1940s scrappy lingerie set — Victoria Martinez

OKI so the provenance of these - a trip to Nefelibata in which I just really liked these smallish scraps of rayon, particularly the stripey blue pink white grey yellow one, and bought them without a plan, because, what’s the loss? Could be pockets? But then, I don’t have a storage solution for smaller scraps other than to add them to the scrap bin, so rather than lose them in there or try to store them with proper sizes of fabric, perhaps I could piece them?

And I need new bras kind of in a desperate way, what with what two pregnancies and nursing two babies has done to my boobs in terms of changing size and shape. Few of the things I wore 4 years ago are still in good condition, and frankly few of the nursing era things are either. And the pregnancy things? Gigantic, huge, too big.

I’ve been convinced to try out more modern bra/lette making with stretch fabrics and all, but started with these older woven ones because they seemed (I ended up getting them all anyhow in the process) to require fewer new notions (elastic this that and what have you intimidated me), plus the tap pants, plus fascination with vintage construction/design.

Annnyway, to make the pieces work I laid them out on the pattern, then pieced and cut. I also added in my rayon scraps from my birthday romper from two years ago, which is a nice way to finally have them all used up. Probably should have finished more of those seams, I did some but I didn’t others. Bra was more straightforward finding where I could fit each piece, sort of keeping in mind how the patterns might look together over the smaller space.

Depew patterns use pretty vintage-true vintage instructions, so not a lot of hand holding. To figure it out, I first cut and fit in cotton batiste which was planned for lining. But the cups were huge, nowhere near my boobs, and unlike a small breasted lady in the 40’s, I’m not in the market for putting pads in my bra for the right shape. So I darted out what I needed, then rotated the darts out, smoothing out the new princess lines. In the end, this gives me a solidly' 1920’s line, not a 30s one, and I’m not mad about it.

As you can see I took out a lot. But, except for a touch of gaping along the top depending on how I stand, the fit is nice now. I also shortened the back pattern pieces, mostly to have more elastic space for more comfort, what with the woven fronts.

bra pieces after adjustment, compared with and laid over the before versions…

Before doing the rayons bra, I sewed it up in the pink and white bedsheet with cotton batiste backing, and that bra was quite comfortable despite no elastic along the front nor proper shoulder elastics, just flimsy ribbon things from a local shop. These were too flimsy to stand up to the wash, plus uncomfortable, so have been upgraded to true strap-straps.

scrappy messy bra and tap pants set. should i have given the crotch seam another press? probably.

For the rayon bra, I interfaced the pieces with a light woven interfacing and lined in batiste, as i just got too worried about the rayon bagging over time. The top front edge I used picot elastic for, and would have done the bottom, too, but didn’t actually have enough until I bought bramaking kits to put together bra straps, by which time I’d decided to just say fuck it and use some of my homemade bias tape.

There’s also a fit issue here that if I make these again I’ll want to address, which is that I occasionally get some shelfing/folding under the boob when I have the straps where I feel they’re comfortable. You can see it in the photos for sure. I sort of wonder if the elastic at the bottom would have helped with this in terms of keeping the bottom “band” such as it is (not) in proper place.

For the pink and white bra, I did some research on 1940s closures and saw that large hooks were quite common, along with buttons etc, and found a pack of Elasto-Link closures at Nefelibata Crafts, leaving me quite excited to go that route. I think it creates a nice little detail.

For the rayon bra, the closure is a standard bra closure from one of the bramaking kits I picked up. The back elastic there is leftover from my bikini. I obviously threw any matching to the wind, which I say is in keeping with the scrappy style.

As a design detail, I really love the tiny darts at center front, which, if you look here, I totally forgot about on the rayon bra! So about a week later I added them in and it both visually appeals to me and improves fit a smidge. This wasn’t much of an issue since darting the lining and the fashion fabric together is how this pattern was designed, and the instructions just have you mark the dart tips and go to 1/8” out from that at the seam.

The tap pants confused me a little just due to reading the slash for the gusset as a dart, but otherwise were quite smooth sailing. My gusset insertion could be cleaner, but I wasn’t bothered enough to re-do it. To secure, I hand felled the seam allowances there, which looks quite clean, and if I hadn’t had so many seams to deal with, I’d say would have been nice to do all along the fronts and backs. Still would be nice, but was not in my energy range.

Top is done in the same bias tape as the bra, and creates a nice clean and comfortable finish. Side seams are frenched. Side closure had to be taken in the width of the closure for fit, so I just sort of moved the fabric over the existing french seam and seamed again. It looks clean enough to my eye at the closure so I’m happy with it. Lil hooks and eyes from the thrifted stash.

Pleased to report that they’re all comfy, the tap pants are great for sleeping in, and the bras will get me through until I try something a bit more modern.

Fabric/Notions: Pink Bra: pink and white thrifted bedsheet, pink thrift bias tape, organic cotton batiste lining, Elasto-Link closures found at Nefelibata. Straps shown here are extremely shitty ribbon ones from Century textiles but have been replaced w/ real straps with a kit from Double D, a local purveyor of Bra Making Supply supplies

Scrap Bra & Tap pants: thrifted rayons from Nefelibata & the last scraps from my rayon birthday romper (Matchpoint), elastic in bra, homemade cotton bias tape on bra and tap pant tops, closure from Double D, pink elastic leftover from bikini (fabricland), thrifted hooks and eyes
Pattern: Mrs Depew Pattern Reproduction of DuBarry 2587
Size made: tap pants size 18, bra heavily altered bust 36
My measurements: like a 35 full bust, 34 high bust, but it’s perpetually shifting these days and it’s fine for shirts etc but i swear i don’t do it right for bras so take it w/ a grain of salt