Tag Archive for: updates

Pattern, blog or website updates. This can be more info was added for the pattern. Or something has changed on my blog. Or I have updated some content on my website.

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Afi Chic Bra – The cup

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I wanted to show you a few details about the cup and its seams. This may come in handy for those sewing and fitting the Afi Chic bra. It will sketch an idea of how the seam lines flow and where the bust point should sit.

Afi Chic Bra Cup

I did a similar post for my free Maya Bra pattern and it proved to be useful over time. It is also a reference for fitting questions that pop up once in a while, especially when you are not sure about your bra size

Sewing the Afi Chic bra cup is easy. Fitting is what usually raises some questions. And the instructions do not cover these particular details. Although there aren’t many things to know about the cup, the ones that are presented here are the most important. In the future, I may update this article with a few more.

Sewing Afi Chic bra cup

Let’s get started

Afi Chic Cup details
  1. STRAP POINT – The strap point should be quite high almost running to your shoulder; the Af Chic cup is a high one
  2. THE SEAM UNDER THE CUP – The vertical seam under the cup is more to the center front
  3. CUP SEAM – The first cup seam does NOT end in the vertical seam from the band; it runs just a bit in the direction of the side seam

Please carefully note the numbers 2 and 3. The seams do NOT intersect! The top-stitches do intersect.

This is a tricky thing in the Afi Chic bra. This alignment is what creates a beautiful aesthetic cup.
When attaching the cup to the band, don’t worry, the cup has a notch. And the notch is where the band seam should sit. Nothing is complicated once you take it step by step and follow the sewing steps.

Cup seams

Afi Chic cup placement

Moving onto the fitting the Afi Chic bra cup. The above picture is a rough sketch of the cup on a model to help you visualize how the seams arrange on the breast. The thing I wanted to point out with this is that the nipple should be somewhere in between the seams. This is how I designed the cup. But, yeah, there are many breast shapes. For some, the bust point may be looking down, for others more to the side. But as a checkpoint on the fitting list, with rare exceptions, the nipple should find its place between the seams.

I hope this will be of help and guide for you when trying the Afi Chic pattern.

The Afi Chic Bra Pattern is available on Etsy as a digital product

Purchase Now

And as a side note: I started working on the next package sizes. The one with larger cups. And I want to express my gratitude to the people testing it!

I would also like to thank everyone who applied but did not get selected (if you did not get an email from me). I am thinking of a way to better thank you. And I am keeping your ALL applications if I decide to design some other things. Isn’t it time to think and actually finish a panty pattern?

Thanks to everyone who requested to pattern test my Maya panties

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I got a LOT of requests. I can’t express my gratitude for your interest in my panties pattern.

Please note, I’m new to self-hosted sites and emails. Some of you may not have received my answer. But I wrote to everyone! If you haven’t heard from me, please, please check your Junk or Spam folders! If there is still no answer, please comment and I will check and answer here.

I would also like to address those who were not picked. I hope I have not disappointed you. There were so many requests, I almost got lost! I believe there will be more patterns to test! I hope to give everyone a chance.

A first glance at the testers feedback

  • except one size, I got at least one request for every size;
  • crotch is a bit too wide;
  • front is a bit too low;
  • more texts are needed on the pattern sheet;

The testing period is for the whole month of March! Too much for a panties pattern?

Have a great creative week!

Why is Maya a free sewing pattern?

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Although nobody has asked me directly, I believe this question lies on some of your lips. I thought I’d answer this properly.

But before we dig into the subject, just a quick notice. Since the release, I’ve got a lot of requests for unavailable sizes.

Please check back on the pattern’s download page. The new sizes should be available for instant download. More sizes to come in the next weeks!

The following new sizes were added this week:

  • EU100E/ UK44DD/ US44E
  • EU100G/ UK44F/ US44G
  • EU70E/ UK32DD/ US32E
  • EU75E/ UK34DD/ US34E
  • EU85A/ UK38A/ US38A
  • EU100AA/ UK44AA/ US44AA
  • EU60J/ UK28GG/ US28J
  • EU60K/ UK28H/ US28K

Back to the main question. There are two big reasons for Maya being a free sewing pattern.

  • One: my Romanian sewing folks sew everything, except lingerie. I really want them to start learning to sew panties and bras. So I have been thinking, it would be very disappointing to buy a bra pattern, sew a bra and discover it was a complete waste of money. But, having the pattern for free, with the help of my tutorials and with some waist fabric, it would be a good opportunity to learn basic techniques and fit for lingerie sewing.
  • Two: well, can you honestly answer two questions? First: Would you buy a sewing pattern from someone you don’t know completely? Many of you did not know about me, or my blog, or my passion for sewing and design patterns. I honestly don’t think there would be people who’d buy blindly my patterns.  And to be more honest, I for one would not buy a pattern from an unknown source. Some of you have seen my bras made for me, but there is a long way from one body to … a lot of bodies. I could have made 20 bras and still nobody would’ve bought the pattern. One thing I was wrong though, I had doubts people would want to test it, for free. But you did! And I had testers, more than I’d expected! And here comes the second question: Would you buy or try a pattern if you’d seen testers and reviews across the sewing blogosphere?

