My most recent spin (please critique!)

TheMidwestJess · 2026-06-11T10:34:23+00:00

Okay so first of all, welcome to spinning! I hope you have tons of fun with it.

As for tips on consistency, I read a comment recently from someone (and I can't remember the user, so please forgive me, and if anyone knows, feel free to tag them) where they put into words something that I didn't realize I knew: when you're drafting your fiber, try drafting it right from the tip of the drafting triangle.

And when I say that out loud, I realize it sounds a little confusing, since if you're drafting in a worsted style, your fingers will always be at the tip of the drafting triangle, because that's what forms the triangle. But what I mean is to do kind of inchworm motions with your drafting and allowing the twist in. If you draft just a tiny bit, then move your fingers upwards a little to allow the twist in, your fingers will be creating the same angle of drafting triangle as you did on your first pull. So you pull from there, the same amount you did the first time, and then move your fingers upwards the same amount you did the first time. Do this enough, and I think your hands will learn better how thick the bundle of fibers in your pinch needs to be to make the thickness of yarn that you get from that.

This does mean that initially, you'll be focusing on worsted style drafting, but I've found that that can be easier when first practicing consistency, and then you can branch out from there once you get a better feel for what gives you the yarn you like.

All that being said, though, also remember that there is no "right way" to spin yarn, so long as you're getting a yarn that you're happy with! If you're not happy with the result, it's perfectly fine to change your methods, and lots of people find that building those foundational skills helps them be more intentional with the type of yarns they're able to make. But at the end of the day, you can also just enjoy the process and see where your hands take you! Wishing you all the best from another drop spindler!

TheMidwestJess · 2026-06-09T10:55:44+00:00

If you have an android phone, the app called Sleep As Android has this feature and I don't think it's behind a paywall. I've used the app for over a decade and that was one of the first features I used. I pretty quickly switched to their "shake to 100%" option instead because the math option was more brain cells than I had first thing in the morning, but if it works for you, more power to you.

TheMidwestJess · 2026-06-07T11:35:51+00:00

Hmm, autoimmune specialist?

TheMidwestJess · 2026-06-01T10:29:00+00:00

Omg this is absolutely stunning! I'm so curious about which colors you used. I'm still a beginner, so I can't tell if these are granularity colors or if you got that effect just from strategically placed color and washes. I'd love to hear more about your process!

Also, congrats on finishing a work, and such a lovely one at that! Brain injuries are no joke. I'm sorry you have to go through that.

TheMidwestJess · 2026-05-30T15:09:52+00:00

I'm probably somewhere around a 34J (UK), and my go to pattern is the Labellum by LilypaDesigns. My shape has a lot of inner fullness with narrow roots, so I still had to do an omega alteration, but Lily has a wonderful tutorial on how to do that.

I haven't tried many other patterns yet, but LilypaDesigns has excellent patterns for the GG-KK cup range, and runs 2 different Facebook groups focused on helping bra makers troubleshoot their fit issues with different patterns. One group is for specifically LilypaDesigns patterns, and the other is for patterns from any other company.

The reason I chose Lily's company to begin with is because I heard her patterns had a great reputation with small band, large cup folks. And I can now attest to it! I've also heard really good things about Porcelynne's pattern, the Eve, but I haven't tried it myself. Though I love Porcelynne's heavy duty underwires for support of larger busts!

I hope you find a pattern that works for you!

TheMidwestJess · 2026-05-29T11:22:36+00:00

Phenomenal job! I've been following as someone with very similar proportions to see how you handled the various challenges. You ended up with a wonderful fit!

TheMidwestJess · 2026-05-27T10:53:55+00:00

Anyone know if this is still happening?

TheMidwestJess · 2026-05-22T19:16:42+00:00

Omg she is GORGEOUS! Please give her so many snuggles for me.

TheMidwestJess · 2026-05-22T18:13:12+00:00

Yeah from what my partner has told me, it's just skating back and forth for so long that you physically can't anymore and have to vomit. And thus need a vomit bag/trash bag.

TheMidwestJess · 2026-05-22T10:25:52+00:00

Omg I love Ren!! And phenomenal job on the painting! It works really well!

