Standards

I was feeling frustrated about bra shopping. There’s only so many you can try on. I’ve found that I can get by with certain bras, like Demi style, or those with a low center front, but they don’t fit. In the last year, I’ve dropped forty pounds. So, now I have to start over in my bra making. Starting with measurements.

Underbust:
-breathing out, as small as I can go is now 28.5”, 72.5 cm
-inhaled, as big as I can fill my lungs: 32”, 81.3 cm

Overbust:
-taken above breast, high against armpits, this goes around my  pectoral muscles and scapula: 34.5 to 35”, 89 cm

Bust:
-brafree as no bra fits and I only own padded ones... 37”, 94 cm

Notes about shape: small bust, fit(ish) shape, fullness in lower bust, short bust!, wide tissue

Wire size:
40 Carmen from Emerald Erin or UW920-40 from Sew Sassy (38 still has a gap underneath, 42 is too big). Most wires are too rounded underneath for me.

Pattern...
I’ve picked up several patterns to try. Sadly, they all fall prey to the normal standard of bust size. Mine are not skinny, tall, or full. So, the main Demi-bra available for sewists to use is Boylston. We will start there.

Boylston directions are to exhale fully, add 4 or 5” to the underbust. 28” and 4 is 32, or round up to 29” and 5” is 34. Measure fullest part of bust (“supportive bra” yadda yadda) and high bust, difference of 2” gives us a B cup. Therefore, I should make a 34B bra... let’s just call it cups don’t fit, but! it gives us a starting point.

Let’s look at that wire, though. I have to go to the website because the pattern does not include wire sizes!? A size 40 (a wire is the size B of said band size, unless otherwise stated) wire fits sizes: 30G, 32DDD, 34DD, 36D, 38C, 40B, and 42A. I’m going with the 34 band size, partly because there is no 32DDD in this pattern, so I’ll print out the 34DD band.

So, now I have a big cupped band, but a little cup size. I need to add to the edges of my cup to make it fit the wire length. What if we add evenly on the edges along the wire line? What’s the simplest way? I’m using the window as a lightbox, overlapping the smaller cup on the larger cup to trace the edges out, then smooth the line...

Inside lower cup, outside lower cup and upper cup all need the increases.
I’m taking photos over a very thin top. The cups are made from cup stabilizer tulle (Marquisette), and the wire is attached with double food bias tape.

Not bad... but, adding those wedges around the edges has put a smidge too much room into the cup. The wrinkles along the center show that I’m not quite filling that part right. We’ll straighten out the curve a bit on the lower cup pieces.

Interesting. This is a better fit than I’ve ever had. Still tight , somehow, but can’t quite tell what to fix next. Let’s try it in a bra!

The dreaded quad boob? I took the photo from this angle to show it. With the elastics attached, I can see that I need to give the upper cup a smidge more  room.  The right side isn’t nearly as bad...

Ah, I know, the upper cup lost its curve when the extra space was added to the sides.  Perhaps, I should use a larger size pattern piece for the upper cup?

I cut out the cups and remade one with the 34C cup widened to fit the cradle.
.

I think it fits better!


Let’s sew a Boylston.

Lefty fits now! I think I could reduce the curve along the wire some more. Righty is my smaller side and the cup is looser. I think the 34B version fit the right, so next time I will have to make the cups to fit each side. The straps attach at an awkward angle and also  need adjusting. I don’t have a photo, but the straps are way too wide set in the back as well. I suppose if I had a low square neckline, then  this would work. I’ve ordered more wires because the Sew Sassy ones fit this and I only had the one pair.

Esplanade Myself

Is that ever a terrible fit? (It’s not, really. I didn’t realize something important before I started this blog post!) The paleness, though, we just live with: there is no proper “tan” for redheads. I do plan to wear a fitted version of this with a bit more coverage on my marshmallowy colored belly. And, it’s currently winter, proper winter. Snow is falling, snow is all around. Snow is several feet deep. There will be snow on the ground most likely into April at the current look of things.

