Sunday, March 17, 2013

Longline bra or corset?

I finished the 3rd mock up today, and as I did the fitting I noticed that the fabric wrinkles a bit in the back, and the sides as well so I think I'll have to add boning along some of the seams. I'll also make it longer in front so it extends further down, cupping the tummy, and increase the height in the back. This will end up a corset with cups I suspect. I suppose I could make it front closing as well, and use one of my old busks, but that would stiffen the front considerably.

I've never made a wearable mock up before, but perhaps the time has arrived for it to be a sensible thing to do. Thing is at the moment I don't have any powernet fabric. I've ordered it, but it will probably be a week before it arrives, so if I'm to make a wearable mock up I'll have to find another solution. Perhaps cut up a pair of control top tights, or use double layer merino wool jersey. Or I could stitch together wide elastic to form panels.

Another Bra Adventure

Sorry for the recent silence. I had a breast reduction done end of January, and time seems to have flown by. I'm really happy with the results, it's just so nice to have small breasts and not have to carry around the weight of the old ones. It's also nice to have them back up where they belong :)

I had to wear a soft non wired bra 8 weeks after the surgery, and the sports bra was all right, but I wanted something that would give more shape, so I bought a few classic 1950's 60's style bras, the kind grannies usually favour, and it's amazingly comfy, at least when you have relatively small breasts. They mostly come in black and white, but I've found out that most of the white ones can be dyed, so I now have brown, wine and dark blue bras as well as black.

I've been thinking of diving back into hand made lingerie. I made a bra a year ago from this pattern, and I decided to give it another go, but do the longline version this time. So far I've been struggling with the mock up. I altered the pattern again tonight, and will give it another go tomorrow. The last time I made this bra I measured myself from between the breasts straight across the fullest part to the point where I wanted the cup to end, but since I now have a 38 inch bust (yay!) I thought it would be fine to simply cut out the pattern as marked, but no. I needed to make the cup wider this time as well. I'll start on the third (!) mock up tomorrow, wish me luck.