Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Bullet Bra

Hi!  Today I have re-drafted for about the third time, my version of the 1950's bullet bra pattern.  This is turning out to be quite a project for me.  I found a way to measure the cups for my size and hopefully, later on, I can make some for other people in other sizes.  I have the four part or four piece cup, the piece that goes around the cups for the center of the bra as well as the bottom and side, the side piece which has turned out to be a bit tricky and also the bottom band which is proving a bit tricky itself.  I will use cotton muslin for my mockups and I'm thinking about using black thread so that as I am sewing this and later on posting pictures, the stitching will stand out.  In the past, I bought a circle foot attachment for my sewing machine.  I'm hoping this device will make it fairly easy for me to sew the circle stitching on the bra.  I can't wait until I will be able to cut out this pattern and start stitching it to see if it will really work!  I have not made the straps yet and I might use some bra straps I bought some years ago.  In addition, I have designed this pattern to work with the bra extenders so that a person can easily stitch the hooks to one side and the loops or holes to the other side of the completed bra.

Here are some examples of bullet bras on the website:  "What Katy Did".  If you are anything like me, the prices are really high for a simple bullet bra and also the sizing is quite small for those of us who are plus-sized gals.

Before the Bullet Bra dot net website went out of business permanently, I had purchased a couple of bras from them, one in black and one in white.  What I like about the bullet bra is it really makes your breasts have that late 1940's or 1950's through 1960's extreme pointy look.  Drawbacks for me are the small sizes.  I've already way outgrown my original bullet bras I purchased and I've always disliked the ill fitting side and back bands or pieces.  For my particular shape, because I have had two open-heart surgeries, I need to have a bra that has about two inches of space between each breast at the top.  Also I need a wider treatment on the side panels, just like they used to have in the 1940's and 1950's on their bras to hold in additional flesh, for lack of a better term.  Also the straps of all bras are continually falling off my sloped, smallish shoulders.  For my own bra that I'm planning on making, I will move the strap back until it is two inches inside of the bra closure at the back.  This should bring the straps closer in the back so that, hopefully, the straps won't continually fall off me.  Thank you for reading and stay tuned!