Meet the Vivien Bra - a stunning new pattern by Annie and Myras

The last few weeks have been very exciting as I have tried out some amazing new patterns. The first was the beautifully named Vivien Bra. Jennie, of Annie and Myras, kindly sent me the pattern pieces in my size to try out. So here we have both variations as I just had to make both.

"Classy with a side order of danger!” is how Jennie describes the Vivien, “designed to create a pretty and feminine bra yet whilst still aiming to provide support for those with large cup volumes, and smaller back frames.” The main cup has a vertical centre seam and a power bar which can be placed under or over the main cup pieces. You buy the cups for each style separately with the band and instructions being another package.

Variation 1 was released first so I will start with this. The frame size is the average of the full bust and underbust with the cup the difference between the frame and fullbust. At 30” underbust this was at the bottom end of the 34 frame size so, as the instructions suggested, I went with the 32 band and I was glad I did. The “Super Geeky” Wire Chart at the back of the instructions was really helpful and came up with the 32e for the band and my 38 wire size although the measuring system would have put me in a d cup. I made up a 32e cup in foam and decided to use this.

Included in my last order from BWear was this very pretty lace which comes in left and right pieces for mirroring and I thought it would be perfect for this pattern. As the top of the seam is pretty straight you can match your lace across the top which is very aesthetically pleasing. The instructions construct the cup by sewing the seams on the lace and lining separately and then putting wrong sides together, topstitching either side of the seam through all layers. I tried this but didn’t like how it looked with the sheer lace so I undid everything and enclosed the seam, topstitching and trimming back to the stitching for a uniform look from both sides.

There are so many options for the bridge and powerbar but the pattern includes detailed instructions for every possibility. As my lace was directional I chose not to use the scalloped edge for the bridge but tried to find a section that would flow from one cup to the other. The next choice was to use duoplex for the powerbar on the inside of the cup rather than the lace as I thought that using here too would be too fussy for the delicate sheer look of the main lace cup.

I was blown away by the shape and fit of the bra although I had to fasten on the tightest hook to get the snug fit I prefer. For this reason I would definitely make this style first as I knew exactly what size to make the back for the front closing variation. Also, you can test the cup without having to worry about the front closure.

With just small pieces of the lace left I had to think carefully how I could make a matching set. I started with the smallest side to see how much I could cover the Orange Lingerie Kingston thong. I chalked a line down the centre, laid the other side on top to match and sewed down the chalk mark and this gave a piece to cut for an overlay. I cut out the front panel in mesh, attached to the gusset and finished the leg elastic. Then I placed the lace overlay so the scallop sat on the elastic, zigzagged down and finished as normal.

The Kingston is a perfect complement for the Vivien and one of my go to patterns for the non stretch lace used in a bra.

So moving on to Variation 2. I was just so excited to try this one as I have wanted to try a front closure for quite a while, as although I have used a front closure on a sports bra that was then covered with a zip up outer top. The plunge neckline adds to the drama. I also loved the idea of adapting to a one piece darted cup which looks better with lots of lace. Again, I have done this before but the plunge neckline requires a little thought as to the placement on the scallop and Jennie was kind enough to help. I tested out the cup on some scraps as you have to be careful not to end up with a pointy cup. I end the dart with a couple of stitches on the edge of the fabric. Then I pressed and placed over the foam cup I had made for the first bra to check the shape.

I was not expecting the choice of lace to be as problematic as it turned out to be. The outer cup in the size I was making is quite deep so some of the laces I had thought of using didn’t work as the opposite side of the embroidered tulle hit the bottom of the cup as in the first picture, below. For the second the teardrops are all in one direction so would be in different directions at the dart. This left the cream lace so I actually cut out the cups. Unfortunately the contrast between the sheer parts and the embroidered dots didn’t sew well on the dart and the seam allowance was too obvious. Then I tried basting the lining to the lace and using as one layer but I still didn’t like how it looked. So then I remembered some lace from another BWear kit.

Completely sheer but with more of an overall lightly stitched embroidery design this lace is perfect. I made the cups up first just to check how the dart looked. I did topstitch down and trim back to the stitching for a uniform look on the right side. Next I tackled the closure. The instructions suggest ribbon for smaller sizes but I decided to use the lace. I used Misty Fuse to permanently adhere a piece of lace to a more opaque sheer lining and then lined with the one I used for the cup. I drew around the pattern piece and then stitched 1/4” in from the top and bottom lines, cut around the pattern piece and turned through to the right side.

Attaching to the cups was fiddly. Not only is there a lot of bulk in there but the fastener does get in the way of the foot. I did try with my zipper foot but there was no way it was going through the bulk. I handstitched them tightly in place after a couple of attempts to get both sides level.

