Bra Cup Supplies -- bring on the modesty

My 11 yr. old daughter just cringes when I talk about bra cups.  She's at that age where wearing a bra (sports bra with no shape whatever) is the worst thing we could ever torture her to do.

This is the first year I am putting bra cups in her swimsuit and she is DYING about it.  Let's face it, unfortunately when little girls get to be 10, 11, 12 years old their bodies are right in that in between stage where an additional layer of lining in the swimsuit does not necessarily provide enough coverage and most bra cups are too big.  But who wants to see little boobies?  Not me....or anyone else for that matter.

My cousin Tiffany helped me find a great supplier for bra cups.  I had been buying them only at Jo-Ann Fabrics, using a 50% off coupon when I could, but they didn't come small enough for any preteen and not even small enough for my #2 daughter who is 14.  They just worked for me and daughter #1 (soft molded bra cups -- size A/B cups).

Enter Sew Sassy Fabrics LLC, a company out of Huntsville, Alabama.

Their bra cups come in a WIDE range of sizes, beige or black, and single pairs or dozen pairs available for purchase.




Their sizing chart:

Size	Approximate bust/cup size
2	30 A
4	30 B
6	32 A
8	32 B
10	34 B
12	36 B
14	36 C
16	38 B
18	38 C
20	40 B
22	40 C
24	42 B
26	42 C

They also have a nice variety of elastic if you can't find what you are looking for locally.

Recently I bought 4 different sizes, in bulk, because we make lots of swimsuits here, and they are awesome. For my youngest daughter, who is 11, I bought size 4.  They can also be cut down some and not fall apart if you think you might be in between sizes.  Although she was NOT happy with the idea, she does recognize that she could use a little more modesty in her swimsuits.  And really isn't that what it is all about--being able to enjoy yourself and not worry about modesty or over-exposure or some body part?

For this 2-tone racerback I just tacked the cups into the suit, mainly because it was already completely made.





For suits that have a bra shelf I would sew it into the shelf completely, or make a "pocket" within the bra shelf (basically a double layer of bra shelf) for the cups so they can be removed before washing.



This suit I made last year for one of my daughter's friends.  She wore it once, before her mother banned her from wearing it in public.  Too much nipple exposure when wet, even with a bra shelf.  We'll add the bra cups to it for this year and she should be able to wear it without any issues this summer.

Enjoy your upcoming summer days!  Gotta go buy our swim pass and we'll be ready.

NOTES:
Call Sew Sassy to ask for wholesale prices.  
You just need to order at least $50 of supplies to get the wholesale discount.
I was able to get a dozen bra cup pairs for $15.  

Lucky #7

Yesterday afternoon hubby and I were working on the tile for the back entry and into the master bath.

About 2/3 of the way finished and we heard our youngest fall in the kitchen.

Me: "Are you O.K.?"
C: "No."
Me: "Where does it hurt?"
And I look in and see that he is holding his chin.
Me: "Are you bleeding?"
C:  "I don't know."
Then hubby goes to check on him and I ask, "Does he need stitches?"

Hubby looks at me and nods.
Crap.
It is 3 p.m. and I call the Peds' Urgent Care and yes they have someone who will do stitches unless it is too deep and then they'll send us onto the hospital.

FYI--and we know this from experience.  Stitches at the hospital will cost you about $500 whereas if they can handle it at the Urgent Care or the office you only have a copay.  How do we know this?  This was lucky #7 for our son to have stitches.

Thankfully, the doctor will do it once we get there.
Mr. C was awesome.
5 stitches in the chin.
7th time for stitches in his short life of 8 years.
4th time in his chin.
I'm a little scared for his future.

He did not want his picture taken, but I was able to snap one randomly.


Hubby finished the tiling while we were gone.
Grout will go on tonight after dinner.
Then the bathroom has to be put back together.
And all the door frames and baseboards.

Super slowly, but surely...pending any more trips to Urgent Care.

Front door redo

This is our "beautiful" front door.
I'm pretty sure it is original to the house, built 1960.

It is west facing and so gets lots of direct sunlight in the afternoon.
You can tell.
And you can tell that there used to be a different screen door there based on the sun damage.


It also has a big chunk of veneer missing on the bottom corner.
Lots of wear and tear from the kids.
I had hoped to just put a kick plate on it to cover that up, but kick plates leave about an inch on either side of the door and so it wouldn't have worked.

