Thursday 28 June 2018

My first (homemade) bra

I first saw the Fenway pattern by Orange Lingerie around a year ago. I hadn't thought a great deal about bra-making, but I thought it was beautiful and I couldn't wait to get started. Unfortunately, I got serious decision paralysis looking at findings, so it took me ages to find casing, closures, underwire, sliders and the various types of elastic. When the beautiful silver sliders turned out to be about twice as big as I needed the project began to lose its shine, and it all just started to seem like more hassle than it was worth. Even with such a long gap between buying the pattern and sitting down to make my first bra, I still found I had the wrong parts (closures), parts I didn't like (foldover elastic) and things I'd somehow forgotten to buy altogether (strap elastic).

I finally decided to get back on board after becoming increasingly aware of fit issues with all my ready to wear bras. Basically every time I find a bra that fits in the front, it's too tight in the back, and if it fits in the back then the underwire ends up way under my arm. Obviously either option is pretty uncomfortable, and generally I either can't wait to take off a bra at the end of the day, or just don't feel properly supported in the front. 

Since the Love to Sew ladies mentioned a broad back adjustment a few months back, I've tried it out a few times and it really does seem to improve the fit of tops on me. As the fit of the tops improves, however, it becomes ever more clear that the layer underneath could really use some work.

Before I set to work on the fit, I figured I should toile a standard size, on the off chance that Norma's block is more Nicky-shaped than, well, every other brand.



I had a free weekend and ended up making two toiles, here's the first:



This one got to trying on stage, just, but the cups were super warped because I'd stretched out the fabric of the upper cup when I was attaching the fold over elastic. It threw the shape of the whole cup out of whack, so I went back to square one and staystitched that edge first.

I started again and staystitched that edge before I started sewing, which really helped. The only issue is that staying inside a 1/4 inch seam allowance on viscose was impossible (presumably this is why the instructions don't advise it), so I had to unpick the stitches later - this worked OK for a cheap toile, but I'll be trying stabiliser or a walking foot next time to avoid damaging the fabric.

Eventually, though, I ended up with something that looked rather a lot like an actual bra, which made me feel like a bit of a superhero - even if I did have to mash the fabric into the closure because I bought the wrong size.








This basically fits exactly as I would expect a 34C to fit me, and in fact it was pretty comfy so I wore it for the rest of the day once I'd finished.

In an attempt to address my usual fit issues, I'll be cutting out a 32D in the cups next time - my thinking is that the volume of these cups should be about the same, but the distribution should suit me better without me having to alter the pattern much.

Thumbs up
-  I love this pattern - check out the fenwaybra hashtag to see some beautiful versions. The versions with contrasting upper and lower cups are my favourite -  

-  The instructions were awesome. There were a couple of moments where I way scratching my head, but that's just because I'm new to bra-making - absolutely everything you need to know about constructing the bra is in the instructions, which are clear and easy to read.

Thumbs down
 -  I'm really not at all keen on the foldover elastic. I don't know whether I dislike foldover elastic in general, or just the quality of the stuff that I've found, but it reminds me of a plastic pan scourer in texture. I don't like the sheen and I think it looks really naff in areas where it's sandwiching more layers. I've ordered some decorative elastic, that doesn't fold, to try next time. If anyone's managed to find "nice" foldover elastic in the UK then I'd love to hear about it! I've only really seen one type, in various colours

 - That I didn't buy proper strap elastic - enough said.

- I'm not generally a fan of contrast stitching, and my bra certainly isn't a great advert for it! If I make a contrast version again I think I'll change my top thread to match.

Notes for next time
- 32D in the front
- Proper strap elastic
- Foam for lower cups 
- Walking foot should help over multiple layers
- Stabiliser/starch?
- Different elastic for upper cups and back band

All in all I'm pretty chuffed with this. I thought I would find the process frustrating, but there were only a couple of tricky parts construction-wise: elastic on the top bias edge; and keeping the foldover elastic neat when going over lots of layers, which I barely managed. 

The whole process was really satisfying, thanks to excellent drafting and instructions, and I'm excited about improving the fit on future versions. Hopefully it won't take me a year, this time.

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