I'm on the lingerie bandwagon. I don't wear normal clothes at work (ugh, white scrubs!) and it's a bit depressing to give away nearly everything I sew lately. My sewing projects have been things I thought up ages ago, or things I'm making for other people. I'm finally at the crossroads when I'm starting to plan new interesting things that are more relevant, and the underlayers are a nice part of that!
I read Demystifying Bra Fitting & Construction and bought a few kits to make this less confusing. I referred to nearly every one of Anne's posts. She is so detailed and helpful. Seeing her bras improve over the past few months has made them feel achievable.
I did as required by the book, and made my own bridge - the center piece between the cups. I wonder if I overdid it and made it too small. I wasn't sure what size to go by. My usual bras are 32C, occasionally 32D. Instructions say to measure the difference between your high bust and your bust and go by the difference. My high bust is about 2 inches bigger than my bust. Nobody says what to do in this case. It's due to muscles, I guess, but it seems mystifying that no patterns ever mention it. I decided to do a 32C and see what would happen. I used a makebra kit, because Anne recommended them and recommended the foam. I hate foam bras but I thought it was still helpful since I had no clue which fabric was best where. I was also amazed how well the foam compresses when you sew the seam allowances down. (It didn't make me like the foam.)
It comes together very fast. I used wires from spitzenparadies webshop. I got two of their bra kits as well. I bought one set of every underwire that had similar measurements to my current bra wires. I ended up with a huge variety, many of which clearly are wrong. Presumably once you find the right wire you can get a bunch of the same size.
This bra was completely a muslin because I couldn't assess whether the size was right. You really can't tell until you put the wires in and that's the last step. It fits! Next step is to make one that I will wear and see how it feels. I'm not going to use foam, that's for sure. I'm curious how different it will be.
I read Demystifying Bra Fitting & Construction and bought a few kits to make this less confusing. I referred to nearly every one of Anne's posts. She is so detailed and helpful. Seeing her bras improve over the past few months has made them feel achievable.
I did as required by the book, and made my own bridge - the center piece between the cups. I wonder if I overdid it and made it too small. I wasn't sure what size to go by. My usual bras are 32C, occasionally 32D. Instructions say to measure the difference between your high bust and your bust and go by the difference. My high bust is about 2 inches bigger than my bust. Nobody says what to do in this case. It's due to muscles, I guess, but it seems mystifying that no patterns ever mention it. I decided to do a 32C and see what would happen. I used a makebra kit, because Anne recommended them and recommended the foam. I hate foam bras but I thought it was still helpful since I had no clue which fabric was best where. I was also amazed how well the foam compresses when you sew the seam allowances down. (It didn't make me like the foam.)
It comes together very fast. I used wires from spitzenparadies webshop. I got two of their bra kits as well. I bought one set of every underwire that had similar measurements to my current bra wires. I ended up with a huge variety, many of which clearly are wrong. Presumably once you find the right wire you can get a bunch of the same size.
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| Stitching the seam allowances down made a big difference in the appearance of the cups |
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| You can see on the left seam how nicely the foam compresses |
This bra was completely a muslin because I couldn't assess whether the size was right. You really can't tell until you put the wires in and that's the last step. It fits! Next step is to make one that I will wear and see how it feels. I'm not going to use foam, that's for sure. I'm curious how different it will be.
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