I am a curvy petite girl, and I always find that I need a little extra support under the bust, so I am adding some plush-back bra band elastic to the seam allowance between the bra and the corselet. This will create a shelf bra effect and will prevent… ahem… slippage.
I took a length of 1/2″ wide bra elastic, no specific length… Using a long zig-zag stitch, I basted the elastic onto my seam allowance, carefully stitching about 1/16″ in from my seam line so as to not disrupt the exterior of my bra. In a nutshell, stitch as close to your original stitching line as possible, without going over. Gently pull the elastic, creating some tension as you go…
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| Select a long zig-zag stitch that is short in height. |
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| Gently pull the elastic as you baste it onto the seam allowance. |
When you have finished basting your elastic on, your bra should now “scrunch” in a little bit under the tension of the elastic. You have created a gently gathered effect by pulling the elastic as you baste it down. You don’t want to pull too much. At the end, the elastic should pull the bra only 3/4″ to 1″ shorter in width than it had been previously.
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| Elastic basted onto the seam allowance of the bra and corselet. |
Now we are going to top stitch the bra elastic down, onto the corselet, using a zig-zag stitch again. This time, use a wide zig zag stitch. It is very important that you pull your bra flat as you stitch the elastic down.
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| Elastic pulled Tight – fabric is flat |
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| Elastic not pulled tight – fabric bunches |
Now we have a bra with a band under the bust to prevent a heavier bust from slipping. Your fabric will gently “wrinkle” or gather under the tension of the elastic when laying flat, but when pulled around the body, will give some support under the bust.
The elastic also helps us finish off the inside of the front of our bra so there are no ugly seams showing.
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| I should really trim my threads more carefully! |
Here it is pulled tight on my mannequin. Is this something you will incorporate into your bra?
If you do not wish to do this, you can finish this seam off with binding, by zig zag stitching, serging, or folding under.