Madalynne Barrett Bralette - Changing patterns, and laying out.

The Madalynne Barrett Bralette pattern https://madalynne.com/introducing-barrett-free-pdf-bralette-pattern/# is a really nice, simple pattern with good instructions. It’s a pity that the size range is small. This pattern has no frame, and I simplified it even more by removing the triangle in the front.

I decided to change the pattern in two ways. Firstly, the triangle at the bottom of the front makes it a little tricky to sew, so I decided to eliminate it. Secondly, I decided to sew it for someone who’s a D cup, in the maximum size, when the Bralette is only for a C cup.

Changing the Pattern

I traced the pattern onto a piece of paper with plenty of room around the pieces since we are going to expand them. You could get some vilene from the sewing shop, as it’s more see through than the paper I used.

Then I decided how much bigger in the bust it needed to be. If you measure your high bust (a firm measurement above the bust, under the arm and across the back) and compare it with your bust measurement (over the fullest part of your bust), the difference is your cup size - in 1” increments. So to change a bra from a C to a D, I would need to add 1/4” to each inner seam in the cup. As I suspect that the Bralette is actually a B cup (or the person I’m making it for is not really a D, but a slightly larger size), I added 1/2” to the two seams at the widest point (which I assume is the bust point).

I then used a French curve to match the curve on the original piece, so that it curved nicely. First the bottom.

Then the top (which is reversed).

I fiddled a bit to make it smooth.

Then I extended the straight line at the bottom and at the centre front to remove the empty triangle.

Cutting Out

I decided to make this as simple as possible so I just used one fabric, the embossed tricot that I used to line the other free pattern I got from the internet. I also made the front in one layer, but I used two for the back. You don’t win any awards for using more fabric than you need, but you must make sure that all your lines of greatest stretch are actually placed along the greatest stretch in the fabric. The fabric was folded over, and the selvage edge of this fabric was quite wide and had blobs of what looked like glue along the edge, so I avoided the selvage. I was cutting out this bra at the same time, so I moved the patterns around until I had them nicely positioned.

Making it up

I followed the method that she used, except I didn’t need to add the elastic in the triangle, and I only had one layer to sew. I sewed it twice, using the same fabric, but a different lingerie elastic for the trim. I used a small zig zag throughout (1,1).

Firstly, I laid out the pieces to show how they fit together when sewn.

Then I joined the centre front pieces.

I ironed the seam to one side, and topstitched close to the seamline to finish the seam.

I then repeated these two steps to sew each side front to the centre front. The seam is ironed toward the back.

Next, I sewed the lingerie elastic to the neckline. It needs to be stretched by 15%, so you cut it 15% shorter than the length of the neckline. This means that the neckline doesn’t gape. The elastic is sewn in two steps. The first step is to sew the right side of the elastic to the right side of the neckline piece, with the fancy edge toward the centre. You sew next to the fancy edge so it can bee seen when you turn it under.

Turn the elastic to the inside of the neckline, and sew another row of stitching, 6mm from the edge, to catch the outer edge of the elastic and the fabric.

The neckline is complete.

I added the back, sandwiching the front between the two back pieces on each side and sewing the two seams the same way as I did the centre front.

The armhole elastic is then attached the same way as the neckline, followed by the elastic at the bottom of the bra.

Straps

I decided to make the straps from tricot because the strap elastic I had was too narrow for the slides. I cut out several strips of tricot along the maximum stretch of the fabric 3cm wide and joined them along both long sides right side to right side.

After I turned them out to the right sides, I ironed them and joined them to the neckline, right side to right side.. You can see one is ready to be joined while the other is being joined.

I flipped the strap over, and topstitched.

I then sewed a short piece to the back in the places on the pattern where the straps are to join.

And flipped it up and sewed again - this time on the right side of the back.

I added a slide to this piece. Note that the slide is not under the foot. This step should not have been done yet.

Because I had done things the wrong way around (I should have added the slide to the back strap LAST) I needed to thread the neck strap through the other slide, through other end bar of the slide I attached to the back strap and then through the middle bar of the other slide, and then sew the strap to that slide.