Another lingerie experiment

Happy New Year everyone!

This will not be a post about sewing resolutions. I may come to that later but generally, pinning myself down is the perfect way for me to loose all enthusiasm for the projects in question. Today, I thought I would show you my last project from 2015 (at least, the last one for me. After that, I did some alterations for friends and made a baby gift).

Before the holidays, I was experimenting with soft bras and version based on my own pattern was largely successful. Successful enough to make me think of a more fancy variation. Preferably one which would also cancel out the one flaw of the blue lycra bra: With excellent four-way stretch its support is a bit on the theoretical side.

This new bra is made from a red lace from my stash. I don't think the material was intended for lingerie and I have only used it for a skirt before (with a lining, obviously). That was just before I went on vacation in 2014, so I did't even blog about it. It is a fairly dense floral lace which only has horizontal stretch. 

I finished the edges with fold-over elastic and for the bottom edge, I stitched on my usual kind of elastic but folded it out, rather than in. I also used my tried-and-tested (for underwired foam cup bras) racerback bra shape with the closure at center front. 

I made one pair of matching panties but because of those black edges, the bra also looks good with black panties. Like my also recently finished (and yet un-blogged) high-waist version. For the past two years or so, I have not only been repeating the same the same two bra styles (the balconet and the racerback/plunge) but also the same two panty patterns: Melissa's lacy thong and my own cheeky shorts - the thong version (in fact, the red panties here are made from that pattern but I didn't use my usual trick with the lace back). In my quest for comfortable panties which don't cause visible lines under clothes, these had come out best so far. 
But there is no reason not to look a bit further. I like the idea of retro panties and the pattern I once made in a lingerie workshop is actually for those. It just needed some tweaking. 

I think the set looks nice but I am not 100% happy with the fit. The side edges of the bra cut a little bit into my chest muscles. I don't feel it but, unless I really keep my shoulder back properly, it is visible. I might be able to solve the issue (I made a small change to that edge because the blue bra had the same problem) but it may also just mean that this style is not ideal for my body. 
Anyway, I will have to wear it for longer to be sure about it.