Bullet Bra Sew-Along day 1  Download the pattern and get sizing info
Bullet Bra Sew-Along day 2  Cut and assemble the cups, learn about circle stitching
Bullet Bra Sew-Along day 3  Attach the front and size bands and make sizing adjustments in the band
Bullet Bra Sew-Along day 4  Finishing the bra and attaching straps and closures

This pattern uses very little fabric. I used a scrap that I had in my stash. Cut out pieces according to pattern indications


Cup Assembly

Pin upper and lower cups, right sides together and sew along center cup seam with the provided 3/8 inch seam allowance. 



 
Pink edge or finish with a french seam. You may also attach these pieces using a fagoted seam which is a luxurious little detail on lingerie. Colette Patterns blog has an excellent tutorial on the fagoted seam


Press the seam open and turn out. Repeat on other cup



Circle Stitching

One day, I was looking at my bullet bras and I wondered "How'd they do that?" Does it really shape into a cone if you sew a spiral of stitching around the piece of fabric. Well, yes it does!  It's that simple. Start in the middle and sew an even spiral till you get to the outside.

 You can also sew progressively larger circles or sew little flower or scalloped designs like some of my vintage bullet bras. I've even seen a clever reader use her embroidery settings on her sewing machine to do really beautiful lacy details. Here are some examples from my collection of vintage bras:

The first one here has spiral stitching, which is the most common among my bullet bra collection. Pardon the wrinkles, please



 This one has some gorgeous and simple details. First, the fagoted center seam there, a beautiful touch and common for vintage bras. This has circle stitching and spokes at the center of the cup.




This last one is a 1950s pink girdle with the lower cup stitched and the upper cup in a sheer net, very sexy! You could easily do something like this with this bullet bra pattern or do a lace overlay on the top of the cup. The stitching on this girdle cup is very interesting because its done in both horizontal and vertical lines of stitching on pink satin, making the cup very stable and supportive.


Anyway on to spiral stitching....
You can get out your fabric marker and mark exact measurements for your spiral but I'm impatient and lazy so I eyeball it, using the edge of my presser foot to gauge where my next stitches should be. Mark the cup center with a pin and you're ready to rock.
 

You can use matching or contrast thread for the circle stitching. Watch the video to see how:

Apologies for the poor audio, please turn your volume up a bit.






Pretty cool, huh? Please be very careful when doing your cup stitching. Take it slow and don't get your fingers too close to that needle! After editing this video I surprised myself at how close my fingers are to that needle so just take it slow.


Okay, now that we have two cups, let's sew them up the middle. You can put right sides together and seam it up and pink the seam but I like a nice sturdy french seam for things like this.




Pin wrong sides together so that the exposed seam is on the outside of the bra


 Sew and trim very close to the seam



pin with right sides together so the seam is concealed inside.


 Sew it. The seam will now be on the inside of the bra. Press. This is what the inside of the bra will look like:


 And this is what the outside will look like


Come back tomorrow and we'll attach the front and side bands!



Fitting Tip   If, after circle stitching is complete, your cup is too deep or not deep enough for your breast, you may need to adjust this seam line by adding or removing seam allowance.You can also purchase bullet bra pads from What Katie Did or sew your own using this tutorial from YouTube

Before I go, I wanted to show you all a fun accent from one of my vintage bullet bras that you could easily incorporate into this pattern.  This bra has a tiny bit of padding (a layer of extremely thin batting, maybe?) with another layer of fabric over the top on the inside lower cup, which creates a beautiful little petal pattern when sewn in with a zig-zag stitch.

This light padding is very comfortable and supportive and *hello* great for days of heavy boob sweat. Hey, it happens so sweat glamorously!



If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments or drop me an email at Brittanyvavoomvintage@gmail.com
Check back tomorrow for Day 3: Front and Side Bands