Recently, Beverly Johnson put out a call for testers for a new pattern. Well, at the time, I had two new patterns I wanted to try. You’ll see one next week – the Angie pattern. I already had that cut out even, but… I really wanted to test the new Pin-up Girls pattern! So I sent in my submission.

Ingrid

Here’s Beverly’s new Pin-up Girls pattern. It was just released yesterday. Ingrid is a non-wired bra pattern, with three front-closing options, as well as a comfort band option.

The pattern is a little bit different from previous Pin-up Girls patterns in how you measure for this bra. For this one, you measure your Bottom Cup Depth (BCD) for your cup size. Then you measure your rib cage for your band measurement. So if your BCD is 4-inches, you cut out a 4 cup size. If your rib cage is 34-inches, then you cut out a 34 band. It’s easy once you know your BCD. If you want a more detailed explanation on BCD, you can read Beverly’s blog post on it here.

If you’re not sure about the sizing, there’s also a handy chart showing some cup size equivalents for the different BCDs.

Testing the Pattern

I had everything cut out and was starting to sew. I had the cups together, but something didn’t look right. It was time to stop and figure out where I went wrong. It turned out I’d sewn one of the pieces on the wrong way, so check everything when you’re sewing this.

I was glad I’d only sewn the cups. I decided to start over with new cups rather than rip all the stitches out.  However, before I cut out those new cups, I took some time to double-check. This led me to do some labeling on the pattern pieces, and add some notes to the instructions. Now I was ready to start over.

The second time it went much more quickly, and came together much more easily. I did have all that previous experience, and my notes and labels to help me.

Here’s my Ingrid.I really like this bra. I’m rather impressed with the support it gives for not having a wire.

As soon as I was done sewing Ingrid, I put her on. I wore her for the remainder of the day. As well as supportive, it was also very comfortable.

As I was walking around, thinking the bra was rather supportive, I tried jumping up and down a bit to see just how supportive it was. Okay, I won’t say nothing moved, but I was impressed with the support once again.

Do you see that weird part at the center front where it goes up? That’s my attempt to make a bit of a Gothic Arch. Well, it might fit more like one, but it doesn’t look so great here. That’s something I can work on.

Here’s the side view.

And the back. I did find the band a little big, so ended up taking the band in and re-attaching the straps.I looked for a grey hook and eye set, but my stash seems to be very low on hooks and eyes. That’s something to stock up on.  So rather than grey on the back, it’s white. If you look closely, you’ll see I didn’t have 3/8″ upper band elastic in black or grey. Again, I had white on hand, so that’s what I used.

Repairs

I had the cups cut out the second time and was marking the cups – oh, the pattern has notches to match up. I liked that. So, when I was transferring all the markings, I realized one of the bottom cups I’d cut out had a flaw in the material. I didn’t have any more grey duoplex to cut another pair or even another cup.

After looking at where the flaw was, I decided I could do a repair. You can see it here at the top. I’ve already bonded a bit more duoplex to the back.Here’s the back of the repair. There’s double-sided interfacing fused between the duoplex and that little strip.Thankfully, the majority of this repair isn’t seen in the bra – it’s in the seam.

Here’s a close up of the cup showing the repaired flaw.

Pretty Features

There are some aspects of this pattern I really like. I like the new measuring system using BCD. I like the option for a non-wired bra. I like that there are more notches and markings used on the pattern pieces. I also like a couple of features on the front of the bra.

I like the fold-over-elastic trim along the front edge. I think it looks sleek and modern. And the neckline shape is lovely as well. It reminds me of a sweetheart neckline.I also like the power net inserts at the front. I think it looks unique.

I’m wondering what changes I’d need to make to change this into a sleep bra. Hmm. Beverly?

Beverly has two great posts on Ingrid. Introducing Ingrid, and How to Sew Ingrid. Both are great posts, but that second one, How to Sew Ingrid would have helped me the first sew through.

Happy creating!