Hey yall, it’s Nicki from SewUprising again, back with even more glamour shots of my boobs! Just kidding, just kidding! But only kind of because I am here talking about bra patterns, again, but instead of lingerie and bralettes this time I am talking about one of my favorite sports bra patterns, the Christina sports bra from Porcelynne!
This pattern comes in one of the largest range of sizes I have seen, all the way up to a 52 K cup! As a small band, large cup sized woman, buying and wearing sports bras is one of life’s greatest miseries for me.. Either the cups fit and the band is ridiculously massive, or the band fits but only one of my boobs fits in the area where two are supposed to go… and you can imagine for yourself how comical / indecent either of those two options look when I hit the gym. So I recently l took to making my own sports bras and have been loving not only having the perfect fit but also being able to hack one or two basic patterns into endless design options as well!
Ever notice that in most retailers, the larger a bra gets, the uglier it gets? Yeah, me too and I hate it! Just because my boobs are bigger doesn’t mean I only want to wear a beige bra for goodness sakes…So one of the biggest design hacks I have been doing for my sports bras is attempting to replicate all of those cute, strappy bralettes that you see in places like LuLu Lemon, Athleta, and other stores like that, while keeping all of the support and function I need as a larger busted individual and it has just been making my heart so happy!
I have made many differnt variations of bras like these but today I am going to share with you a quick hack for making my favorite version, a LuLu-esque basket weave / strappy back! Let’s sew!
Pattern Hack Tutorial
*Note: this hack works best with the rolled edge option of the Christina Sports Bra Pattern but is doable with the FOE finishing as well
Supplies: Sports bra pattern and required notions, 1/2 Yard Tricot from Phee (the best fabric I have found so far for a light weight but supportive sports bra!), 1/2 yard powernet from Phee (to be used as the bra lining, this stuff is AHHMAZING!!), regular sewing supplies
- Print and assemble your pattern as instructed in the pattern.
- Also cut, six 17 inch pieces of 3/8 inch elastic and six pieces of your outside fabric 1.5 inches wide and 17 inches long
- Straighten out the back piece
- Fold down the racer back portion of the back piece so it becomes plat across the top. Cut off along fold or tape down to keep the extended part out of the way
- Cut your pattern pieces out as instructed in the pattern, being sure to use your adjusted back piece from step two
- Sew your bra together according to the pattern steps, skipping step one and continuing on until your reach step five
- Use the elastic and fabric you cut in step two, create six covered straps by folding the elastic in half right side together, placing the elastic on top, 1/8 from the folded edge, and sew a line of small zig-zag stitches half on the elastic and half off on the side of the fabric that isn’t folded before turning right side out. Check out a video of how to do this HERE.
- Line the 3/8 edge of three pieces of strap elastic side by side, with the seams facing down, and baste together. Repeat with the other three pieces of elastic strapping. This will new work the same as your “straps” in the pattern going forward.
- Continue sewing your bra as indicated it the pattern until the end, skipping where the pattern asks you to attach the straps to the back of your bra
- Lay the bra facing down on a table and weave the straps in a way that is pleasing to you, spreading the ends of all six straps across the center half of the back of the bra when done. Pin/baste in place.
- Try on the bra to check the strap length and placement, adjust and repeat as desired.
- Use a zig-zag stitch to secure the straps to the back of the bra and you are done!
Easy as that! Happy Hacking!
pheefabrics.blog 