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How to sew a bra – Step 4: Planning bra design and gathering needed materials

Here is a sketch of the bra I will be teaching you to sew:

What I really recommend you, is follow this step exactly when making your bra.

bra sketch

First of all, decide what is your bra main fabric. My entire bra will be made of this stretch beige lace:

bra lace

But we need other materials as well. Every part of the bra must obey some rules. Let’s look at the bra parts:

Not, let’s see each part what materials requires.

bra pieces

The simplest of all is the back wing. The wing must be stretchy since it is the part that adjusts according to the body. Only a layer of fabric, which in this case is our main fabric, beige lace.

bra wing piece

This means we will use this pattern piece (which has already seam allowances):

bra back wing

Next up is the cradle. The cradle is a fix part. It must not stretch since it offers support for cups and breasts. Because our main fabric (lace) is stretchy, we need to stabilize the cradle with some non-stretchy fabric. This means that the cradle will have two layers:

bra craddle piece

The top (1) is our beautiful lace. The lining (2) is a non-stretch cotton. For your bra, always choose the top layer a beautiful fabric, usually stretchy, but not necessarily – lace, lycra, knit, jersey. For the lining, always choose non-stretch fabric. There are special fabric, sorry guys I do not know its name, but it usually looks like a soft net. Always choose a fabric that feels great on skin, since this part is the first thing that touches your chest. If the lining is a rough fabric, you will end up throwing the bra away.

For my lining I use some magic fabric I found to be great. Its actually a cotton interfacing. When pressed with an iron, it will glue to my lace:

bra craddle lining

As for pattern piece, the cradle with seam allowance will be used twice, once on main fabric, second on the lining:

bra craddle fabric

Moving forward to the cups. They are the most complicated. I want cups made of cut & sew foam. I can’t leave the foam out, can I? So I’ll cover the foam(2) with the lace (1). My foam is synthetic, I do not want it to touch the skin directly. I must line (3) the cups with some cotton. This means three layers for the cup:

bra cup pieces

For the top layer – lace – I use the pattern pieces that have seam allowances on all sides. For foam and for lining, I use other pieces (please note that seam allowance was removed from some sides):

bra cup fabric

The lining I use is the same as the one I use for the cradle. The foam is this fabric I found in one shop and is called neoprene:

neoprene

We are not done yet. I must find a matching bra closure:

bra closure

Boning (for side seam) and wires:

bra underwires

Elastics – I use the same elastic for the bra and the straps:

bra elastic

For straps I am going to use these metallic pieces (strap sliders). I don’t have metal rings and I don’t want to put the plastic ones. The above pieces will work for my purpose. If you have a pair of rings, replace them with a pair of strap sliders.

bra findings

And embellishments – lace for cups, a flower for the center:
I gather all these in one bag. When sewing the bra, I look for supplies in that bag only. When pausing from sewing the bra, I put everything back in the bag.

bra bow

Next time we get to cutting!

This article is part of a series of articles about How to sew a bra.

Previous step: Step 3

A glance on the pattern pieces

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Browse all chapter titles
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Next step: Step 5.1

Cutting – Before cutting

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