Trying to make a bra that's comfortable

I've tried numerous times before to make myself bras - mainly here, here and here.  These bras are generally better than ready to wear, but they're still not.....comfortable....

And so once again I'm on a mission to try and make a bra that is everything I need.  Comfortable, pretty, supportive and did I say comfortable.

My first issue is underwires.  I've relied on underwires for as long as I can remember.  There was a brief period when the kids were small and I was breastfeeding that I did away with them, but I found that the shape of my boobs in the non underwire bras just wasn't great.  But now I've had enough - maybe I just haven't found the right size yet, but I've tried dozens and no matter what I do bras with underwire in them just aren't comfortable.  There's always something poking into you, no matter what I do the wires poke out through their casings - nope enough is enough.

So bras without underwire.  Generally if I wear a bra without underwire my breasts sag, are totally un supported or they're squished together into a mono boob and its just generally not pretty....so I tried to figure out what I could do to replace the underwires but still get a good shape and support.

My first decision was to go with a no stretch fabric for every part except the back.  I started making a mock up out of the same fabric I used for my interview dress - an upholstery weight cotton/poly material.

I started with the bridge from this bra which I like, the lower cup pattern pieces from the same bra - the side and upper cup pieces from my original bra and made a mock up bra - I just used normal elastics and closures stolen off an old binned bra.

Wow the cup shape that I ended up with was....interesting! there were lumps and bumps everywhere - I sort if wish I'd taken a photo now.  But no matter it was a good starting point.  I put the bra on inside out and starting pinching out fabric here - adding in extra fabric there - until I finally had something that I was almost happy with - the cup looked good, but the bridge was standing way out from my chest which means something was wrong - it wasn't until I added the 5th cup piece spanning from the center of the bridge to the straps that everything started to fall into place.  It's ended up with a lot more coverage than I normally wear but I think that I'm just going to have to go with it if I want to get a non wired, but supportive bra.

I trimmed everything down to 1/4" seams then took it all apart to create a new pattern.

I cut out and sewed up the new pattern (as seen in these photos) - again just using basic elastics and notions and wore the bra for a couple of days to see if there were any issues.

There were a couple of small things I noticed so I went back to my patterns and made a few minor modifications.  The bridge needed a little extra length around the bottom but less in the center of the bridge. Where the straps attached needed to be wider and I extended the bra out in the front arm hole regions as I found it was cutting in a little. I cut down the 5th section a little to make it a little less grandma-ish and I created a pattern for a cotton strap what is wider over the shoulders.

Now I was ready for trial 2.  This time I went for a grey cotton fabric with a bird print - I only had a fat quarter and struggled to get all the pattern pieces but finally managed with the exception of  two  strap pieces which I just cut out of a blue cotton I had nearby.  I cut the back band out of some purple performance fabric as it was all I had in stretch material in the weight I wanted.  Elastics were all stolen off of cheap walmart bras I'd bought for that reason, and the hook and eye came from an old bra.  None of it really matches, but until I'm sure that this pattern is right I didn't want to waste my good notions.

The last thing I did with this bra was more about what I want to do in the future. At some point I like to be able to make bras out of knit fabrics as well as wovens and I figured one of the easiest ways to do with would be to make it out of foam and then stretch the knit fabric over it.  Unfortunately there is no way that I could just use one piece of stretched material but I thought maybe I could do it with just one seam and wanted to try it out.  I figured I could make a lining for this bra to try it out. It may need a little tweaking but I think it's a pretty good start.  Plus it makes the insides of the bra nice and neat.

I wore these bras for a good couple of weeks.  The main thing I noticed was that the bridge still doesn't sit beautifully against my chest.  I'm not sure if there is any thing more I can do about that or not.

After a couple of weeks I decided I wanted to try again.   The changes I made for this next iteration were all on the side and upper piece.  I took the fifth piece I'd added and split it into the side and upper cups pieces.

This time when I made it I used tricot lining and sewed them up as per the original Bravo Bella Bra instructions.  I also added the underwire casing.  I finished the neckline edge using some fold over elastic - everything else was made as per the original.

I then went ahead and tested what effect adding underwires had.

Top row is no underwire, bottom row is with underwire.

There is a very slight difference, but probably not enough to actually put up with the underwires.  Maybe I'll just do what I did here and put in the casing and if I want on some occasion to put in the underwires I can but for day to day I don't think I'll bother.

So I think for the time being I'm pretty happy with this pattern, Maybe now I should get some good notions and do a final make!