We’re so glad you’re here. The Great Bra Sewing Bee team has a special place in our heart for beginners. We have a special lineup of classes, community, and Q&A for beginners during the “Beginner Bee” on August 4th 2021. We also have beginner classes and other opportunities during our virtual conference August 5-8, 2021. Explore below to find out more about our event and scroll to the bottom for some special coupons!
Have any questions or concerns? The Great Bra Sewing Bee team would love to help!
Fill out the form below or contact our HelpLine at 1-510-904-4272.
MEET THE BEGINNER SEWING EVENT TEACHERS
Helen Cloke
I absolutely love sewing and I love sewing lingerie in particular, so when Lynda of ‘Elle-Joans’ asked me if I’d like to take over her online lingerie supplies business then it was a no brainer.
It was perfect timing. I had recently decided to wrap up my 15 year long career in landscape design but quickly found myself getting restless being at home with nothing to do but housework. My skills definitely lie in sewing and not sweeping! I was needing a new way to engage my brain and creative flair.I remember when I first became interested in sewing my own lingerie and how bewildering it all seemed to be. I sketched up a large image of a bra and with every blog or book I read I added more and more notes and question marks to it….powernet / powermesh??? Frame / cradle??? Tricot??? What was all this new terminology and fabric?
Lily Fong
Lily Fong, M.Ed. is the owner and lead designer of LilypaDesigns. She helps people achieve their dreams – of a well fitting bra – through her PDF Sewing Patterns, Blog, Sewing Community, Online Courses and Sewing Supplies. Her patterns pieces are designed to mix and match different sizes to better match individual body shapes while the Instructions read like a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book.
Lily has studied multiple drafting methods and strives to help as many people as possible into comfortable bras. Her love of teaching and penchant for data led to a different method of selecting bra sizes – one that depends on breast measurement instead of chest circumference.
When not pattern making or interacting with clients, she can be found on various crafting adventures with her 3 boys babywearing the youngest with coffee in hand.
Monica O’Rourke Bravo
Monica is a self-proclaimed geek, teacher, a mother to two wonderful boys (Ben Michael & Sam). She has a B.A., a B.S., and is credentialed to teach physics, chemistry, and math. Monica’s educational background and experience has allowed her to approach the pattern making and design process from a very scientific angle. To her, patterns are nothing more than complex mathematical nets and a bra is an engineered structure designed to support mass.
BravoBella combines Monica’s love of science, sewing, and teaching. She considers herself a teacher at the core of her being and hopes to empower her customers through her classes and instructional materials.
Outside of BravoBella and teaching, you can find Monica spending quality time with her family, training as a black belt martial artist, or hanging with her sewing group over a glass of wine.