Rifle Paper Boylston Bra

Does anyone else "assign" yourself a project, and then over the next several weeks repeatedly think about how you haven't done said project yet, and stress out about it hanging over your head, even though you're the only one that knows about the project and no one will care if you never make it? No? Just me?

After making a dress out of this BEAUTIFUL rayon, I decided that I needed to make a bra from the scraps. They sat in a pile for a few months, guilt-tripping me with their presence, taunting me with their silky smooth delightfulness. Then I had a sewing weekend with some lovely ladies, and I conquered that pile of scraps.

I made a Boylston Bra, pattern by Orange Lingerie.



First let me talk about the fabric. This is about-to-be-released fabric from Cotton+Steel [my employer], designed by Anna Bond of Rifle Paper Company. This is her first fabric collection and it is so divine!



The rayon forms the outer cups, frame, bridge and straps. I love the wider fabric straps, especially how they don't look very bra-strap-ish when they poke out from under something.

[Side note: remember how bra strap headbands were a thing??]

All of the findings/notions/other fabrics were from a red bra kit from, terribly, I can't remember. I think it might have been from Arte Crafts? The foam is from somewhere else that I also can't remember. It was literally the first thing I bought when I was interested in making bras [for some reason]. Aren't I the most helpful sewing blogger??

I love the picot elastic that was in the red kit!



I attached the closure on the back with a medium satin stitch. I remember noticing this on a RTW bra and tried to mimic the same look.



Here is the inside.



I lined the frame and bridge with the red duoplex that was in the kit. I wanted a really clean finish on the inside and also was worried that a single layer of rayon would be too delicate. I was a teeny bit concerned it would end up too thick but it's totally fine.



The lining made it easy to get a completely sealed-in seam on the sides. I just sewed together the lining and shell bridges/frames, then pinned them right sides together along the sides with the powermesh band sandwiched in between. I sewed, turned right side out, topstitched, and then basted the raw edges of the the frames together.

This is my first time making a Boylston Bra, and the first time doing a foam bra. The pattern doesn't include any info about making a foam lining, but luckily there's an awesome tutorial series about it on Cloth Habit, so I used that for reference. I did it about 95% right - the foam is a little too bulky right where the strap connects, which I think is because I didn't trim it down far enough.



I used a 3 step zig zag to seam the foam cup pieces together, then used bias cut strips of the rayon to cover the seams, which I love.

As for size: I have already made several [yet un-blogged] Marlborough Bras, also by Orange Lingerie. When initially making the Marlborough I went through a little fitting process and ended up making a 34C and removing 1" total from the back band. This was actually a larger size than I should have made based on my measurements, but it worked out. So I went ahead and cut that size in the Boylston, figuring the fit would be fairly similar.

It fits pretty well, a little bit on the restrictive side but totally wearable. In an effort to use up the extra strap elastic, I used it for the bottom band, only realizing after that it's way less stretchy than the band elastic. So that's part of it. I also probably shouldn't have preemptively shortened the back band. I think that next time I will make a 34D and use the proper elastic, and that might be a little bit more comfortable.

Here it is on my headless lady friend.



This bra is really awesome on. It looks super fancy and, not gonna lie, makes the girls look pretty great.



Overall I LOVE the Boylston Bra pattern. I can't wait to make more and continue tweaking. I'm also definitely going to make it into a bathing suit at some point. See how many projects I'm assigning myself? Up over my head they go.