A Bra entirely from materials found in most stores



Some years ago, I went past a bra store, and they had a broidre anglaise bra in the window. I’d always thought that bra cups were made from stretchy fabric. When I went home that night, I looked at my bras and realised that cups actually didn’t stretch much if at all.

This bra was made from 
  • Broidre Anglaise - a cotton fabric found in most fabric stores  - cups
  • Cotton Lycra - also found in most fabric stores - frame
  • Fold over elastic - I used a shiny white one to match the stitching on the broidre anglaise. Normally, I use lingerie elastic (it’s easier to sew on), but for this bra, I wanted to only use materials I could easily find in most fabric stores.
I had a scrap of broidre anglaise left over from something I made years ago. I cut the two upper cups, two lower cups and the straps from this.





You would need 20cm of fabric 115cm wide or 30cm of 90cm wide fabric.

The cotton Lycra was new. I used 15cm of it because it stretched across the width of the fabric. If it had stretched along the length, I would have needed to buy my bust measurement of it to make a one piece frame.


I used slightly less than 3 metres of fold over elastic. 

Making the Bra

  1. Sew the upper and lower cup pieces together. Because I used a woven fabric, I could have used straight stitch, but I used the small zigzag (1 wide and 1 long). This is a 6mm seam.
  2. Iron the seam toward the lower cup.
  3. Top stitch the seam down with the same zigzag, 3mm from the seam line.



  4. Sew the cups to the frame. I pin them together in quarters, and have the cup on the top when I’m sewing, so I can gradually stretch the frame if I need to to fit the cup.                

  5. Iron the seam toward the cup, and top stitch again.

  6. Iron the elastic in half on the fold line so you can butt the fabric up to the middle.

  7. Sew the elastic to the top of the bra (across the top of both cups), stretching the elastic slightly as you go. This ensures that the cup doesn’t gape.                      

  8. Sew the elastic to the neck edge of the straps. Note that the elastic is stretched slightly as it’s applied. This gives the straps some stretch.                                

  9. Use a wide zigzag to finish the ends of the straps because they are from a woven fabric.

  10. Join the straps to the top of the cup, sewing a small zigzag on both sides of the elastic, making sure you reverse stitch at the neck edge.                                    

  11. Join the centre back of the frame. Iron the seam flat.



  12. Sew the elastic to the bottom of the bra, stretching it slightly as you sew.

  13. Sew the elastic down one strap, across the top of the frame and up the other strap, stretching it slightly as you go.

  14. Pin the straps onto the back and try the bra on, to ensure they are in the right spot, and are the right length.



  15. Sew the straps onto the back, at the elastic.



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