Chickadee? Tit?

 Today, I’m looking at the Mésange Bra by Small Bobbins. Mésange means tit, as in the bird. 

It’s winter, I’m up a few pounds, I have to start over with sizing. My underbust can be an inch or two off either way any given day. 

Mésange asks for the bottom cup depth, BCD, for sizing. Let’s say my underbust is about 33 inches today, and my BCD is  about 9 cm. Mésange puts me in 38AA. Measuring the dart gives me a length of 8.6 cm, so a little shy of the length so that the dart ends doesn’t give a noticeable point. But, the horizontal hemisphere, HH, in this size is 7 5/8 inches, 19.4 cm. My HH is about 9 inches or 23 cm; 8 3/4 inches or 22.5 cm on the smaller side. Is the stretch cup going to make the difference if I use the cup suggested?

The underwire called for the 38AA is size 85. The chart provided on the Hariito website shows wires that are similar to the France wires by Emerald Erin. The chart starts at size 90, which is a size 36 in the France chart. That makes the 38AA use size 34, which is  smaller than I’ve fit before, and I don’t have a 34.

I sewed up a trial bra of the 38A size. The cradle is cup lining. The back and cups are firm? powernet. I think regular would have been better for this. The wire is too short for me, and makes a divot on my side. The band was too short around, I had to add the extender. So, that would  call for going up a size or two! I’ll have to find regular weight powernet and give it another go. 

This powernet only has about 20-25% stretch. Regular weight should be at least 50%! Oops, the pattern calls for 35% for the cups. I’ll have to look up which weight this is, the pattern requires the back band should have 150 - 200 gsm powernet, but doesn’t state the stretch percentage. 

For the underarm, the pattern calls for fold over elastic (FOE), and to remove the seam allowance. I left on the seam allowance, the bra would have been quite short without it.

I think I’ll try this pattern again, but in a larger wire size, and the correct stretch. Or, go up a couple band sizes to use this less stretchy fabric. I’ll have to play with it to see if my cup size is represented. It has potential, and the band seemed like it might be an okay fit. I’ll have to try the longline.