Yes, I said I was going to add a center zipper to this bralette, but the fabric looked so light and airy in my basted fitting that I didn’t want to!
This is a piece of what I would consider medium-weight powermesh. I’d never seen printed powermesh before, so when I noticed this at the Textile Center Garage Sale in April, I couldn’t resist it. It was probably meant for a lightweight girdle. It has about 50% firm stretch in both directions.
They’re not my usual colors, and I don’t usually love florals, but I love this fabric! I have enough for at least one more project. Maybe my 1967 Touch and Sew is influencing me!
I used the Sweet Sixteen pattern again, but I made some changes. The front straps are simply sewn on, not attached with a ring.
I could have matched the thread to the elastic and FOE, but I liked the look of white thread as a little contrast.
I like to use rings on the back. I got the idea from a RTW bra.
The fabric isn’t scandalously sheer, but it’s a little too sheer for me to feel comfortable modeling it. You’ll just have to take my word for it that it fits!
For the bottom band, I’ve found that even with a very stable fabric, I just don’t feel supported enough with FOE binding. I was going to add enough length to the bottom band to do a covered-elastic application, but I found this firm lingerie-style 1-inch elastic in my stash from when I was testing waistband elastics, and decided to try it. I added one inch to the bottom pieces of the band and applied it just like a regular bra elastic. I used Beverly Johnson’s technique to get away with having the band wider than the portion of the bra(lette) under the cups.
Zipper version to come, probably after I use up the rest of this fabric!