This is my first try of the pattern, and I followed their directions to make the “correct” size. My underbust is about 33”, measured regular (not tight). My overbust is about 36”, and my bust ranges from 38-39” through the month. It must have been closer to 39” when I decided to cut this out. I made the suggested 36C. I’ve pinned out excess fabric from the cups and upper back. I used wires that fit me, which makes wrinkles in the side area because I have a wide bottom-heavy chest (which I’ve learned from the Dress Form fiasco, may also be short).

The Esplanade bra is a longline bustier from Orange Lingerie. It looks fun, and has some potential for summer. The cups are supposed to be made from bra cup foam (it comes flat on a roll), with a lovely fabric covering. The center and side front is fabric, and the back is that stretchy bra-back fabric called power net; the front is lined.

My bra foam mine hasn’t arrived yet. Because this was a trial run, I used batting and lined the cups to keep it from stretching out. I’ll be trying this again, most likely in the 38C with modifications (equivalent to 36D, but  looser in the band even though once the hooks and eyes were installed, I had to use the tightest setting to keep the cups up. Just that top hook on the tightest setting was enough!), the waist needed more space. The Orange company must be selling towards skinny minies, haha. I asked them for a chart with the waist measurements included. I did get an email with the polite response explaining that I’d have to figure it out myself. Gee, thanks. It would be nice to print off the waist pieces needed for my size waist and line up the underbust parts of the band that will fit me and smooth the lines... nope. (Note: OL has put up a full size chart on their website well after this was published, but it does not state the waist sizes of the Esplanade.)

From the front, you can’t see the main wire issue. The wires aren’t actually touching my chest wall in the center. I did push them in before pinching out the extra fabric. The cups fall away a bit, so I need to bring that in somehow. Narrow the gore? The waist is tight. An inch above doesn’t look as bad, but it comes in too tight for me (maybe because I’m short-waisted?), so I might need to shorten the length as well as possibly widening it a bit. I can see the side wrinkles caused by my wider wires just beside the base of the cups. Will I be redrawing the wire line to fit my wires next time? that alone may be enough to tighten the bust in.

My darling husband took the time to help me find my breast root with a flexible ruler. That looks pretty wide and relatively flat. I laid the ruler on the pattern and pulled the pattern apart until it was close to where I need it to be. I’ve added about half an inch (1.5 cm) between the front seams so far. I’ll have to draw new seams, and a new curve to the outside edge of the cup curve, then I’ll have to address the cup itself. I’ve taken about an inch off the bottom of the new size to fit my curves better.

So, what was it I hadn’t taken into account? The cup seemed like it was close to fitting when I sewed it together, but now seems big. I think this is because it’s too small!. The back elastic wasn’t pulled  tight enough, and the center front of the band is at an odd angle for me. The band doesn’t have enough room for that bust root. So, I’ve printed out the 36D for the next try. I can always take out from the center back when I get closer to the proper fit. An extra boning center front, maybe one added to each back piece, could help hold things better.

Overall, I do like the basic concept of the Esplanade bra. There are changes that need to be made to the whole thing... Hopefully, I’ll get a cute summer top in the end. 

Wide Roots: Karolina

In my bra adventure, thus far I’ve discovered that I cannot just take a bra off the shelf and wear it, so I cannot easily just clone one, and I haven’t found a pattern that I can use as is.

Shape wise, my breasts are wide. I could probably attribute this to breastfeeding, which I was blessed to be able to do for about two years per baby. But, truth be told, I was active when young and just didn’t have much there until pregnancy! Also, because of the years of stretching around mammary tissue, they’ve gotten a bit bottom heavy. At this point, I’m sure these breasts deserve the dignity of a comfortable bra.

What type of bra really helps best? A full cup would need lots of built in support to push them up into the top of the cup. If I use horizontal seams, they look kind of sad... Vertical seams are said to be used for extra support. I suppose this leads to Demi or Balconette style bras with plenty of seams.

I can try the Shelley again, but I’m not ready for that. It will take some changes.
Harriet was pretty close, maybe make the lace edge narrower (shorter top to bottom) or wider (side to side)?

