I need some new bras and has I haven’t sewn bras for a long time now I thought I start with something easy, the Barrett bralette from Madalynne Intimates. This is one of her free patterns, and I like how it looks with the little cut-out in the center front. Bonus: it is especially for smaller cup sizes.
I used a rather stretchy knit that I got during my bra pattern drafting class back in July 2016. The bralette is fully lined with a soft power net. Due to my fabric choice the bralette is rather decorative than supportive. As this make was just for fun and a first try of the pattern, I don’t mind. The back view is pretty simple as the bralette does not have a back closure.
I found the center front a bit finicky and you see that it is not perfect.
The Barrett bralette is constructed in a way that all seams are enlosed so that you get a nice clean finish on the inside. Only thing I dislike is how the bottom elastic is attached. It looks nice from the outside but not so much from the inside.
I was also a bit surprised that the bra straps in the back are only attached to the top of the bra band and not all the way down to the bottom. We will see if this is strong enough.
If you look closely you can see that I pieced the bottom elastic. On a first try I stretched the elastic while sewing to get a tight bottom as I feared that the bralette would otherwise ride up during wear. But when I tried the bralette on, the elastic cut into the skin and the knit fabric was all wrinkly. I unpicked it and sewed it on again as decribed in the instruction: with the same lenght as the bottom of the bralette. Now everything looks smooth and, big surprise, the bralette did not ride up during wear. This really astonished me because usually everything without an underwire does ride up as I do not have a lot of breast tissue to keep things in place.
All in all this is a sweet little thing and maybe I will sew another one with more firm fabric.
Very pretty and this could be perfect for my sister.