The above were the big reasons. But there are some more:

  • Why give Romanian women the opportunity to learn to sew bras only? Why not give this opportunity to the whole world! Across the globe there are women who can’t afford patterns, or expensive laces and trims, or RTW bras. Let them all learn lingerie sewing techniques with a free bra pattern. Because, face it, learning process is money and materials consuming.
  • I’m not a professional, I’m learning alongside.
  • What if the pattern is a disaster? How can I charge on that?
  • Please don’t get me wrong, I have been sewing from, well, as long as I can remember. And all the patterns were drafted by me. I’ve never bought a pattern in my life! But there is a lot to know when drafting for myself or for a few family members, to drafting for a wide range of sizes. Life experience beats all the expectations! We all have unique shapes.
  • If I’d put a price on Maya pattern, I could never compete with the big names in this industry.

But if you want to see more of my patterns, projects, tutorials, you can offer your support: subscribe to my blog posts, or like/share AFI’s Facebook page.

Thank you! And happy bra sewing!

Maya Bra Pattern – Testing statistics

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I think this post is awaited by many pairs of eyes. How’s Maya doing in other sizes? And I think it’s time for me to write a summary of that.

About cup sizes that were requested. Well, I had to draft the whole range, from A to … K (US/EU sizing). Yeah, K cups too! There was no request for AA or AAA cup.

About band sizes. Ordered bands were from 28 UK/US (60 EU) to 44 UK/US (100 EU). No bands were higher than 44.

If you wonder how many sizes I had to draft. There were 42 patterns. Some sizes had to be prepared in A4 and Letter paper format. And I still have to draft some more sizes.

First opinions from those who have sewn Maya. I got great feedback for B cups and for J cups! For proof of that, I invite you to read the review Sofia has written on her beautiful blog about the Maya pattern. She put together a very nice Maya! Sadly the blog is no longer active that’s why there’s no link.

But I’ll be honest with you. As with any bra pattern, Maya did not fit every shape. But for most shapes, it fits really well. I was so afraid it will not fit large cups, but it did!

The best feedback I could receive about Maya. Is … cups are in a beautiful round shape! This is my pride and joy! If you have been following my adventure in making this pattern, you must know how I have struggled with the shape of the cup.

The testing period is not over yet. September is reserved for testing. No rush! Thank you so much to those who have tested or are in the process of testing Maya!

To all Maya Pattern Testers

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With a bit of shame, I’ll admit, my skills in handling emails are not the best. Also, mail service proved to be doubtful. So I have to ask a few questions.

  • Is there anyone who applied and did not get the pattern?
  • Is there anyone who replied to  my emails and did not get a response from me?

Please contact me, or leave a comment here. I really want people to have a nice experience talking to me and sewing this bra.

To all pattern testers:

  • THANK YOU so much for taking your time to answer my questions and sewing these bras;
  • In the next few days I will have limited internet connection – I will not be able to respond to emails; but I’ll be back on Wednesday;
  • Take your time sewing the bra; you do NOT have to rush; we are all busy ladies and I understand you perfectly; after all, bra-making is our hobby, and a hobby is done in our free time;
  • If you want to post your makes on your personal pages/blogs/groups/forums, that’s totally fine;
  • If you want to write a review on blogs/pages/groups/forums, that’s totally fine as well; that includes negative feedback
  • Please don’t grade the pattern if it’s not your size; send me a message and I’ll provide you the needed size;

Happy bra-making! I hope I’ll be able to post some initial statistics about this bra next week.

Maya bra cup Detail

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How should the right size cup fit? This question came up and I wanted to share the answer in a blog post as well.

I think it will help those who are sewing or will be sewing this bra pattern. Cup size and the fit are important and we all know that, don’t we?

Before diving into the subject, I would like to express my gratitude to ALL WHO VOLUNTEERED TO TEST THE PATTERN – A HUGE THANK YOU. I’ve got more requests than I can handle? But don’t worry, everyone who made a request will receive the pattern! With a bit of a delay and a very busy week ahead, but I’ll send the patterns one by one? I apologize for this.

Let’s get back to the pattern. Precisely, to the cup. I made two schematics to be easier for you to understand how the cup covers the breast.

  1. Cup seam allowance
  2. “Horizontal” seam. It’s not perfectly horizontal, since at the center front, the seam turns downward.
  3. Vertical seam.
  • Please be careful, horizontal seam does not intersect with the apex point!
  • While the seam that runs vertically must intersect the bust point.

You should also know, this is not a demi-cup. It’s not a full cup either. More of something in-between. This was the design. There are reasons I chose this model. Those reasons will be revealed later ?

Some more info about my bra pattern

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Well, here’s the sketch for this pattern. I hope you like it. It’s pink. This is going to be the official front page image.

And a small announcement (well not quite). I’ve named this bra pattern. Along with the pink image, this is going to be: Maya Bra Pattern! Maybe one day I’ll share the story for this name.

On the other hand, I’ve managed to gather all the needed information for my bra pattern page. I have to organize that information: technical details, bra gallery, sizes, sewing instructions.

And since I’ve mentioned size. You’re welcome to check my pages about bra sizes and measurements.

I encourage you to read ahead and ask me questions if something is not clear. And that’s because…oh, well, you’ll be needing this if you want to try this pattern of mine

Cheers and stay tuned!