On to plan B.
I needed to strip down the door somewhat.
Used a hand sander to clean it up.
Used Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty to patch the section of missing veneer and to fill in all the holes and spaces where I got rid of the nasty broken screen door that I will NOT be replacing with another one.


Here is the finished result.


Paint is Behr Premium Plus Ultra exterior satin.
Yellow is called Sunburst (1 quart was able to do 2 coats.)
Blue is called Vintage Velvet

A huge thanks to Mike at my local Home Depot paint department.
He has been a huge help tome.


We also changed out the house numbers.  Removed the old ones from the front of the house and put new more modern looking numbers on the door.  All I had to do was line them up where I wanted them.  Put in a little pilot hole and then go to it with the cordless drill.  We also changed the doorknob, deadbolt and doorbell.

Love it!

The only thing left is to strip off the footer board and paint that.  I wasn't sure I wanted to include that at first, but now that the rest of it is done I am going to paint that blue too.

T-shirt Quilt Preview

In the midst of this

ongoing loading of the POD

and this

gutting and redo of the master bathroom

I am also making an effort to "clean out" my sewing room.
I decided to work on my daughter's t-shirt quilt in order to get some things out of my room.

A month or so ago we went thru her pile of t-shirts and weaned them down and divided them up in categories.  This quilt will be school themed--swim team shirts, choir, orchestra, honor roll.  That way there is a color theme to them without having to think too much.  She has more shirts and she may get another t-shirt quilt down the road, but for now we are sticking with the school spirit.



I started with 16 inch squares and then adjusted here and there.



Backing will be this orange and white chevron flannel from Jo-Ann's.

L. knows that I am doing this and she knows which shirts are in it, but I haven't shown her how it is all put together.  I sort of want her to be surprised.  My next 2 kids down the line both love the quilt and wanted to make sure that I was planning on making each of them one down the road.  Yes, yes, I will do that.

The quilt will be shipped off to Lynn today for quilting so that I can get it back in time for L.'s graduation and party that first full weekend of June.  I'm excited for her to have it.  New chapter in all of our lives.  Kinda weird!

Prom Dress 2014

So, so, so happy with how this dress turned out.
Red just might be her new favorite color.

She had a great time at Mormon Prom on Saturday night.
Went with a fun bunch of her friends.


It makes me so happy that my kids have good friends.

Thanks Amber, who was once again this year their hair and make-up artist.

Dress details:

• Bumi Satin in Tango Red from Jo-Ann's on sale for $2.99/yd.
• Black Satin same as above.
• Invisible side zipper
• Butterick 5850, view A
• Added lined, short sleeves to pattern.
• Did not attach bow at waist side seams per pattern instructions but made it separate.
• Also did not line the bodice as indicated per instructions (that was more for the sleeveless version).

Last year's dress here.

Prom preview

Well, it is that time of year again.

Prom

L. did not go to her school Prom last weekend, even though she is a senior. Earlier in the year her friends talked her into going their school's girls' choice dance, even though she didn't want to, and she hated it.  The music and the dancing disgusted her and they all actually left the dance early and did something else.  She informed me she isn't making the same mistake again---at a higher ticket price.  We are making this dress for the second annual Mormon Prom instead, which is tomorrow night.

I talked L. into this dress.
Butterick 5850.



And the color.
RED.

At 6' tall she can rock just about anything.  However, she isn't real fancy in her tastes.  She is definitely more about comfort.  But I felt like she would look great in this dress.  Over the past couple months I've talked her into a couple other styles she wasn't sure about and they were a hit.  So my track record is looking good.  As we've been fitting the bodice this week she has gotten more excited about it.  We have added short sleeves and she will have a contrasting black bow.  Can't wait!

I'll post pics of her next week after it is all said and done.

I've also shortened hems on 2 other girls' dresses for last weekend's Prom and am making a modified tank top/camisole for another girl to wear under this dress.



She wanted to be able to wear a non strapless bra with this dress.  I have to say I just love this dress.  The skirt is amazing and the lace is so pretty.

Sorry I haven't posted a ton.  I am up to my eyeballs in moving mayhem, but luckily I can get a little sewing therapy in today and tomorrow.

Off to finish a dress.
Enjoy your weekend everyone!