Sewaholic Dunbar Sports Bra

I bought this pattern at Christmas, and it has taken me until Easter to finish it.

Front view

Back View

Inside view

There are a couple of reasons it took me so long to finish.

The first is that the sizing is off.  Other reviewers indicated that they went down 2 sizes.  When I compared the pattern to my standard sports bra, I determined that I needed to go down 3 - 4 sizes. That's a lot of sizes to go down.  I didn't know if I needed to size down in both the length and the width, or just the width.  I cut out and basted the outer pieces and then put it aside for while.

Part of my hesitation to keep going was that there are a lot of pieces, and consequently instructions. It didn't help that my printer was out of ink and the instructions or pattern did not print so well.  Bloody pdf patterns!  There are a lot of pieces because the seamlines for the lining are in a different place than the seamlines for the outer.  I get that this reduces sewing bulk, but it does complicate things a bit.  Then there are the pockets for the optional padding.  I wish the instructions had been written so that the pockets were optional, as I have no intention of inserting padding.  It would be easy for me to leave them off next time, but first time around it was easier just to follow the instructions.  It also seems a bit odd that no pattern was given for the padding.

My other gripe with this pattern is that the line drawing is not representative of the final product (which should not happen for patterns with this price tag).  I would have preferred the back strap as depicted in the line drawing; instead, it sits really high up near the neck, which I find too hot for exercising.  The photo below shows how much I removed from the back neck.  You can also see how I changed the angle of the should piece for my square shoulders.

I also changed the pattern to use my own binding method (see here for details on coverstitching the binding).  All up, it was a lot of pattern changes.  Next time around should be much quicker.  Will there be a next round?  Well, it is comfy, if not quite as compressive as my other tops.  I do like the look of it, and will probably wear it for  cycling or barre workouts.