Thread: Help me fix this bra!!!!!

Hi Crafty Ladies,
I recently bought this costume and while it was supposed to be a D/DD it does not fit my girls. The side boobage is the biggest problem because the cups are so shallow. Basically, I don't have time to return and I am too broke to just go ahead and buy another. My show is on 2/27. I will RUSH order some lycra to match so that I can add some fabric to the side of the cups. If I can't do that what are some other suggestions?
Help!

I think it will be VERY difficult to try to match colors with out actually taking your costume to a fabric store. There are several good online places for buying lycra, but you dont have time to order swatches, compare them, and then order your fabric.

Its a hard call here, but if you cant return it, I would take it to the fabric store and try to get something close, even if its not lycra. . . and use that to extend the cups and then decorate with beads to help it blend in.

Maybe you could find some contrasting chiffon at a fabric store and add some ruched detail to the tops/sides of the cups and the top of the belt. If you want you could also add chiffon to the slit, and that'd really bring it all together....

Thanks, but it is for a troupe, so I can't change the design.

BOO HOO!

Originally Posted by basina

I think it will be VERY difficult to try to match colors with out actually taking your costume to a fabric store. There are several good online places for buying lycra, but you dont have time to order swatches, compare them, and then order your fabric.

Its a hard call here, but if you cant return it, I would take it to the fabric store and try to get something close, even if its not lycra. . . and use that to extend the cups and then decorate with beads to help it blend in.

The fabric stores are terrible here and nothing really would compare. i am thinking of using a mesh? Or I like the Chiffon idea.

You could try Spandexworld.com, maybe send them a copy of that bottom pic where you can really see the light reflected. Or look under holographic lycra.

Basina's right, though, it's almost impossible to match fabric over the 'net.

Sometimes you can deepen cups by moving the straps OUTWARD, away from center. You can test this a little by trying on the bra but not putting on the shoulder straps, then take hold of the outer edges of the cups, wider than the straps are currently set (judging from the pics, this would be somewhat onto the side of the cups) and pull upward as if the straps have been moved there.

If your breastesses won't flow inward to fill the deepened cups and still want to go to the sides, test what would happen if you were to move the straps INWARD slightly. That may create more 'pocket' in the outer cup area and contain the side boobage.

Even better would be to set the cups a bit *wider* apart. If there's enough of the center connector currently sewn inside the cups, you may be able to widen the front that way.

Did any accessories come with this costume? Headband or armbands that you could use? Matching fabric is almost impossible over the net.

Are those pics the actual costume? If so, those look like really shallow cups for a D/DD. Have you e-mailed Shahrzade (sp?) to make sure you were sent the correct size?

If the cups are just way too small, more fabric is the only answer. It doesn't matter where you position a couple of dot bandaids, they're just never gonna support or cover!!

Also, if you can't match the color exactly, I'd go for a shade darker/bluer rather than lighter/pinker.

If this was custom ordered, could you ask the place you bought it, if they have any scraps of fabric?

Otherwise, I'd send it back.

Originally Posted by Lauren_

Are those pics the actual costume? If so, those look like really shallow cups for a D/DD. Have you e-mailed Shahrzade (sp?) to make sure you were sent the correct size?

If the cups are just way too small, more fabric is the only answer. It doesn't matter where you position a couple of dot bandaids, they're just never gonna support or cover!!

Also, if you can't match the color exactly, I'd go for a shade darker/bluer rather than lighter/pinker.

No, I don't think this is the actual costume, because the Web site said that this costume (pictured) is a C-cup. The one I bought got moved off the Web after I bought it, but I swear this is the same picture that mine had. I can't return now because I've already adjusted it and such. boo hoo. I want my boobs to shrink!

So, Lauren, you would call this Holographic Lycra? that was my guess, but I have no clue. Up close, it is much darker and it has a bazillion tiny dots on it, but they are not touching.

So, last night, I made the straps criss-cross in the back, hoping that would work. That's the problem with altering big bras, you think you can make it work and then you spend hours of your time trying only to find it a lost cause. And now I can't return it. It actually makes my cleavage look very nice, but the design of the bra is not made for full coverage on the side.

WHY DON'T COSTUME DESIGNERS ACCOUNT FOR FULL-SIZE FIGURES WHEN THEY MAKE FULL-SIZE COSTUMES???? IF YOU HAVE BIGGER BOOBS YOU NEED MORE SUPPORT--EVERYWHERE!!!

OK, sorry for the rant. I just get so PISSED that I have to alter every freaking costume bra top I own to get it to fit my girls. They feel so shamed. Anyway, if I could just lose those 30 extra pounds I could fit into a C/D and then stuff would fit and I would have no size ooze. But that is not happening before Feb 27!

