Tis' Not Quite the Season

January in the northern hemisphere isn't the normal time of year to make swimwear, but that is what I have been doing.  It started because a friend called me up to ask if I could make her daughter 2 new swimsuits since she is doing winter swimming and is in desperate need of a new suit.  I whipped up 2 new Jalie 3134 racerback suits, and since the swim elastic was out, and the stretch needle was on the machine, I figured that was my sign to work on a Jalie 3350 for me.

Jalie 3350

I made view A with the open back and sweetheart neckline.  I made a straight size Y.  I initially did a FBA on the cups, but I wound up tearing the whole thing apart when the cups were WAY too big.  To conserve fabric I re-cut the same pieces to be a straight size Y and they are fine now.  If you are small busted, you might find the cups to be very roomy.  I would have preferred the straps to be wider and firmer to give more support.   That's a change that can be easily implemented next time.

I added sew-in swim bra cups and hand sewed them in.  

It has been a while since I have worn a 1 piece swimsuit, and to be honest, I'm not sure how much I will wear this one.  There's nothing wrong with the suit itself, it's just how I feel in it.

This suit is not the only thing I have been working on.  I have made a few more versions of the Orange Lingerie Marlborough Bra.  My reason for learning how to make bras was to incorporate an underwire into a swimsuit.  I have been working on a bikini top with an underwire and a foam cup!

This is highly experimental and is very much a case of sewing by the seat of my pants, but I am learning.  I have purchased 2 book on bra making and I'm hoping to devour all of the information in them and apply it to swimwear and bra making.

 :)

Orange Lingerie Marlborough Bra

I have been tempted by bra making for a while now.  I was very impressed with Kathy's Marlborough bras and bought the pattern after seeing her success.   I had already made my first muslin when Craftsy released their Bra making class with Beverly Johnson.  I signed up immediately. 

I bought all of my supplies and fabric from SewSassy.com  The fabric is called techsheen which is a satin powernet.  For the back band, I used swimwear powernet from my swimwear stash (purchased from Spandexworld.com)

The Marlborough bra is from Orange Lingerie and is a pdf download available here.  I had a few questions about the bra and emailed Norma at Orange Lingerie, and she was kind enough to get right back to me.  (I love good customer service!)

Per the Orange Lingerie website:
The Marlborough is a pretty and supportive full frame underwire bra for everyday featuring:
 
◾• A three piece cup that allows for increased shaping and more ability to play with pattern prints and color combinations;
◾• A power bar that moves the breasts toward the front of the body for a slimming effect;
◾• A comfortable scoop back that lies smoothly under clothes and enhances support; and
◾• A lace upper cup to feel and look pretty everyday.

One great thing about this pattern is that the each size is grouped together and is printed on 2 sheets of paper so you can choose which pages to print which saves on printer ink.  There is also NO TAPING because the pieces fit on whole sheets of paper.  Woo Hoo!

The pattern comes in sizes 30A to 40DD.  The sizing was quite a bit different from RTW sizes.  Per my measurements I was directed to make a 38D (!!)  My ribcage measurement is 33", so the 38 really threw me for a loop.  But I plodded on and wouldn't you know...it wasn't bad!  The cup size was great but I found the band to be too tight.

I really liked the shape of the cups.  It is a 3 piece cup with and upper cup, lower cup, and a powerbar along the side.  I thought this would provide nice shaping.  I have found that unpadded RTW bras with only a 2 piece cup tend to be pointy on me.  This was not the case with this one.

I made 2 test versions before this one.
I made the size 38D and the band was really tight.  My ribcage is 33".  I added 1" to the length of the band.

Finding the correct wire size took a little trial and error.  I used the printouts from the Craftsy class, transferred the most likely wire sizes to a cardboard template and checked the fit.  Since I wasn't ordering my wires from Bra Maker's Supply (Beverly Johnson's company) I needed to translate her wire sized to Sew Sassy's wires.  I measured the length, width and depth of the cardboard template that fit and searched for the best match on Sew Sassy's website.  I bought 2 different sizes whose main difference was the overall length, (same width and depth) and the shorter one was best.

This is how long the first set was:

I had flat spots in the lower cup above the underwire near the center of the bra.  According to Beverly Johnson's Bra making class on Craftsy, this happens when your breast is rounder than the bra will allow and you need more volume in the lower cup.  Per her instructions, I split the lower cup in 2 from the apex down and added 1/8" of width to each piece while keeping the seam lines the same.  Here are my before and after pattern pieces:

Photo doesn't show it, but I added seam allowances too!

I marked the seam lines, and using a French curve, made a new stitching line that curved out to a maximum of 1/8" from the original.  This gave me 1/4" more width/volume on the lower cup.  Don't forget to add seam allowances to this new seam line!  (My photo doesn't show them).  I then altered the Direction of Greatest Stretch (DoGS) as shown in the photo. 

The upper cup was a little loose, so I took out a small wedge from the pattern piece, near the power band seam line.

The most difficult part of the construction for me was topstitching the channeling.  It was hard to keep it neat, parallel, and wide enough for the wire to fit. 

Here is the final version:

While not perfect, it is perfectly wearable, and very comfortable!

The biggest change I will make next time is to use 1/2" elastic for the straps.  I only had 3/8" and I'd prefer the straps to be sturdier.

I can see how bra making can become quickly addictive.  There are only a few small pieces, so cutting them out is quick.  The seams are short, so sewing them is quick too.  I envision a lot more bra making in my future!