Three Bras from One Cup

Are your pre-formed bra cups and the pattern you’ve perfected for them your go-to bra style? Are you looking for a little more excitement to get your sewing mojo going? Do I have a treat for you over the next couple of posts! We will be looking at how to make three bras from one cup style. That’s right – we’ll be using one style of pre-formed foam cup and making three very different looking bras.  Are you ready?

We had a student from Belgium recently who is eager to learn bra-making with us. She brought some bras that she bought and wanted to make ones just like them. OK. You’re talking my language. The bras she brought in are from Marlies Dekkers – a designer whose work I’ve admired for many years. Marlies is the Dutch bra designer who took fetish wear out of the bottom drawer and waved it in our faces, so to speak. Her typical look has multiple straps originating from the centre front of the bra and upward. The straps are meant to be seen and the whole look is drop dead sexy. This is one of her earlier styles (as shown on her website).

In this first post on how to make three bras from one cup, I’ll show you the three bras. Then each bra will have its own post detailing how we were able to get the same look, but in our own cup size and our own fabrics. Are you ready?

Entry Level Strapping

The first of our three bras from one cup is fairly mild-mannered and tame compared to some of the other styles that Marlies is famous for. It features a small over-the-mound strap that attaches to the centre front via another small string. We’ll be looking at this in more detail however for now, just notice the shape of the actual foam cup that she’s using.

Go Leather or Go Home

Let’s ramp up the sexy in this leather accented bra. They cut the leather (or more likely faux leather) into shapes to use as the base for the rings and elastics to radiate from. But aside from that, take a look at the cup itself.  Do you see what I see?

Frilled Cami Overlay

This designer is not stuck in the dungeon all the time! Here is her gorgeous and ultra-feminine, frilled camisole bra. One of the interesting features of this bra, besides the frill, is the bottom edge of the frame. There is no stitching or elastic visible. How did they do that? You are going to find out in the new few posts. Be patient! But once again, have a look at the cup used. You’ll have to  look closely to see that this designer was able to make three bras from one cup. All the bra styles shown here use the same foam cup as the starting point for the bras style. I am certain that there are many more bra styles made from this one cup style.

Why would a company make three bras from one cup style? It’s a matter of economics. Foam cup styles cost thousands of dollars to create, and require many months of testing and fitting to make sure they fit the target demographic of the company that creates them. With that kind of time and money invested, it makes sense to use that cup style in as many bra styles as possible. Not only do all the cups fits the same way, but they can save some serious money by not re-inventing the wheel each time they want a new bra style. Virtually every major bra company does this. After all, if a customer loves the fit of this bra, she is very likely to stay within the brand when she buys her next bra. They come in for the fit, and they stay for the styling!

The foam cup that we are going to use for this series of posts is the MA style or the Angled style pre-formed foam bra cups. We’ll also use the Amanda pattern that provides the frame for those cups. So why not join me next time,  as we make three bras from one cup!

Your Fairy Bra Mother,