Bra band tutorial!

Finally, huh?
This tutorial is how I make the lower bottom edge fit a bit better under the cups. It also gives the illusion of a partial band bra. Okay, I have a combination of large heavy breasts and a protruding belly. Nice. This can make wearing bras pretty uncomfortable when the band is too wide under the cups. The tummy pushes up against the breasts and underwires and it can rub somethin' awful. When the band is too wide it flips out or sometimes in and is often really painful, causing rashing and other yuckies. I have found using this method relieves a lot of it. There are also several women out there that like the look of a partial band bra but hate wearing wires and wires aren't necessary in a full band bra. I suggest using a really good channeling, though. The stuff I'm using for this bra is from Sew Sassy and it's friggin' awesome! It's the #922.

Okay, seriously, I'm not the greatest tutorial maker. I've only done one other. If you ever have any questions regarding this or bra-making in general please leave me a comment and I'll get back with you.

On to the good stuff!

First things first: Trace your pattern on to tissue or whatever you use. Now, I mostly use European bra patterns and they do not include seam allowances (I'm using my custom Danglez DB3) . If this is the case for you too add your normal seam allowance to all edges except the lower edge on your band. If you're using a Kwik Sew pattern or another company that includes seam allowances you might find it beneficial to just draw them in real quick for future reference.

Normally, I place my elastic on the bottom of my tracing to find my seam allowance:

So, pretending that my pattern below is the fabric, when sewn it will look like this:

With the picot edge peaking out and a nice wide band.

Instead, we want it to look a bit more like this when finished:

With the picot edge essentially peeking out from the bottom of the cup.

My band pattern is in 2 pieces. To get my tracing I butt them together.

I want my elastic to finish where my finger is pointing in the picture above.

I lay my elastic on the pattern, flipping it over and lining it up to that point:

Below, I made a mark where the elastic ended. I moved it up a little so you can see better.

Usually, I use my handy dandy attachment on my rotary cutter to make my seam allowances:

As you can see, the narrowest I can get it is too wide so I can't do that this time.
I measure the mark and get about a 1/4" (6 mm) seam allowance.

Using my ruler I mark my seam allowance all along the bottom.

Now, cut!

Here's the finished band pattern:

Now it's time to cut out your fabric and sew the cups and band together following the pattern's instructions:

Place your elastic along the bottom, lining up the edges.

Line the fabric and elastic up so the needle enters just outside the left edge. When you start sewing grasp the threads and gently pull them while you start stitching. This will help get everything moving along smoothy. (shown above)

sew, sew, sew

Your elastic should look something like this:

I trim my seam allowances. Not absolutely necessary.

Measure down about 3/8" from the top of the band and start sewing on the channeling:

Trim seam allowance.


Lay the bra right side down on your table and flip the elastic to the inside. I pin the elastic down close to the cup/band seam allowance and use my fingers to feel the seam.

Now for the part that sort of gave me a heart attack the first time I did it. Grab your scissors and *GASP* cut the elastic (!) trimming it to fit along the seam. Do this for both sides.
Below, you can see my trimmed elastic and on the table the little piece I cut out:

Move everything over to your machine and start stitching down the elastic as you normally would. I use a 3-step zig-zag.

When you get to the elastic under the cup narrow your stitches to fit and be sure you don't catch the cup or channeling :

Begin stitching down the channeling with a straight stitch:

When you get to the bottom of the cups just stitch right over the elastic. This encloses the raw edge so your elastic will not ravel. Now go sew the channeling down on the other side.

Oooo... that looks nice!

You can see how the elastic/channeling just barely peeks out from underneath the cup. Stitching the channeling down over the elastic it helps it to not flip up, too.

Below is the oustside with wires inside the channeling:

Here's the inside view:

Finish up your bra per the instructions and VOILA! You have a GOR.GE.OUS new bra!

Whoo hoo

Yippee! I got my custom bra pattern from Danglez yesterday! I held up my original tracing to the new pattern and it is considerably smaller. In a good way I think. Dini was also very generous in that she included a patterns for a diagonal seam and vertical seam cup! Cool huh?

I am working on Butterick 5181 view B right now, though. I think I've got the bodice fitted. Well I tissue fitted it and today I want to get a muslin made up to make sure it fits in fabric! I had to do a 3" FBA so we'll see. It's a cute dress and as I've mentioned before I really like this maxi style so I hope it works on me. I'm thinking about wearing it with a little cardigan or something to cover my heavy upper arms. Of course when it's super hot this summer I'm not going to give a crap about my arms! But for now....

I'm totally exhausted this morning. Gene and I started up our swimming again after being off for 3 weeks. We were all sick with coughs and crap but all better now. It's amazing how much strength is lost in 3 weeks! I've also started reading Jillian Michaels' new book Master Your Metabolism. I just started and am only about 1/4 of the way through but so far it's a good read. She talks about all the chemicals and crap that are in our food and environment that are messing up our bodies and how it in turn makes us fat. Very interesting and kinda scary!

Well, I think that's all I have for this post. Will get some pictures up when I have more done on the dress. Also I know some of you are waiting for that tutorial on how to make the front bra band narrower. I have not forgotten! I will get to that ASAP! ;-D

Until then, have a good one!

Bra update and a tiny tutorial

I just wanted to post my bra after I made some adjustments.

As you can see (maybe), I made three tucks in each upper cup. It allowed me to salvage the bra even though it might be a little clumsy. I've worn it several times and must say it gives me the best support EVER!!!

Are you ready for the best part??? I posted my issues on Pattern Review to get some advice from the ladies over there. Shortly after that I got an email from the owner/designer of Danglez, Dini! She saw where I had problems and offered to draft a pattern just for me! I sent all the pertinent measurements and am awaiting my personalized pattern. Whoohoo! Seriously, how cool is that?! I mean, that is some awesome customer sevice. Dini also offers some really lovely bra making kits (look under Lingeriepakket) and I'll probably pick up a couple of those soon, too.

I'm sewing along with the Great Panty/Underwear Sew Along also on PR. I had a question from Arline and thought I'd post the pictures I sent her here, too in case someone else can benefit. She had a quesion about how to apply elastic to panties so the elastic won't touch the skin. Here's my method. I hope it makes sense. If you click on the pictures it will make them larger so you can read the text easier. Enjoy!