More Bra Making Adventures

Well, originally I’d planned on making and writing about a sweatshirt, but I recently had another urge to have a go at making lingerie, so today I want to share the next chapter in my bra-making adventures.

Previously I had tried my hand at the Devonshire bra by Orange Lingerie and the Ruby bra by Pin-Up Girls (in this post). The Ruby unfortunately was a no go and the Devonshire needed a little bit more work to give me the shape I wanted. Then I had much better luck with the Boylston which I made twice. The pattern needed a little extra tweaking so that’s where I picked up this time. 

Bra Making Adventures: The Boylston Bra

First up is the Boylston. For this, I used some pretty mint and white stretch lace that I bought from B’Wear of Sweden. I think the elastics and cup liner came from Sewing Chest. After my previous black and red lace version, I added a little more room at the apex and I flattened the crossways seam right at my underarm area.

I’ve used two layers of sheer tricot lining on the frame and one layer for the cups. In order to get a nice lace edge at the bottom of my bra, I made a centre seam in the bridge and then got rid of the seam that joins the side frame to the bridge. Then I used the hemline seam for placing my lace edge along and I mirrored both sides.

Bra making is definitely fiddly, I won’t lie…and I was rather tired whilst making this bra so I ended up doing quite a bit of unpicking! I felt like I needed to kind of get back into the groove of the bra-making workflow. To help with remembering all the different stitch lengths and widths I jotted them down on a Post-it note.

You can read more about where I learned how to make bras and see all of my resources in my previous bra-making posts, but suffice it to say the techniques all came flooding back to me eventually and I’ve gotta say that this mint bra is the best and most well-fitting bra that I’ve ever had. Of course, I had to make some matching underwear and for this, I used and adapted the Binky pattern by Evie La Luve. The main fabric is a bamboo/cotton/lycra blend and is lovely to wear. As you can see, I prefer good bum coverage and a rise that finishes just below my belly button. I don’t have the inclination to wear bloomin’ uncomfortable thongs! No, thank you, lol!

Bra Making Adventures: The Devonshire Bra

Next up, I  revisited the Devonshire pattern which I’d initially not been so keen on because the single seam didn’t give me a shape that I liked. However, I had some lovely embroidered lace tulle that came from Sew Wardrobe and I wanted to showcase the design without cutting across it with a horizontal cup seam. 

I made a couple of toiles that I basted into a frame and after shifting the vertical seam a bit and adding some tiny soft gathers at the wire-line I was able to redistribute the fullness for a shape I like better. 

I lined the lace cups with two layers of soft tricot liner in a delicate pink shade and I actually sewed the cups into the Boylston frame that I know works well for me. Oh, and I forgot to add that I changed the shape of the bra band at the back for a higher up-sweeping shape that helps to control any wayward underarm/side-back ‘fluff’ that I might have, lol.

I like this design, but not quite as much as the Boylston. I think that if I try it again I might change the small gathers into two small, short darts instead and I might remove some of the fullness because I’m getting a little bit too much lower cup volume and it needs to be pushed up a bit. Having said that though, it’s very comfy and oh, so pretty to wear. 

Again, I made matching undies and used some leftover lace for side panels. I love the idea of a matching set. The bamboo blend jersey for this set came from Truro fabrics and the white for the other set came from Raystitch. 

I’m so pleased that I revisited bra making and I feel like all I need are these two patterns to work from and to keep me going on my lingerie journey. I have no desire to get into trying out lots of other designs because all I want is a bra that fits that I can make on-repeat in different fabrics. I’m planning on trying out the adapted Devonshire with a bra foam liner and a jersey knit overlay to emulate a tee shirt bra style. I’ve already started on one so I hope I can get the effect that I want with it. Stay tuned for an updated post at some point. 

In the meantime, I have three more pretty lace fabrics and all the extras for some more matching sets. Very soon my undies drawer is going to be a thing of beauty 🙂

I hope you enjoyed this little bra-making update and feel free to ask questions in the comments.

See you soon!

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