Finished: My first self stitched bra!

For this post I'm going to ramble about the fit. I'll do another post to review the pattern :)

So here it is.  I have to admit, I'm surprised by how easy this was to construct. It turned out quite well, definitely wearable...for someone else.  When I showed the hubs, he said "Well, gosh...it looks like a real bra to me!" Honey, it is a real bra.  LOL,

 

I apologize for the boring photos. 

Naturally, I didn't expect it to fit. I hoped it would, of course, but I knew that was unlikely. Whenever I go bra shopping I always end up trying on 10+ bras...just to bring home 0-2.  And spend $50-100. It's insane. I probably spend more money on bras than the majority of the rest of my wardrobe. And I don't even have enough bras. 

Here's what's going on

• No underwires. I didn't want to mess with underwires the first go around; I just thought it'd be too much of  a hassle to figure out the fitting. This was a mistake. I should have ordered a few pairs from the get go. I'll wait until I have some before I make my next bra.  
• Gaping at the side cups. This is incredibly common for me. It is tricky to find a RTW bra that doesn't do this.
• The bridge doesn't sit flat against my "chest cavity".  This is partially because there is no underwire & partially because I think the bridge is a touch wide. Again, this is very common for me to come across in RTW. 
• I think the cups fit ok. I think they're a little "pointy", but I can smooth that out in the flat pattern stage. It's so hard to tell without the underwires.  I'm really kicking myself for that.
• Also, I think the straps need to be moved closer to the center. With my sloping shoulders, they do feel like they're slipping off.   Again, this is something I come across quite often in RTW.

All in all, I can't say that I'm disappointed. As much as we all would like everything to fit us straight from the pattern (or even of the rack in RTW), it just isn't the case.  Going into this I kept in mind that it would likely take 3 bras before I had a good fit.  This is a marathon, not a sprint. Giving a man a fish vs teaching him to fish.  If I can nail the fit...the possibilities are endless. The payoff would be huge. In many ways.