Sewing Journey - How I Became a Custom Bra-Maker

Prompted by a question from one of my local IG followers, the lovely Jodi @chai.wallahs, I felt inspired to share here on my blog how I got to this point.

While I did sew a pair of pajama pants in Home Ec class in high school, I don’t have any photos of it, nor do I really consider it the start of my sewing journey. That journey really began here, with this costume I made to attend a Disney Villain-themed Halloween party. I knew very little about sewing, but managed to draft and sew this Maleficent masterpiece in between reading papers and attending classes for my Masters’ degree.

For a Disney Villain-themed Halloween party in 2014, my (now) husband went as Sid from Toy Story, and I went as Maleficent from the original animated Sleeping Beauty.

But really, it was summer 2018 that I got my serious start at sewing. As a tall person, it is often quite challenging to find clothes in stores that have length in the right places for my body. Sewing became a way for me to have clothes that fit in colours that I want in fabrics that I want. My first project was this breast-feeding friendly sundress.

A surplice bodice maxi length sundress (Butterick 6051).

My skills have improved a fair bit from that sundress. Here are a few more epic costumes and other projects:

Game of Thrones Costumes - I sewed my daughters’ dragon costumes (and a purple dragon costume for a friend’s daughter, not pictured here - all with Simplicity 2506), my Daenerys Targaryen costume (combining McCalls 6941 and Simplicity 1008), and my husband’s Jon Snow costume (he made his sword - Simplicity 1552, Simplicity 8770, and a self-drafted jerkin) made for Halloween 2018.

Pattern-matched plaid wool dress pants (McCalls 6901) and red French terry wrap cardigan (Seamwork Elmira), both sewn in spring 2020.

My daughters requested Olaf and Sven from Frozen for Halloween 2020 (a heavily hacked version of Simplicity 2506).

Purple French terry cropped sweater (Seamwork Astoria) and red cotton twill wide leg pants (True Bias Lander Pants) both sewn in February 2021.

My educational background is Engineering, and what I love about Engineering is that you combine really creative ideas and solutions with very specific technical constraints to come up with your solution. Sewing, at least the way I love to sew and why I love to sew bras so much, is that same mix of creative and technical.

So, when did I specifically get into sewing bras??

That, my friends, came in the summer of 2019 after I listened to an episode of the Love To Sew Podcast where they interviewed Emerald Erin about sewing bras (episode 53). She made the process of sewing bras seem accessible and achievable. I was fascinated! I already had a fair bit of my own makes in my wardrobe, why couldn’t' that also extend to my underwear drawer?

So, I ordered some bra making kits from Emerald Erin and Bra Makers Supply as well as watched Beverley Johnson’s series of Craftsy Classes, and I was ready to begin!!

Pictured on the top left is my very first bra, a Classic Bra from Pin Up Girls Patterns sewn in November 2019 - the only bra I’ve made that I really couldn’t wear. I made one cup size too big and one band size too big, so it wasn’t wearable. But, I sized down and the second bra fit decently well, and then made fitting tweaks over two more versions before pulling out some lace!

Two PUGS Classic Bras: my very first bra and the first bra I used lace on

My breast tissue went up in cup size last summer, so these bras are too tight now, and I haven’t yet had a chance to return to the Classic to re-fit myself. Since last summer', I’ve made several other bras that do fit me as well as underwear and swimwear too!

Here are some of the bras I’ve made for myself, and you can find more images of bras that I’ve made for myself and others under my Portfolio page.

Six Black Beauty bras (Emerald Erin) all in different fabrics and colours.

Two bralettes (Jordy Bralette - Emerald Erin) with matching panties (left is Binkie panties - Evie La Luve, right is Stella panties - Studio Costura)

The Sophie Swimsuit bikini view from Closet Core Patterns - basically my ideal bikini!

It was after attending the Great Bra Sewing Bee in July 2020 and then participating in BRAugust 2020 on IG that I started to consider becoming a custom bra—maker. I adore having clothes that fit me really well, and I know so many people have such grief finding undergarments that fit them and don’t cause pain and are actually able to perform the function they were supposed to. So I thought maybe I could give it a shot, and, after eight months of research and business development as well as testing the fitting process with friends and family members, here I am!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed seeing my progression as a Bra-Maker!