August in the bra making community is focused around BRAugust. This is a month long, photo prompt celebration of all things lingerie, swimwear and activewear, hosted by Tailor-made Shop @tailormadeshop over on Instagram
IT.IS.SO.MUCH.FUN!!!
Ying from Tailor-made Shop invites pattern designers and lingerie supply shop owners world-wide to each sponsor a day, and then each participant who posts a photo based on that day's theme then goes in the running to win that day's giveaway. There are 30 prizes in total to be won!
Nellie Joans was only a month old when I first participated, it saw the creation of my first ever tutorial, Embellishing with Bead Drops, and my first giveaway.
Now I love a giveaway as much as the next person but even without all that excitement there is still plenty of reason to join in with BRAugust.
Community
There is a great sense of community and one that grows every year. Sometimes being a sewist can feel a bit isolating and even more so when you are into a niche part of sewing like lingerie making. It's so soothing to realise that there are LOTS of people out there who enjoy making their own lingerie/swimwear/activewear too!
Inspiration
It's a great source of inspiration! With the wide variety of themes and then with everyone's different interpretation of them, the hashtags (#braugust and #braugust2020) are jam packed full of wonderful ideas from the bra making community. My to-sew list has grown longer than my life span!
A snapshot of my feed showing a handful of the BRAugust prompts and photos
It's fun!
Overall, there is a great sense of fun. It's not all about showing off super fancy handmade underwear, there are also plenty of laughs and 'oh boy, learn from my mistakes' shared. Those makes that turned out to look a whole better in your head than in realisation and just the fun, whimsical 'funderwear' makes.
Rebecca Yaker was the winner of my prompt 'Colourblocking' (photo credit @rebeccayaker)
Rebecca also sews some bespoke creations that you can check out here
Achievable
BRAugust makes you realise that sewing your own lingerie is obtainable. The support and openness in the community, I think, helps break down barriers and allows people to not be afraid of asking 'how do I start/what do you recommend?' questions.
Friendship
Lastly, you can create very real friendships with people across the globe, ones you may only ever meet in IG chat but that doesn't make them any less precious than your 'in real life' friendships.
For my participation in BRAugust, I try to film a little IG Stories video for each day's prompt. I really enjoy filming these (and sometimes posting the blooper facials!) it's been a great way to connect to the other participants not only over the braugust prompt but also other random things like what other me-mades I'm wearing, my lipstick colour and what the weather is like in our different hemispheres.
If you haven't participated in BRAugust before then I highly recommend you join us for next year. You don't have to have made many (if any really) bras and instead you could post about future makes and plans, fabric you have stashed, fond memories of your childhood swimsuit...anything!
You don't need to post about finished creations, in this one I sketched up plans for swimwear sewing.
August 2021 will roll around pretty quick and the creative, bra-making community are waiting to welcome you! See you there next year!
A big thanks to Ying from Tailor-made Shop for all her organisation and dedication in bringing this exciting event to life.