OTSBH

I've mentioned my desire to go to bra making school, and a little over a year ago I bought enough supplies to make about 12 bras to get me started.

Instead of being somewhat embarrassed that it took me this long to make one, I'll focus on the positive - I made my first bra today!!!!

It was much easier than I had anticipated it would be. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that I got to use a bunch of the built in special stitches on my machine which really added to the professional finish.

I definitely ran into a few issues though.

1. I thought I was better at sewing elastic than I actually am, so I didn't bother pinning it first, which would have saved me some time and some re-sewing.
   
2. The underwires that were provided were *just* a bit too long - I was able to force them in but I'm going to have to look into what I need to do to shorten them. If it's anything like shortening boning for corsets, it's going to be a very messy undertaking.
3. I also didn't bother measuring myself before I traced and cut the pattern pieces. Anyone that has met me will find this partly hilarious and partly unbelievable, but it's too small. I made a 34A, which makes me wonder if even bras have fallen victim to vanity sizing. Except that it doesn't really make sense - wouldn't vanity sizing mean you would want to buy a bigger size than you really were?

Here are some ridiculously large pictures so that you can examine my fabulous execution in full detail.

The front:


And the inside:


P.S. Did you know that the little decoration - usually a bow - that is placed at the center front is distilled from the busk ties on corsets during the Elizabethan era?