We love sewing and designing lingerie. We create top-notch lingerie patterns.
We love sewing and designing lingerie. We create top-notch lingerie patterns.
In this article, I will show how to sew the top layer. You should arm yourself with patience because this is the visible layer, and it has to be constructed beautifully and cleanly.
Join bottom cup pieces
Prepare your cup pieces that were cut from lace.
First to sew are the lower parts. On your pieces, there will be notches. When joining pieces together those notches must match.
Remove pins and paper, and unfold pieces.
Prepare to sew one cup.
You have to sew as shown here.
If you cut my pattern as is, there is an 8 mm seam allowance. Arrange the needle position to be 8 mm from the edge. If you’re using your amount for seam allowance, move the needle according to your value.
Sew the lower part for both cups.
Topstitch bottom cup pieces
This is not it. You can gently press open the seam, but I also recommend you make two stitches.
It will hold the seam allowance in place and the seam will lie flat.
Here they are.
A closer look.
There is excess fabric.
We have to carefully cut it, just 1-2 mm away from the stitch.
This is how it should look.
Add the upper cup piece
Moving on to joining the lower cup with the upper cup. My upper piece has a notch too.
This one has to match the seam from the lower cup.
Remove the paper piece from the lower cup and unfold lace pieces.
For notch placement, I use a pin.
Prepare upper and lower cup.
With the notch matching the stitch from the lower cup, join cup pieces with pins.
Up to your sewing machine.
And here it is.
One cup – almost ready. This is the right side.
On the wrong side.
See how this seam sits where it wants? We have to top-stitch it. But this time we won’t open the seam.
Topstitch the upper cup piece
The seam must go in the up direction.
1 – upper cup
2 – lower cup
Here it is on the wrong side of the fabric.
And on the right side.
Sew the second cup.
And you’re almost done. Remember we’ve chopped the seam allowance a bit on the lower part of the cup? Do the same for this seam.
Press gently
Also, I like to give the cup a gentle press. Since the cup has curved seams, it’s a bit trickier to press. If you have a special ham, use it. But here’s how I do it. Every pressing table has a round edge.
I put half of the cup on the table, the other half is hanging down.
This is a delicate fabric. Never press with your iron directly touching the fabric. Use a cotton scrap to cover the lace.
Cover completely.
Now press gently. Then, put the other half of the cup on the table, cover with cotton, and press. Press the second cup too.
In the end, you should have something similar to this. We are now ready to join cup layers all together!
This article is part of a series of articles about How to sew a bra.