Bras by Kristen

 I asked a LONG time ago for links to some folk's favorites and then I put them together on this page and promptly forgot about it for a year.  So here's some links gleaned out of one of the bramaking groups on facebook.  I haven't checked all these links, but here they are. 

Cloth Habits bra sew alongs. construction tutorials. https://clothhabit.com/tutorials-tips/

https://orange-lingerie.com/blogs/news/tagged/tutorials 

https://www.katmakes.com/blog/2017/8/1/changing-a-bra-pattern-from-full-to-partial-band-a-tutorial 

https://merckwaerdigh.wordpress.com/2016/07/14/how-to-add-elastic-in-a-bra-when-lycra-switches-to-scalloped-lace/ 

https://merckwaerdigh.wordpress.com/2016/04/10/creating-a-butterfly-back-in-your-bra/ 

http://alltheunderwear.sophiehines.com/sewing-lingerie-adding-accent-trim-into-seams/

A 5-part tutorial for Elan 645 bra pattern http://hooksandwires.blogspot.com/search/label/Elan%20645

And same for Elan 511 https://hooksandwires.blogspot.com/search/label/Elan%20511

And here's part 1 of her tutorial for Elan 530. (Links to next three parts are in the right margin.) These feel a bit dated (10 years old already!) but are well done. http://hooksandwires.blogspot.com/2010/03/elan-530-tutorial-part-one-trace-cut.html

Here is our course platform and the beginning sewing classes we are offering to teach people how to sew.  Like from the very beginning.  There's a workbook, lessons with videos, and a practice project at the end. Its available at an an early release discount while I'm still developing the course, but should be fully live by the end of February 2021!

 

I've been putting together sewing classes and I've always thought it would be great to offer a kit of items I use DAILY, but a kit probably isn't useful for everyone because they probably have some or all of what I would put in the kit.  So I thought of a next best thing. 

In full disclosure, these are affiliate links. The products won't cost you any extra to buy them, but if you click through and buy from these links, I'll get a few pennies for it. Having said that, I picked all of these things because I use them daily.

If you plan to buy from amazon, please use my links to help me stay active in my amazon account so I can bring you items like this in the future!!

 Here's the final installment on Anne Bertha's guest posts regarding root traces and wire alterations!

How to shape your wire

by Anne Bertha

So, you’ve made a plaster cast but you’re not sure how to translate this three dimensional

shape to a two dimensional pattern? Then this post is perfect for you.

Making a bridge pattern and wire trace off your cast

What you’ll need:

● Your cast (well duh)

● Paper

● Masking tape

● Some sort of flexible wire

I first present you... My cast!

Let’s start with the bridge pattern. Stick a few pieces of masking tape to the inside of the cast

bridge, carefully peel it off and stick it again on a sheet of paper. There’s no need to follow

the wire line to the millimeter, we’ll take care of that later.

Then, trace your bridge shape to another piece of paper and label it left and right.

Remember that these will not be mirrored! After this, my bridge pattern looks like this.

Next, it’s time to take your flexible wire and mould it to one of the wire lines of the cast. This

can be tricky to do with acceptable accuracy, so make sure you take your time.

Remember when I said we’ll do something about the inaccuracy of the wire line at the

bridge? The time is now. Simply make a copy of your bridge, lay your wire on the according

side of and trace the bit at the bridge. My actual wire trace is marked in green in the picture

below. Note: the low point of your left and right breast root might not be on a horizontal line

as in my case, one might be lower than the other. This can best be determined standing in

front of a mirror. You want to account for it in this step if applicable.

Now it’s time to determine whether you’re one of the lucky people who fits in a ‘standard’

wire. Print off some wire charts and match your flexible wire to the charts. Try rotating it,

flipping it, whatever may work for you. If you find a match, awesome! The quest ends here

for you. For the other ones, I will describe a method you can use to shape wires after your

individual shape.

A little bit of science

The method I’ll be using was developed by a fellow Bare Essentials drafter. She used the

property of metal that when hammered on a particular area, that area will stretch. This forces

the metal to bend slightly. A wire is basically a flat, thin strip of metal which is bent. You can

manipulate this bending by hammering on the inside or the outside of the wire with the ball

end of a ball-peen hammer. I’ll explain this using the picture of a metal ruler.

