Hi All!!

Today I thought I would join in on Top 5 tag from Gillian of Crafting a Rainbow! She started this idea a couple years ago, and has invited people to join her in reflecting on their year! She does top 5 hits, misses, highlights, reflections and goals. But that is a lot for one post so todays post is going to be my top 5 hits and misses from this year!

Now I’m going to start by cheating right away, naturally, because I was looking through and there are really 5 bra hits and 5 swimwear hits that need to be mentioned- I really just can’t pick between my sewn babies!!

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So I’ll start off with my top 5 bra hits of the year, and I’m going to do these in chronological order from the year.  Which starts us off with:

1. The Winter Bralette from Week 3. I’m wearing this bralette as I type this post, and you might notice that this is the same bralette that I’ve been making in different fabrics and variations the whole year. This one is the peak of comfort, I love this bralette, even if it’s starting to get a little ratty from wear.

2. This Ivory bra from Week 7. I love it, this made it into my regular rotation. It fit so well then and it still fits well now, and is soft and comfortable and I always feels so fancy in it! I love the vertical seams and the lace, it’s a staple.

3. This Red bra from Week 27 is just the most simple, comfortable bra. It goes so well under everything and with the wicking fabric, it makes it that much better for everyday. This might be my most worn bra out of all the bras I’ve made.

4. My Black Beauty from Week 44. This is a more recent make, but it’s definitely making a case for my love of horizontal seams. This bra is SUPER comfy, fits me perfectly, and I feel so sexy in it 🙂 I just love this. If I were a bra, I would want to be this bra.

5. The Chevron from Week 47. This is another very recent make, but I’m just so in love with it. There’s something about the complexity of the fabric, with the more simple shape 🙂 And I think it just looks so trendy under more sheer tops 🙂 loving this one 🙂

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And now, I’ll tell you my top 5 swimsuits of the 2015, because you know how much I love my swimwear, and I look back and realize just how many I made!! 🙂 These aren’t in a specific order.

1. I’m tempted to say that this Gingham number from Week 23 of the challenge is my favourite but then I scroll down and just can’t decide. I feel like swimwear is much like bras- you can love them for all different reasons, more practical, more fun, more pretty. And this one is definitely my pretty suit. I just adore this suit, and I love how the complexity of the design came together to something that didn’t look overwhelming- just pretty! 🙂

2. This suit definitely needs to be mentioned next. My Atonement suit from Week 22 I feel so glamorous in this suit. The second I put it on, I feel like I should have a massively oversized sun hat, a glass of champagne and strawberries, and I should be bathing in a luxurious pool. It doesn’t happen, but I can dream 😉

3. The suit I made for my sister for her birthday, that I borrowed all the time from Week 25. This suit I like for all the reasons that I don’t get with the previous two suits. It’s not a directly practical suit, and it still looks cute because it has underwires and is flattering, but it’s just fun. Not glamarous, but just fun. Like I want to throw on a pair of jean shorts over top and run around the beach, or drink beer all day at a cottage in the sun (again next summer 😉 Claire?).  It just makes me feel happy 🙂 and comfortable.

4. Now this suit from Week 21 I love because of the practicality. It’s cute and fun, but really I made this suit because I was taking water aerobics with my mom and friend this summer, and I wanted something that I didn’t have to worry about, something where I would be completely held in. I loved how this one came out, it’s another one where I would throw on some shorts and wear it like a top!

 

5. This one was another practical one from Week 20. I have to admit- when I made this one it was late on a Saturday and I had a “Oh no- what am I going to make for the post tomorrow morning!” moment, and mom suggested this one- I wasn’t in love with the idea, but I have to say that this is probably my most worn suit. When you are as pale as I am, and you have 3 minutes to grab a bathing suit, and know you’re going to be in the sun all day- you will always grab the one that covers your shoulders!

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And now for the misses… some of these aren’t terrible by any means, but for me they were misses because I never wore them, or there was something about them that didn’t work out how I wanted it to.

 

1. This bra from week 2 of the challenge. I still quite like the strapping that I did on the back (although I wouldn’t recommend it for comfort). But this bra was made before I had the full grasp of the bra draft and it was made with a pattern, and I very much dislike the shape of this bra… I never took this one out of my drawer. It was just… no.

2. This bra from week 8. I never wore this bra. The lace on the outside ended up being a little bit thick and didn’t lay very smoothly, and the shape ended up being a little torpedo-boob, which I’m not a fan. So it never saw the light of day after the post.

3. This suit from Week 17. I will start off by saying that I LOVE the top of this bathing suit, and I wore the top with other bottoms (and will one day make new bottoms) But these bottoms that I made just didn’t work out. It took a lot of fiddling to get the to even look like this in the photo, and in real life they always felt too loose, would gape and were just not pretty- great idea, bad reality. it happens.

 

4. Now moving away from the bras and swimwear. This dress from Me-Made-May was a fail. And you may look at the picture and think- well that’s super pretty. Yes yes it is. Until you try it on and realize that the fabric must be made of the sharpest, scratchiest fibers on the planet. Seriously- I wore it for the photo and thought- well this isn’t super comfortable, that’s strange. By the end of the day I was like “GET IT OFF ME!!” it’s one of the fabrics that seems smooth enough flat- but any fold or crease (like around the waist with a belt) it becomes angry scratchy fabric. boo, no fun. I never wore it again.

5. This corset from week 4 of Corset October. This was only a miss because I didn’t make a mock-up like I was supposed to, and I made it too big. 🙁 You can’t tell too much from this photo, but I could take out a good 4 inches along the top. I attribute this to: trying a new pattern and not making a muslin, and being very unsure of my size. I’ve actually lost quite a lot of weight in the last year and a half, and that results in a lot of size confusion, and estimating up in patterns for me. It is still a beautiful corset though.

Well there you have it!! My 5 Top Hits *cough 10 cough* , and my 5 Top Misses from this year. I feel like I have been very fortunate to have SO many hits, and really very few misses this year. What were your favourites from the challenge this year?

In a few days I’m going to be doing my TOP 5 highlights, reflections, and goals. And in that post I’m going to tell you guys what’s coming up next year on the blog, and what’s happening with the Bra-A-Week Challenge in 2016 (it’s getting a make-over!)

As always I would LOVE to hear about your hits and misses of the year- if you made these posts too please let me know- I love to be nosy!- I’ll be looking through Gillian’s sharing post too- where everyone posts links to their TOP 5’s! or you can just tell me your favourites too! 🙂

Hope you’ve all had a lovely Christmas/Holiday season 🙂 And yay for so much more sewing in the new year!

xo erin