The Silver Lining

Berkeley Bra, bra, brabuilders, bramaking, Marie Panties

Here on the northern hemisphere the darker days are behind us and we’re all looking forward to lighter days.

During the last few weeks I have been struggeling with some personal issues and bramaking has helped me to get better. So, it’s only logical that I called this bra “Silver Lining”.

I got this luxurious kit from Brabuilders in order to make a sample. You can get your bra kit here and the undie kit here. Included in the kit was:

sheer cup lining, color smoke
grey/silver silk
lace with roses
regular powernet, color smoke
findings kit, color smoke

I’ve long wanted to experiment with a bra design that mimicks the look of a butterfly with angled sides.

So I went to the drawing board and used the Berkeley Bra by Orange Lingerie as a base and changed the pattern up a bit. On the sample bra I used the size 36C with no fit alterations.

First, I converted the band into a regular frame with a side seam. I had to widen the cradle slightly, because the original frame is made of stretch lace and only stabilized at the bridge. This means the outer part of the cradle will be stretched when wearing and thus becomes slightly wider. If you stabilize the whole area the cradle will not get wider when worn and you have to adjust it accordingly.

Then I lengthend the side seams to make the “lower part of the butterfly wings”.

I mirrored the lace exactly at the front. The lower cup is made out of silver stretch lace and back with sheer cup lining. The upper cup is backed with some sheer cuplining as well that has ben cut on the fold at the top.

The powernet has to be slightly longer at the sides than the frame because the elastic will be folded under whereas in the frame, it will just be sewn on the back as to not disturb the lace edge.

Because the two seams meet at angle I attached the elastics separately and then joined the seams. The seams will be covered with channeling anyway.

For this design to work, you need to add boning. I used plastic bones that are inserted into channelling at the side seams.

This is what would happen (when stretched) if you did not add the boning. The lower part will fold up and the lace will be distorted.

You can barely see it on this image but I pulled at the seam just as much as on the other side. On this side, however, the boning has already been inserted. Everything stays flat.

I used a microtex needle to sew up the whole bra and regular thread. I was expecting the stretch silk to be very fiddly but it sewed up without any problem whatsoever. Definitley an option that I will explore more in Brabuilders kits.

I had enough lace, silk, and strap elastic left to make a pair of Marie undies by Evie La Luve. I just love it that you can use stable lace with this pattern. Perfect!