Upcycling Old Bra, Old Money, Old Lace 1.1.6

Today, as a treat, an easy, upcycling sort of thing and complimentary, a few fashion theory notes on the old money, aesthetic the trend that is as old as time being a stylistic interpretation of the old money class.. But first I have this old plunge wire bra from a fast fashion brand that shall not be named, and since I have so many silk scraps, you know might as well transform it into something thats a bit prettier.. First let’s examine what we have here in detail.. I already chopped it apart somewhat sorry.. This type of bra is very common, and maybe you too have something like this in your drawer.So. The cups are held together by an underwire tunnel. — And it’s stitched here, so that the underwires stay where they should. Definitely make a sketch and measure everything before you cut it apart. The band is basically these two side parts out of this very stretchy, polyester net., The edges are closed off with elastics.. The upper elastic goes up to the top of the cup.. They have no sticks here, no extra support., But I also wouldn’t take a design like this too seriously regarding hold and things like that.. It has a standard hook and eye closure.. The straps are adjustable and attached to the band here.. The cups are made from the same stretchy material and have a dart that is overlocked to create somewhat of a shape.. They are mostly triangular and have an additional stretchy lacy, edging attached, here. Plus elastics here and here, to pull a bit on the cup and keep it in shape.. And I want to show you how to try out a design that is inspired by the work of Carine, Gilson. And Carine. Gilson in case you don’t know, is basically the queen of the absolute top luxury savoir-faire couture lingerie.. She is a Belgian designer and works primarily with silks and authentic Caudry. Chantilly Leavers Lace. ( I’ll come back to that later. ), Her work is very delicate and crafted by hand, and there is this theme of silks intertwining with the motives of lace.. This inlaying of lace is a very old practice…, but to me it seems that she has elevated it to another level.. I think her work rightfully belongs in a museum.And. As I said, this technique will allow me to make use of some of the smaller silk pieces. I have. So first you’ll need to take out the wires by cutting a hole in the tunnel., Then carefully cut off the cup and open the dart., Then I’m transferring it onto transparent paper.. This obviously won’t be super accurate, but you know press the piece. First, try to lay it out as flat as possible without stretching it., And the thing is, since these cups don’t have that much structure to them. In the first place, one can get away with imperfection., Since I cut it off straight from the tunnel. I’M adding seam allowance at the bottom here., The seam allowance here depends on the width of your elastics. And I do the same with the side. Parts. That’s how the parts will be connected. Later., The end of the band needs to be as wide as the closure that you’ve chosen. The grain line on the band will go that way, so basically on bias for it to have a bit of a stretch.. Now, although I like the lace I have here, it is not the real thing. Carine Gilson says she works with Caudry Chantilly Leavers, Lace. And it’s, basically like champagne, if it’s not from Champagne, it’s, just sparkling wine. And I’ve seen some of these words being thrown around Carelessly, especially by fast fashion, brands., So let’s break down these words, one by one Caudry is located in France near the border to Belgium. And, very generally speaking, this whole area here is very famous for its fine lacework. Lace workers. There were funded by the monarchy, so it has a very long history of lace. Production similar to the way Lyon, for example, became the epicenter of europe’s silk industry.. Chantilly is a specific type of lace that is extremely thin and fine.. It is meant to almost appear, like a shadow, be almost invisible against the skin.. It’S name also comes from a commune in France. However, it is meant to describe a type of lace. It is not strictly tied to it’s origin place., And when we talk about lace, there are basically five different types. needle lace, bobbin lace, tape, lace, crochet lace and machine-made lace.. Chantilly is a type of Bobbin lace.. That means that it’s lace that is made with these bobbins by hand and is an extremely delicate affair. The threads are being woven, moving the bobbins over and under each other, to create very intricate patterns., But there are also different types of bobbin lace: Guipure lace, for example. This is where the motifs are being connected by these sort of bars or „legs“., And then there’s also mesh grounds, lace. ( Chantilly belongs to this group ). This type of lace is being