Doctor T Designs

I had previously made the AFI Atelier Maya bra because of an unplanned challenge in The Hive last year. I hadn’t expected it to go well, but the Maya ended up being my favorite thing I made last year! I knew I wanted to make the pattern again and tweak it a little bit to see if I could get an even better fit and to try some new materials and techniques, but I put it off to focus on other things. And when another Hive challenge to sew bras for the winter holidays came up last year, I knew I wanted to use the Winter Berry kit I’d gotten from B,Wear last winter. After playing around with the lace, it was clear that the Maya was going to be the perfect pattern to do what I wanted, so it seemed like the perfect time to tweak the pattern.

My first post on making the Maya details all the more intense fitting I did to create the omega adjustments I needed to match up the 90H/40H (cm/in) cup with my 44 vertical wire. Since I’d done most of the heavy lifting in terms of fitting, this time I was able to just make a few adjustments to really dial in the fit. I removed 1/4″ from the neckline, moved the strap inwards about 3/8″ on the front, and changed the angle of the DOGS on the lower cups.

I used my self-drafted band and modified it a little bit to add some height under the arms and removing a wedge from the center front (about 1’8″ at the top and 1/4″ at the bottom) to narrow the gore. I think this is going to help a lot to prevent the wires from sliding down like I was having problems with previously. Once I had these fit modifications, I also changed the pattern to allow for a lace band following the Beverly Johnson tutorial on the lace Craftsy class. I’ve used this technique before, but not since I’ve re-drafted my band to include wire spring, so I needed to re-draft it for this design technique.

I also changed the materials I used this time. Instead of covering foam with a jersey, I made the pattern in duoplex with an embroidered tulle lace and lined in the really nice bra tulle from bra builders. The bra tulle has more give than sheer cup lining, so the duoplex is the supportive fabric in this construction. I still used sheer cup lining to line the front of the band, and I used the medium/firm powernet that came with the kit for the back band. I really like how the duoplex/tulle combination worked out on the cups so I think I will be using this combination of materials in the future. The main materials are from the Winter Berry kit from B,Wear (from last year; now sold out), but I added the sheer cup lining, bra tulle lining, and bow from Bra Builders. The underwear fabric and fold over elastic are from my stash.

Overall I am so excited with how this pattern turned out! I’m going to spam way too many pictures because I think it’s so pretty.

I am obsessed with the front and how the design lined up:

I would love to take credit for being very cleaver and figuring this out, but it’s entirely a Bob Ross level of happy accident. I honestly had barely enough lace to fit all of the pattern pieces, so I was much more fixated on having enough than caring about how the pattern lined up. I did have enough scraps to use the lace edging on the straps and to use bits on the back band and the underwear I made to go with the bra.

Speaking of the underwear, I used my self-drafted pattern from the Beverly Johnson Craftsy class. I finally took the time to measure out the length of the elastic and attach it the “correct” way. It’s such a neater application. It takes longer than just tossing it on there and figuring out how to finish it at the end, but it looks so much better that I’ll probably keep doing it this way in the future.

I mean, just look at it.

I’m so entirely pleased with how this turned out, and the fit can only be described as *chef’s kiss*. It’s absolutely my new favorite bra and I’m so exited to have a pattern that fits so well. Plus, it’s just so pretty! I think I’m just going to obsess over this project a bit more for a bit before wrapping this up…

Ok, ok. Time to be moving on about my day. But I’m incredibly happy with this project and how well it turned out and I’m really looking forward to wearing this set and making some more Maya bras to add to my drawer soon!