Saturday 31 March 2012

Alterations: Moving The Strap Position

One common issue with larger cups in general, and with larger cups on smaller bands especially, is that the strap is positioned way to far out. That causes the fabric to cut into the arm, affects the fit, shape and support of the cup and causes the straps to slip down. If you have narrow shoulders the last one should definitly be familiar too you.

In this tutorial I will be assuming that you are doing this with a sewing machine. This is mainly for simplicity, most people don't know much about making durable elastic seams by hand, and because most people will be using one for this. You don't need anything fancy, just being able to sew zigzag is enough. You also need matching thread and a fresh sewing needle.

1. Take a look at what you have got


 First, just look at the bra. See how the seams have been made, in what order. As the aim is to recreate this later, if this is the first time, work on one side at the time so the other one can be used as a reference. Here the strap have been attatched last, with two rows of very narrow zigzag. Before that the eleastic along the armhole have been sewn, with the top seam along the actual armhole first, then flipping it over and the second seam have been made. The elastic is in almost every bra sewn like this, apart from some Freya bras that actually only have one seam. After taking a close look, rip all of these seams. The top one at the armhole you might want to leave a cm or two off as it is harder to reattach it that close to the underwire.




2. Time to reattach

Now you should have a strap that is not attached to the front of the bra and a loose piece of elastic, only attach by the underwire basicly. Decide how much you want to move the strap. Sometimes I only want to make the armhole bigger, then I will just let the top part of the elastic stay in the same position, sometimes I move it up to an inch. Remember that the whole elastic will be flipped over , so the part where the elastic is being pinned should not be counted in. This is the time when the decision is being made of the shape of the armhole. I like mine very round and cut out, but there is also a limit to how much the elastic can be stretched. 

Sew a zigzag with a width of 3-4.5 mm and a length of about 1.5-2, along the bottom edge of the elastic as seen in the picture. Usually the there is a part of the elastic that consists of a decorative edge, try to hit inside it with the needle.

3. Trim away the excess


Here you can see the backside after the first seam have been sown. Cut away the excess fabric (on the outside of the seam) being careful not crossing the threads or cutting into the elastic.



4. Fold over

Now fold over the elastic and pin it down again. Then it's time to sew the second seam, along the bottom edge of the elastic in this picture. Same settings as above and do it from the wrong side so the elastic is visible all the time. The stitches should be on the elastic at all times, but as close to the edge as possible to make it lie flat.






5. Pin the strap


Pin the strap in position, so it is at the very corner of the cup. If the strap is non-stretch it might be good to place it in an angle to make the inner side of the strap slightly longer. The way this is done depends on how it was done in the first place, here it's just on the inside without any folding at all.  This is also the time to easy shorten the straps if that is needed, by pinning it and sewing it lower down than originally.



6. Attach the strap


Attach the straps by sewing two seams. Here it is a narrow zigzag with a width of 1.5 mm and a length of 1 mm. The zigzag also keeps the strap from fraying when it has been cut off. Lastly, just cut off the extra strap and you are done! :)










The finished result

The result you end up with is hopefully a much better fit than before. By moving the strap to a better position the major lift comes closer to the center, which leaves less room under the arm and shifts the boobs more to the front. It also shortens the top edge of the cup, which could eliminate some gaping, but also possible make a well fitting bra cutting in, so make sure the top edge isn't too tight before trying this. And, good luck! :)







26 comments:

  1. The finished product looks very neat and professional. I have problems with straps being too far apart as well. I'm going to try this!

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  2. Thanks for the tutorial! Because of you, I was able to salvage an otherwise perfectly-fitting bra.

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  3. Thank you! This helped me, too!

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  4. I have sewing experience, and need to do this to my new bra. I'm feeling anxious because I don't have the money to replace my bra if I mess it up. Any words of encouragement you can think of for me?

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    1. Maybe a bit late for words of encouragement now but I really hope it went well for you. :)

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  5. This looks like quite a job! I really need to learn to do this though because it drastically improves the lift of the bra. But perhaps I ought to wait until I buy a sewing machine next week.

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    1. It takes some time in the beginning but with time it goes a lot faster. You get a feeling for how much to move them and how to make the new curve. :) I would really suggest waiting for the sewing machine though, because sewing stretch seams by hand is tedious... And yes to the lift! :) This has seriously saved Ewa Michalak bras for me, now I can wear them again...

      Good luck! :)

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  6. Any idea if this has been successful with the more mesh style bras?

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    1. Yes! As I these days do it on all bras apart from those from Comexim I've done it on many lace/mesh bras. You do exactly the same, it's really easier as it isn't as bulky around the seams. :) I do have some photos so hopefully there will be some tutorial on how to do it on Ewa Michalak's SM bras, that are a tad different, as well as Freya, which still is very very similar though.

      Anything more specific you wonder that I might be able to help with concerning this? :)

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    2. Wonderful! Yes, I'm actually looking to move the straps over on my Cleo Bella and my main concern is that the mesh netting would hinder me. I was hesitant to start the project because I'm not too sure how to stabilize the netting so I can adhere the straps to the front of the cup. I hope that makes sense, thank you so much for the assistance.

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    3. Ah, that is another issue. You cannot attach the strap in the piece with a different fabric, it much be attached to the panel closest to the arm. If you move the strap more than this you will disturb the balance and the cup will no longer work as it should. It is not a matter of mesh or not, it's more of how much you can change something while still have it functioning as it should.

