A couple of great sewing friends contacted me. We’d all taken classes with Jeanette of Sew Uplifting, but we were all feeling a lack of motivation. We decided to get together over Zoom, and agree to some accountability – we’d all make something by the end of April.
I shared I was just weary, and didn’t want to keep working on my draft right now. I don’t want to give up on it, but I wanted to sew again. So I said I’d sew a bra.
I need a basic beige bra in my wardrobe, so that’s what I made.
This is my drafted frame and the cups from B, Wear’s Angie pattern.
This bra is using my new wire style and size, and unfortunately, although that seems to be fitting better, I now need to go up a size in the cups.
The Omega shape is causing problems again.
I’m using a size smaller wire, so I had to lower both the front and the sides of the cups to get it to fit in the frame. This is also a narrower frame – to fit the wire. Once I put the bra on, I could see I really need a power bar to pull in everything on the side.
Something I really like about the Angie pattern is how rounded the cups are. They give such a nice shape when wearing the bra too. However, using the smaller wire size and narrower frame, the rounder shape didn’t seem to be fitting into my frame as well.
The back is fine. The band is too. It was comfortable, and stayed in place. However, I’m very disappointed this is not wearable.
I’m off to work on getting my next bra to fit.
Happy creating!
Here’s the square I’m blocking right now. It rolls under, and it isn’t actually square.
After it’s all pinned it’s square. Then I spray it really well with water and leave it to dry. I really am enjoying this. It’s wonderful to unpin each square and see how nice it looks.
It’s so lovely! It’s also so very comfortable. Everything about this bra is the same as a ‘normal’ bra – channeling, underwire, but it’s all soft cotton jersey.
To account for the stretchiness of the jersey, the original sewer went down a full size to make her jersey bra. I did the same, and it fits very well. I do need to make a couple of adjustments for my Omega shape, but other than that, this is a very good fit.
There isn’t anything different about the back except I used jersey again. The whole bra is jersey except for the elastics, and the underwire and wires. As well, to keep this very soft and comfortable, I did not stabilize the frame.
I pulled out Catherine (my dress form) for this Angie. She’s a little wider through the back than my white dress form. So I thought the bra would fit better around. And it does.
There isn’t anything different about the back except I did the two stitches to attach the strap elastic again. I do like it better. 
I hope this Angie fits perfectly.
Yes. A longline is what she wanted.
Isn’t this pretty? I don’t usually wear white, but I really do like this.
I can’t wait to see it on her. I know she’s going to be a lot happier with more coverage.
Unfortunately, due to covid and lockdowns, I’m having to mail her the bra and then we’ll use video to test the fit. It’s not ideal, but I should still be able to get close to what adjustments I’ll need to make.
The one benefit I had making her bra is I’ve had so much experience with Omega adjustments. She got most of them, and everything came together quite well.
I did a little something different on the back this time. I don’t love how the lightening stitch looks on the strap elastic, so I decided to look at my RTW bra. It has the same lightening stitch along the outer edge, but it has a zigzag on the other side.
Isn’t that nicer?
She said she likes lace, and black, and well, anything but brown. So I gave her the first two choices on her list.
This is such a lovely lace. Seeing as she doesn’t have any support issues, I didn’t line this. I did line the cradle though.
The turned out so well. She comes over next week to try it on. (Yes, we’ll have masks on to make sure no one shares anything we don’t want to share!)
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.