My last bra wasn’t even blog worthy, so I decided to make another beige bra. I really do need a couple of lighter bras for summer.

And I wanted lace on the upper cup too. I love lace. I’m still trying to figure out how to incorporate a lace upper cup. The shape of the upper cup curves quite a bit on this pattern, and most upper cups are fairly straight across that upper edge. I did try using lace on one beige bra. I cut the lace following the curved edge and zigzagged over the raw cut edge, but I didn’t love how it turned out. I’m thinking a dart might be needed to incorporate the curve, maybe two. Like this:

So, enough of that disappointment, and even the contemplation. Here is my most recent Beige Plunge:

I love this bra! It’s so pretty. To use the lace, I cut the upper cups from Duoplex and then laid the lace over that. The Duoplex is from Bra Makers Supplies (BMS), and so are all my other components, except the lace, which was a gift. Thank you again, Naomi. The pattern is from BMS too, but altered to fit an Omega shape and then altered again to make a ‘fake’ demi bra, or plunge-style bra.

The lace is a nice stretch lace, but it was a bit challenging to use at first. I pinned it down, and did a zigzag over the lace, and it moved. I took the stitches out, and tried again, and it moved again. I changed my stitch length, tried again, and it moved again! I thought briefly of not using lace, but instead got out my trusty Temporary Fabric Adhesive (TFA), and sprayed the back of the lace, laid it over the upper bra cups and sewed it. It didn’t move at all. I love TFA for anything difficult like that. It worked perfectly! I’ve used it before and highly recommend it for anything like that.

Here you can see the lace overlaying the Duoplex. I may use this technique in a few more ways. I really am happy with this and how it turned out.

I loved the look of the lace on the upper cup, so put some on the band too. I wanted the scallops to show, so didn’t cover the whole band. The elastic has a lot of stretch, so it works very well on the band.

And the back band. There were no problems here.

Here’s a close up of the bridge. How pretty is that? The trim, the lace, the bow? I’m very excited to now have two bras that fit so well. What a struggle this has been.

On my desk next week is to work on the Kwik Sew 3300, sew an apron for a friend, and clone a bra for her. I told her I’m willing to clone her favorite bra so she has a pattern, and sew her up a copy, but I’m very weary of alterations just now, so no alterations.

Happy Creating!