Do you know what the worst part about losing weight is? Yes, there is a bad part. It’s not all burpees and bikinis you know. Besides having my gallbladder out a week before Christmas, the worst part is having to buy completely new clothes. I don’t like to spend money on brand new clothes, especially when there is a perfectly good sewing machine where I can resize clothes. Sewing along the seam is an easy task at hand. However, the one thing that I thought I could never taper was my bra. There is just so much going on already between the wire, elastic and the cups that I thought of it as a monster that laughs at me. That’s why I was super excited to find this resizing a bra tutorial. Now before you go hiding all your brassiere’s from the sewing machine, hear me out. The first time you do anything you’re absolutely terrified. Afterwards is like riding a bike. Refashioning clothes and DIY tutorials are the best solution for this type of situation.
If you’re one of the lucky women who have been #blessed with an abundant chest, but really you’ve been #cursed, then you must know the pain of a bra never fitting correctly. Although I’m pretty sure I saw a statistic that said 90% of women are wearing the wrong size. Besides that being very unsettling, that means this is your chance to get it right…or perhaps super close. Honestly, who knows when it comes to “over the shoulder boulder holders”? I think this tutorial is fantastic. Lydia from Walking with Dancers addresses every concern possible from adjusting where the straps are located to what you’re going to do with the gap in the front.
How to Resize A Bra
from Lydia on Walking with Dancers
Who can do this and what do I need?
Anyone who is brave enough to cut up something from the store. You don’t even have to use a sewing machine. I have done this whole process without use of one a time or two.
Taking in the Center
There are two reasons why you would want to do this:
- When going up in a band size, sometimes the spacing between the cups gets larger, so you may want to bring the cups closer together to compensate for that. This approach helps somewhat to alleviate looking wider than you are, which can happen if you have a large bust.
- You just plain ol’ want more cleavage.
To do this:
1. Pinch the center fabric together and hand stitch along the edge as near to the cups as possible. Make sure to give it a decent amount of reinforcement.
2. Now the fabric will pucker up a bit, so to make sure that doesn’t show underneath your clothing, hold it down flat as you stitch it in place.
**Note: If you want to do this center adjustment step, you will need to do it first because it will affect the band’s circumference a pinch.
Taking in the Band
1. Get out the seam ripper and take off the bra’s fasteners. To do this, just rip out the seam on the outermost part of that fabric (solid pink pictured here). You will also need to rip along the bottom edge to get it completely off.
2. You can get the right fit several ways. If you already have a bra whose band fits you fine, you can line up the edge of the cups (align the under-wire) and use that as your guide. You can also pull the band until it feels right and mark it with a pin or a pen.
3. Sew the fasteners back on. If you have the bra on, the hooks are sewn on your right side, hooks facing in, and the eyes are on the left side facing out. You can use the zigzag stitch on your machine. Be sure to go back and forth a few times. You can also hand stitch, but it usually takes longer.
You will notice that the straps are closer to the middle now. If that bothers you, or you’ve had to take in the band so much they can’t stay there, just cut then off or seam rip them and then zigzag stitch them where you want. I suggest trying it on and marking the spot.
I don’t know about you guys, but I can’t wait to find my seam ripper and get to work on all my bras. This is such an easy tutorial for something that you thought was a complicated project.
What surprised you about this tutorial? Let us know below in the comments!
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