extremely dainty and shadowy almost and the motif itself intertwines with this very fine mesh ground, which has this very typical hexagonal holes in it., It was very common that it was black actually and silk was the common material.. Usually, if someone spoke about Chantilly lace in literature or something they would mean, the finest of the finest silk laces fit for a queen basically.. So around the mid 18th century machines were invented. That would be able to produce Chantilly lace. That was difficult to distinguish from hand made lace., And now the meaning of its name becomes simply a signifier for a design. I think nobody expects nowadays that Chantilly means hand-made., Which brings me to the next word: Leavers., Which stands for Leavers Looms.. Until 1823 lace machines were able to create the plain net. This hexagonal structure called „bobbinet“. And by looking at those dots very closely, you can distinguish authentic, woven, lace., So John Lever modified. These looms these machines to be able to weave all those intricate patterns within the mesh.. The looms obviously need constant supervision of highly trained people, and there are still many steps that are being done by hand. The scalloping for example., But all in all Leavers Lace means machine-made lace done by the Leavers Looms., And the number of those in use is relatively low, as you can imagine, which obviously elevates Leavers, Lace to a very exclusive product., „The number of Leavers ( looms ) In use was dependent on the market and during periods of depression or cotton shortage. Many frames were broken up for the iron content.. The use of Rachel Machines noted for being better for artificial fibers increased in the 1970s and with fine polyesters. The two products have converged.“. So, apart from exclusivity, the value of Leavers, Lace is also defined by its materials., The authentic ones that I’ve seen being offered on the internet, aren’t necessarily made out of silk nowadays, but they usually use some types of cotton, linen viscose, polyamide blends., And that sets them Very clearly, apart from the lace that we’re used to these days. Typical lace for our modern eyes, this one included is being actually knitted by the Raschel Machines.. This process is being called warp, knitting. Thats, the way tricot fabrics are being made for example.. Those types of machines were introduced in the mid 18th century and fun fact. The name comes from a french actress and socialite. Her name was Rachel Felix., A very interesting figure. Apart from apparently being a talented actress with a from rags to riches story, she was also the mistress of Napoleon III Prince Napoleon and the illegitimate son of Napoleon I. I mean thats, an impressive body count.. So these Raschel Machines, as I already mentioned, became especially popular during the boom of synthetic fibers.. They are just better suited to work with those which makes the production obviously cheaper.. They are also able to produce at much higher speeds. There is less room for error.. The patterns nowadays can be created with CAD software., And since this lace is knitted, it is obviously stretchy. Stretchy materials in general allow for a broader coverage regarding sizing.. In it, a T-Shirt, jersey, T-Shirt in the size, Medium will be able to fit many different body shapes., And the same goes for those stretchy lace, knickers and bras. They are faster to produce and will sell better because they would fit many different women. It. You know just fits better into our fast paced modern world and especially into the world of fast fashion.. However, I personally associate anything lacy with summery weather. It is foremost a decorative material that is not necessarily there to provide warmth, for example, or you know coverage., And if you’ve ever worn polyester on a hot summers day. You know the struggle. And regarding underwear, where lace is arguably used mostly these days, polyester so close to the skin is not ideal at all, especially in briefs., But I talked about that already.. Another thing I noticed with Rachel Lace - and I think it’s mostly because it is knitted it tends to peel with time quite a bit and just looks sad overall.. The patterns themselves usually look sort of machine-generated if that makes sense. It’s. Just one of those things that you start to notice, you unconsciously train you eye by comparing cheap lace to higher end luxury products. You can’t unsee the cheapness of it., Similar as it is with silk vs polyester, for example the flashy shine of it….. If you know you know…, And that sort of classist statement brings me to the Old Money, Aesthetic. Fashion theory is a subject that is relatively new.. One of the earliest works that deals with apparel is „The Theory of the Leisure Class“ by Thorstein Veblen.. In it, he analyzes the upper class that comes from old money and the way this upper class uses apparel among many other things like food manners, values to very clearly distinguish themselves to demonstrate their leisure to demonstrate that their accumulated wealth, reliefs them from the necessity of Workmanship and production. He describes their canons of taste and how, in a way, the cultivation of these tastes becomes their full-time, job., „The method of advertising oneself undergoes a refinement when a sufficiently large wealthy class has developed, who have leisure for acquiring skill in interpreting the subtle Signs of expenditure.