Here it is folks! The result of my first ever foray into bra making. I’ve been wanting to get on this bandwagon for some time now. So when I had a lingerie shower to attend I thought “This is it! I’m going to MAKE my gift!” Of course, I had to do a few practice runs on myself before I could make anything gift-worthy. For my very first ever bra I didn’t want to get too complicated. I also decided to get brave and actually try on my bralette for you guys. No shame here!
I wanted to start with something simple so I chose Oh Lu Lu’s Scarlett Bralette pattern. I hadn’t yet acquired much legit bra making supplies, so I figured a nice little bralette would be easy to make with what I had on hand. If you are not familiar with Oh Lu Lu get your butt over to her website and check this chick out. She makes the most adorable lingerie AND lingerie patterns! With so many styles to choose from, I think its a great place to start your handmade lingerie journey!
I cut a size xs for my bralette. The only changes I made to the pattern was to take a little bit of volume out of the upper cup. I’m … ahem… slightly smaller than the pattern is drafted for. I did this by removing about 1/4″ from each bra piece on the center cup seam near the top and blending into the original line toward the bottom of the cup.
As I said before, the fabric and notions I used were just what I had on hand. I had the tiniest scrap of this white and teal polka dot spandex that I’ve been saving for a while hoping I could squeeze a bra out of it. Lucky me – I think I have enough of it left to whip out some matching undies! The yellow trimmed elastic I picked up at a fabric store with the thought that I’d use it with this spandex to make a bra (see it’s been in the works for a while. The white elastic for the straps was just something I had in my stash. Since I was lacking the proper hoops and such I just sewed the elastic straight to the spandex. Not an ideal application, but I had to make do.
Over all I love this little bralette, and highly recommend it for beginner bra sewists. I also love how quickly bras come together, such a satisfying project. I hope to make the lace-backed version some day!
Pattern: Scarlett Bralette by Oh Lu lu Sews
Fabric: White and teal polka dot spandex
Notions: Yellow trimmed elastic, white trimmed elastic
Difficulty: Easy
Adjustments: Removed about 1/2″ from upper cup volume
Finishes: Elastic turned to inside
Time: 1 hour?
Sew it again? Absolutely!
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