With a little searching, I found a cute pattern called Margo in a shop on Etsy, called LovelyOwnBra. I haven’t purchased any bra foam yet, which is what Margo calls for, but there’s a similar bra pattern that calls for lace. It’s named Karolina, and it costs half as much as Harriet, just over a third of the price of Shelley. Printing the cradle pieces at 100% shows an issue with my needed wire size:

Karolina has a four piece cup, all vertical seams, and is designed for a 70 cm or 80 cm band, I’m just an inch or two larger, so I converted to inches and figured out the difference, then used the printer to increase the pieces (printed at 109%). Also, note that there are no seam allowances included; one has to add one’s own. Not an issue, plus it helps that I can easily tape together the cup pieces and have a guesstimate on fitting.

 

I taped the cup pieces together, and the hubs said it needed more width to cover me, so I cut down into the last triangular piece and widened it. I also tried adding a join for the strap, but it turned out to be too far back on me. I need that to be in the third section instead of the fourth. Also, between the second and third sections is the main seam that is supposed to go over the peak. This needs to be brought in towards the front a quarter inch or so to fit me properly. I felt it was too generous (pointy), too, so I decreased the curve there.

I don’t have the right type of lace, or cup stabilizer, so I made my trial bra from duoplex. It could be the fabric’s extra stretch that gives me about an extra quarter inch on the left and half inch on the right side. If I had made the cups from nonstretch fabric, I think it would have been really close! I can certainly straighten the seams a bit between the third and fourth cup pieces to help cent er me a bit more.

With the increase in size, the cradle was a better size for the wire (shown above are both the 44 and 46 in the enlarged cradle pattern, I could curve out the top right a bit more to match). The size 46 wire was just a bit too wide on the right (my smaller side). I put the 44 in and am happier.

I need to figure a better way to show these. I’m using the safety pins to hold the straps on for this trial run, but the bra does look pretty good on!

Second Go: Harriet

Searching for a nice fitting bra pattern lead me to Orange Lingerie and Cloth Habit. I hemmed and hawed and settled on Harriet by Cloth Habit.

Again with the measuring! An underbust measurement of 32” snug with 38” gives about a 32E. I made the 32E, making sure not to pull the elastic too tight, but it was a bit snug. My measurements do vary, though, depending on my activity level.

I considered the wires...

I measured the cup edge...

I looked up what size bra needs a size 46 wire. Then, I printed out the size 38E cradle and measured it against the size 34DD cup and trimmed the 38E cradle to fit. I sewed up a frankenbra. The Harriet has a very flat edge to the cup, not round like the Shelley, so Harriet’s cup was easy to set in the larger cradle. I also eliminated the curve from the lower seam, which gave me a touch more lift.

Not so obvious from the pics, the bottom bra was the first attempt.  The upper bra is pretty good, I just need to trim those wires! But! The lace cuts across the top somewhat awkwardly. Again, I research!

what About the Wires!?

After making the Shelley bra failure, I started searching for more information. That’s when I came across a blog showing the fitting of a bra underwire. She showed the proper fit, too tight, and too loose.

Here are three styles of underwire, all the same size:

I ordered two fitting sets. The first set only went up to about a 40, the other set went to about 50. I tried them on, one at a time and discovered my biggest fitting issue: I fit about a 46!? Is that only when the wire is at rest? The bra is made to pull on the wire... So, should I use just a 42 or 44, or what? And, I fill the cup of a 34DD, but with a quarter inch difference for each size (thank you, breastfeeding), that puts me at least an half inch wider than the patterns allow for! That’s the equivalent of a size 34G or H. Which is how big they were during the early months of breastfeeding. Hullo!

First up: Shelley

My first choice in patterns is the Pin-Up Girls #3235: Shelley. I liked the basic look of the pattern and what information I could find indicated this is a good starter pattern. It is a four piece cup, so beginning sew-ers may want to try a simpler two piece cup first, but I do like a good puzzle. The measurements indicated I should try the 36C, which I did not. I do not like a loose and sliding band. I usually purchase a 34D or 34DD, if I can find it. I bought the pink pattern (smallest set of sizes) and went with the 34D. It did not fit. Mind you, I pulled it on and wore it, but it wasn’t right. So, I thought, maybe up a cup, down a band size... and purchased the yellow envelope (next size up), and I accidentally pulled the elastic too tight. The band cut off my circulation a bit and the cup was still wrong.

At this point, I was frustrated that the wire was uncomfortable, so I took it out and wore the Shelley without it. However, after a few tries, I determined that it is just too round and shelf-like for my preference. 

