Merckwaerdigh E-STRAP4The first time I made my first pair of strapless bra, I made my own foam lining because I couldn’t find it locally. This time I want to use the proper ones so I ordered them from Makebra. Their foam lining is 4 mm thick and sold in 20x145cm (8″x57″) pieces. I bought two pieces, white and black.
The pattern is the same one that I’ve used before, Merckwaerdigh Strap4. From the description in Merckwaerdigh’s store: “a lovely mix of strapless lingerie : a bra and a bustier – body – thongbody where the underwires are invisible at the outside. These designs can be worn as outer garments as well.”
The fabric is this wonderful red lycra with capsule-shaped dots that I bought in Okadaya, Shinjuku. Other notions are from Merckwaerdigh ebay store.
As usual I started with size 30D and shortened the band slightly to make it size 28E. The band is widened a bit so I can use 3 rows of hook and eye instead of 2. I also made my own detachable straps by wrapping an elastic strap with the lycra fabric.
The panties are made with the lower part of bodysuit pattern. I eliminated the side seam by connecting the side front pieces are connected to the back pieces. This alteration creates an interesting pattern direction on the side front.
I still have lots of foam lining left! It turned out that each piece of foam lining can make 5-6 pairs of bra for me, it would be different for other sizes though. The foam lining has one fuzzy side to be used against the skin, and charmeuse-covered side which acts as a base for the cover fabric. The wonderful thing about them is that it doesn’t increase the breast volume, so it is not bra padding. The puffiness will fade away after being worn several times. I can see more foam-lined bra in the future!
Strapless bra and panties patterns are Merckwaerdigh Strap4 size 30D, altered to 28E.
17 Comments
Gorgeous!!
I love the fabric! Adorable bra!
seriously, your lingerie sewing is amazing! thanks for posting these and the link to the pattern!
It’s gorgeous! And such a lovely finish and shape with the foam. Your lingerie sewing is enviable!
oooohhh this set is so cute! love the polka dots, and i love how you did the straps! amazing work.
Very pretty! My RTW foam bras are comfortable, but insanely expensive. I’ll have to check out the foam lining – whenever I finally venture into bra making… Thanks for sharing!
What a lovely set. I’m constantly amazed by your sewing abilities, especially in making undies. :) This is an unrelated question about your dress form. Where did you get it? And is it custom to you or just a standard size. I’m looking for a new dress form.
I bought the dress form from an online Japanese store. It’s just an ordinary display dress form, about USD50. It is a bit smaller than me so I want to pad it (maybe later!)
Hi Novita. Too bad I’m in the US and cannot order that type of dress form. I think it’s nice. Padding it out would work great. But if you don’t need to right now, it seems to be just fine. Thanks for sharing. Happy sewing!
Hi, Dee! I purchased an $80 dress form on Amazon. Mine isn’t covered in pretty linen, but I like the way it looks and it has made sewing much easier.
Gosh, this is cute! I just love your lingerie sewing!
I love it! The dotty fabric is really cute, especially with the white trim :)
Absolutely beautiful! A good strapless bra can be such a wonderful thing, and this one is pretty too!
I love this! Especially what you did with straps so that they would match. Simple, but genius. I haven’t gotten into sewing bras with foam lining, but I foresee it in my future :)
Looking forward to see foam cup bras in your future posts! :)
As always I am in awe of your Lingerie! I love your fabric and the foam looks amazing. I might have to check out those suppliers as I can’t find supplies locally.
You do an amazing job with your underthings! And I love that red fabric!