If you would want to curve it like in the picture below, it means that the top will have to be

longer than the bottom.

To get this result, we would have to hammer the top of the ruler since we want that side to

lengthen. Basically, that’s the technique used to shape wires after your very own trace.

How to apply the science

First, some preparation steps. Trace the inside of the flexible wire. The center front is fixed, I

marked a black dot there to show that this is the highest point of my bridge. The side

however is more up for interpretation, the height kind of depends on how high you made

your cast. It will work for now, you can determine the exact side height afterwards by trying

on your customized wires.

To get started with the next few steps, you’ll need uncoated wires. I started from regular

wires size 60. They are not heavy gauge, so I will be doubling them up inside the

channeling. The fact that they are a more regular gauge does mean that the following

process will be easier.

You will need a ball-peen hammer and an anvil or a table vise with anvil-like attachment.

Start at center front, and lay the inside of your wire against the trace. Try following the traced

line as far as possible. You’ll notice that at some point, the trace and the actual wire will

diverge. Mark this point on both sides of the wire.

If you would recreate this image, you would notice that if you ‘stretch’ the wire to match the

trace, you actually need to stretch the inside of the wire. This means I needed to hammer on

the inside of the wire around the marked point (going 1⁄2” or 1.2 cm left and right) to bend the

wire into the shape of the trace. Always make sure you hammer on both sides of the wire

(front and back), since otherwise the wire will distort.

After hammering, the wire looks like this. I again marked the diverging point. Now, the wire

needs to be stretched and thus hammered on the outside to make the wire curve inward

towards the trace.

Here’s the final result. Be sure to mark your wire as soon as you finish them.

Acknowledgement: this post would not have been possible without the knowledge of Grace

Horne. I will always be grateful to her.

Here's another guest post by Anne Bertha, involving root tracing and figuring out wire shapes. This is more of a 3D root trace to get an idea of whether or not the wire could have a bend, twist, or other Manipulation.

How to Make a Plaster Cast

by Anne Bertha

Slight nudity warning!

I’ve been making bras for two years now. Very soon in that process, people told me

that the first thing you should do is search for a wire that fits you. Well, that proved to

be very difficult. By now I have a whole range of different sizes and styles of wires,

but none of them really seem to fit me. After noticing a post on Facebook of

someone who made a plaster cast of her ribcage and seeing the transformation in

bra fit, I decided to make my own plaster cast. This is the tutorial.

You will need:

● Plaster gauze. For a cast of one underbust, I used 2 rolls of 3 m by 7.5 cm

(3.3 yds by 3 inches).

● Scissors, to cut the plaster gauze in pieces.

● Latex (or other) gloves. It gets real messy.

● Petroleum jelly or olive oil. You want the cast to come off your body easily.

For my first try, I used petroleum jelly and for the second one, I used olive oil.

I must say I liked the olive oil better. It’s just easier to wash off afterwards.

● A bucket (not the best one you have).

● Towels (not the best ones you have) or a sheet of plastic to cover your

working station.

● Preferably a person to put the cast on you. It can be done by yourself, but that

makes it much harder.

When doing my cast, I stood in the bathtub. There will be splashing of plaster drops,

so make sure you think about that beforehand. A day after making the cast, I still find

plaster spots everywhere in my bathroom.

How to do it:

1. Gather all of your materials, and put them near you. Make a workstation,

preferably at a convenient height. Especially when you do your cast yourself,

you don’t want to move too much or else the cast in progress will also move.

2. Cut up the plaster gauze in pieces of different lengths. When doing a cast of

your whole underbust, make sure you have two piles, one for each underbust.

That way the cast will more likely be evenly thick around.

3. You want to wear as few clothes as possible. I advise a bikini bottom which

will wash out easily. If the side of your breast crease is hard to identify like

mine, mark it with a (non-permanent) marker.

4. Fill the bucket with water of the temperature indicated on the plaster gauze

packaging.

5. Find a comfortable position. This can be seated or standing, try to sit or stand

as naturally as possible.

6. Put on the gloves. Time to do this!

7. Apply vaseline or olive oil to your underbust, it’s best to cover a slightly larger

area to be sure it will all come off easily. It’s best to be thorough but don’t add

a layer that’s too thick because otherwise the plaster won’t stick well and slide

down.

