Greetings and a very Happy New Year to you, I finally have time to share some of my latest creations with you, that I actually finished last year.
I found the fabric kit for this bra for sale on The Sewing Chest, who I use for a lot of my findings, if I’m honest I don’t necessarily find it the best website but they are UK based, very quick to deliver and usually have what I’m looking for or a viable alternative. It wasn’t a complete set but had the main fabric, some really good PowerNet, Tricot lining in a matching green, green elastics, and some red and green findings, all for less than £10, bargain. I supplemented it with some lace from TheBraShop on Etsy (actually two lots of lace as I couldn’t pick a colour… sssh… don’t tell), and a few bits from my stash.
As the fabric is firm I decided to make yet another Marlborough bra, as this is my forth standard length one I was fairly certain how the fit would turn out, but took my favourite bits from version 2 and 3. Version 2 was the red and blue scuba bra, I liked the shape of the cups better on this version they were more round shaped and less pointy. However, version 3, the grey/black version has a lower underarm which was much more comfortable and didn’t dig in, so I used the frame pieces from that bra.
One of the issues I have with my previous versions was that the frame, under the cups kept rolling outwards, something that didn’t happen with my RTW bras. I asked on the Bra Making Forum and I was directed towards an article by Beverly Johnson called Thin is in. It seemed that the problem was the shape of my body was causing it to roll, and because I had been using thicker elastic on the frame for extra support and a longer frame than on my RTW bras the problem had become apparent. I followed Beverly’s instructions on how to fix this issue and now have a much thinner band and the problem has gone, thank you Beverley.
I used the flip and stitch method again to line my bra and hide all the inner workings and so the over all result is pretty neat on the inside.
Overall the fit is pretty great, it’s comfortable to wear and doesn’t have any of the earlier flat spot problems. However, despite adding more and more to the volume, I still need to add a little more, my breast tissue doesn’t quite fill the bottom of the cup, and the bridge is still sitting a tiny bit away from my chest, not a lot. It’s the best fitting Marlborough so far, and it does look good, so just really small changes now to try and make it the perfect fit.
I have enough fabric left either for a pair of knickers, or for another bra, and I might make another this time with the green lace.
