Every once in a while, a trend comes along that is somewhat challenging to pull off. Printed wide leg pants, wearing out full pyjama sets and wearing tiny bras as outerwear? I personally love to embrace those challenges & bralettes are one of my favourite looks of the season!
Bralettes are just a little bit bigger than your average bra (covering a bit of your ribcage) and are the perfect feminine piece for a spring wardrobe. And we’re going to show you how to make one with your own existing bra!
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
- pattern paper & a sharpie
- a strapless or balconnet style bra
- about a 1/4 metre of a knit fabric
- scissors
- sewing machine
TUTORIAL:
[ TRACE ] – Start with tracing the outline of half of your bra. Be sure to carefully trace the shape of the underwire (inside the cup) as well.
[ DRAW ] – Draw a straight line from the center gore down (the center front) and draw a slightly diagonal line at the end where your bra buckle is. Draw a line at the bottom & that is the hem of your bralette. Mine was about 4.5 inches from the bottom of the underwire. Be sure to measure your natural waist & check that the length of that bottom line is about one quarter of your waist measurement. Make sense?
[ CUT PATTERN ] – This pattern was drawn to the exact measurements, so there were no seam allowances left. Cut it out & you’ve got a half pattern!
[ CUT FABRIC ] – Place your pattern on your fabric (folded in half along the center front) and cut out the fabric piece. Be sure to leave a 1/4" seam allowance around ALL sides, since it was not added to the pattern.
[ PIN ON ] – Fold the fabric under & pin it to the bottoms of the cups. This might be a little tricky because of the underwires, so be careful!
[ FINISH ENDS ] – I wanted to keep the closure of the bralette as the hook and eyes from the original bra, so I decided to make the back of the top with a keyhole. To do this, I just made a large angled cut of the top corners of the back & hemmed the edges. This will leave the band of your bra exposed & make a cute keyhole shape at the back as well. So just cut & hem!
[ SEW TO BRA ] – Now you can sew your fabric to your bra! If your bra has an underwire, it will help if you change your foot to a zipper foot. That way you’ll be able to get the straight stitch to lean right against the wire. Also, when sewing the fabric onto the band, try stretching both the band and your fabric so that your band remains stretchy.
[ BACK SEAM ] – See those little pink lines I drew on the photo? Sew those ends of the fabric together face to face.
[ HEM ] – Using a cover stitch machine or a zig zag stitch, hem the bottom of your top.
[ EMBELLISH ] – This step is optional, but you can now embellish your bra with any rhinestones, studs, beads, zippers or lace! I went with little pearl beads :) & voila!
HOW TO WEAR IT:
Now that you’ve got a bralette in your wardrobe, how do you wear it without looking too scandalous?
- throw it on under a blazer or a denim jacket so you’re not showing too much skin
- pair your tiny top with bottoms that are high waisted. It’s a great chance to wear those tough-to-style wide pants, harem pants or maxi skirts
- wear it under those sheer & lace tops instead of wearing bandeaus! You get more coverage & a cute sweetheart shape.
- wear it over an oxford shirt to spice up a preppy look!
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Thanks for reading! Are you gonna try this DIY? Tweet us a photo @everybodyisugly
by Sylvia of lipglossandblack
Images by Syl and Sam
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