I've been hoarding underwear elastics. Everytime I see a bundle with a picot edge or a plush back I'm chucking it in my basket thinking "this will come in later!!". Last summer I took a trip to the Antique Emporium in Stockport to find their haberdashery area was absolutely RIFE with elastics and bra-making supplies and god knows what else (check it out- deffo worth a trip if you're in the area).
I've probably mentioned before that underwear projects are always fun for me because I love combining fabrics. For this project I used this powermesh with velvetty polka dots alongside plain black powermesh. I think I bought both of these off of Amazon during the first lockdown and I've been sat on them until I had suitable elastics to make something cute.
The pattern is a freebie off of the Mood Fabrics website. Again, something I dowloaded yonks ago but still hadn't had a go at. The pattern is a softcup bra with no back fastening, so I would encourage bra-making beginners to give this one a go! The pattern features A/B cup pieces and larger cup pieces, as well as being generally multi-sized anyway. I cut a B cup and a Size 4, I did find it was a little large in some areas - I did end up increasing the side seams.
The walk-through on the website suggests using French seams so encase all the seam allowances. I opted not to for this attempt as I was unsure how the fir would be and the thought of unpicking french seams on delicate stretch fabrics when it didn't fit was too harrowing-a-thought! I feel like the pattern did miss a trick in not encasing the seams between the fabric and the lining. Next time I makes one (there will deffo be a next time!!) I will stitch the outer and lining cup pieces separately (instead of treating the lining like an underlining) so that the seam allowances can hide inside. I think this should be easily doable with the side seams too once I settle on a seam allowance.
Whether hiding the seam allowances inside or not, I would recommend a narrow top-stich on the cup seam for a professional looking finish. I top stitched the underband seam too for a little extra stability.
The bra doesn't use underwire, but for a little extra 'hold' I stitched a narrow piece of elastic onto the seam allowance of the underband. I added a little tension as I stitched as I wanted to mkae up for the pattern being a little large in some areas. Just make sure the tension is even and don't pull too much because you still want the bralette to be comfortable! Also be mindful of the bulkiness this could cause at the sideseam where the underbust seam meets.
With the abundance of lovely elastics I decided to make my own straps instead of cutting some off of an old bra. I had hoops and sliders close at hand so seemed a shame not to have a go. I feel much more confident in how to succesfully assemble a slider that works now! Honestly, it's like a brain-teaser for me everytime! I love the exposed straps on the back that pop up from between the back bands. I added an extra hoop to the straps here just for a bit of extra interest.
Instead of just folding over the top edges I added some delicate elastic for a scalloped edge.
I've been thinking a lot about authenticity recently, particularly while I've been writing music. I've shared a few "yay look what I made" pictures of this project on Insta, but I'm going to be honest about a couple of the fuck ups I met along the way. When sewing the front of the bra to the gold loops, I rammed my needle right down onto a metal ring and bam - of course the needle snapped in two. Funny how you can't stitch metal eh?
The next fuck up would be my elastic choice for the bottom band. I used quite a hefty plush elastic with picot edge. I stitched it from the inside, before flipping the elastic to the inside and top stitching. I'd added a little tension, again aiming to aid the fit. I must say the stitching was really neat and it looked pretty lush! .... Then I actually tried it on and the band didn't grip to my body and looked like it was tretching out the fabric and generally just looked lumpy! Luckily I hadn't cut or trimmed any of the fabric, just the piece of elastic. So I hastily unpicked both rows of stitching. In attempt to shrink the fabric where it may have stretched (tho didn't look too band once the elastic was off), I gave it a few blasts of steam. After much rummaging I found a piece of delicate picot elastic and attched that in it's place. Phew! Much better fit.
There was something really satisfying about adding the 'cage' straps to the front. The pattern does feature another strap from the front to the side seam, but I felt the underarm area already sat quite high on me and another strap there would be quite uncomfortable.
Things to consider for next time:
- Making the pattern a little smaller. The cupsize fits my bust nicely, I think I oculd do with taking a little bit of fabric out of the side panels. As stretch fabrics are so forgiving, there is defintely scope to make it smaller without fear of it being too tight
- Encasing the seams inside the lining (as mentioned above)
- Making the neckline a little lower? Also making the front to underarm panel sit a little lower so I can incorporate the second pair of cage straps
- Fabrics! Velvet would look lush alongside the powermesh
- Leading me on to - maybe the centre bust panel being powermesh and the side panels and bands being err, less see-thru.
- Making sure I have enough elastic to finish the top and bottom aaaaand to make matching knickers with. I used a bit of a mish mash of what was left over here which looks fine but I do like an excuse to buy more supplies!
- Inserting cups? Just an idea, but if sewing the fabric and lining separately it could be quite easy to insert foam cups between the two and give my pancakes a bit of shape.
Overall though, really pleased with this bralette! A cool find from the Mood Sewciety website and completely free download!
See part 2 for how I made the matching knickers 😊
x
Location: Home sweet sweet home
Currently listening to: Mystery Girl, Alexandra Savoir
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