I've been sewing and sewing this week, but I have nothing to show you yet. I'm sewing muslins and testing new patterns, and, so far, nothing's working. One particularly troublesome project is finding and fitting a good bra pattern. So far, I've found and fitted several bad (for me) bra patterns. Although I can't offer my own results yet, here are some useful links for people interested in sewing bras.
- Sew Sassy Fabric's Products for Sewing Bras. This is an online catalog, but they offer a number of useful tips, including:
Making a bra is very easy. Follow the pattern instructions exactly the first time. Do not try to adjust the pattern. If an adjustment is needed, make another bra....It may take sewing your bra two or three times to get the perfect fit. Remember, you try on three or four bras in the department store. Whatever you do, enjoy making your bra. Do not have a nervous breakdown. It's only fabric.
I've been very pleased with their products, and they have had some great sales. - Bra-making class by Pauline, from Australia. This is one woman's repository of what she knows and is giving away. It's quite wonderful.
- Debbie's Sewing Projects: Using Wild Ginger Curves Software To Create "The Perfect Bra"
- Bra Bra-vado! by Cindy Elam. make a pattern from that favorite bra by "reverse engineering." While there are methods for making a pattern from an intact bra, dismantling the bra provides a more accurate reproduction. If you're concerned about taking apart a new expensive bra, don't worry ... you'll have the instructions for putting it back together when you're finished.
- Babs Woods has compiled a large set of bra-making and bra-fitting urls, with reviews, starting with FAQ's 1, and Bra FAQ #2: Bra making Tutorial, and moving on to "Underwire FAQ," "Bra FAQ: Bra Fit & Fashion," "Bra FAQ #3: Places to look for lingerie & lingerie supplies," and "Bra FAQ #4: Bra Fabric & Anatomy." It has the look of Usenet News archives, and there is link rot, but there is useful information in here.
- Bra-Maker's Supply has a large selection of patterns and books on bra-making, and hard-to-find notions. I've never ordered from them, but they've been around for quite a while, and they seem to have a good reputation.
- Bra-Makers' Bra-making blog. It hasn't been updated since September, 2006, but there are many how-to's and tutorials. I've found it quite useful.
3 comments:
good luck! a few years ago, there was a PBS broadcast "designs on your...." and one was a Bra (other memorable one was a toilet bowl, but..)
one fact-the average bra company makes about 56 different sizes, and knows they only properly fit about 35% of the population
the designs on guys ended up using a solid silicon form (first used in soles of sneakers/running shoes) that has a temperpedic sort of property.. as it warms up to body temp, if takes on the form of body.. providing comfort (and support)
i don't know of any bra companies are making bra's from this design, but the bra was a good design (they worked with a + size model, on the theory, any one could make a bra to fit a size A cup--the challenge in bra design was a comfortable, fitting, size D cup!
--i have the problem of large band size (42) and small cup (barely a B) --but i have avoided making my own.
What an interesting design--silicon on the outside, rather than on the inside.
I've made good-enough bras before, although the fit could have been better. Part of the attraction of bra-making is a puzzle-like, origami surprise. You start with flat pattern pieces that don't look as if they could possibly fit together, and when you sew all the seams, why, it's a bra!
The bramaker's supply blog has moved and is being updated! Here is the new link: http://www.bramakerssupply.com/blog/
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