“ In a way a secret language establishes where clothing serves as a very meticulous vocabulary. And in this language, rules are established on which shoes are appropriate, for which occasion, for example, and in it even more complex syntax of how many pleats should trousers have And other finer details like that., He obviously doesn’t use the term „gatekeeping“ in his way. He describes how an old money class has the ability to refine subtle methods by cultivating taste by growing up in those values to distinguish themselves among the nouveau riche, a social class who have recently become rich and the not so riche who he argues. All try emulate the leisure class, but who’s manners and ways of dress would always seem uneasy, uncanny or even tacky in contrast.. In other words, generally speaking, an old money class knows the difference between a cashmere sweater and an acrylic one.. Moreover, observing subtle nuances comes to them with ease. It is not a knowledge that has been acquired, but rather cultivated from a very young age.. This book, although outdated in some ways, is full of interesting thoughts and definitely a good read to anyone who’s interested in fashion., And it makes you reflect on things like having pets or green lawns. And he criticizes the leisure class for being conspicuously wasteful. He argues, for example, that a handmade item and one that is industrially mass-produced, are essentially the same in their use, but how a manufactured one is preferred because it is more expensive since manual labour was wasted on it., But he also wrote all of this in the Late 19th century - before all of this, I guess the old money, aesthetic as a trend very generally speaking, might be a backlash to the logo mania we’ve been through recently.. It comes and goes and comes back again as all trends do.. I personally think one should be cautious of idolizing what it represents: generational wealth, nepotism, gatekeeping, elitism, all the good stuff.. However, I also choose to look at it through a more generous lens awareness of true quality high end materials, a sort of timelessness of it all is something to be aspired to be it for apparel or other things.. We’Ve been told many times through media which brands represent luxury and thus quality.. However, so many of these brands now that they have established a name for themselves, are in fact lowering their quality while simultaneously going up with the prices.. Now, I’m not coming from a frugal point of view, but just try to be aware as to why it is this specific brand. You choose to spend your money on., Because many brands that do represent true luxury and actually specialize in what they’re doing like Carine Gilson, for example, are being almost pushed aside and stay a sort of insider, not known to the wider public.. And another thing I like about it: well, since it is generational wealth, things are meant to be passed on to the next generation. Shiny and new is not necessarily something we would associate with old money.. So I met now-King Charles. And I went „You’ve got marvelous shoes.“ Blabla „How long. Have you had your shoes “ And he said „35 years.“ „Woooow“. There is a sense for longevity of objects, even for clothes. They are valued and well cared for and the fact that they are being worn that they look worn, increases their symbolic and arguably personal value. And on a side note, materials like wool do in fact get better softer and more supple with time.. So it garners more prestige for the wearer, because it actively demonstrates its timelessness and quality.. I guess this is what makes this secret language somewhat poetic, and it is a sense which we should probably implement a bit more in our day to day life. Anyway. These are just a few thoughts on that matter. I guess I get rather lonely while sewing by myself., And I do like to procrastinate on the whole cutting process.. So lets start with my plebeian lace. I’d like to align my cup pieces so that these sort of lashes at the edge of the lace would point towards the décolleté.. As you can see, my lace is not wide enough for that., But I found a position that I like, so that I’ll be