8. Pick up a piece of the plaster gauze, put it in water and take it out. Run it

through two fingers so the excess water comes off, and stick it to your body.

9. Repeat to cover the whole area you want a cast of. Work sequentially from

one side to another, and work as fast as possible. How quickly the plaster

dries depends on a lot of factors, but mine did that quite fast.

10.You’ll notice at some point that the cast will start feeling loose, that’s a sign it’s

drying. I followed the instructions on the plaster gauze so I stood for about 15

minutes in the bathtub waiting for the cast to be dry enough to be taken off my

body.

11.If you want to speed up the drying process, take out the hairdryer and apply

some heat to both the outside and the inside (if you can reach it) of the cast.

12.Gently put the cast somewhere it can dry completely. Depending on

thickness, this might take up to 48 hours. Make sure to flip it carefully once

one side is dry.

13.Take a good look at your own plaster imprint! You can’t see my smile on the

picture but it was quite large.

Notes: the type of plaster gauze varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. I first

tried making a cast using rolls from a hobby shop for this tutorial, for my second one

I used rolls from the pharmacy. Those were substantially softer before use and

harder set after use.

The following is a guest post by Anne Bertha.  Anne's root shape was different enough to require more shaping to her wires than most people, so she worked, ever so diligently, to sort out what she needed to make her bras work for her. 

Root Trace Methods

by Anne Bertha 

While some people find their wire shape and size easily, it can prove to be a real

challenge for others. There are some ways you can make this process easier

however. All the methods have one idea in common: to make a mould of your

ribcage so you can decide which wires are the best fit. There’s always a compromise

to be made between ease, cost and accuracy.

I will be discussing the pros and cons of three methods: using masking tape, tin foil

and making a plaster cast. Finally, I’m showing you my root trace on paper.

First up: masking tape mould.

The idea behind this one is quite simple: by sticking layers of masking tape to your

body and carefully peeling it off, you’re able to replicate your wire root shape on

paper in 2D.

Notes: You want to make a construction in which your breasts are encased, with kind

of like anchor points. Otherwise, when you peel your tape construction off, it will lose

its shape.

Pros: Easy and cheap way to get a rough idea of your root shape.

Cons: Can be painful to peel off, depending on the masking tape itself. Because you

mould it to your body (3D) and try sticking it to paper (2D) afterwards, it’s not that

accurate. It can be quite tricky to figure out how to stick it to paper without distorting

the shape.

Second: tin foil mould.

Tin foil has an interesting property: it’s malleable and will hold its shape quite well. I

made this one by moulding pieces of tin foil to my body and sticking them together

as well as to my body using masking tape.

Notes: Try and keep the mould quite flat. I folded some tin foil, shaped it, but in some

places I got a little overexcited and the tin foil piled up. It won’t stick to the masking

tape as well then.

Pros: Easy and cheap way. A bit more expensive than the tape mould, but also

much more accurate.

Cons: There is a hint of a 3D shape there, but it’s still much more of a 2D shape. You

don’t get a clear idea if your ribcage is particularly cylindrical and you might need to

bend your wires or not.

Third: plaster cast

For a how-to, read the separate blog post. Because this shape is very 3D, it can be

tricky to translate it to paper to get an idea of your wire size and shape. I suggest

taking a flexible wire, moulding it to the cast and then scanning that wire.

Pros: Very accurate method to get a 3D mould of your ribcage.

Cons: You need specific materials and, preferably, a second person to make the

mould on you. It takes a while to dry so for the impatient ones amongst you, you’ll

have to wait at least a day to start working with it.

The result

This root trace on paper is made using the tin foil mould, which was quite easy to

translate to paper. Not only does this root trace allow for an accurate way to

determine wire size and shape, it also makes it possible to make a custom bridge

pattern. After I shape wires after my root trace (more on this in another blog post), I

use the plaster cast to bent them so they follow my body as best as possible.

Which method you choose is up to you, they all have their pros and cons and will all

help you towards a better wire (and thus bra) fit. If you have additional ideas,

suggestions, or want to share how yours turned out, feel free to do so in the

comments!

