I’m on a roll with filling my undy drawer with freshness!  I guess one could say it is part of preparing for Spring :). As soon as the email announcing her new Bra pattern, Harriet, I hopped on over to Cloth Habit and made the purchase.  Something about this one had me hooked.  

The Harriet’s classic style features a lovely balconette neckline, supportive scoop-back straps, and a 3-piece cup seam design that lifts and centers.

Views A and B feature supportive, unlined cup fabrics and an optional lace upper cup. View C has a partially lined cup and fully lined cradle which gives you opportunities to play with lace on the front of the bra. from ClothHabit.com

I haven’t yet had terrific success with the other underwire bras I have made. That is not to say that they didn’t fit, they just weren’t exactly the right feel.  The girls didn’t stay happy for more than a few hours.  I set out to select my size using the instructions.  She explained that the sizing is not the same as with Watson, which makes sense I suppose considering this is an underwire and the Watson is a soft bra.  I came up as a 30DD!  Um yah…no way. So instead of making a tester bra with this size, I thought I would pin-fit it so to speak.  What I found is that the cup was way too big…projection-wise. Here is a picture showing what I mean.

The 34C seemed to be the closest to a good fit, so I set out to make it up using a scrap of some duoplex. I didn’t have any black plush picot elastic, so I decided to use FOE to finish the neckline.  I removed the seam allowance in order to maintain the correct size.  The fit was darn near perfect except for a tiny amount of excess fabric in the upper cup at the apex. I really like the overall look of this bra and for left over materials/notions…I do like the finished bra!

I removed a total of 3/8″ from the apex; taking 1/8″ from the upper cup and 1/4″ from the lower cup pieces.  The other adjustment I felt it needed was to add 1/8″ the to bridge width.  As for design changes, I did not want to use picot elastic at the neckline, so I decided to self line the upper cup by placing the seam-line on the fold.  I then attached clear elastic to the inner layer to stabilize the neckline to be invisible.  It worked like a charm! 

I found the instructions to be written and illustrated very well, although I kind of went my own way.  I have no issue with the order of construction used, but just prefer my own quirky order of things. 😉  One thing I want to point others to, is the underwire.  I did not have the size wire suggested, so went through those I had and low and behold…the Plunge wire size 36 was a perfect fit for this bra.  You can get them at Emerald Studio on Etsy.  Unfortunately, I live in the US and the shop is in Canada, so I set out to find an equivalent if not the same.  I believe I found the same wire sold by ArteCrafts; she has a PDF with actual size wires of all types she sells.  I ordered them and should get them soon and am hopeful!

I just love this bra, it is so comfortable, easy to make and super versatile. I have a kit sitting on my cutting table ready to cut out…it will be the lace version. I am so excited!  Anyone else out there sewing up this beauty?