If you missed an earlier part of this series, we invite you to read it here: Soft Bras, Part 1, Soft Bras, Part 2, and Soft Bras, Part 3.

The previous soft bras may have been quite simple to make, but may not offer a modern fashion shape. With the cups sewn directly together at the centre front there could be the spectre of the “Mono Bust” look if a bridge does not separate the cups. Do not dismiss the previous soft bra drafts as you can use the cup and cradle draft shape (cup to cradle seam shape) as a basis for lingerie such as a bra slip / petticoat or classic “Cami knickers”.

With this bra we will draft the cups with a bridge between them. We will also partly “frame” the cups.

But how much to lift and separate?

A bit of fashion body shape geometry: One of the many things a bra designer has to keep in mind is to try to get a “Golden Triangle” from a bra design. The golden triangle is an imaginary equilateral triangle (a triangle with all three sides of the same length) running from the “Sternum Notch” to one breast prominence, across to the other breast prominence and back up to the sternum notch.

The sternum notch is the indentation at the base of the neck where the clavicles (collar bones) meet the top of the sternum (breast bone).

For a fashion body shape a bra should lift the breasts and separate them by the right amount for a golden triangle. The breast separation at centre front level with the P of B (Point of Bust) flat on the sternum should be 2.4cm or 3.2cm for plus bra sizes. If you have a natural golden triangle shape without wearing a bra, then you are either young or you are one of the lucky few, hence the “fashion body shape”.

Make a note of the breast separation centre front measurement, not just for bra making. Some of you good people were wondering about putting cups in a rigid corset: the breast separation measurement will give you a clue as to why trying to add bra cups to a corset sometimes ends in a fitting disaster.

Framing the cups

Adding a part stretch frame around the cups is a way to try to contour and soften the edges of the breast supporting cups to the curved rib cage / chest wall, so that the breast tissue does not sit on a flat surface. In addition to curving around the body, the chest wall also curves from the bottom of the rib cage to the top.

Additionally, there is also the flesh that covers the chest / rib cage and flows over the breast tissue to consider. The “sudden change of direction” made by the edges of the cups can break up the smooth soft flow of the flesh, particularly in the area of the arm-to-chest join, where you have the pectoral tendon / muscle prominence.

Enough for now of the “Grey’s Anatomy for the fashion conscious”; on with the bra making!

This draft is quite complicated as we are turning part of the cup into a stretch extension of the wing. The part is from the cup apex (where the strap joins the cup) over the underarm hem down to where a side seam would be. This extra wing area will form the cup's “part frame”.

Copy your master darted cup block and get out your protractor and compasses.

Start by extending cup lines 2, 3 and 6 then draw a line at 90 degrees to line 3, a line at 84 degrees to line 4, a line at 90 degrees to line 5 and a line at 82 degrees to line 7 as per the diagram.

Next, draw a line halfway between dart lines 4 / 5 up through P of B (point of bust) past the cup neckline. Then draw a line from P of B to halfway between the last line and cup line 1. Mark this line as “1a”.

A quick bit of Tech Drawing: if you do not know, to divide a dart in half, set your compasses to an arbitrary length, strike (draw) an arc from the dart point across the dart “legs”. From one dart leg / arc intersection strike an arc inside the dart, then strike an intersection arc from the other dart leg / arc intersection. Draw the centre line from the dart point through the two arcs intersection.

Back to the cup draft.

Along the extended line 3 put a mark at 1.2cm from the edge of the cup. At this mark draw a centre front line parallel to the line 2 / 90 degrees line.

Now using your compasses or a ruler mark the length of line 1 on the new line 1a. Draw a new neck hemline from line 2 to the mark on line 1a.

At the line 1a end of the new hemline draw a line 1cm up and at 90 degrees to line 1a, make the length of this line equal to the width of your chosen bra strap.

Put a mark half way between line 1a and the vertical line running through the cup along the neck hemline. This will be the start of the cup to wing seam.

Using your Flexy curve or French curve, gently curve the neck hemline from the cup apex / strap point to the centre front line, see diagram.

For the cradle / bridge / wing draft, start by drafting the cradle and bridge as for the other soft bras. I have made the cradle depth 2cm but you can make it a little deeper if you would like a wider underband. So vertical 2cm line, horizontal lines at 102 and 106 degrees, copy lower cup and bridge shape to the lines and extend to form the cradle / bridge. Draw lines at 96 / 87 degrees to form underband hemline.