When you're Drafting with Bare Essentials Drafting Method, a common alteration that needs to be done is moving the apex toward the center front so the breast doesn't appear to be pointing towards the arms.  In the bra-making world, this is often called "East-West" pointing and is not generally an appealing look under clothing since the seams are usually designed in clothing to be more front facing.  

The following tutorial (and photos) are the work of Dale Hoffman and this tutorial is a post that I had intended to feature a year ago.  (Such is life.) 

Step 1 

Complete page 166, 167 and 168 in  Chapter 16 of Bare Essentials.  

Place top and bottom facing each other so  you don’t get confused

as to which way to  move your apex. Ask me how I know this.

Step 2 

Mark how far to move your apex and mark  with a pencil.

I also mark my upper and  lower cups with the same amount.

I have  used pens to make it easier to see. 

If you are only moving your apex a small  amount,

you won’t need this mark on your  lower cups as you would join

to the original  vertical point. If I used the original vertical  point

for my lower cups it makes them  very misshapen

because of how big my apex  move is.

Step 3

True your new apex point to the centre  front and side seam points on your circle. True your new apex point to the centre  front and side seam points on your circle. 

Step 4 

Now mark your new upper cup centre line. 

And on the lower cups I mark a new centre  line, or you can join

to the original vertical  point. (Kristen's Note: On the Lower cups,

Dale uses the red line for her vertical split on her bras,

where I use the blue line. The red line made my boobs look crosseyed

which is as abnormal as east-west facing. Sometimes you just have to experiment)

Step 5

Erase your original apex pencil marks.  Now you can follow page 170

and complete  your torso shape adjustment if you need  any.

You can split your lower cups at  this stage as well.

 

 I've often thought about how nice it would be to hire employees in our Alterations shop, but it's just so hard to find people that know how to dissect what needs to be done on anything they approach and then alter it.  In Southeastern Minnesota, the older crowd of sewists that do alterations are retiring, which means an influx of phone calls for our business because of mom's 30 year reputation. 

So the wheels have been turning. If I were to take on an employee, what are the things I want them to know and how could I train them while still being able to sew on my own work.  When you're a small business as small as we are, stopping to train someone slows your productivity down so much that there's no profit to be made in the business. After many conversations with other business owners, over the summer it occurred to me that I could record the sewing I'm doing in the shop and turn it into courses, as if they were training videos for someone I'd hire. 

So I bought a camera and started recording. 

I've been recording since the middle of the summer. The thing about economy changes, when people are strapped for cash, they have us mend their clothes and people still get married (pandemic rules or not). So I might have a day where I patch stained pants for a local dairy farmer because he can't afford new and then turn around and hem a $3500 USD wedding gown. I might replace the zipper on a coat for the ambulance crew and then repair a horse blanket for one of the ranches. So I've been recording. Everything.

I found a course platform that I love and I am working behind the scenes on a very beginning class on the basics. I'm not quite finished with it, although I plan to open it soon for pre-order. For those who are interested in checking out my freebies, the website is 

https://sewingbycarolyn.vipmembervault.com/

So... what happened to this year?

Beginning of the year, I started this blog and put a ton of articles up after my highschooler switched from Online Public school to our local district in January. I have 3 kids and 2 of them are school age.

Then March happened. Can I just say it? This pandemic has had some soul sucking qualities. I feel gyped out of digital progress this year!! My 9th grader studying Algebra and my first grader (who read along with the first Harry potter book after kindergarten) both got sent home from school to do their studies at home. So here I am, full time sewing with mom in our alterations shop, juggling which kid gets the homework help between sewing, With an almost 4 year old running around begging for attention.

Then: "Don't make masks." "Everyone stay home." "Wait, some people are essential, so they should keep working." "Wait, make masks cuz we can't buy them." "Cancel all the events, stay home for 2 weeks to flatten the curve, but then life will resume." "Ha, that's a joke, this ain't going away." "Well, maybe we could lift the restrictions some..." "Ok, everyone be mindful and resume activities, but social distance and stay home as much as possible, but if you social distance, you should be fine to have weddings." 

Then, in Minnesota, they decided in JULY that we needed a mask mandate.

July.

Not March.

Not April.

Not May.