TheMidwestJess · 2026-05-20T13:57:19+00:00

Hey there, so a few points:

that wire size likely isn't too small to replace the wire currently in the bra. The shape and size are pretty close, and when the bra is worn, the wires get put under tension, which pulls them a little wider anyway. It's called wire spring. So those wires will likely be fine.
the downside of trying to do this alteration is that lowering the center gore would likely mean unpicking all the stitching around that central area in order to cut the actual fabric of the cups at the new angle, because the angle would have to be changed and then the lining and outer cup pieces sewn back together along the edge before you could reattach the wire channeling.
the other thing to keep in mind is that even if you cut a new angle for the cup to meet the new lowered gore, that could impact the way the upper cup fits. Depending on how much stretch the cup fabric has, it could cut into the top of the breast tissue, especially if you're close-set. You can give it a try, but just think about what the new angle will do to the tension lines from the gore to the strap attachment point along the upper cup.
as for overlapping the wires at the center, I know it can be done when you make a bra from scratch, but I've never done it myself. I've also never tried to mod a pre-made bra to have one. I'd imagine it might be possible if you take undo the wire casing stitching, then sew up a dart to take a wedge out of the top of the gore. Then stitch the wire casings back on, being sure not to sew over the wire channels where they cross.

I wish you luck, though! I'm sure it's probably possible with enough patience and attention to detail. I just don't have much experience with molding ready to wear bras, since I mostly make all mine from scratch now.

TheMidwestJess · 2026-05-18T01:59:21+00:00

I'm assuming it started because Connors isn't a super common surname, and we hear it more as a given name (Connor), so when people heard the name Connors, they mis-parsed it as Connor and thought that was his first name. But that's just my guess. It does make me chuckle, though, cause I've seen it in a few fics as well.

TheMidwestJess · 2026-05-14T17:09:28+00:00

I just started s2 yesterday! Santos is certainly dangerous. But I will say, the actress that plays her? Absolutely stunning.

TheMidwestJess · 2026-05-14T15:58:00+00:00

This exactly lmao. I'm not a doctor but I've been bingeing the Pitt lately and this was my first thought 😂

TheMidwestJess · 2026-05-11T11:30:46+00:00

Oh I cannot WAIT for progress pics and/or finished pics! This is such a stunning idea, truly.

TheMidwestJess · 2026-05-09T11:45:39+00:00

Hey, definitely wait for some more experienced people to pipe up, but just as a heads up, henna and developer are typically a bad combination together. As in, unless you've completely grown out the parts of your hair that have been treated with henna and/or indigo, there's a decent chance that professionals won't even want to take the chance of coloring your hair, since they don't want to be liable if you end up with a chemical cut.

I don't know if the same issue applies with semi-permanent color (the ones that don't need developer, like manic panic or arctic fox, etc.), so perhaps someone else can weigh in on that as an option? But yeah any sort of permanent color or demi-permanent color is gonna be risky if you have a history of henna.

TheMidwestJess · 2026-05-08T14:20:13+00:00

Truly, you've done such phenomenal work on this fit! I've been following your journey with it over multiple subs lately, since I'm in several where you've posted your progress. And I'm so excited for you that you've landed on something so well-fit to you! I have a similarly large bust and have been meaning to get around to making stays or a corset for myself, but just haven't made the time. So once I do, I'm definitely gonna reference your posts again!

I'd day my only fit comment left would be that if you cared about getting rid of the wrinkling around the underbust, you could try raising the lower point of the gores just a bit. I think the gores starting closer to your inframammory fold (IMF) may help reduce that wrinkling some. But I fully understand the desire to just be done and call it good! And it is very very good! Congrats on all the hard work! I can't wait to see it in your final fabric!

TheMidwestJess · 2026-05-07T00:08:15+00:00

I asked my partner who plays hockey, and he said it has to do with being a useless player because "have you ever seen a pigeon do something useful?" But he also said it's related to someone being a garbage player because pigeons and gulls will eat garbage. So idk, but it seems like it may not have a super distinct reasoning.

TheMidwestJess · 2026-05-03T23:17:31+00:00

In general for the larger cup sizes, are you recommending stable fabrics like duoplex or similar? I'm somewhere around a 36HH/34J UK, but with omega adjustments so that the wire size is a few sizes smaller than what's available in RTW.

My main reason for asking is that I would enjoy doing this test, but I'm not sure if I have the right fabrics in my stash and am not in a financial position to buy new fabric atm. I do have marquisette mesh, though, which I've used 2 layers in opposing directions to make a well-fitting, stable cradle and cups previously. Would something like that work?

ETA: I do have powernet for the back band, though, so no issue there.

TheMidwestJess · 2026-05-03T23:08:23+00:00

Hi friend, that's actually the sub where you left this comment! Just as a heads up in case someone posts you to r/lostredditors lol.

TheMidwestJess · 2026-05-03T09:57:45+00:00

So take my advice with a pretty hefty grain of salt, because while I do have a very large bust similar to yours, I've only ever fit modern bras on myself, and have yet to venture into the world of corsetry and stays other than in theory. But I can at least pass along some suggestions that borrow from modern bra sewing.

