Bra-making is unlike any other type of garment sewing I have done. Miniscule changes to the pattern, and changes to fabric type and stretch have a massive impact on the fit. One of my favorite fabrics to use for making bras is satin spandex tricot. While it's shiny face makes it both beautiful and comfortable to wear, I've encountered a few difficulties while sewing with it. Even with carefully trimming away the seam allowance bulk, I end up with horizontal wrinkles around the seamlines. After this occurred in a few bras, I decided it was probably a grainline/direction of stretch issue, instead of a workmanship issue. The following are the results of experimenting with the direction of stretch. Before we begin, knit satin spandex is a tricot-knit nylon/spandex fabric that mimics the shiny look of a woven satin. It usually has some stretch in one direction. The direction of stretch (DOGS) has a big impact on the fit of a bra cup. Fabric needs to both be supportive and mold around the breast tissue. There are many opinions on the appropriate DOGS in bra-making. I have seen patterns that recommend stretch to go around the body horizontally on all pattern pieces. Lilypadesigns recommends the stretch to run veritcally on a stretch bra cup. Others suggest the lower cup pieces to have the stretch on slight diagonals and the upper cup to have the stretch run parallel to the neckline. I usually use the latter on my bra patterns and have mostly had a good result. The Bra Makers Manual Vol 1 from Bra Maker's Supply has multiple pages of information on how placing the DOGS in different directions can affect the fit in different parts of the bra. With my newest pattern, the Zenita Wireless Bra, I did a bit of an experiment with changing the DOGS and wanted to share the results with you. First I made this silver bra with knit satin spandex as the main fabric, and sheer cup lining as the lining layer. I used my usual DOGS as recommended in the pattern. As you can see, it molds around the breast tissue nicely, and has good support, but does have some slight horizontal wrinkling at the cup seam. For the next bra I decided to follow the advice from Lilypadesigns and changed the DOGS to a complete vertical direction. I used knit satin spandex again, but with a pieced cup design using bra tulle as both my contrast and lining layers. As you can see, there are fewer wrinkles in the cup seam, but there was also a change in the fit. I ended up with more compression into my chest and flat spots at the apex. This fabric has stretch only in one direction, so with the DOGS placed on the vertical, there was no stretch around the body and I have more wrinkles at the side of the cradle. Also for reference, here is the same cup style but in a 40 denier tricot with sheer cup lining. The 40D tricot is much thinner than knit satin spandex, and has some stretch in both directions. I used my usual recommended DOGS (same as the grey bra above) and had no wrinkling at the cup seams or cradle, and good support and shape. My conclusion here is that bra-making and bra-fitting can be complicated! Haha, I think we already know that. Changing the fabric will change the fit, and changing the direction of stretch will also change the fit. Sewing bras takes a lot of experimentation, sometimes with successes and sometimes with failures. Are all these bras still wearable? Definitely!
I hope this information is helpful to you in your bra-making journey. What other questions do you have about the DOGS in bra-making? Happy Sewing.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
CassieI design lingerie sewing patterns for everyday comfort and feminine style in an inclusive size range. Fill up your underwear drawer with beautiful custom-made bras and panties in your favorite fabrics and trims, designed to fit your body. Categories
All
Archives
March 2024
|