Sophie bra

This is round two of Hack It for me. And you’d be forgiven for thinking it uses exactly the same fabric (it doesn’t…)

The Sophie Swimsuit, by Closet Case Files, stole my heart as soon as I first saw it. Last summer my sister and I made two versions each (although one of mine was for a gift – I was clearly feeling excessively generous!) and when summer was done, I thought about bra-making, and I thought about the fact that I had this pattern already and could assess likely fitting changes, and I made a bra. I love that bra, and I wear it a lot, but I thought some more about the fit and the style, and I rehacked the pattern, and this here is the result.

The main change I made is to adjust the neckline – I firstly raised it to have points where it joins the straps, and then lowered these points, and lowered the centre front neckline while I was at it. Secondary changes include fit adjustments of course, and slightly altering the back wing shape. Plus exchanging the swimsuit hook for a bra hook and eye.

This version is made of merino (because I was cold – a bit of a theme with my other post) backed with a sturdy cotton (for lack of stretch) and with duoplex wings (I was very confused by all the different fabric types before I started sewing bras – rest assured it’s not unusual to not know what duoplex is!). I chose the colours based on matching a pair of underwear (which I also made, just a week earlier) and when I couldn’t find a good cream lace for the top edge, thought I’d try play with the decorative stitches on my flatmate’s machine. I’m really happy with the resulting daisy-chain appearance (although I threaded the bobbin incorrectly for the right front and didn’t realise until too late, so the daisies are a little irregular – it works totally different to my own machine!) The various other bits and pieces are dyed cream using tea and a tiny bit of turmeric, as is my normal practice.

I would make this pattern again, with further hacks if I wanted to make it as a bra again, but I think I’m going to expand my horizons first! I have my eye on the Harriet bra…