able to join it with a silk piece later.. I am marking the dart opening with a thread, because I just really wasn’t able to find my chalk. For the cups to be symmetrical. I need to mirror the lace, but then it’ll look obviously wrong upon very close inspection (, because one of them is on the wrong side. ). However, symmetry in this instance is more important to me. As I mentioned many times, I’m, not perfectionistic, like that.. I am also cutting out the band pieces on bias., So first I need to stitch my silk onto the lace with a very narrow zigzag stitch following this line here. At Carine Gilson. They are actually doing it freehand. I obviously don’t have the skill for that though.. So I’m just doing it very very slowly and take pauses to rotate my fabric.. These bits that are sticking out sort of I am also stitching them to the fabric in the same manner.. Then I am very carefully cutting it back at the edge. And I’m adjusting the now finished cup piece to the pattern.. Now I can close the darts. Since it’s lace. I also do it with a zigzag stitch and then cut it. Back. Then I’m topstitching, this seam.. I am going to make the straps the same length as on the original., For that you’d need sliders like these.. First you’d have to secure the strap through the middle part.. Then I stitch the end onto here with a zigzag, stitch. And I’m, putting a small ring through and thread the strap through the outer part of this slider thingy.. I actually like for my straps to be adjustable at the front, so I’m placing the end of the strap to the band upside down like so and securing it next to the seam allowance.. Now the elastic for the bottom part of the band I made them slightly shorter, then on the original bra, so that it’ll fit me better.. I sew it on the right side of the band upside down with a zigzag stitch close to the picot edge.. Then I can turn it over and sew again while evenly pulling on it.. The cups can then be stitched onto the band parts with a regular stitch., And it is time for the underwire tunnel.. The length should be the same as on the original, bra plus seam allowance of your choice.. I know this all might look somewhat intimidating, but really I’m, just stitching it on to the seam allowance of the cup on the wrong side. So to speak. And I’m doing it by hand first, just so that it’ll be easier when I transfer to the sewing machine., As I mentioned before, I cut my cups so that they’ll slightly overlap. So, basically, I use the length of the tunnel as a guide for that. And I’m simply stitching it on with the seam allowance in mind.. However, not at the ends, just yet. Roughly 3cm should stay loose for the next step.. Because for everything to look neat, we need to secure the upper elastic first. From the end of the band up to the cup in the same manner as the other elastic. And by letting the tunnel loose here. We can now fold this elastic over. At the cup. I made it slightly longer because we can now secure the strap or the ring of the strap to it in one go basically by folding it over with a zig zag stitch., See how it’s now all neatly hidden underneath The length for the elastic. Once again, I measured on the original bra.. Now I have cut the seam allowance here back a bit so that the underwire tunnel can be stitched on neatly.. For that I fold it over and secure it with a regular stitch. Next to the edge. And I’m also sewing this loose bit here., Then the underwires can go back home inside their tunnel.. I can now also close off the space for the underwires, as it is done on the original., I’m, cutting the tunnel back and close it on both sides by hand, because I think it looks a bit more clean rather then doing it with a machine.. Now the original has some extra elastics stitched to the cup. I don’t find them that necessary and, as I said, I don’t take this bra too serious in terms of actual support, so I’m just going to leave them out to achieve this very shadowy, pure lacy look.. The last ingredient is a simple hook and eye closure. And I’m securing it with a narrow zigzag stitch like so.. It turned out to be a bit wonky actually, but now voila its finished.. After all the other bras I did, it was really easy. It’S, not bra engineering, really an up cycling. Project like this is just fun. I can’t show it to you in its full glory for obvious reasons, but it fits quite well and looks very delicate.. A quick side note: you can use this technique on the Brazilian-Cut briefs in the back and there are so many more creative options. You can use contrasting colours for the lace, as I did on my mockup for example.. Definitely so many things to try out.. In the end, I guess this is where true luxury lies in making ones own bra. To complete this set. I will make a garter belt next and after that, a 50s style corset. Bye,