MakeBra DL01 in black

This is my second time testing a MakeBra pattern, this time it was the pattern DL01. Annele from MakeBra kindly gifted me with the pattern and the basic black material set that I used to make this bra. Thank you!

This pattern is again made out of cut-and-sew foam and it has underwires. It comes in sizes 70B – 95C. I made the size 75A which fitted nicely for me. The three-part cup can be used to add pretty decorative fabrics to a part of the cup. I chose to use some pretty corded lace that I had had lying around.

I had to do some modifications. First, I did not need the thick, padded straps. I narrowed down the strap fastening point in the side cup piece and decided to make the whole strap out of the strap elastic. Then there is the fact that I cannot wear normal underwires. Those press painfully against my sternum. If you suffer from the same problem or just want to make your bra into a more plunge type bra, this is the modification you’ll need.

How to modify your bra pattern for the short underwires?

First, these are the underwires I use. As you can see, they do not reach as high at the front as the normal underwire does. This means that also the bra pattern has to be modified a bit.

Above there are the pieces  you’ll need to change (I haven’t included the cover fabric pieces since they are identical to the foam lining pieces, just with seam allowances.) I removed 15 mm (about 5/8″) from the top of the bridge. I also narrowed the bridge down a bit from the CF seam, since in my comfortable bras the bridge is slightly narrower. (This is not shown in the image above.) Then, to be able to fit the cup into the modified bridge, I made a curve across the top cup pieces and removed 15 mm from the edge nearest to the bridge tapering into nothing at the strap edge.

If your underwire is shorter at the other edge it doesn’t really matter at this point. When you are at the stage, where you insert the underwires, insert them through the underarm end and push them all the way to the front. Then, if there is more than a centimetre or so empty channel above the underarm side of the underwire, you can trim the underarm edge.

Sewing

I had this piece of black corded lace in my stash for ages. It was not really meant for underwear but I figured that it would work, even though it might show through the thinnest blouses. I did my best to cut the cups in mirror images of each other. Using this material was a bit tricky. Unlike most lace fabric, this seemed to unravel pretty easily. Due to the stiff cording, it was difficult to open and press the seam allowances. Luckily the end result is pretty neat, even if my topstitching could be less wavy.

The rest of the bra is covered in lycra. As I had already made one lycra bra, I was a bit too confident with this material. Only when I was almost ready with the bra, I noticed that I had accidentally stretched the lycra when sewing on the bottom elastic. This resulted in an ugly, wavy edge. It took me quite a while but I picked out the whole seam and refastened the elastic.

MakeBra site has several different ways of attaching the straps. With the fabric strap gone, I used the method, where the ring goes to the end of the back curve.

I am really happy with how this bra came out. It is very comfortable and classic looking bra and no one could guess that it his a home-made bra. I can warmly recommend  MakeBra DL01 pattern for other sewists interested in bra making!

This is all for today. More various lingerie projects are coming soon, so do subscribe to stay in the loop! Also, I have finally dared to cut into some precious silks that I have had in my storage for ages. Wish me luck with them! Happy sewing!

 

Katja