For the wing follow the diagram. As before, the number of hooks and eyes for the back fastening is up to you but I would suggest no less than two hook / eyes deep. I have made the length of the wing 34% of back measurement but you can again adjust this to match your Powernet / personal fitting preference.

Now go back to your cup draft, extend line 7 so that it is the same length as line 1.

Measure the length of the 82 degrees line from the end of line 7 and transfer this measurement to the 90 degrees line from line 5 and put a mark.

Copy and place your cup draft onto the cradle / wing draft.

Draw the four wing shaping curves as per the diagram starting with curve 1 running from the neck hemline mark, through the 90 degrees line from line 5 mark to the cradle hemline. This curve will become the wing to cup seam.

Now separate the draft into its three main parts: cup, wing and combined cradle / bridge. Smooth off the cup to cradle seam line.

For some cup seam variations, you could just leave the cups with single underbust darts or you can re-draft for an over bust horizontal seam or try a three-panel cup with over bust and under bust seams.

For my example I have gone for a diagonal over bust seam. Remember when I wrote about swinging a dart around its origin point or dividing a dart's control to two or more darts: you do not have to use the lines 1 to 7 on your master cup to divide the dart control. In my example I have drawn two new lines between lines 1 / 7 and lines 3 / 4. Cut the cup in two along the new seam lines, then close up dart 4 / 5.

As usual, curve off the points of the cup halves and measure the lengths of the seam lines to make sure that they are the same length.

Add 5mm seam allowance to the cup parts and 5mm seam allowance to the cradle / bridge.

For the wing seam allowance add 5mm to the wing to cup seam line, top hem curve and bottom hem curve, but no seam allowance for the hook and eyes.

For the strap attachment point add 1cm seam allowance. This 1cm allowance will go through the strap bar and be sewn down.

Quick tip: To make sewing alignment cut outs in your bra patterns you could buy an expensive pair of “pattern notching pliers”; instead use a cheap pair of hole punch pliers to make small holes at the alignment marks. You can reinforce the holes with sticky tape or nail varnish. Chalk thought the holes to alignment mark your fabric.

Sewing

I would suggest that you use a fairly strong Powernet for the wings; we need a soft frame for the cups, but not too soft or you will lose the support and shaping. We are also attaching the straps to the Powernet of the wings.

Sewing the bra together is quite straightforward: start by sewing the cup parts together.

Sew the cups to the cradle halves, but do not sew the cradle halves together yet.

To stop the neck hems of the cups from stretching, tack stitch a 5mm strip of non-stretch lining fabric along the edge of the neck hem of each cup. Do not turn the hems under yet.

Sew the cradle halves together at the centre front seam and sew seam tape over the seam.

Sew the wings to the cups / cradles and seam tape.

For a softer edge to the cup neck hems, we will sew on some blush hem elastic. It’s the same technique as applying blush elastic to Powernet, except the cup fabric will not stretch.

Start by single step zig zag sewing the blush elastic blush side up from one strap point, along the cup, across the centre bridge, along the other cup up to the other strap point.

Turn under the hems / blush elastic and three step zig zag sew.

Continue with the blush elastic and hem the bottom hem of the bra and the top hems of the wings, single step zig zag, turn under and three step zig zag.

Make up two straps using two strap sliders per strap, one for adjustment and the other one to sew to the cup apex.

Sew the straps to the wings with zig zag stitching and then pass the 1cm cup / wing apex allowance through the straps sliders and sew down. No twisted straps, please!

Sew the hooks and eyes onto the wing ends and try on.

For this week’s homework, measure the distance from your underbust (breast root) to your waistline. Make a note of the measurement. For my cup size 4 example this is 12.5cm.

Copy the wing / cradle draft to a new sheet of paper and mirror it to give you a complete bra.

Draw a line across the paper down from the cradle to cup seam line by your underbust to waist measurement.

Copy the bra's bottom hem curve of the bra to this waistline guideline.

Extend the CB hook and eye wing lines and the wing to cup seam lines down to the waistline curve.

You can curve in the extended wing to cup seam lines to give a shapelier diaphragm front panel (the green lines in the diagram).

Separate the new cradle / diaphragm front panel from the wings and add seam allowance.

And there you have a pattern for a supportive, torso-shaping long line bra. Perfect for under a 50’s style full-circle skirted dress!

 

Thank you for enjoying this series on Soft Bras - let us know what you think in the comments below!

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