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  7. I finally got my sewing machine. I'm still learning it but I decided I wanted to practice with an old bra. I am confused at step 2. We stitch around the bottom of the elastic? Didn't we just remove the elastic? What's the purpose of this step? The picture kind of confused me but I think that's partially because it's a padded bra and white and mine is unpadded and black.

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    1. In step 2 you take the "removed" elastic and pin it down in the new spot where you want it now. As you still want elastic around the armhole for shape and support you will need to sew it back on. The issue before was the placement of the elastic, not the elastic itself. By moving it into a better position you will reshaping the armhole. :)

      The elastic is pinned further in on the bra than it originally was. That is why you need to trim away the excess fabric after you' sew the seam along the bottom of the elastic.

      Hope that helps! :)

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    2. That does help! I get it now but I have yet another question (sorry!).

      You say to sew along the bottom of the elastic and then trim and then do step 4. Well on my test bra I just sewed in the middle of the elastic with a zig zag stitch and then cut the excess off and it seems fine? I don't understand step 4 or why it was necessary to fold the elastic over. I'm sorry I'm so clueless!

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    3. Wait, after rereading it several times, now I'm guessing we stitch the bottom and fold so that when we cut it we get a nicer look?

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    4. Yes! It can be done in many many ways, but here it is done in the same way as the bra was originally made. This way makes it very neat and makes the bra look as if it has never been altered. :)

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  8. Looks like you did this to a Masquerade Rhea. Am I right? I have one that I want to fix the straps on. Partly because they're too wide, and partly because I am hoping it will fix some of the gaping I'm experiencing. Do you think moving the straps will help with the gaping? I so love my Rhea, but I'm not quite full enough on top for it.

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    1. Yes, you are right! :) And yes, I experienced some gaping before this alteration as well. Rhea is a gorgeous and amazing bra but for someone with a smaller frame like me the straps are just too far apart. While I could arrange me so that the gaping was gone, I still would end up with the gaping again just minutes later + if I bent over or reached forward it would also appear again, as my arms was pushing the straps forward.

      If you have some slight gaping, this could definitely help. :) I would suggest de-attaching one of the straps from the front and pin it securely where you would want it to sit, and then try the bra on again. You can fold in the excess fabric at the arm. That should give you a quite good indication of if the alteration would help you. :)

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    2. I had pretty big gaping in the bra I did this with (Panache Tango) and this helped a ton!

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  9. I understand now! Sorry for so many questions, I have to have things spelled out and then I like to know why it's done so I can incorporate the idea into other things. I just did a strap on my test bra and it really helped eliminate gaping plus I never used the zig zag stitch or stitch and width settings yet so I learned so much! Thank you thank you thank you! This is going to save so many bras! I love that this gets rid of excess underarm material too, which is another big issue.

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  10. Yet another question for you! Do you think this alteration is possible to do on a bra like the Jasmine? http://www.panache-lingerie.com/sports/products/details/panache/jasmine/a/ivory-floral I don't know if I need it or not as the straps are not bad, but the lace trim makes me think not.

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    1. The issue is that while you can use the method to make the armhole rounder (it is pretty straight to start with and arms are not straight...!) you cannot move the strap much at all without removing parts of the side panel which is very functional. Non-side-panel bras usually don't have much function in the armhole fabric but Jasmine and similar bras (Envy, Andorra) need the side panel to work. What I've been experimenting with is to essentially make a dart between the side panel and the lace section and by doing so, pull the straps closer together. If it ends up successful I will post about it as well. :)

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    2. Thanks for the reply. I ended up trying it on an inexpensive Jasmine because I had to cut down the underwire anyway... It was much harder to do than a regular bra without lace and side panels and while it didn't hurt the bra it didn't do as much in general because I couldn't move the strap much. I hope it works out, it sounds good in theory at least.

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  11. Hello again!

    I have a question as I have just finished altering my first EM padded bra. When you alter the straps and move them in, it changes the shapes of the cups. For me I get a more minimized look (more purple shape than green) and I lose a lot of projection as well as have excess cup. This all isn't really an issue, I figure I can cut off the excess cup and attach the elastic and I finally get the nice purple shape I had been looking for in general. However, it is disappointing that I may never be able to have the green shape in the padded EM bras, but it just seems like simple bra mechanics? I mean, if you let the cups tilt forward by moving the strap out of the way, it would make sense why Ewa was so resistant to moving the straps, if she couldn't figure out how toc hange the shape. Does this happen with your bras?

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    1. Yes, and no. The only bra that really truly gives the green shape from Ewa Michalak is the CH and the CHPs. Some other bras might look like they give the green shape but the only reason to why they do it, is because the arm is pushing the cup forward.


      Regarding her reasons, I think that there is probably three parts and you are partially right:

      * Moving the straps is not needed in all sizes. As I've mentioned before, there is zero grading between cup sizes. For the larger bands the cups are actually quite okay. Starting to move straps should only be done on the relative smaller sizes. This means that they need to have at least two times as many patterns, if not three, four or five times as many cup patterns. This will cost money. A fair bit of money.
      * Moving the straps will result in one problem being solved, but as you say, it will affect the shape. The actual problem is not the straps though, it is that the wide straps has been used to mask the fact that in order for you to arrive at the same final shape for two sister sizes in very different band sizes you need to re-design the whole cup. Which means that not only need the strap placement to change on the patterns they use, the whole cups. That means re-construction of protypes and going through the whole process of creating and fitting a model again. Once again expensive.

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