A Spooky Sports Bra (warning, very scary photos of ghosts)

 Let me first introduce you to the reason behind this project. 

With summer fast approaching, and my job taking considerably more physical labor than I've ever done, I've found myself sweating buckets while at work. While I normally preach my hatred of Polyester and her accursed sisters, most of my work clothes have inadvertently ended up being cheap, mass manufacturered pieces of (quite literally) hot garbage.

Most of this is because of the fact I wear through it so quickly, I don't have the time it takes me to design, mock up, buy and sew a full garment. But this also means that the ready to wear clothing I buy (despite being a decently expensive investment), is almost all poly or mostly poly.

I'm working to fix that.

The first full work garment I tried to make was a pair of stays. Yes I know... 

I wanted to reduce the way the waistband of my pants would dig into my stomach when I crouched or bent over. I also felt like it would help flatten out the appearance of my chest without compressing it too much. I feel like they would be a lot more comfortable with a good stomacher and busk, but as of right now she is very much a UFO.

This one I'm attempting to reproduce my favorite sports bra, but in 100% cotton (Minus the elastic band).

I figured this would be a quick project, but for reasons unbenownst to even me, I decided to HAND STITCH the entire thing. Mostly because sewing that stretch knit cat collar on the machine was so annoying...

Making the Pattern

First I started by taking a paper pattern straight from the original bra. This was pretty easy since there was hardly any structure to the garment and I could easily lay it flat on the table.

I traced all around the seam lines by folding up the paper and marking on the top with a pencil where the seam was.

There were also a few small alterations I wanted to make, so I put the original bra on and pinched out some fabric on a few points, marking it with chalk. I ended up taking some room out of the cup where it gaped under the arm slightly, and shortened the shoulder straps by a couple inches. 

(The straps you see on the above pattern aren't as long as the ones on the actual garment, I just didn't bother to trace that high)

Then I transferred the measurements of the points I marked onto the pattern and cut new pattern pieces with the alterations I made. (And correct strap length)

I made sure that that center front piece's side seam was still the same length as the altered side boob piece by turning the edges of the paper against each other on the table, touching one point at a time, changing the angle of the curve again and again until they matched. 

Bit weird to explain, but just trust me when I say they're the same length.

Here's the altered pattern:

As you can see, I took quite a chunk out of that second piece, and as we'll see later, it gives this bra a little bit of an actual cup shape!

Cutting Out the Fabric

If you recall from a couple weekends ago, I had picked up some adorable very spooky cotton jersey ghost fabric from JoAnns. 

This fabric is surprisingly easier to work with then my other green foxy jersey fabric for some reason. It feels stiffer to handle with less springiness? I'm guessing my fox fabric probably has some percent of elastain in it. I could test it to see, but that's too much work. I digress.

I prewashed and ironed out my fabric, then went to work marking out the pieces on the back of this cute fabric with a pen. This was surprisingly easy for a stretch fabric.

I cut four of each piece, half of them mirrored from one another. This is for the outside of the garment (right and left) and the matching lining.

I also cut some pieces of thick flannel net (without seam allowance) to try and act as light padding in the front. After all, this is going to be about as thick as a nice quality T-shirt in the end.

In hindsight I wonder if I should've cut this flannel on the bias instead of the straight grain to allow it to stretch more with the jersey fabric. Maybe if I make another one I'll do that instead.

I was also worried this flannel might make the cup area too small without the fabric being allowed to stretch as much, but now that I'm almost done making it I think it's going to be just fine.

Assembing the Pieces

The very first thing I did was lightly tack that flannel in place with a herringbone stitch. I didn't want it to get crumpled up on the inside the first time I sent it through the laundry.

The tiny herringbone stitches do show ever so slightly on the outside of the fabric, so this layer is going to end up being my lining. Where no one will ever see...

Then I basted the difficult front curves in place to prepare for sewing, and then decided to backstitch it by hand instead of attempting to wrangle it under the machine. This is going to become a running theme.

