Romy and Romy

I seem to be finding the bottom of this bra rabbit hole, or at least loosing some steam. It might have had something to do with the chaos of moving my sewing room and then sewing 3 bras in 2 weeks. I won’t say I’m done with sewing bras, only that other types of patterns and my WIP pile are looking pretty appealing right now.

Before I hit this point, I tried a new pattern: the Romy Bra by Ohhh Lulu. I like the simplicity of this pattern — bonus points for having straightforward directions with pictures — and a construction which leaves the seams enclosed between the main fabric and the lining (see last photo).

And because I’m obsessed, I actually made two of these bras: one standard version (hello pink!) and one with the strappy modification included in the pattern. Both were easy to construct, though the strappy version did not easily convert to a nursing bra.

The problem was that I thought I could anchor the maternity clasp on the added front strap. However, this resulted in the front strap pulling in and the cup pulling out, meaning the clasps popped open much too readily for my peace of mind (the twisted area in photo above). The solution was to add another strap on the outside to balance the pull of the front strap. It took a little jiggering, and an added O-ring, but I made it work.

Two more things about this bra pattern. First, pink version is actually the only bra I’ve assembled using my serger; I’ve been surprised by how readily you can make a bra on a regular sewing machine. Second, I don’t like how far apart the straps are at the back of the bra. It’s only a problem with the white version because I used tighter elastic, but it’s something I’d modify if I made this pattern a third time.

So there you are, bras #10 and #11. The current total include 6 Watson’s, 2 Harriet’s, 2 Romy’s, and 1 Barrett (6 of which are nursing bras). I’ll have to do a comparison of each bra pattern in a future post.