Sewing #610... Repurposing Blouses to Make Bras!

 Hello my dear readers. In our last Sewing #610 post I mentioned that I was waiting for some silk to arrive in the mail so I could finish my bra lining. I'm still waiting. So I got fed up, threw a small hissy fit, and then had an idea. I drove on down to my favorite little thrift shop in Monterey and bought a  silk blouse for $1.
It's black like I wanted and 3 times the silk I need to sew a bra. Jackpot! I may or may not have purchased half a dozen silk blouses to add to my bra-making stash.

Now, since it's not the right configuration of fabric for me to cut my bra on a fold, instead, I'll have to cut the bra on a seam, like below.

Just imagine, instead of a trip to a fabric store (the nearest for me is an hour away!) you can pop on down to a thrift shop and get some fabric from a clothing rack. What an environmentally friendly way to make your lingerie!

(I apologize for the quality of these pictures - black silk is really hard to photograph!).

Recycling a silk blouse for bra-making.

Now if you ever want to give this a try (I highly recommend it!) then be sure to press the seam before you match it to your center front of the pattern piece. Any little bits that aren't pressed straight can really throw off the fit of your bra.
Also, make sure that your blouse hasn't been cut on the bias!

I also decided to make a small embellishment to the front of the black bra piece once it was cut out.

If you do this, be sure to take into account your seam allowance at the top edge and avoid marking too close to it.

I marked some evenly spaced dots down the center front and then, before joining my bra and lining together, I embroidered three French knots in the same color of blue as my outer piece.

My blue French knots look almost like tiny buttons from a distance.

Now my bra outer and lining are nearly ready to be joined together.

Up next? Bra straps and back closures!