I may come back to Shelley, but I’m shelving this pattern while I consider how to improve it.

Underpinnings

Starting a weekly posting for June, 2018.

I’ve finally gone off the deep end! I became so frustrated trying to find a bra that fits that I quit buying ready to wear (RTW) bras. The last ones I bought were in desperation while out of town. I purchased the closest to my size they carried and immediately bent the wires nearly flat on bottom and as often as needed to keep the ends from poking me.

Did you know that the “bra industry” (for lack of a better description) has turned nearly exclusively to the simplest format of “sister sizes” for bras? If you try to go up a size in hopes of having a wider wire,  you’ll be stuck with the bigger cup and/or band. Very few brands have wires for wider breasts, unless they’re also larger volume.

I remember being able to wear RTW bras back before I breastfed babies. With each baby,  the breast makes more mammary tissue. After my first or second baby, I went with my mother-in-law (MIL) to a shop advertised as having every bra size. I asked for my usual size, hooked it on the tightest setting, and was offered a smaller band size. When I put it on, I immediately asked if it came in a size with wider wires. The lady gave me a strange look, then only offered wire-free bras.

All that to say that I finally started looking into bra making. A few kits have been purchased. A few bras have been assembled. So far, I think I’ve determined that there probably isn’t a bra pattern available geared to my fitting issues.

Let’s start with the basics: Measurements!

The first step to making most articles of clothing is to measure. For a bra, there are only two or three measurements called for. Before I run them off, I want to mention the part I learned the hard way and the patterns seem to ignore: wire size. The wire is the first thing a bra pattern maker should check on a client. From what I've read, the bra pattern is made based off this, then cup volume, then band and straps.

The wire size for most of the companies I’ve seen is named for the band measurement at the B cup. Note: if the bra size is 32E = 34DD = 36D = 38C = 40B, then all these “sister sizes” have the same wire and cup.

To measure your wire size, you need to measure the shape and length of the “root” of your breast. That’s the curve on the bottom where the breast attaches to the chest wall. If you have something you can shape against this area, then you may be able to just print off some charts and compare. I did purchase a couple groups of wires to try on and determine a good size. I may have to learn to trim wires, though, as my wire size is much larger than my typical bra size!

The band is basically the rib cage measurement, maybe adding an inch or two. I find the one that says to exhale and get the tightest measure to be too tight for comfort. I measure my band as the measurement of my ribcage when I’m inhaling comfortably. Not expanding as big as my lungs can get, just regular breaths. Using a soft measuring tape held just under the join of the breast to rib cage and about parallel to the floor, measure with the tape snug, exhale then inhale and note the difference. The snug number is what many patterns suggest to use for the band size, but it may be too tight in some fabrics.  My ribcage measurement is 32” to 33”, I like to wear a 34” band most of the time. 

The other place to measure for an approximate band size is over the bust. The overbust can be measured high on the ribcage, trying to avoid adding too much width added from the shoulder blades or breasts, hold the tape snuggly under the armpits and over the breasts (as straight as possible, but not necessarily parallel to the floor). Some women like a looser band, but I don’t get the support needed from this. My overbust measurement is 36”.

To find the bust measurement seems simple enough! All the directions seem to call for a well fitting bra. The idea is to have the breasts at the proper level to measure around them at the widest point. There are some suggestions to try measuring when lying down or leaning forward, but starting in what bra you have should get you in the ballpark. My bust measurement varies through the month from about 38” to 40”.

Figuring out the cup volume is generally done by subtraction. It’s not a perfect system, but it gives you a starting point. Take the bust measurement and subtract the ribcage. For example, my recent measurement of 38” bust minus the 32” ribcage gives me 6”, so I could try a (each inch is a letter: A, B, C, D, DD, E) 32E. Or, I could use my bust of 38” minus  my overbust of 36” and try 36B. Note: these are not sister sizes, just a trial starting point. Also note: the cup size of the letter holds more as the band size increases! B does not contain the same size breast in different band sizes!
34B = 32C = 36A

My last purchased bra was a 34D that was too loose in the band and too small in the cups. My starting point for sewing my own will be 32E or 34DD.