Burn Your Bras?

I still haven't gotten anyone to take a picture of me in the dress I made myself. Someday, that might actually happen, but for now, I'll show you something else I made.

I'll admit to being a little uncomfortable with showing my undergarments off on the internet. In fact, I absolutely refuse to show you this bra ON ME. That would  be going way too far, and you may end up losing your lunch, so I'll give you pictures of the bra alone (excuse the "stuffing" - I just wanted you to get a slight idea of how it would look) .

Now, I've attempted making bras before. Actually, I have one that I made from piecing together a couple of patterns. It turned out okay, but it needs some alterations I've yet to get motivated for in order to fit just right. It was a real bra, with all the bra materials you have to order from specialty stores. It was more work than I'd want to do often, but it gave me good experience for learning the construction of a bra. That wasn't enough to make me want to repeat the experience, though - at least until I started experiencing an odd breast pain.

I'm still breastfeeding, and I was feeling sharp, shooting pains from time to time. My nipples had also been sore. This may be way too much information for most people, but in the interest of helping others who might experience the same symptoms, I'm mentioning it. So, I looked these symptoms up online and found out that I most likely had a little case of thrush. The baby wasn't showing any symptoms of it, and mine were pretty mild. That, coupled with the fact that my doctor was out of the office for a few days made me want to try some home remedies. We both ate more yogurt (hadn't had any in more than a month), even put some directly on "the area", as well as an application or two of tea tree essential oil (the baby didn't get this treatment). Another recommendation I saw was to sun the breasts and leave them to air as much as possible. Anyone who has seen me without a bra knows this is not possible. I was able to find a nice sun spot in our bedroom, so the sunning was okay, but it just isn't pretty to see a thirty-something with granny boobs wandering around like a 1960's bra-burner. The other option would have been a cotton bra. Yeah, you find a good supportive cotton bra. In fact, I dare you to find any cotton bra in my size that doesn't have to be custom-made.

So, I decided to design my own. First, I made the rounds of all the cotton bra sites that googling got me. In my search, I came across this bra, which I found very cute. Even in plus sizes, it wasn't going to work for me (I've got a small chest size with large cups made even larger by breast milk). I liked the style, though, so I set out to make myself something similar.

I took several measurements:
shoulder to nipple
nipple to underbust
nipple to center (between breasts)
nipple to outer breast (where a side seam would be)
shoulder to center (diagonal)
shoulder to opposite underbust (for the diagonal wrap over part)
chest circumference (under bust)

Using all of these measurements, I drew out a pattern for the front. I had a bra whose back might work with this style, so I roughly traced it. A dart on each side near the side seam, plus a gathered section under each breast gave the cup size I needed. It took about a day of designing, cutting, sewing and tweaking. In terms of the fabric and notions cost, it was quite minimal. I had some thick cotton knit that was begging to be used for this project (cost me about 5 euros per meter). I doubled it, for more support, which is much needed when only using cotton (I'd recommend using cotton with a little spandex, but I didn't have any and wanted to get rid of this trush and its associated  pain).

It actually turned out really well. The cotton is comfortable, and I can wear it without any problems with my breasts flopping out when I lean forward (which was a problem with a bra I fixed recent - the demi cups of that bra weren't made for my "full figure"), thanks to a little sewing I did to keep the center section closed (just a few stitches were enough). The funny thing about this wrap style is that it had two positive effects that I didn't count on. First, when I have just the bra on, the wrap gives the effect of smaller breasts (like all wrap shirts would) - yeah, because I'll be wandering around shirtless often. Whatever the optical illusion of smaller boobs makes me happy. Second, the wrap part that slides just under the breasts actually adds a little support. I even added some velcro to the straps to make them adjustable as well as convenient for breastfeeding (the addition of  a little bit of elastic strung from the cup to the back strap holds the bra together when I undo it for breastfeeding - a typical feature of nursing bras).

All in all, I'm very happy with my creation, and I highly recommend attempting this sort of thing if you're game and in need of an inexpensive bra. You girls with the little "girls" can surely do this more easily than we big girls could, because an exact fit might be a bit less important. So, if you're interested. Take some measurements, roam around online looking for a style that suits you and get to work. It's quite satifying, and the best part about this whole experiment is that I haven't had any breast pain since I started the home remedies and began wearing this bra ( Those synthetic fabrics used for support bras don't breathe too well!).

I think my next project will be to make a duct tape dress form so that my clone can show off my more embarrassing projects for me (it'd make doing the bust darts and should straps on my sewing and knitting project much easier, too).

A few tips:

• Most of the sewing together (seaming together of pattern pieces and top stitching) is done with a twin needle - this makes sewing with knits much more hassle-free.
• The darts, gathering and velcro are done with a regular needle (not the twin - the twin started to tear my fabric for the dart, which was BAD)
• I zigzagged (again with the regular needle) with a dashed zigzag stitch over the side seams and the seam that connects the elastic band to the cups and back
• I sewed the little elastic strips (that hold the cups to the bra strap when breastfeeding) with the regular needle and a normal (not dashed) zigzag stitch set for a wide zigzag (5) with medium stitches (2 or 3)
• I sewed the two layers of each cup and the back, insides together first (sewing the arm hole area, the shoulder and the neck). Then, I flipped it right-side out and flattened it before doing the top-stitching in those same areas). Later, I just seamed the sides together (attaching fronts to back). If you flatten out the seam insides before doing the dashed zigzag (or regular zigzag, if you don't have the dashed one on your machine) over the seam (right side facing you while you sew), the seams will sit down and you won't be irritated by them when you wear the bra (same goes for the seam attaching the elastic band to the cups and back
• You need to make the elastic band a bit shorter than your underbust circumference. It needs to be somewhat tight, so it sits in place. I decided the length I needed by wrapping the elastic around my ribcage under my breasts and pulling it as tight as I wanted it to be and then cutting it a tiny bit larger so it could be sewn together to form the necessary circle.

Comments

[caz]

HI. I think you deserve a medal for this!! My baby is 10 now but thinking back I can't recall having the energy to create my own bra. So, I tip my hat to you on that one. And it looks excellent - what an achievement.

[Julie]

I have a few suggestions for the thrush if you are still having problems. Wash you bras in hot, hot water (and bleach if they will survive it) to kill the yeast left in them.

Stronger than yogurt is acidophilus. I get it in powder-filled capsules. I take one 4 times a day to start and build up if it isn't doing the trick. I also open a capsule and give some (about 1/3 of the capsule) to my son. He's 15mo and will open his mouth so I can drop it right on his tongue, lol, but you can also mix it with food. He had really bad thrush in his mouth and throat and it cleared it up for him.

[Elisa]

I´ve been reading that blog for quite some months and take a lot of inspiration from it but now I feel the urge to comment. I have read from a mother- of six that the best cure for sore nipples is to remain a drop of your milk on it and let it dry there. There are anti- bacteria and anti - fungicide in the milk. Nature thought about that too, so it designed the human milk a little miracle. Good luck and thank you for the good advices.