This post isn’t about something new I’ve made, but rather my thoughts on Lycra for making bras. I had a question from a reader why I changed my mind about Lycra. Carmen, here’s your answer. Thanks for the post idea.
A Material History
The first bra I ever made, I didn’t keep. To me, it looked terrible! You won’t even find it here on my blog. It was made from a tricot kit. And despite pinning it and taking my time, I had a terrible time sewing with tricot. And I was not new to knits. I just found tricot very hard to sew.
After that first experience, I mostly moved on to more local supplies, and being in Canada, that meant duoplex. Duoplex is wonderful and firm, and not at all challenging to sew. I do think that first experience made me shy away from Lycra as well.
However, I had a few lovely kits that had Lycra in them, so I did start to experiment a little with it. Like this lovely Sewy Rebecca. Oh, this is still an absolute favorite make of mine.
This kit was from Merckwaerdigh, and I still love her kits. However, Lycra on it’s own was not as supportive for me as duoplex.
Once I started sewing with duoplex, I kind of just stuck with it. I like the ease, and I liked the support. Although, that didn’t stop me from buying pretty kits with Lycra.
Like this.
Or these.
Initially, I was adding little pops of color to my bras using mostly duoplex, but adding in some Lycra over duoplex for color.
As much as I loved this bra too, I still had those kits that were all Lycra and lace. I had to figure a way to use them too.
It was then I found sheer cup lining. Layering sheer cup lining and Lycra together gives me the support I need. Even just sheer cup lining alone it supportive enough.
This bra is all sheer cup lining.
I also wanted to use other fabrics too. Like this lovely red bra below.
This bra is lingerie satin with sheer cup lining.
Being able to use sheer cup lining made me feel so much confident to use Lycra and other bra-making fabrics rather than only using duoplex. These other fabrics are lovely too, but I need a supportive fabric along with them.
I’ve recently bought a kit with micro duoplex in it. That will be a first for me.
Happy creating!
Still, I wanted the experience of doing a root trace with copper wire. And I’m very glad I did.
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.
My trace is smaller at the bottom, but it matches the width at the top of the wire.
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.
The next part of the course is to make a fitting band.
I think my favorite classes were the Fit Clinics. There were 3 of them, and each had 3 or 4 women who had signed up to sew a bra, and then have the fit evaluated.. Suggestions were then given in the clinic to correct the fit. Not surprisingly, it seemed most of the women had issues with small band/large cups.
Above is the one I’ve been using.
And I chose this Watson for my new header. Do you have a preference?
Oh, this mesh!
This is also the last of my lovely Café au lait beige. It’s a little darker than a lot of the beige cotton Lycras I’ve seen, and I like it too.
The lace trim matches the cotton Lycra perfectly, and both are the same Café au lait as in the burn-out mesh.
Oh, I like this. I also like the Angie’s Twin pattern. Other than a few adjustments for an Omega shape – smaller wires & frame, and a larger cup – I didn’t have to change anything on this pattern.
There was just a tiny bit of lace left over to add to the sides. Just to add a bit more detail.
All that red really pops here.
Oh, such pretty lace!
I tried a couple of different bows on the front to see what color I liked the best. I decided, even though the pink blends in, it was the only one that didn’t seem to pull the attention away from the lace. I love it too.
One of the reasons I hadn’t tried the Jessica pattern is I have to make adjustments to my bra cups so they’ll fit in a smaller frame. Omega: larger cups, with a smaller frame and wires.
This is what I tried, and I have to say, I was pretty close. I still need to take in the underarm a little, but other than that, I got a great fit.
Well, maybe it’s not so clear. Here’s a close up.
You can see I just have a little bit folded under there. Probably 1/4″ x 2 removed from the underarm there and it will fit absolutely perfectly. Not bad for a first time testing the pattern. And isn’t that purple elastic so pretty with the navy?
This is a great adjustment when you don’t want the cup size to be smaller, but just the amount of fabric in the underarm area. This works perfectly!
I really am happy with this. I didn’t think I could make a cup with only one seam work for me.
On the bra for the BMS challenge, I used the burn-out mesh on it’s own. On this one, I’ve used it over power net. I wasn’t looking for sheer on this bra.
It’s so fun! When I first started sewing bras, I experimented a little and I tried using Lycra and mesh over power net. It gives a wonderfully supportive feel. It adds support, but it isn’t too much like two layers of power net would feel. This isn’t too much. It feels a little more supportive.
When I tried this on to see how the adjustments I’d made were, it fit so perfectly and was so comfortable, I didn’t want to take it off for photos. I did, but there was no way I was going to put on my old bra. I need to sew a few more too. I was down to a RTW stretch-cup bra when my size changed.