Before I get into the making of this bra I’m going to say “wow it’s hard to take a decent photo of a bra”. The cups look all wrinkly, the straps never sit straight. It’s just really hard. I have a dressmaking dummy but she is only a size 10, I am not a 10 so I can’t use it for photos so I have to do a flat lay and every time I’m less than happy with the results. Hints, tips and suggestions for better pics eagerly welcomed.
Now onto the bra. It’s an Orange Lingerie Lexington Bra. my last one can be found here, I like how it fits, the shape it gives and the fact I can wear it all day without being uncomfortable or looking like I’m not wearing a bra. However the front x doesn’t sit flat to chest. Which it should. I researched a bit, read some great debates on the Bra forum on facebook and experimented a little.
In the end I decided to try adding a small amount of volume to the lower cup. Hoping that this meant I sat into the cup more reducing the strain on the central x allowing it to sit flat to my body. This teal blue and patterned version is a working test of this pattern to see if my idea was correct.
As with my last version it has lined cups but regular stretch fabric over. This sports mesh has a greater stretch so I’m also keen to see how that reacts to being worn all day. The fabric is actually a moisture wicking performance fabric available at Pitt Trading which was gifted to me by my friend @lizardbookworm it feels perfectly smooth and lovely colours so it was fun to match with a bright teal elastic I had in the stash.
Am looking forward to seeing how it wears and what my next version will be like.
After wearing my verdict is the adjustment to the lower cup has worked well but the sports mesh while super comfortable isn’t quite as supportive as the mesh in my last version. Expect to see another version soon!
Pattern: Orange Lingerie Lexington Bra
Fabric: Pitt Trading for fabric, hardware and elastics. Back hook and eye from Booby Traps
Alterations: added volume to lower cup
The Lexington is a non wired bra that uses bra strapping to give shaping and definition with its cute cross over style. I had purchased it pretty soon after it came out with the hope that I could get it made up in time to wear on the plane for our trip. Sadly I ran out of time for that to happen so I was pretty glad when I had some spare time a few weekends ago to cut one out.
Using a printed stretch mesh as the outer, a crystal lycra as lining and cream power mesh for the back (all from Pitt Trading). Initially when I cut the pieces they looked so big that I was a little worried. That feeling of them being too big lasted all the way till the first time I wore it and once it was on, it was so comfortable that I forgot about that entirely. It is very full coverage and I might slice the top down fractionally but it doesn’t look bad just kind of lots of fabric.
Constructionally it went together well and the instructions are nice and clear. I also followed the online sew along on the blog that explains how to get the central cut out. The way the cut out is done is a bit clumsy, sewing a section in and then cutting it out just felt weird. You can see the remaining fabric around the central cut out. It looks kind of cute from the outside but the size of the cut out is way bigger than I was expecting. I like it but I think I want to try a version without it as I hope I like that even more.
