It was July and I wanted a new project. I’m not entirely sure what came over me, but I decided to order a bra making kit and a bra pattern. I guess that I mostly wanted to see whether I (and my sewing machine) could make something that looked as complicated as a bra. The answer was yes. I managed to create my first bra and it fits really well and is very comfortable.
The pattern I chose was the Boylston bra by Orange Lingerie. I’d read some good reviews, I liked the shape and figured it was worth a try. The kit was nr 201 koningsblauw from Kantjeboord, I also bought some foam because I like my bras to be shaped. Once I had everything ready, it was off to the races!
I did some measuring and then I taped the cup pieces together out of paper to see if they would fit. They fit remarkably well straight out of the package so I continued on. There were no clear instructions on working with foam and I hadn’t googled well enough to find a suitable tutorial to follow so I just.. muddled along. The way I’ve done it is not the cleanest, but it works, so who cares. It’s only me who will see it in real life after all. The next one will follow some sort of tutorial to nicely finish the edge though.
In the kit there was some blue lace. I put that on the outside of the bra cup and then just folded in little pleats at the bottom until the lace lay flat. I then mirrored that on the other cup and sewed it all down with little stitches. I then added the side pieces in a black stretch stuff with a mesh overlay and the back pieces from just stretch. On went the elastics and the underwire casing. Off to the shops to find a fitting underwire, and then just sew the casing closed. I redid the straps a couple of times and probably made a bad decision there, using something stretchy for the fabric straps, but it seems to hold up quite nicely.
Since I don’t really feel like putting my torso on the internet and I don’t have a nice mannequin, you’re getting the bunny again. Bunny is apparently pretty similar in circumference, but he doesn’t have the goods to fill the cups or the shoulders to hold the straps up. Black and blue also has no intention of getting photographed nicely, however, I did have fun dressing up a giant rabbit in lingerie.
I’ve actually been making quite a lot during these coronatimes, but I don’t always feel motivated to write about it. There are no less than 5 other drafts waiting for me to finish them, so you’ll eventually get an ecclectic mix of stuff I’ve created over the last few weeks and months.