I also did a little test to make sure my tension was correct, and that the thread wouldn't snap immediately under tension. I used doubled up cotton thread for strength, and worked my stitches pretty loose. I'm lokey worried this might impact the longevity of the garment..

As you can see, however, the stitches stretch out just fine under tension. 

I used white thread at first, because it does ever so slightly show against the black and I wasn't sure if I liked the contrast or not. I wanted to see my stitches...

I decided against it in the end, but as this is the lining I didn't redo it. Just a couple seams are white instead of black.

Also look at that curve in the fabric! So much better then the original super flat pattern!

Then came the long process of basting every seam, backstitching it in place, and ripping out the basting stitches.

I also just backstitched the top of the shoulder seam like normal. I had the thought to flat fell it, but I couldn't remember how and I couldn't be arsed to look it up. This might become a failure point. We shall see.

I also basted down the seam allowances in the front. I didn't want it to end up too bumpy and uneven there, so just a quick tacking down ensures it stays flat.

I didn't do this on the front layer though, because I didn't want the stitches peaking through. And it didn't seem too terrible with just one set of seam allowance being loose.

Putting Two and Two Together

Finally, the lining and outside layers were all pieced together! Now I could finally attach them together!

My original plan was to sew around the neck and arm holes, flip it inside out, then attach the band on the bottom like I would a shirt collar. So I very carefully pinned and basted the three long seams I'd soon be sewing, and backstitched all around the neck opening.

Luckily, I caught my mistake before sewing around the arm holes. I wouldn't have been able to flip it inside out at all. The straps were essentially tubes, so they wouldn't have been able to turn while fully attached to the rest of the bra.

So, quite sadly, I ripped out all of my careful basting and formulated a new plan.

What I ended up doing was just turning the garment, playing an awful game of turning the seam in correctly and pinning it, basting and then whip stitching all around. It definitely is noticable, and I think next time I'm going to do the visible stitching around the neck. Both for aesthetic purposes, and potential sensory ones.

(and I'm going to threadmark the seam I have to turn in!)

This method ended up with some puckering in places, though not so much I'm really concerned about it. I think it's just a combination of me assembling it this way instead of overlocking like the original, and the alterations I made under the arm.

In any case, now is the time for the band at the bottom!

The Band at the Bottom

By TØP

The band itself is 32in around, and I picked up some super soft 2in wide elastic for this project.

Now I need to cut some new pieces, a long strip of ghost fabric 32"x4" plus seam allowance, and 32.5" of my elastic. 

Then I attached the ends of the elastic together in a loop, with half an inch overlap, and the strip of fabric also in a loop to match.

I backstitched the elastic with 6-strand embroidery floss for strength, meant to do an X in the middle, ran out of thread and didn't bother to complete it. I'm sure it's strong enough anyway.

Then I folded the fabric in half over the elastic to cover it, with the available seam allowance running all around the top.

Then, as before, I carefully pinned in the band to the bottom of the front layer of the bra and began backstitching. Before realizing my mistake. 

I had started sewing wrong sides together instead of right sides together...

So out all the stitches and pins came, and back on the pins and basting went. This time the correct way around. At least I hadn't gotten very far.

These photos show it pinned in the wrong way, and then basted in correctly after I realized my mistake.

Then after (correctly) attaching the band, I turned it and whipped the other side down.

And the bra is finally done! Here's some photos after wearing it for about a week, and having gone through the washing machine a few times.

As suspected, the flannel did make the cup smaller then I expected, and if I was to make this again I would probably add an inch or so along the bottom, and maybe raise the neckline.

But overall, I'm super happy with this project! This is literally the only bra I wear now... The cotton is so much more comfortable then the polyester. I no longer have to put deodorant on my ribcage to stop that horrible sweaty feeling.

I definitely want to make another one. But alas, my brain has fixated now on replacing my horrible jeans with linen look-alike. Please look forward to updates on that project!

Bye for now,

Sam