Oh la la – I made a bra!

Yes, the bra making adventures continue! 🙂

  
So after I made that first Watson bra, I adjusted the fit on the cups, ripped it apart & re-sewed. Probably should have just re-cut and re-made the whole thing from start to finish, just salvaging hardware, but now I know better 😉

Next, I made the Pin Up Girls Classic Bra, following the Craftsy course – it’s a fabulous course & taught me a whole bunch! 🙂

The fit was not ideal on my first draft. I was actually pretty upset at first because I thought I might need another cup size, which would mean I’d have to buy a new pattern, but the lovely and wise Beverly suggested I might just need a little extra added to my upper cup so, just like you would with any other garment muslin, I cut a slice into my upper cup and bam!! I had a better fitting bra – it was pretty comical how my bust just kinda sprang into place with that little extra room lol. The wedge I added to the pattern is pretty big – 1.25″ – and I haven’t sewn it up yet but when I do I’ll share my findings 🙂

Next I decided to try the Orange Marlborough Bra. I love the style and had a kit from Merckwardigh I was willing to sacrifice for a test run lol. The lace is a stretch lace, white with black detail, so I decided to play with this by lining the lower cup, bridge & frame in white, the power band in black, and leaving the upper cup unlined. You can see the contrast better from the inside but the subtle contrast is nicer on the outside.

  
  
I doubled up the lace for the band, and used the lace scallop as the bottom trim on the back band, but finished the frame at the bottom in band elastic as normal. I also had to cut the width at the back band down quite a bit to fit the 2×3 closure on.

I would probably prefer the feel of the band being in powernet next time but otherwise, I love the way it looks and feels! 🙂

  
I was thrilled that the bra fit and looks great on without adjustment so I bar tacked the underwire casing closed and sewed on a pretty jewel at the center. Will DEFINITELY be making this beauty again!! 🙂 

It’s Elementary, My Dear

So no big deal, I just sewed a bra & stuff 😉

  

Yes, this is the oh-so famous Watson by Amy of Cloth Habit 🙂

Because of my love of corsetry, I have been tempted to try sewing lingerie for awhile but nothing has motivated me enough to actually DO it (I hate sewing knits lol) until I saw this pattern. They just don’t make soft cup bras for large cup sizes, so I was really intrigued to see how the fit & support worked; at least for lounge purposes.

According to pattern I’m a 36F, but there were no pattern pieces for that so since my RTW size is 36DD I cut a 36E.

It is still a little big: there are some vertical drag lines at the top of the cup (which you can see more on me than on Patience); a little gaping under the arm & the top of the cup sits a little too high: all indications I need to go down a size, according to the sewalong – so next time I’ll try a 36D.

Construction was pretty straightforward: the instructions are thorough, illustrations were spot on, and really clear & helpful. However (as a noob) I was still a bit confused on the strap construction. My straps ended up too long, for one thing: there is a guideline for length at the beginning but no provision for adjusting later if you’re like me & do something wrong lol: I inserted it through the slider wrong like a dope, so I just went back & fixed it after I smartened up 😉

Also, the outside gives a nice finish with the topstitching but there is no accommodation for inside seam finishing in the pattern so my insides look a bit messy; no biggie but I might serge my edges before construction next time.

As a side note, I later discovered quite a bit of extra info was all covered in excellent detail on the sewalong including fit adjustments & more details on construction. Very helpful & answered some of my lingering questions after I’d finished 🙂

I did find when attaching the cups to the cradle that I had 1 cm extra on the cups at the side seams; I ripped out & inserted the first cup twice, ensured the center notches were matched, and I still had this on both sides so not sure if the pattern has an error? I trimmed them off flush with the band & it worked fine 🙂

The nitty gritty: it’s comfortable – much more so than an underwire bra lol. Support for large cup size is not bad! – definitely less than what an underwire bra gives, but more than braless lol; it gives a more natural silhouette – kind of “support lite” – definitely nice for lounging & looks seamless under tshirts.

The back sits quite low and the front is a nice deep V, which i quite like; would be great option for a lower cut dress in front or back; something I’ve never even considered as a larger cup size since the only other option is braless and that’s not an option at all lol.

One last thing: my supplies 😉 I want to shout out to Caroline from Blackbird Fabrics – I purchased one of her kits to make this one & not only was it lovely & of great quality, she is just a peach to deal with 🙂 I love being able to support a local company and my credit card hasn’t cooled off since my first purchase there lol 😉

In conclusion: my first foray into bra making was pretty successful! I learned a lot and am looking forward to perfecting my fit (I’ve started critiquing my RTW bra fit now too lol) 🙂 I also really loved that it was so space friendly: tiny pieces mean less fabric consumption too, and there was still enough room for Lola to share my sewing table ^_^