greenstyle power bra

make details

• Band 30, cup c, mid coverage, racerback
• Finished band elastic 23.5”, straps shortened 8cm
• Fabric
  • main: red swim fabric (thin)
  • lining1: mesh from macculloch & wallis
  • lining2: neoprene-like thin foam from macculoch & wallis (for covering nips), only used in the front piece
• Neckline: leftover silicone gripper elastic (DO NOT RECOMMEND! use clear elastic as specified. this was too thick in comparison to my fabric and it showed through.

fit findings

• back + bad - great! - band 30 / 23.5” elastic / racerback all good, no lat pulling
• front: too wide, straps land outboard; would sit better closer together (my narrow apex spacing 19.5-20cm + 38cm shoulders vs drafted)
• plank test: significant neckline gaping. no planks should be done in this bra version.
• pinch test: ~5cm total vertical at CF neckline, 2cm horizontal at the top of apex curve

diagnosis

• 4th garment needing Upper Front Adjustments
  • hollow upper chest + narrow apex + short upper torso
• mid coverage on my height of 155cm frame is more like high coverage. for the future, do the lowest coverage version.
• elastic was applied correctly, so I’m sure the gape is from the pattern excess and not the construction.

pattern adjustments

measured band to apex - 10cm measured band to tuck line + SA -12.5cm shortened strap length by 6cm

summary remove length above apex by 2cm, remove wedge from CF 2.5cm at neckline tapering to 0 at the bottom. I removed 6cm from strap on toile but don’t want to cut on the pattern yet

front

1. from band, vertically measure 12.5cm from band and leave a small mark
2. draw a horizontal line across the bodice? where the mark is. make sure it’s perpendicular to grainline.
3. tuck / overlap the section by 2cm creating a tuck
4. smooth neckline
5. select node at CF top and move on X-1.25cm. make sure node at CF bottom does not move.
6. make sure ~1cm from CF is flat for the neckline
7. draw a helper line that should be parallel to the grainline
8. rotate the front piece to align with helper line
9. redraw grain line direction on pattern

v1