white & gold bra

I’ve been bra sewing again! I have a few other sewing projects that I really need to dedicate my time to, but I just couldn’t help myself!

I wanted to play around with the cup style, so I’ve added in a power-band, and I moved the cross seam up a little bit.

I cut the majority of the cup from a beautiful white and gold lace from Boobytraps. The power band is a medium weigh, white lycra.

I wanted a much lower cut style than my previous bra, so I took about 4cm out of the cups and bridge. Only after I did this, I realized that I didn’t have any under-wires to fit the lower style. I could have waited, and bought some, but I was being rather impatient, so I harvested a pair of wires from an old bra. I checked to make sure they weren’t bent out of shape, then I drew around them onto a piece of paper for future wire-buying.

To show how much I lowered the bridge, I put the white bra on top of the pink bra. It’s quite a dramatic difference!

The back is exactly the same design as my pink bra, and cut from the white lycra.

I lined the entire bra (except the back wing) with bra tule. I love how it encases all of the seams, it gives a very neat finish.

I wore this bra yesterday, so I could report on the comfort level. OMG it was SO ITCHY! How is that possible? It’s fully lines with the softest tule and it doesn’t have any raw seams!? The only thing I can think of, is that I’m rather sensitive, having worn padded bras every day for the last 15 years. Has this been a problem for anyone else? I hope to get used to it over time, because I’d hate to never wear this bra again, it’s so beautiful!

Let me know if you’ve experienced anything like this, and if you have any recommendation to increase the comfort.

Mitty x

boobytraps workshop

For all the time I’ve been sewing my own clothing, never did it cross my mind that I could make my own bra. When it finally did cross my mind, there were a few things holding me back.

1. Far too complicated, with under-wires etc
2. Too fiddly, it looks like so many different, small bits..
3. I don’t even know where to start with sewing elastic!

I did what any normal person would do, I started researching. What I found was much different to what I expected. There is an entire online bra-making community! Everyone is so lovely and informative! I’ll link some of my favourite blogs at the end of this post.

During my research, I started looking for suppliers of bra bits. There are heaps of online stores, but what I really wanted to find was somewhere I could go and actually look and touch the laces for myself. That’s when I found Boobytraps.

Boobytraps are primarily an online store, however they do open to the public on Thursdays and some Saturdays. They have an amazing range of laces, elastics, and patterns. I was so excited to see that they also hold bra-making workshops! I signed up straight away!

I chose to make an under-wired, soft cup bra. All of my RTW (ready to wear) bras are the padded, molded cup variety, I was really interested to see if I’d find a soft cup comfortable.

This is my finished bra! Was it difficult? Not really. Was it fiddly? Hm, a little bit, but not enough to turn me off making more! Is it comfortable? Absolutely!

Under the guidance of our teacher, Lynn, we learnt the importance of lining a bra (none of my RTW bra’s are lined..), how to fully encase the seams to eliminate the itch-factor, how to insert under-wire casing, how to sew elastic properly… the list goes on! The workshop was totally worth the cost for the tips I learnt alone, not to mention the fact I walked away with my very first me-made bra!

 I decided to go with a light coloured kit, so I could really see what I was doing. The kit came with everything I needed to make the bra, including these gorgeous detailed elastic straps! So pretty!

I highly recommend these classes, but you do need to have a bit of stretch-sewing experience. I also took along my own sewing machine, stretch needles, silk pins, scissors and measuring tape.

Now to my favourite bra & lingerie blogs!

• Visit Maddy at Madalynne for some truly ethereal, lovely lingerie inspiration/tutorials.
• Erin at The Emerald Studio is incredibly talented! She even delves into the finer details of bra making, which I can’t get enough of.
• Amy from Cloth Habit is the designer behind the Watson Bra pattern, which has a cult following. It’s a gorgeous little pattern, which you can purchase online.

I think I’m addicted to bra making. I’m OK with that!

Mitty x