Black Lace Balconette Bra

A couple weeks before Valentine's Day, someone in the Bra Makers Group on Facebook mentioned quarter-cup bras and it got me thinking about barely-there bras more suitable for boudoir than everyday wear.  Later on I came across this series on power bars by Silver Lining Atelier, and this bra in the photos.

Photo from Silver Lining Atelier

Thinking back to the discussion on quarter-cup bras and my interest in trying out an internal power bar, I decided to try making my own version of this bra.  My self-drafted bra has a horizontal cross-cup seam, so in order to make the scallop edge of the lace across the top edge, I needed to draft a one-dart cup. 

In Beverly Johnson's bra-making classes on Bluprint (formerly Craftsy) she uses bra foam to sew up a cup, then draw the new seamlines and cut it apart to form the new pattern pieces.  I only have a small amount of bra foam, and I didn't want to use it up so I wondered what else I had on had to use as a substitute.  

Felt!  I had lots leftover from making Christmas stockings. After trimming off the seam allowances, I used a 3-step zigzag to sew the cup pieces together.

After sewing the cup, I realized that the dart would be right where the lower cup seam was, so I just cut open where I sewed.  Seems a bit counterproductive, and there is probably a more accurate way of doing it with the paper pattern.  I'm sure I'll learn someday!  

So to make the balconette cup, I cut off the cup about 3/4" above the end of the dart.  I should have checked the measurement of the top of the cup, but I didn't and it ended up being too big.  I unpicked some of the sewing on the narrow elastic and shortened it to create more tension across the top of the cup.  Still not a snug fit, but this bra is more for show than function.

While the fit isn't perfect, I'm quite happy with how the overall design turned out.  The power bar does it's job and directs the breast tissue toward the center.