras), instead of paying so much money to have them made
for me. But... I've rarely sewn before, and have an old, semi-faulty
machine.

Can someone who has made these items tell me: is it extremely difficult to
sew them? Something best left to the experts? Or could most people do it,
with some practise, some books, and a couple of sewing courses.

I have made both swimwear and some lingerie. My advice FWIW, is go to
some courses. It's worth it.

There will be a huge outlay of money needed- new machine, sewing
courses, books, and even practice fabric. If its almost impossible to
make bras and swimwear, I'd rather know first, instead of spending so
much money only to fail. I can't really afford the money to do this, but
long term it will work out cheaper than continuing to pay for custom
stuff.

I have never sewn bras although I have made knickers and Camisoles, and
have found these and swimwear to be fairly easy. But as I said, go to
some courses on these subjects..

AmazeR