Blue Sheer Bra: self-draft v2.0

This is the second bra made from my self-drafted bra pattern.  My first bra from this pattern had a few issues, mainly fabric bunching up at the side of the band and not enough room for the wires.  I changed the angle of the frame/band to go more downwards, and raised the underarm edge to provide more coverage and leave some room for wire play.

The fabric is a 15 denier nylon sheer from Sew Sassy.  Elastics are from Lace Heaven. I used two layers for the cups, cut with opposing stretch and sewn separately.  After I finished sewing both layers of cups I realized it would have been better to sandwich the layers so I wouldn't have to worry about the seam allowances overlapping perfectly.  To finish the neckline, I sewed bother layers of the cups together, then sewed 1/8" elastic in the seam allowance.  Clear elastic and I do not get along, so 1/8" elastic is the best I can do.  To prevent the cross cup seams from drifting apart, I lined up all the seams used a narrow zigzag over the lower cup seam.  We'll just call that a 'design feature'.

Funny story about the cradle lining; I only have white and black, and since this fabric is so sheer I wanted a nude color.  So I thought since I had some brown Rit Dyemore,  I'd just do a quick dunk in a dyebath.  Well, I added too much dye and the fabric very quickly became a chocolate brown.  Oops! 

I used a different method of strap attachment and it was much less stressful, and I didn't break any needles.  Before sewing on the underarm elastic, I lined up the edge of the strap with the neckline edge and sewed them RS together.  Then when I went to sew the underarm elastic I made the edge as close as possible to the strap, so that when the elastic flipped back it would lay nice and smooth.

​I'm quite happy with how this bra turned out.  There is still a bit of bunching at the sides, so I'll work on that more.  The wires also still don't have a lot of room to move around, so I'll check my pattern against the wire to see if the error is in the pattern or my sewing.