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!