A New Drafting Method

Something I’ve wanted to do for the past year is learn Porcelynne‘s method of drafting bras. It looks quite different from the BMS method I’ve learned and I was intrigued. 

Watching a few of Jennifer’s classes in the Great Bra Sewing Bee helped give me the push I needed to try this.

First things first, as I mentioned my last post, I needed to do a root trace to determine my wire size. Well, I actually didn’t think I really needed to do a root trace because I have all the wire sizes from BMS – they came with the Drafting course I took.  Still, I wanted the experience of doing a root trace with copper wire. And I’m very glad I did.

My Results

This is my copper wire root trace on laid over a 38 Extra Long wire from BMS. And in case you’re wondering, the copper wire is much longer than my root trace.This is pretty close. I’d say it would be an exact fit – except for the upper part of the wire. This would explain why I felt the 38 wires were pinching me.

Here’s the same copper wire trace over a 40 Long wire from BMS.My trace is smaller at the bottom, but it matches the width at the top of the wire.

So, it seems I am in-between wire sizes.

After asking for some help in the Support for Bare Essentials group, it was suggested I watch this video.

After realizing I could bend my wires, I tried gently bending one of my 38 wires. I really didn’t want it to snap while doing this, so gentle was the way to go.And I have my perfect wire! And I have a whole bunch of 38 Extra Long wires, so this will be very handy to do so I can still use them.

I was also given another great tip in the Support group: Emerald Erin carries wires that are a little wider at the top.

I printed out her wire chart for her Orange wires, and perfection! And without me bending anything.The next part of the course is to make a fitting band.

Happy creating!