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A dotty lingerie set

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I seem to go in waves with lingerie sewing – I won’t sew anything for months on end, and then BAM! the feeling takes me and I sew a bunch all at once. Well, the feeling has definitely taken hold!

I’ve actually been trialling a bunch of soft bra patterns on and off over lockdown (which I might delve into at some point) but I’ve finally found one that I really like – the Sophie Hines Axis Tank pattern. This is a cropped, racerback top for stretch fabrics in two neckline heights that ends a few inches below the underbust. It has no illusions about offering any support, but I wanted a lightweight lounge bra since I’m mostly sat around at home all day anyway and don’t really need support unless I’m exercising (at which point I wear a sports bra anyway)

I had a dig around in my lingerie sewing stash and found this semi-sheer, very lightweight pale pinky/peach fabric with tiny olive green polka dots – perfect! I believe this was a remnant from Sewing Chest that Kellie kindly threw in with my last order so it was nice to give it some use! And I do believe this is the perfect use for it!

The Axis Tank has four views, once you mix up the two neckline options and either the plain or seamed body. I made View 1 here – the plain tank with the scoop neck and no extra seams as I wanted to test the pattern before getting fancy.

There’s no side seams on this pattern and the only seams at all are in the Centre Back and the shoulders!

I also had enough fabric to make matching panties to turn this into a bona fide set! I used my go-to pattern, the runderwear included in my Threshold Shorts pattern, using the brief option.

I know I’ve gained loads of weight over lockdown but it turns out my lockdown body is no longer a size Small, sob! These are wearable but a bit too tight so I’ll size up to a Medium on the next pair.

I dug around some more in my lingerie sewing stash (it is DEEP) and found I had the perfect olive green picot edge elastic for the panties PLUS a little bow! I’m pretty sure I bought these at Kantje Boord in Amsterdam two trips ago with the intension of pairing with some olive stretch lace I have… But it ended up being perfect for this fabric.

I love this set, and so much more than I thought I would! But it is very sheer indeed so I hope you understand that I will NOT be modelling it for you!

5 Comments

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  2. 2
    Mona
    Reply

    Oh! I’m on exactly the same mission with “lounge bralettes” at the moment, and the Axis tank is still on my list. Would love to read a round-up of several patterns from you later… maybe I should really start blogging about this type of stuff, too. So far I’ve made the Elevate by Greenstyle, Resolution by 5 out of 4, several ones from tiny German companies, and one I really like is Supporter by Etoffe Malicieuse, which could even pass as a real sports bra with the right fabric. I’m like below an A cup and I use these a lot for low-impact workouts at home, like Pilates or yoga, and also just for hanging out in the heat as long as nobody can see me (yay for remote teaching without camera, lol).
    Your set is really cute and I admire anyone who is disciplined enough to make actual sets of anything. I have the attention span of a squirrel with these things.

    • 3
      melissa
      Reply

      Wow that’s quite the list, too, and none overlap with mine! I tried the Sophie Hines Cartesian Crop (fine but not what I was after, might revisit again), Seamwork Kaye (oh sweet jesus this was AWFUL. Total car crash of a pattern.), and Oh LuLu Hyacinth (kept pulling up in the back for some reason and just didn’t feel right).

  3. 4
    artcoopsville
    Reply

    This looks super cute. I’m just starting to delve into undie making. Can you recommend a suggested waist/ leg elastic length percentage? Would 85% of the opening be about right for bands and elastic? I know it varies with how stretchy the elastic/ fabric is, but it would be great to have a starting point.

    • 5
      melissa
      Reply

      Yeah, in general the elastic or band should be somewhere around 85-90% of the opening edge, but it depends on the fabric you’re using and the severity of the curve, too. You can at least start with 85% and see if that’s comfortable for you and go from there!

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