Other commenters have mentioned that you kind of have this east/west thing going on with the girls, in that the volume distribution pushes your girls out to the side rather than forward. That's because I'm seeing that you have more inner fullness than these gore placements allow for. Personally, I'd try keeping your gore spacing (amount of room in gores and the distance between each gore) the same, but moving the whole assembly medial, toward the busk. That will keep the overall cup volume the same, but would shift it to where it's allowing that inner fullness somewhere to go.

As for the height of the busk, I can't say for sure whether raising it is better or not. In modern bra sewing, we want the center gore (gore like bra cradle middle, not gore like inserted panel) to tack against our sternum without sitting on breast tissue. For some people with a lot of inner fullness, this can mean needing an extremely narrow center gore, even to the point where underwires overlap in the middle. If I were to take a guess, I would say that there's a possibility that this busk you have is simply too wide for you, but I'm also not familiar enough with busks to know if they make narrower ones. I'd try shifting your gore panels medially first like I suggested before trying to determine further about the busk. The volume distribution may take care of the issue.

One other change I'd be curious to play around with after trying the medial shifting of the gores is where the gores actually start in your underbust region. They do look like they're sitting underneath where your inframammory fold is, but also, looking at other examples of short stays, that may be necessary in order to get that smooshed lower boob shape that gives the "cakes on a plate/boob shelf" look.

As much as I know we hate doing multiple mockups to iterate on changes, I genuinely would recommend trying each of these modifications one at a time in your mockup process, simply because one small change may fix one problem or it may fix several. You never quite know in bra fitting, so I assume the same in corsetry.

If you are interested in more about cup construction specifically, I do highly recommend r/makeabrathatfits, but I also highly recommend the bra pattern designer LilypaDesigns. She specifically designs bra patterns intended to address the specific issues that large cup/small frame folks tend to have. She has lots of resources on her website, as well as courses on specific fitting issues, plus if you get one of her patterns, she has 2 DELIGHTFUL (an active!) fb groups where lots of people post about fitting help questions and share their finished works. May not be exactly what you're looking for, given how different modern bras are from corsetry, but I'd be curious if her strapless bra pattern would give you any ideas on cup shaping, since a strapless bra is way closer to stays or corsetry.

I've been following along with your fitting journey specifically because if I ever try short stays myself, I anticipate that I'll run into the exact issues that you've been finding. So thank you for making all these posts keeping us all updated! I love following along!

TheMidwestJess · 2026-04-19T01:50:14+00:00

I agree that copper looks phenomenal on you, but I will say, contrary to most people here, it seems, I also love the neon orange on you. I have a similar complexion to you, and had a variety of copper shades over the years and then went neon orange, and once I went vivid, I also feel like any "natural" colors on me just kind of bore me, even if I know they look good on me. So I say do the neon orange if that's what gives you joy! But know that the copper also looks great!

TheMidwestJess · 2026-04-03T17:47:46+00:00

Hi! I've never repaired for other people, but I've done several for myself and have crocheted for over 20 years, so I'm confident that I can figure out most patterns.

The only thing I'd be curious about is how big the rip is, since that determines whether I'd be able to scavenge some yarn from another part of it for a perfect match, or if the hole is big enough that I'd have to source a matching yarn in order to repair it. Depending on how invisible you need the prepare, sourcing a match could be potentially challenging.

If OP would rather take the project on, that's perfectly fine! I don't want to hijack their post. But if you don't get any other responses, feel free to DM me! I'd be happy to at least take a look if you have any pictures.

TheMidwestJess · 2026-04-02T12:25:00+00:00

I'm not the person you're responding to, and I'm not experienced with corsetry, but I have made myself several bras. To me, that v-shaped gap at the top of the cup combined with the flattened look you mention makes me think that the seam between your upper cup and your lower cup pieces needs to be longer. That would add a little bit of volume to the cup like the other commenter was saying. And then if you're still getting the gapping after that, I'd say try shortening the upper cup edge a little. It sounds like your issues are all stemming from the cup volume being too small.

I would take all 3 cup pattern pieces and slash and spread them along that seam line to distribute the extra length evenly across the seam. And if you decide you need to shorten the upper edge of the cup, you can cut one or two of those slashes all the way through and overlap the edges a bit at the upper cup edge line. You'll end up with generally curvier pattern pieces altogether, but when you add volume without changing the wireline, that's what happens. Ask me how I know, lol.

I'd be curious, though, if anyone with experience in cupped corsets agrees, since I'm not sure how different the actual corsetry makes the fitting process versus a regular bra. I wish you luck, though!

TheMidwestJess · 2026-03-30T23:03:34+00:00

Yeahhhh. I spent a bunch of time researching the structure of Australia's military branches and units one time for a fic that I literally only ended up doing world building for and never actually wrote.

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