{"id":20942,"date":"2015-11-13T06:00:10","date_gmt":"2015-11-13T11:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/so-sew-easy.com\/?p=20942"},"modified":"2022-06-19T15:26:06","modified_gmt":"2022-06-19T19:26:06","slug":"types-bra-patterns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/so-sew-easy.com\/types-bra-patterns\/","title":{"rendered":"Types of Bra Patterns you can sew"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A

Did you see my earlier article about sewing your own bras and underwear? \u00a0We'll be running a series of interesting articles on this subject and I'd encourage you to give it a try – honestly bras are a lot easier than you might think! \u00a0Here's our earlier introductory article in case you missed it. What you need to sew a bra…<\/a><\/p>\n

\"What

Types of Bra Patterns<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are quite a few bra patterns available to the home sewist. In this post, we\u2019ll look at different types of patterns. We\u2019ll also look at which pattern you might want to choose for yourself.<\/p>\n

Underwired or Non-Underwired<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first two categories are\u00a0similar to what you\u2019ll find in Ready-to-Wear \u2013 either underwired, or non-underwired. Let\u2019s look at the non-underwired category\u00a0first.<\/p>\n

Non- Underwired Bra Patterns<\/strong><\/p>\n

Non-underwired bras are often called soft-cup bras or bralettes because they have nothing hard (like a wire) and they also give a softer more natural shape. This type of bra is best for a smaller busted woman, say A\u00a0or B cup, however, they can be worn by a woman with a larger cup size\u00a0if she is self-supporting.<\/p>\n

Here are some examples of a soft-cupped bra or bralettes:<\/p>\n

This first bra you can see is non-wired.<\/p>\n

\"Ohhh-Lulu-Soft-Bra\"

This is Ohhh Lulu's Bambi Soft Bra. You can see how very soft both the shape the bra is, and the shape it would give. Soft bras and bralettes, although incredibly comfortable and fine for smaller busted women, really won't offer the support a larger-busted woman will need. You can find the Bambi Bra pattern\u00a0at Ohhh Lulu's <\/a>Etsy Shop.<\/p>\n

Craftsy's Lingerie sewing guide features this Bambi with a step by step you might find useful. Get the free lingerie e-book download here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"lingerie_carousel_1\"

Here's another example:<\/p>\n

\"watson-coral-set_grande\"

This is the Watson bra and panty set. This soft bra does have more shaping too it and thus will offer more support, but again, as a general rule, these soft bras\u00a0are best for smaller busts or self-supporting busts.<\/p>\n

You can purchase the pattern\u00a0for this bra set at Cloth Habit's website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Underwired Bra Patterns<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now onto Underwired bras. In this category of bras there are\u00a0a number of sub-categories within it. We have pre-formed foam cup bras, cut and sew foam cup bras, cut and sew bras, full band bras, and partial band bras. That's a lot, isn't it? Let\u2019s take a look at each of these.<\/p>\n

Foam Cups<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Foam cup bras are most commonly known as T-shirt bras. Yes, you can make your own T-shirt bra! There are a couple of ways to go about this \u2013 you can buy pre-made foam cups and make your bra from there. You can also\u00a0bye foam and cut the bra cup from\u00a0that – that is called\u00a0Cut and Sew.\u00a0Both will give that smooth foam shape under your clothing.<\/p>\n

Most bras with foam cups have underwires. Here are some examples of Foam Cup Bra patterns.<\/p>\n

Here's\u00a0a pattern from Pin-up Girls. This type of pattern is the first type I mentioned – the one you by the pre-formed foam cups and insert them into the bra you're making.\u00a0This is available both at Bra-Makers Supply <\/a>and their Etsy store<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Amand-Alyssa\"

And example of the second type of foam bras comes from MakeBra. MakeBra uses foam which is cut and sewn to make the foam cups. Here's an example of their Ulla bra.<\/p>\n

\"Ulla-Bra-(2)\"

You can purchase\u00a0this pattern and many others on their website.<\/p>\n

The final bra patterns we\u2019re going to look at are Partial Band and Full Band.<\/p>\n

Partial Band Bras<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Partial Band pattern gets its name from the type of band it has \u2013 a band only partially going around the body. This type of bra has the band attached to the bottom of the cups but not under the bridge or center of the bra.<\/p>\n

Here are some examples of this type of pattern:<\/p>\n

The first\u00a0pattern is Elan\u00a0540.<\/p>\n

\"Elan-540\"

This is a front closing bra, and the band does not go all the way around in this. This type of bra is better for smaller bust, or self-supporting busts. You can find this Elan bra at Sew Sassy's website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Another example of a Partial Band bra is the Linda bra from Pin-up Girls.<\/p>\n

\"linda\"

This bra is a back-closing bra, but you can see the band attaches to the sides of the cups and doesn't run underneath the cups and the bridge. Again, you can find this bra at Bra-Makers Supply or their Etsy shop<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Full Band Bras<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Full Band, like it\u2019s Partial Band sister, is also just what it sounds like \u2013 a full band that wraps completely around the body with no breaks in it \u2013 the only break being where the bra fastens. Full Band bras are usually for the more full-figured women, but are also a great option for the small-framed woman who is fuller busted.<\/p>\n

There are a lot of Full Band bra patterns. So many, it's rather hard to choose just one or two, but I'll try.<\/p>\n

A very popular pattern\u00a0by Orange Lingerie (available in their Etsy shop<\/a>)is the Marlborough pattern.<\/p>\n

\"marl\"

You can see on this bra the band runs continuously from one side where the closure is to the other side. This type of the bra style is the most supportive.<\/p>\n

Another example of this (and my favorite pattern) is another Pin-up Girls pattern – the Shelley pattern.<\/p>\n

\"Shelley\"

In this photo, you can see clearly how the band runs all around the bra – thus a Full Band bra.<\/p>\n

If you've\u00a0thought of making a bra, but haven't dove in yet, I\u00a0hope this article encourages you. There are so many more patterns out there too.\u00a0Here's a link to where to buy\u00a0bra-making supplies all over the globe:<\/p>\n

\"Big

All photos belong to their respective pattern companies.<\/p>\n

Happy creating!<\/p>\n

\"titleCard

I\u2019ll be back again soon to share more with you about sewing your own bras and lingerie. \u00a0In the meantime, check out Deby's previous bra sewing articles<\/a>, to see how she got on with her first bras.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Did you see my earlier article about sewing your own bras and underwear? \u00a0We’ll be running a series of interesting articles on this subject and I’d encourage you to give it a try – honestly bras are a lot easier than you might think! \u00a0Here’s our earlier introductory article in \u2026 Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":300,"featured_media":20963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wds_primary_category":0},"categories":[5,73,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/so-sew-easy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20942"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/so-sew-easy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/so-sew-easy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/so-sew-easy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/300"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/so-sew-easy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20942"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/so-sew-easy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73609,"href":"https:\/\/so-sew-easy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20942\/revisions\/73609"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/so-sew-easy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/so-sew-easy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/so-sew-easy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/so-sew-easy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}