Diving into bra drafting!

It's been a while since my last post and there's a reason for that. For quite a while now I've been thinking that I'd like to do something more with my favorite hobby but the idea of making clothing for others didn't quite do it for me. Lately I've been so obsessed with making bras that I decided I wanted more! So I've been busy looking into courses in lingerie making and diplomas that are available in the Netherlands! 😁

Apparently there aren't that many and most of them are too far away for me to drive to every week. But I managed, I found a teacher half an hour drive away and didn't waste any time! I did a trial lesson and instantly signed my self up for more! I'm not sure yet which certificate/diploma I'm going for but there's time to figure that out.

The book that the lessons are based on is called "Maatwerk lingerie en badkleding'' written by Bella Hendriks (apologies to all non-Dutch and German speakers, this book is only available in these 2 languages) which loosely translates to ''Custom made lingerie and swimwear'' and it's 186 pages of information 💞!

  Every draft is based on the wearers measurements and that's exactly what I was looking for! If I wanted industry sized lingerie, I'd just go buy it😛 The bras are drafted based on the right underwire and a load of the person's measurements.

There are also different styles included such as wireless, push up, balcony etc. And of course a bunch of adjustments that can be made to perfect the shape of the bra!

We started by taking all my measurements and then I started drafting a bra for the first time! I ain't gonna lie, it isn't easy, it needs some getting used to, but that's also what makes it fun! It's a challenge and I find that exciting😏

The band and cradle were drafted with help from the teacher but the cups I had to draft at home. That didn't go great😅 I knew something was off but I wasn't sure how to fix it. So I went on with making a first muslin, this beauty👇 😂

Surprisingly, it isn't as ill-fitting as I thought it would be but pretty it is not 💩!
It turned out quite pointy and quite high at the strap extension. Unfortunately Roxanne isn't the best model for bras but yea... I hope you can get a good idea of the fit.

A week later, we looked at my masterpiece together and she showed me how to fix the top cup so as it's not so enormous! After some cutting, spreading and redrawing, I had a new pattern piece. And this is how it turned out!

Not that bad! Am I amazed? No but I can't expect it to be perfect already right?
It's somewhat flattening but it's quite comfortable! It has now become my sleeping bra!😋

My next attempt was making the same pattern with padding and see if the ''flatness'' was due to the lack of foam, since I'm used to wearing only padded bras. I used the exact same pattern with the only difference that I added 1 cm around the foam underwire seam. Well... Something somewhere went terribly wrong...!😱😕

See the little yellow pin? That's where the apex should be! 😂
I really don't know what happened here but this ain't lookin' good at all👎🙍

Apart from the obvious, the disproportionate cups, the side at the underarm area is huge. It comes up waay too high to the point where there are 3cm of empty casing 👀
I'm not even going to bother with this one, it's going directly in the bra graveyard basket and we shall never speak of it again😐

Because of the issue at the underarm area, I went back to my original draft and... it doesn't look right. Something somewhere went wrong...
So I started all over again, double-checked all my measurements and, what do you know, some of them were off by a few centimeters. Not sure what happened while measuring the first time but I at least know now where it all started going wrong.
The only reason the second bra fits, is because it's made out of stretch fabric and that covered up most of the mistakes.

So yea, I redrafted everything and put together another bra and this looks much better!

See the pretty circle I made in the picture above? That's the only problem area of this bra, no biggie, I just have to remove a few millimeters from the top cup at that spot and it should be good!😊 I somehow managed to add to much seam allowance at the underarm seam and neckline seam here, that's why it comes a bit high up. And of coarse keep in mind that Roxanne has no real boobies, just an old bra and some junk stuffed in the cups, so the fit on her isn't exactly perfect or totally representative of how it fits me!
I find this much better fitting than my previous attempts👍.

I'll keep tweaking and playing with the pattern and of coarse try more things from the book!