Slight change of plans and one more Maya!

So yes, my last attempts for a great fit didn't go that well... So I decided to stop using Bella Hendriks' book "Maatwerk lingerie en badkleding", it just didn't want to work with my figure! 💁
 I do know that eventually, with the right adjustments, I would have gotten a good fit but what's the point of making 100 changes when you can use another method and have a good fit with much less effort and wasted materials?

Since here in the Netherlands, if you want a degree in bra making you have to first have one in lingerie (at least with the system my teacher uses),  I got a book that includes everything! And by lingerie I mean bodies, nightgowns, robes, pajamas, camisoles, slips, e.t.c.,e.t.c. The book is of course in Dutch and it's called "Patroontekenboek Dameskleding en lingerie" and it's from Danckaerts (Sorry non-Dutch speakers 😏!). What's also very nice about this book is that it also includes clothing, so it basically has everything!

To be honest, I don't expect to become an expert bra maker with this book but that's ok, I get to learn lots of other things and techniques and in the process also learn how to draft my own clothing! Fortunately there are a few good English language bra drafting books that I can also use! I'm already planning on ordering Beverly Johnson's books anyway!😋

Ok, enough about all that for now, you're probably here to see this beauty:

What do you do after being disappointed a bunch of times and just want something pretty? Yes, another Maya!😋 I've tried other patterns, most of them just didn't do it for me, the Maya is just my favorite so far, so I keep making them!

I have changed nothing to my pattern since these 2 ,no reason to touch my pattern anymore since it's perfect! 

I used this beautiful lace that I bought a while ago from Amsterdam, white background with yellow flowers and green leaves.

I used my 6mm (yes, 6mm!) beige foam padding and covered it with the lace. For the frame I used beige 2-way stretch polyester lycra which I doubled for the back wings. My cradle was lined with rigid tulle. And of course a bit more lace on the bridge for some extra cuteness!💛

The fit is, as expected, perfect!💚 I'm very happy with it but I think I have enough Mayas now for a while 😋!

An attempt to diagonal cups

Back from vacation and ready to continue my bra making adventures!

I couldn't wait to give the diagonal cup a try in the hope that it'd look better than the horizontal cup draft😋.

I followed my book again (which, to be honest,at times I find unnecessarily complicated), and altered my pattern. My knowledge is still limited when it comes to how patterns should look so I assumed it was ok.
Initially I started making a soft bra again but, if you've read my other posts, you know I'm not really a fun of them since, despite my bra size, I still got lemons!😅
I had already cut my lace out and was about to start putting my bra together when I decided I'm gonna make it with padding! For the padding I added the same seam allowance at the wireline as for the lace ( and not +1cm that I normally add), I thought, this padding is quite thin, it should be fine.
I also moved the strap position 1cm outwards since above the apex didn't do it for me.

The result? Meh...😐 I mean... I like the color combination and the lace is beautiful but... The cups are a bit small, the straps are still too far inwards and the apex is too low... And now I have another sleeping bra...😂

In the last picture you can see where the apex is supposed to be and where my cross cup seam is, with as a result: downward pointing boobs!👀
I thought the apex being too low was my mistake since I added less seam allowance than usual ( and less than the book suggests). The strap position...well, apparently the ''ideal'' strap placement is above the apex but that doesn't work for me, it just looks weird!

So I decided to try and fix one problem at a time, starting from the apex issue.
Since I f@cked up the seam allowance on the last one, I started again, making another bra but this time with the right seam allowance added. At that point I was sure that this was going to fix that problem and the fact that the previous one was a bit small.
I scored some push up underwires on my vacation and thought this would be fine to try with this bra as well since all I gotta do is lower my bridge and my upper cup a bit. (Spoiler alert: it didn't go that well!)
So I started all over again, cut my stuff, put it together and.... it's worse! 😕😡 It looks like a misformed triangle bra that got run over by a truck💩...

Again the dots show where the apex should be and where it is... Even lower than before somehow (?)
I find this so ugly that I don't even want to use it as a sleeping bra, to the bra graveyard it goes!👎
The apex is still too low, the straps are too far towards the center and there's excess fabric/padding at the outer sides on the seam line.  I think I have to start from scratch, remeasuring and all and keep my cross cup seam lines a bit straighter.

So yea... that's how well that went, I need to take a break from this, make a couple of pretty things first and then start again!


I want to add as a footnote that this post was written a couple of months ago and after these 2 disasters, I decided to not continue with this book since nothing fit me properly (I also tried to make panties and a top) and, even with my limited knowledge, I disagree with the way some things are supposed to be cut/fit. Also, as I already mentioned, I find it unnecessarily complicated.
More about what I decided to do and how to continue on the next post 😊!