Revisiting the First Foundations Revealed Muslin and Tweaking the Fit

This is the one I didn't share, the very first one made with tricot cups.  The one I thought was a bad fabric choice.   I've been staring at it thinking about removing the straps and hook and eye closure before putting it away, I tried it on one more time, because sewing in the wee hours of the morning sometimes isn't the best time to judge fit.  With a bit of tweaking, it's not a bad attempt, and I may have some tricot cups in my future provided they are lined with something firmer because there's not a lot of support with them.

This version has a wide bridge and the original underwire curve.  I thought it might be useful to show how I came up with the changes.

The Mystery 

The cups are too big (not really)

Deep folds in the cups, remind me of Maxine on Hallmark cards.

The bridge is too wide.  

How do you know that you ask?  because the wires are digging into the soft tissue on the front.

The curve of the underwire is too straight at the underarm

How do I know? because the wires are digging into the soft tissue under my arm.  It's no wonder I took this off almost immediately.

Really disappointing, now that calmer heads prevail....  Here's how I fixed it.

It's on now, doesn't look bad, the band is comfortable but I can't over look everything pinching at the front at the side, it's pretty bad, and the cups look... well sad really.  

So what is the problem?

If I peek under the band I can see that the inframammary fold is actually here.

So how do I fix this?  I know the underwire is the proper size.

Let's take up a dart...this feels better... lo and behold this fixes the cup problem, no more Maxine.

Let's take up the bridge... so much better, this is why no one likes underwires, when they doesn't fit properly, they poke you.  No poking please.

Now we have the changes quantified in our darts we need to transfer the adjustments to the band pattern.

Original band pattern

Band pattern adjustments

The cup also has a funny little peak on it that will be smoothed out.

Once all of these changes are made, it's going to be a comfortable bra.... look for more updates later.