Bra-La-La-La-La

 Happy December! We have had snow on the ground for a month already. If you don’t know my area, you might think this sounds normal for being just shy of Canada. However, even if we get a snow storm here or there, it doesn’t usually “stick” until Christmas/solstice. At that point this year, we will have already had six weeks of white ground cover.

I usually try sewing bras in the new year. Not for any particular reason, but it is an indoor activity. What with the snow, my brain has shifted into sewing mode a bit earlier than I normally do… I hope this doesn’t interfere with Christmas plans!

The first step in bra sewing is figuring out what size you wear. I really don’t know. I buy one size in store, but I know it doesn’t fit correctly. If I try the next size up, which should fit, it doesn’t. I think mine are somewhat closely set, or right on the verge of it, because the center gore always sits on my breast tissue, the  underwire usually pokes my sides or digs into my breast on the side, and the bras squashes them to facing sideways in a rather derpy and unflattering way. As a result, I either purchase a smaller size that sits a good quarter inch away from my chest wall, or go with a plunge style (if available, not always at hand), that is also a size or two smaller so that it doesn’t try to force the girls to flee to my sides. And, by the way, that conclusion had taken me quite a while to fully realize.

So, what’s a woman who has a little bit of sewing ability to do? Sew a bra. Right… You may have seen several attempts already. Some of them look oh so nice! But, do I wear my Me-Made bras? Uh, nope. Why not? Well, remember the squashing and wire poking thing? It happens in home sewn ones, too. What to do?

I started with focusing on the one bra type that never seems to cause pain; Partial Band, or Frameless bras. The finished cup, inside the wire, is the exact same size as the normal Full Band bras, but the way the bra is made, the breasts can move and thereby the wires don’t dig. I have tried a couple patterns, but felt like there was something not quite right. So, I went back to measurements and size charts. 

Turns out, -I mentioned it already - I don’t know my size. I went through about twenty size charts, even different ones in the same company, and I came up with a variety of sizes. Now, some of my children are grown, and I know that my torso has changed over the years, but this is ridiculously hard to figure out. Solution? Just pick a size, sew it, see what happens.

First up: Lansdowne by Orange Lingerie. 

Starting size? 38C (same cup as 36D, but wider bottom band)

Fabric: leftover from a BraBuilders kit, Wild Thing

Elastics: theBraMakery on Etsy

First impression: bottom band elastic is too tight, okay if only attached at top hook. I did not stretch the elastic during application. Top edge of band has wiggle room. Cup has a 1/4” dart (half inch of fabric) that I can pinch out by the underarm. The wires don’t fit the channeling (I have 42s, this size calls for 40s, but I could not find them in my supplies in the Plunge style). 

After wearing it all day, my breasts ache… is it the bra or hormones? Middle age is fun!