Burda Style For people who sew

Bra with diagonal cup seam instructions

You need
fashion fabric +/- half a meter, you don’t need stretch in the cups, but you do need stretch in your band, so at least part of it must be stretch fabric
much used are lycra and lace
picot elastic 3 meters should be plenty, for larger sizes take wider elastic for the band
soft tulle usually sold per piece, 1 piece should be enough
powernet often sold per piece, 1 piece should be enough
if sold per (part of) meter, 30 cm should be plenty
wire casing 1 meter will be plenty
shoulder straps ready made or +/- 1 meter of lose strap and a set of rings
1 pair of wires
1 hooks and eyes closure

Printing the pattern
Print the pattern with settings to full page.
Put the pieces together where indicated.

Tracing the pattern
Trace the pattern pieces and add 0,75 cm (1/3’’) seam allowance. If you use wide elastic for the band, add more seam allowance to the bottom of piece 1 (the band piece), if you use lace with a scalloped edge you don’t have to add seam allowance, but you could if you like a wider band.
If you want to use a larger hook and eye closure (3 hooks and eyes or more), you can easily adjust the centre back to be high enough for your closure.
If you use lace with a scalloped edge, do not add seam allowance to the straight line of piece 4 for your lace, do add it for your lining.
Trace pattern piece one as a whole and the two pieces a and b (you will use these for your lining).

Fabric choice and pieces that need to stretch
Powernet is a strong fabric with stretch.
Soft tulle does not stretch
If you want your bra cups to have some stretch, you can line them with powernet.
If you don’t want your bra cups stretchy, you should line them with soft tulle (or you could use a strong, non stretch fabric for your cups, but if you line them you won’t have exposed seams).
In stead of lining with powernet, you can also use 2 layers of lycra with stretch in opposite direction or use heavier lycra. Obviously you will need more lycra if you choose to use double lycra.
The centre front lining piece needs to be made from a fabric that does not stretch.
The back (piece 1b and piece 1) need to be made from stretch fabric, otherwise the bra will not be comfortable to wear. If you do have a beautiful lace that does not stretch, divide your piece 1 in 2 pieces and make the small piece in the back from a stretchy material.

Cutting the pieces
1 cut 2 from your fashion fabric
1a cut 2 from your soft tulle
1b cut 2 from powernet
2 cut 2 from fashion fabric and 2 from tulle or powernet
3 cut 2 from fashion fabric and 2 from tulle or powernet
4 cut 2 from fashion fabric and 2 from tulle or powernet
For everything you need a left and a right piece.
If you use a stretch material for your cups with a non stretch lining, cut the fashion fabric a little bit smaller than your lining.
If you are in doubt about the bandsize, cut it a bit larger and try it on with the hooks and eyes basted on it, you can always choose to cut it smaller at that stage.
It is best to cut with small scissors and not to cut 2 layers of fabric at the time, it costs more time, but a centimetre difference is a lot more than it is with a skirt.

Putting the bra together
The band pieces
Stitch the pieces 1a to the pieces 1b with a straight stitch.
Stitch the two pieces 1a together in the centre front.
Stitch the two pieces 1 together in the centre front.
Stitch piece 1 to the lining piece 1 right sides together at the top of the centre front.
Now fold piece 1 and the lining piece one wrong sides together and baste. From now on you will treat this as if it were one piece of fabric.
The cups
Stitch pieces 2 and 3 together with a straight stitch, do this for all your pieces 2 and 3.
Stitch piece 4 to pieces 2 and 3, again, for all pieces 4.
With a triple zigzag (or normal zigzag) stitch a piece of picot elastic to the top of your cup lining.
If you use fashion fabric without a finished edge, stitch the lining pieces to the fashion fabric pieces right sides together at the top of the cup. Fold right sides out and baste the lining pieces to the fashion pieces along the edges.
If you use fashion fabric with a finished edge, fold the picot elastic over to the wrong side of your cup lining and stitch again with a triple or normal zigzag stitch. Now baste the fashion fabric pieces to the lining pieces along the edges. With a zigzag stitch, stitch the lining to the fashion piece over the picot elastic.
From now on you will treat a cup as if it were one piece of fabric.
Baste the cups to piece 1 and stitch with a straight stitch.
Finishing the band (the bottom of it)
If you use fashion fabric with a finished edge, with a triple or normal zigzag, stitch (wide) picot elastic on the inside, with the soft side in and the picots to the bottom edge, cover the edge of your lining.
If you use fashion fabric that doesn’t have a finished edge, with a triple or normal zigzag, stitch (wide) picot elastic to the outside of the band, soft side up and picots pointed toward the fabric. Fold the elastic over to the inside and stitch again with a triple or normal zigzag.
Stretch your elastic, it should be about 80% of the length of your fabric band.
Wire casing
First stitch your wire casing with a straight stitch to the cup along the stitch that you made to set the cups in. Fold your wire casing over to partially cover the elastic and stitch again with a straight stitch.
Finishing the top of the band
With a zigzag stitch, stitch picot elastic on the right side of the fabric, with the picots pointing to the fabric, stretch the elastic a little. Fold the elastic over to the inside and stitch again with a zigzag stitch.
Adding straps and hooks and eyes closure
Baste your straps and hooks and eyes closure to your bra.
Try it on.
If the band is too wide, make it smaller and try it on again to see if the straps are still in the right positions.
If you’re happy with the placement of the straps and the length of the band, stitch the straps on with a zigzag stitch and stitch the hooks and eyes closure on with a straight stitch.

Possible adjustments
You can easily make this pattern suited for a larger cupsize and smaller bandsize and for a smaller cupsize and a larger bandsize.
For a larger cupsize and smaller bandsize, remove 2 centimetres from piece 1 in the centre back.
For a smaller cupsize and larger bandsize, add 2 centimetres to the centre back.
For two cupsizes larger and two bandsizes smaller, you could remove 4 centimetres from the back, but you may have to distribute the 4 centimetres difference over the centre front and centre back, removing 3 centimetres from the back and 1 from the front or 3.5 from the back and 0.5 from the front.
For two cupsizes smaller and two bandsizes larger, you could add 4 centimetres from the back, but you may have to distribute the 4 centimetres over the centre front and centre back, adding 3 centimetres to the back and 1 to the front or 3.5 to the back and 0.5 to the front.

I made this illustration for changing a pattern to a larger cupsize and smaller bandsize, but if you go from the red to the black line, you will change the pattern the other way around.

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