Clever Chook

Well, I'm feeling quite the clever chook.  I always feel clever when I sew bras but I feel especially clever this time because I developed the pattern myself.  I say "developed" and not "drafted" because I made the pattern from an existing bra.

Here is a picture of the original bra.  I don't know what the brand was (maybe Yves St Laurent??) as the tags have long since faded.  I bought it years ago from a little boutique in Perth.  I know I didn't dress particularly well in my twenties (think baggy t-shirts and elastic waist shorts), but when I went to purchase it, the shop-keeper went and rang my bank to check my credit card, which is the only time that has happened to me!

Originally I purchased this Garnet bra kit from Booby Traps (not on their website but featured in Sewing with Australian Stitches magazine) to make up a Sew Easy pattern for a full band bra.  All my other patterns are for partial band bras.  Before cutting, I referred to the section in Beverley Johnson's book "The Bra-makers Manual" entitled "Evaluating a Bra Pattern"  (p 66).  There seemed to be too much to correct in this pattern, so I put it aside and got out a pattern that I had made last year, but never sewn up. 

I got a lot of help from Beverley's book in developing in the pattern, especially for working out what seam allowances to add where.  The pattern pieces are shown below.  The pieces to the bottom right are the padding pattern pieces.   For those in the know you will see that it is a full band bra with vertical seaming in the cups.  I would say the cup is a demi-cup.  The band features the "downward hike".  The front of the band is cut in a single piece, from lace fabric.  The cups are from lace.  The back is from power-net.  The cups are padded.  I used seam binding to seal the edges of the padding, instead of re-threading my overlocker and doing a rolled hem.

To me, the end result appears the same as the original.  I find the framework feels very supportive, so I am thinking of adapting this pattern to make a strapless bra.  Strapless bras don't seem to come in my size, unless I want a couple of inches of padding.  I would increase the width of the band to 3 hooks.  I would use the padding pattern as the basis for the pattern for the cups, only making them curve much higher.  I would probably raise the side curve of the cup and use a longer wire.  Hmmm, someday.