Good God. Sorry again for the complainin'.

I once had a Bella bra that had that problem. I cut it apart center front, made a wider center piece, covered it with a crystal, beads, sequins, put back fringe and it worked. It made for ridiculous cleavage but the sides were covered. Alot of work though.

Just bought these two. We'll see.

Arg! They are out of the first swatch and it is probably the closest match. Businesses need to update their online stock when they run out of something!

I have done this, too, on a turquoise & gold set I have since sold, because while the cups worked for me, I needed them to be further (farther? always mix that up) apart to look okay on my ribcage.

I'm starting to look at the bellydancestore.biz costumes like this - if the bra band looks too big for Kitty, it might work for me. If the cups look spaced perfectly for her frame, it will look too petite on me.

Originally Posted by Surida

I once had a Bella bra that had that problem. I cut it apart center front, made a wider center piece, covered it with a crystal, beads, sequins, put back fringe and it worked. It made for ridiculous cleavage but the sides were covered. Alot of work though.

OK, so here are some pictures of the fabric up close. What do I call it? Minidot Spandex? Microdot? Hologram?

that looks like hologram IMO..similar to my turquoise one maybe....
personally I would find chiffon to put across the top of the bra cups.....or cover somehow....something similair to what Shahzaadee did below...she draped it across the front

Originally Posted by shimmygoddess

that looks like hologram IMO..similar to my turquoise one maybe....
personally I would find chiffon to put across the top of the bra cups.....or cover somehow....something similair to what Shahzaadee did below...she draped it across the front

That is a great idea and a very classy and polished effect.

Thanks

You could enlarge the cups by adding a ruched strip across the top of the bra and a matching bit at the waistband of the skirt if you wanted. Wearing a nude full body net underneath,the kind like a leotard, helps immensely with the underarm ooze and you can also bring the chiffon edging around the bra chest strap as well. Add some sequins to the ruched part to match in the same color as those on the bra.

Souzan

I don't think it's hologram.

I would describe as foil microdot lycra

Royal blue metallic dots on lilac lycra background,

But that's probably not much help as there's no standard description for these fabrics, most stores just make them up as they go along.

Originally Posted by shimmygoddess

that looks like hologram IMO..similar to my turquoise one maybe....
personally I would find chiffon to put across the top of the bra cups.....or cover somehow....something similair to what Shahzaadee did below...she draped it across the front

Cuteness. I don't think that will work for me because I am working with side boob ooze. I need something to hold that in. My cleavage is fine (hot even! ). See you next weekend!

PS Notice how thick the side band of Shelley's costume is? Well, Shelley and I are about the same size. Imagine if that side band was half that size and a couple of inches lower. Yeah, that's what I am working with.

Maybe search for a verigated purple to fuchsia/magenta fabric, or various shades of purple fabric that changes colors with movement. That would combine both colors in the fabric. (My monitor may not read the exact true colors but I seem to think I see a pinkish tone.) Maybe an organza with those colors would work. You could use the fabric to also add an arm accessory, neck piece, etc.

Thanks for the tips, y'all. I just did a search for "purple microdot" and it turns out it is a type of LSD. OMG! Who would've guessed that!

..l;,

Originally Posted by andalee-oriental

Thanks for the tips, y'all. I just did a search for "purple microdot" and it turns out it is a type of LSD. OMG! Who would've guessed that!

Originally Posted by andalee-oriental

Thanks for the tips, y'all. I just did a search for "purple microdot" and it turns out it is a type of LSD. OMG! Who would've guessed that!

..l;, I agree, though, seeing it up close, that it's not hologram after all. Not sure WHAT to call it, but apparently 'purple microdot' is wrong! .w.:

A lot of Web sites have been calling it Mystique Spandex. But the biggest problem is finding the exact color combo. I am guessing it will be impossible. I found purple with silver dots, magenta with purple dots, purple with holographic dots, but no purple with blue/purple dots!

Is there a hem on the skirt? If so, and if it's deep, you do a very narrow hem and use what you cut off to extend the cups.

Good call. I, too, was wondering last night if there's some fabric you can steal from one part of the costume for this.

Originally Posted by basina

Is there a hem on the skirt? If so, and if it's deep, you do a very narrow hem and use what you cut off to extend the cups.

Originally Posted by andalee-oriental

PS Notice how thick the side band of Shelley's costume is? Well, Shelley and I are about the same size. Imagine if that side band was half that size and a couple of inches lower. Yeah, that's what I am working with.

got it! sounds like you have the right idea..of just making that part bigger...seems like a big project though in so little time!

good luck!!

oh, when I have side boobage, I tend to readjust,pulling it all to the front...then readjust again and push everything back in and down....LOL...very easy to do w/ my soft lifeless boobs