Liberty Bralet – Elm House

Lucy from the studio’s daughter has made this really sweet Liberty Bralet using the left over scraps from her amazing dress.  This is equally as brilliant a sewing job – the fabric works really well for this garment and Darcey’s pattern matching has been well thought through and executed really well!  

The fabric is called Elm House in the B colourway.  It is inspired by William Morris’s ‘Honeysuckle’ design and this new version shows primulas and fritillaries painted in soft watercolour.  It’s from the Liberty ‘Private View’ collection from AW20.

Liberty Bralet

Lucy and Darcey told me about the make:

Which pattern did you use to make this lovely bralet?  Did you make any alternations?
“Darcey found a pattern online from Mystylediaryy.blogspot.com.  She cut the cup pieces out in some scrap fabric first and stitched them together along the centre seam just to try them out for fit.  I expected it to be very tricky to get a good fit but actually they fit really well…though the overall look was definitely a bit too skimpy!  So, we widened both of the cup pieces quite a lot before cutting them out ‘for real’.  She attached some iron-on interfacing to the reverse side of the cup pieces and also to the under bust band to give them some extra stability.”
Liberty Bralet

You’ve used the leftover fabric from your gorgeous dress – how difficult was it to get the pattern pieces out of the fabric?
“Strangely the shape of the leftover scraps from my dress were one of the reasons my daughter had the idea to make a bralet in the first place, as they were roughly triangular shaped! And a bralet is made up of such small pieces! That said, she did spend some time making sure that the fabric design was absolutely symmetrical across the cup pieces.”

Liberty Bralet
What does Darcey love about the fabric?
“Darcey had seen many brightly coloured and floral tops similar on films which radiated a summer feeling e.g. Mamma Mia! She loved the idea of wearing it on the hot sunny days we were fortunate to have so many of this summer. The fabric brought colour and light into a time when many of us wanted to just wear monotone hoodies and pyjama bottoms! The white background allows for the light to reflect off making the colours of the pattern stand out even more which in turn creates a strong summer feeling.”

Liberty Bralet

Does Darcey love the finished garment?
“Yes! She has been able to wear this top quite a few times, including on the beach, usually with her cut off denim shorts or mini skirt. She has sewn it so beautifully, with such careful attention to pattern detail and meticulously finishing of the under bust band by hand, I know she is very happy with it. Darcey has been proud to tell her friends of her sewing achievement when they have asked her about the top and has enthusiastically promoted the Liberty fabric brand!”

Liberty Bralet

Does Darcey like to sew as you do?
“I have always spent a lot of time mending, altering and creating clothes, so it’s not really surprising that from a very young age my daughter has also enjoyed doing this.  It’s such a useful skill to have especially when you’re young and on a tight budget! In addition to making clothes from scratch, Darcey knows that she can always alter previous season’s clothes to bring them bang up to date,  or a lucky charity shop find so that it fits her perfectly. I think she’ll definitely need a sewing machine of her own to take to uni! Her first item of clothing was a floral A-line dress made out of some scrap fabric bought from a quilting shop. She has developed her skills, from a mixture of my help and taking inspiration from creative people online to now create more complicated clothing items such as this bralet.”    

Thank you so much Lucy and Darcey for sharing your lovely project with me.  Although it’s not summer here in the UK now, this may give us all hope that we can enjoy the spring and summer here in the UK next year.