Bridge Alterations - Wire Splay
In bra patterns, makers have to pick a width between the breasts. This is usually another average and in Ready to Wear, it's another difficult hurdle, for some, to find anything that fits.
In my posts about a client's fitting band Part 1 and Part 2, I shared a band where I had extra seam allowance in the center front to give the ability to account for altering the bridge for the angles the wires may need to sit to trace the inframammary crease on each person's body.
In this photo above, the bridge I had made was too wide and I pinned it in on the client. The photo below is how those pins translated into altering the band. This particular client needed the wires to overlap at the top and a little extra space at the bottom.
Another way to be able to alter this space is to "take a measurement," so to speak, by making card stock bridge halves that perfectly align with the shape of the wire. An easy way to do this is to trace the wire on paper, or take a photocopy if you have a copier. This can be taken at the time of measuring for a bra, and fitting the wire. Technically, you are fitting not only the bridge, but you are deciding at what angle the wires need to sit to follow the shape of your body, all at the same time. Also, this may help those who have one breast higher on the body than the other, you can paperclip the cardboard to match your shapes and trace at your drafting table.
The wire basically is shaped like a circle (in most cases) and the bridge area represents a quarter of the circle that the wire is based on. For those who are drafting with Bare Essentials, Third Edition, this is the quarter wire circumference from your particular wire.
Then, place a paperclip at the top and the bottom of the two pieces, and you can scoot them together; you may need to fold the paper if it's too wide, because some people need to overlap wires. You can slide them apart, or at different angles for what your own shape is like, to give you an idea of how to angle the bridge on the pattern to make the wires sit along your anatomy. Below are 3 angles of bridge testers, note the angle of the wires in each picture.
Once you have the cardboard shaped like your bridge, you can trace them on a piece of paper and fold in half to compare with most patterns. Most patterns are cut the center front on the fold, so most of the time, it is just a matter of changing that angle of the center front fold like I did on the fabric with the purple markings.
1 comments
Thank you for this post. If using the angle this means the bridge will always need a center front seam, correct?
ReplyDeletePlease be kind, y'all!