IN FORM®

By Marcy Montgomery Jones
Cupid Intimates

Sewing shapewear (or girdles if you’re “old school”) requires patience and skill.  The high stretch and slickness of most of the fabrics, combined with the presence of multiple plies, makes attention to fabric handling very important.  As a designer of intimate apparel, I’ve learned some useful tricks over the years to make the process more successful.  These tips can also be used when making swimwear, dancewear, or panties since sewing these items creates similar challenges.  Here are seven tricks for sewing professional-looking garments. (more…)

By Marcy Montgomery Jones
Cupid Intimates

If your body’s shape lies somewhere outside the range of common sizes, you undoubtedly encounter trouble shopping.  We’ve already discussed problems and solutions for the tall woman, but what about those for the small one?  If you’re petite, you know the central problem is always length – inseams, sleeves, and torsos are just too long.  But small women are also often swallowed by garments designed for those with fuller hips and larger busts.  One solution is to take your outerwear to a tailor.  If she’s experienced and there’s ample fabric, adjustments can be made to give you the proper fit for your small frame.  But what do you do about your shapewear?  Here are some helpful hints to allow you to confidently choose shapewear that will work well with your smaller body. (more…)

By Adam Welsch
Cupid Intimates

Last week, this blog offered some laundering tips to help keep black lingerie looking its blackest.  But what about white intimates?  Though not as popular as it once was, white is perhaps the most traditional color of underwear, and can still be found in most dresser drawers and closets.  Maintaining its brightness and clarity is important, and may be the most challenging of all laundering tasks.

Keeping white bras, panties , and shapewear their whitest requires a mostly different set of tactics than that used to care for black lingerie.  However, as with black undies, remember the laundry room’s first rule of thumb – the steps you take to clean your unmentionables should never contradict the instructions on your garments’ care labels.  Maintaining your shapewear’s bright white appearance, for example, will do you no good if you ruin the integrity or stretch of its fabrics. (more…)

By Adam Welsch
Cupid Intimates

News out of the Middle East last week held relevance for these pages.  It seems that in an effort to placate the more conservative elements of its society, the government of the Gaza Strip turned its attention towards dealing with the disruptive force of women’s intimate apparel.  Its police instructed owners of stores selling bras, panties, and other types of undies to remove lingerie-clad mannequins from their windows and storefronts, and take down marketing materials showing women wearing the items they’re trying to sell.  As experienced readers of this blog know, this isn’t the first time that the complexities of women’s underwear have made news in the Middle East.  Earlier this year, a movement in Saudi Arabia gained worldwide attention by protesting the convention that prevents women from selling intimates to other women in stores.  So, just how often has lingerie mixed with current events to make the evening news?  The answer is more times than you might expect. (more…)