Resources | Miss Maddy Sews

Put a label on it!

I’m sure all of you would agree that those of us who sew our own clothes love little more than the satisfaction of adding little personal details and touches make our things truly individual. One particularly cool way of doing this is by using custom clothing labels! I’d seen other sewists add these to their makes before and been intrigued – they’re such a sweet touch which make the garment seem both more polished and professional and more unique. I’d been considering getting some of my own made for a while but not found anything that particularly caught my eye, when Abby from the Dutch Label Shop contacted me about trying their products. It seemed the perfect opportunity, so I was only to happy to take up the offer!

The Queen of Hearts

Posted on February 17 by Miss Maddy

Far out, where has the summer gone?? I had the best intentions of making and blogging heaps over summer, goals which I half-achieved: plenty of making, not so much blogging! I guess after exams were all finally over, I felt much more like getting away from my desk and being creative than I wanted to just sit and write about it. Then Christmas, always a crazy time of year – then I was off jet-setting on an international adventure! I spent most of January in Canada, travelling solo, and was lucky enough to finally meet the amazing Erin in person and spend a whole weekend sightseeing and talking bras with her! I realised at the time that it had been almost six months since I’d made a bra for myself, but learning some alteration and drafting techniques from Erin (who is an amazing teacher by the way – if you’re lucky enough to live on the same continent as her, definitely go and check out her amazing studio!) definitely got me inspired and ready to make myself some new lingerie.

A Style of One’s Own

Posted on December 8 by Miss Maddy

Hi there friends! I was a little horrified when I saw that my last post had been in October – where on earth has the time gone?? That seems to have been a theme for me for sure this year; life is pretty great right now but continually getting busier in a trend that doesn’t seem like letting up any time soon! But for now, I’ve managed to come through the end of year uni/exam vortex and finally enjoying my hard-earned break. I’ve been making the most of them so far, and sewing up a storm of projects that I can’t wait to share with you all, but I have something a little different to share with you all today (and it’s not just my hair)!

This time of year certainly lends itself to reflection, and I’ve certainly been thinking about the past year a lot recently! I’ve also really enjoyed reading Erin’s posts on her personal style search over the last couple of months, and thought I’d share a bit about my own style journey this year! I’m pretty comfortable and confident in my personal style now, and am very settled in my retro and vintage ways – but that doesn’t mean that my style is no longer evolving! There are always new preferences to discover, and so many new styles and ideas to try, that I doubt anyone ever really finishes perfecting their personal style. I know for myself, I’ve recently become more adventurous with doing my hair in pin-up styles (and even temporarily dyed it pink!), and choosing to dress in a more overtly retro style on a day to day basis.

Dressing vintage style on the daily can be very daunting to even the most passionate lover of retro designs; so I often I see in blog comments, forums and Facebook groups people repeating their fears of looking “too dressed up”, “costume-y” or standing too far out from the crowd. So what I thought I’d write about today is some tips for dressing retro in a more casual, easy-to-wear way – given that this is something I feel I have only started to get the hang of more recently, I hope it will coax some more vintage devotees to embrace their preferred style on a daily basis!

Boundless Style: Review

Posted on October 11 by Miss Maddy

A change is as good as a rest, apparently – so a little change of pace here on the blog with a book review! I think from my numerous makes from Gertie’s books over the last couple of years how much I enjoy a good sewing and pattern book; provided you like at least a few of the patterns, they can be tremendously good value – I have definitely gotten more than my money’s worth out of my Gertie book so far (to be fair, I did receive them as presents from my parents. But I’ve still gotten a lot of value out of them)! I also really appreciate having a beautiful hard-cover, bound, colour set of instructions to work from, let alone the usually helpful and comprehensive reference they usually provide. So I was pretty thrilled when I expanded my collection late last year, when I won Pattern Review’s giveaway to win a copy of Boundless Style!

Behind the Seams: Bra-Lining Tutorial

Posted on November 24, 2015 by Miss Maddy

So now that I’m as free as a metaphorical bird, I’m finally able to deliver on a long-promised post of mine: a tutorial on the method I use to line my bra cups! The main reason why it’s been a long time coming is not that I’ve been too busy, but actually that it’s been quite a while since I’ve sewn a bra that didn’t have foam cups. I sewed up another Marlborough last week, however, so I’m now pleased to present the tutorial in full. I apologise for the poor choice of fabric; the black and gold lace, while stunning, does not make it exactly easy to see what I’m doing. I’ve done my best with the photos however, and I hope my explanations are sufficiently clear (if not, please let me know!).

Now, this method will work for any bra pattern with: two or more cup pieces; a fashion fabric and a lining. That being said, I think this method works best for patterns with 2-3 pieces.

Good Things Come in Small Packages

Posted on August 26, 2015 by Miss Maddy

The giveaway is now closed! Thank you to everyone who participated, the winner will be announced in a few days! 🙂

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m not a huge fan of suspense (unless it’s in a Hitchcock movie, in which case, bring it on). So I’m glad that I can finally announce the “little something” I’ve been hinting at for the last couple of weeks! As a thank you for all the support, encouragement and welcome I have received so far, I’m doing a little giveaway! I initially planned this to celebrate reaching 100 followers, but things got away from me a bit, so we’re now going to celebrate the 150 followers milestone instead! 😀

Given that lingerie-making is something close to my heart, I decided that I’d put together some bra-making supplies to give away! One of the most common questions I see relating to the topic is: where do I find supplies? So here I’ll list the components of the kit I’ve put together and where they came from…and one lucky person will get these supplies sent to them!

Who Said Sewing Isn’t Hardcore? An Underwire Cutting Tutorial

Posted on August 8, 2015 by Miss Maddy

As I predicted, semester had been severely getting in the way of my sewing time (as it is wont to do). But it HAS given me the impetus to finally write up this little something which I’ve been sitting on for a while. May I present to you: my very first tutorial!

I never really thought I’d write or post tutorials; I feel like such a relatively inexperienced sewer, it never occurred to me that people might want to see how I did things and learn from it – and I’m forever relying on everyone else’s tutorials myself. But I have had a couple of requests recently about a couple of lingerie making techniques, and I am more than happy to oblige 🙂 First up: how to cut and seal underwires! I feel like this is not a step discussed or used often, even on lingerie-sewing blogs, and I can only assume this is because, unlike me, everyone else magically has underwires that fit their bra patterns. However, I bought mine in bulk, which, whilst great for my budget, has resulted in quite a bit of underwire cutting, as they’re too long for my patterns. Seeing as I’ve got quite the technique down now, I am more than happy to share!