Moving on to the powerbar, I had already adjusted the pattern piece as I wanted to this to be the same width of the strap elastic I had chosen. It was only an 1/8” but it is something that annoys me. Again because the lace is so sheer I decided not to use it for the powerbar as well. Rather than duoplex I used the more opaque sheer lining as the right side, keeping the sheer look but not seeing the arm elastic too clearly. The ruffle strapping really suits the style of the bra.

With the bra done I had just a small piece of lace left and I decided to use the same overlay but this time on the Orange Lingerie Montgomery brief. The pattern has an enclosed front seam but the back is open and can be bulky when overlocked. So I decided to construct the same way as the Ohhhlulu Claudia.

Normally the front is enclosed between the gusset and lining and the leg elastic attached to this before sewing the back seam. Instead I enclosed the back before attaching the elastic. As you can see in the photo the gusset is wider by the width of the elastic. Then I attached the elastic to the leg. For the second pass I folded under the end and hand stitch down and pressed which reduces the bulk for sewing and ensures the elastic does not move out of place.

Another beautiful set completed. Having made V1 I was pretty sure V2 would fit perfect too but I have to say the plunge neckline with darted cup is my favourite but I will definitely be making more of both.

More pattern releases to come!

A perfect Marlborough Bra to finish the year - Sketching and Shirring Elastic!

Being part of Tailormade’s #TMCollaBRAtory and Emerald Erin’s Bra-a-week Challenge has made me really push myself in terms of design and technique so I wanted something really special for my December project to finish the year off in style. Given the issues with the post, at Christmas, I was lucky my delivery arrived in time.

The kit was a non stretch embroidered tulle lace with peach elastic, powernet, tulle and sheer lining. My first thought was a vertical seam cup like the Orange Lingerie Devonshire but I wanted to bring more of the peach into the cup. After playing with the fabric for a while I decided it was time to try sketching my ideas. Hubby provided his very best colouring pencils and I already had some metallic pencils for the silver. The drawings are only really scribbles but it really did help with the design process.

The outcome was to make an Orange Lingerie Marlborough bra with the inner cup in the lace lined with the peach and the powerbar in tulle gathered using shirring elastic. The underwear was designed to have a lace front panel with the sides being made from the gathered tulle which would stretch. I also sketched out some alternative strap ideas and a garter belt.

The first issue was that the lace only had one scallop edge and could not be mirrored. Normally I would start the second cup with the same pattern as the other side but for this pattern the leaves would be in a different sequence and the way I have placed it is more aesthetically pleasing to me. I lined the upper cups with a piece of sheer lining on the fold and even though this gave a neat edge I still finished with narrow elastic. To get the peach colour to show through the lace I basted a layer of sheer lining to the other pieces and also used a separate layer as lining which allowed me to enclose all the seams.

In the sketches I had envisaged using the lace for the bridge but the gathered tulle for the side frame. Once I had started gathering I realised I wouldn’t have enough tulle for this. The leaves on the scallop edge are only attached along the vein unlike lower down the lace and are quite bulky. To make the bridge I used just the bottom section which has no leaves and the attached leaves from the middle section for the side frame.

Previously I had only used shirring elastic to gather a sleeve into a cuff so this was going to be a real experiment. I hand wound the elastic on to the bobbin and used a stitch length of 4 based on the research I had done. Tulle is difficult to mark so I moved my needle so that I could sew at 1/2” intervals at the foot edge and stitched enough rows to be able to cut out the powerbars before steaming to relax the elastic. I used temporary adhesive spray to tack the sheer lining pieces I had cut to the wrong side. Next I stitched all around the very edge before cutting out. Finally I used another layer of sheer lining to enclose the seam with the inner cup. In my sketch I had used strapping to create a more open back but in practice I finished as normal in order that I would have enough strapping left for the underwear.

With the bra done I moved on to the thong I had sketched. I started with the Orange Lingerie Kingston pattern pieces. This uses stretch mesh on the fold for the leg edge so I thought I would use the folded pattern piece with the width of the elastic added at the fold line.

I cut out the front from the lace and lined with peach stretch mesh before attaching clear elastic to the waist. For the gusset I used just a plain piece of lace so as not to have any bulky embroidery before again lining with the mesh to get the peach colour as well as the cotton jersey lining.

At that point I decided to gather the remaining tulle to see what size piece I would be left to work with.

I cut out the sides in stretch mesh and checked against the gathered tulle. It wasn’t wide enough to cover the whole piece so I came up with the idea of attaching what I had to the stretch mesh starting at the front and then applying strap elastic on top where it ended before cutting back to the strapping so there was no unsightly or bulky finish on the inside. The two pieces were different sizes so I measured the shortest and marked lines to place the strapping.

Next I covered the open back seam with another piece of strap elastic and trimmed back to the stitching. The plan was to use the lace for the back extension but I decided it didn’t have enough stretch so I used the stretch mesh.

I did want to make a garter but I only had rose gold fasteners so I will leave that for another time. To be honest the set was perfect as it was and I need a rest!