Here’s how it usually goes: my bra project goes swimmingly well until the last step of joining the bra strap.  All those layers of fabric, elastic and seam allowances make for a bulky join, and inevitably I break a needle.  Doesn’t seem to matter if the join is in the front or the back, I never seem to get it right. 

I’ve been trying a few new techniques, and I really like this one.  This is for a bra strap with rings at the back, a strap extension built into the cup, and uses a picot elastic for the underarm edge.  I am demonstrating this technique with my upcoming bralette pattern.

​We will begin after the neckline has been finished, and before the underarm elastic is added.  

Do you save your lace scraps?  I have a small bag filled with odd-shaped pieces of beautiful lace, just because I can’t bear to throw them out.  I love little lace details, so I try to find places to add in small pieces of lace.  

​I had some long narrow pieces of lace left from panty project that didn’t work out, and decided to make up a bralette.  This is one of the first few prototypes of my bralette pattern that I have been working on behind the scenes for the last couple months.  The shaping of the cradle is a bit different than the final pattern.

​I added lace overlays to the inner and outer cups, and at both ends of the back band.  Intially I had added in a piece at the center front of the cradle, and realized that it looked like a lace box, so I removed the center piece and ended up with something like a butterfly.  

While I mirrored the scalloped edges, I can see now that the lace pattern itself is not symmetrical.  Oops!  Mirroring the lace pattern takes some careful attention, and isn’t always conducive to using up scraps of lace.  I still love how it turned out, and have been wearing this bralette frequently.

​Do you save your lace scraps?  Where do you like to add them in on your sewing projects?