Not June.

July.

Come August, there was NO PLAN YET for the school. Our district held a town hall zoom meeting to try to reassure the parents. WHAT A JOKE! I have a kid with an Asthma action plan! She's an age that they wanted to send her to school and they expected the teachers to do an impossible job of implementing several separate plans at once. No thanks.

So we took a long look at our options. Mom and I had been operating at a level of overwhelm that can cause a psychotic break. The burnout was real, folks! We knew the option of an actual online school from having used it before the pandemic. But I can't sew full time (because people got married anyway - they just moved it out to farms), child care the 4 year old, assist the 2nd grader to suddenly do a bunch of computer work, and help the High Schooler move into geometry and 10th grade pursuits.

So I had to hire help. I have a friend that's a rockstar and acting as the second me so we can split the to do list in half. This was a temporary solution to pandemic stress. We're really hopeful for next school year and hoping that we can resume some sense of "Normal."

So, Here's to being hopeful for what the New Year will bring.

One of my mild obsessions is the shape of the Ewa Michalak bras. This video was shared with me to pass along as a great example of the proper way to put on a bra.
Source

One of the important pieces in the wire fitting stage is doing a root trace.  Not everyone needs this if they have wires in stock and their anatomy lines up well with a certain wire.  However, some people may not have a stock of wires, and then it's nice to line this root trace up with wire charts so you have some idea of what to order.  One of the most recommended websites for this tutorial is the Kimtimates website. Slight Nudity in this one.

How To: Breast Root Trace **Slight Nudity**

There's been a lot of discussion online about breast roots. Do you have wide roots, narrow roots, short roots, long roots? It all sounds interesting, but what is a breast root?! The breast root is the inframammary fold. It's basically where your breast attaches to your torso.

Another great resource (there is nipple showing in this one) shows the trace lined up with a wire

Bra Underwires 101: A Basic Guide | The Lingerie Addict

Today's guest post is by Lyzzy Beswick. Hailing from the beautiful Derbyshire Peak District, Lyzzy is a DeMonfort Contour and NTU Fashion Management Graduate. She currently works as a freelance technical lingerie designer for KissMeDeadly, Augustine London and several other independent brands. Her obsessions include pole dancing, antique lingerie, rock music, Smart cars and green tea.

https://brasbykristen.blogspot.com/search/label/Fabrics

[1] How a wire should fit.
This measurement is taken by Bra-makers either with a flexible ruler or with different sizes of underwires until one properly fits the infra mammary crease. If you find underwires uncomfortable or poking you, more than likely they are the wrong size for your anatomy. Warning: Slight nudity in some of these tutorials.
https://brasbykristen.blogspot.com/search/label/Wire%20Fitting


Wires can be altered to fit. Most people can find some sort of wire shape out there that will work, but some absolutely cannot find one that is shaped properly for the shape of their root. https://brasbykristen.blogspot.com/search/label/Wire%20Alterations



[2] How a band should fit
A Band should be fitted independent from cups. We always tell people starting fresh to bra sewing to make a band with no cups and get that to fit correctly, first. Center against sternum with no breast tissue behind. See picture at end of post with the frame on a mannequin.  There are many posts on this subject, including one that I did with extra seam allowances for being able to alter easily. https://brasbykristen.blogspot.com/search/label/Fitting%20Bands

Once you’ve tried on the fitting band, take note of the alterations that need to be done and stitch them into the fitting band.
https://brasbykristen.blogspot.com/search/label/Band%20Alterations




[3] Then make cups
Start by making the cup size that the pattern designer recommends, because each designer will have their own chart in mind about what measurements make up what name in their sizing system. https://brasbykristen.blogspot.com/search/label/Fitting%20Cups

https://brasbykristen.blogspot.com/search/label/Cup%20Alterations



One more thing, I highly recommend the Eve Pattern if you’re interested in doing some designing, or if you’ve not had any successes with patterns in the past.  The Eve Classic Pattern is as close to a custom draft as is possible in Patterns. Also, if you somehow don’t fit in this range of patterns (which has more than 1000 options for custom sizing) Information can be found here for learning to draft bras from scratch here. https://brasbykristen.blogspot.com/p/the-eve-revolutionary-to-bramaking.html