Making a bra - 2

Cutting and preparing undercup

Edited to add: I've made a pdf file for these instructions. You can find it here.
All pieces are cut with a 1 cm seam allowance, with the exception of the upper cup, that is cut to the scallop of the lace (see my earlier post on cutting lace).
Look carefully on the patternpieces how to layout the pieces on the lycra. Patterns have a line to lay them in stretch direction. Always check to which side the lycra has the most stretch.

Lower cup
The undercup is cut a bit larger then the paper pattern. This is because I use fusible interfacing for the lower cup. The ironing of this to the lycra could mean that the part shrinks a little, so I cut my lower cup after interfacing.
Needing a D-cup the interfacing is extra support that I find very comfortable. For a size A or B this is not necessary.



Apply interfacing
The lycra is on a piece of pattern paper, right side down. Then the interfacing laid on top, then again a layer of pattern paper.


Iron
Then iron the interfacing to the cup with your iron on the paper. This will prevent curling the interfacing and adhesive parts on your ironing board. While sewing lingerie, this is the only point I use an iron.


Finished cutting
These are all the parts of the bra, including the strenghtening tule for the center (behind the piece in lycra).

Assembling center and band

Sew the center piece in lycra with the right side to the tule, with a small straight stitch.


Lay it down like this picture, and stitch just below the original stitching on the tule (believe this is called understitching) This prevents the tule from turning to the right side.


Trim the seam allowance, turn and topstitch.

Stitch the tule to the center pieces with large stitches. Not necessary to do this very accurately, later on it will all be trimmed. For now it will hold the pieces together.


Sew the band to the center piece



Open the seams and topstitch near the seamline. I use my blindstitch foot for this, which works very accurately (do this with almost all my topstitching btw).


Center en bands are now ready.


This was a very long post. Hope this is helpful. To be continued (my bra is already a bit further, and I already took pictures). But this is enough posting for one day.

Link to part 3