Karolina the Second

Last July, I tried out the Karolina bra pattern (purchased through Etsy from the LovelyOwnBra shop). I had tried fitting a wire to the root of my breast, but didn’t have a real good grasp on size (plus, they were still reducing from nursing my last baby). Now that I have a better approximation root tracing (thanks, hon!), I’m trying it again. And, the wire size was only off by a size or two, depending on the strength and flexibility of the wire.

One of the things I did before I put it up (for trips out of town, it was hard to focus on projects last summer with all the travel) was to tape together the cups for each size. The pro is that I can measure (with a ruler at least) and get a visual of how the cups go together. The con is that it’s still not something I can really “try on” to check the fit. 

I did come across a way to test fit just the cups, though! I’ve been testing them by sewing up just the cup, sewing on a wire casing (bias tape works and saves the channeling for real bras), and slipping in the wire. I can now test the basic fit. It’s not perfect, the band of the bra pulls the wire open while it’s being worn, but it’s better. Also, I haven’t been topstitching the latest ones, but the first few I did that included topstitching did give a better sense of fit.

With all that said and done, I’m going to sew the Karolina bra in the C (blue) cup with the longer, 80 cm, band.