Thread: Hiking the puppies?

Couldn't find a thread that started with that, so here we go....

How high should we hike our, well, puppies? I'm turning a dress into a two piece and it seems to me that the higher I pushed up the bra, the better my figure looked. For that matter, the more socks I stuffed in there, the better it looked too! I know our trademark dancers have the patent on super duper cleavage but how much is too much for community dances? I see an enormous range though being the 'most outrageous' isn't something to shoot for in our small area. Beautiful and sexy, yes. :cr:

For that matter, I'm a B cup and the costume is a C or better. Too much of a jump? .w.: I'd love to hear your opinions, especially those that are experienced in the costuming arena. Thank you so much!

I'm a full DD on a pretty tiny frame. I don't ever have to pad, but I hike them up as far as they'll go. It makes my torso look longer and my waist look smaller and keeps my boobs facing forward so I can move my arms up and down smoothly.

I wear my regular everyday bras the same way.

As someone with a very small bust, I hike mine up really high. It's about the only way to effectively get some cleavage going for me.

I recently talked to a lady who is really full-figured and whose boobies are in a harmonious size for her body. She said that she pads her bra, not because she needs volume, but because it helps her achieve the most flattering shape. I have only seen her perform one time, and yeah, she had serious cleavage with large boobies - it looked beautiful, sassy and 100% appropriate (which is remarkable b/c I am a confessing prude).

Personally, I like to wear my girls up here, mundanely and in costume. That's where they are meant to be!

LOL....this is great....what's the best padding? Foam rubber? Shoulder pads? Batting?

Best padding is probably batting, because it's easier to shape. Of course, there is always the Nerf Soft balls my Drag Queen friends use.

Personally, one of my friends jokes that my chest could put out one of my eyes, I have the girls hiked up so high. Slight exaggeration, but, you get the point. Pun intended.

{{{HUGS}}}

Lol I thought this thread was about hiking and feet (ie: "my dogs are killin me" yuck yuck yuck).

I lightly pad some bras for shape. I'm a B as well and have made C and even a small D work with the right padding. I usually get the bra pads they sell at fabric stores (shoulder pads work too)... Usually the smaller size works best, but again... depends on the bra shape and size. Sometimes you have to try a few different things and experiment.

And yeah... hike those puppies UP! :)

Originally Posted by steffib

I recently talked to a lady who is really full-figured and whose boobies are in a harmonious size for her body. She said that she pads her bra, not because she needs volume, but because it helps her achieve the most flattering shape.

Yes, they're now even making street bras for large breasts with some padding in them. Most of the time they don't add size, just shape.

Thank you for posting this thread!
(I thought it was about canines too! LOL!)

Anyway, I was just thinking about bra padding last night.

What is the best way to pad a bra, when the 'puppies' have a space in the upper cup?
Put padding in the space?

I always pad the sides/bottom of my bra cups. Think of a crescent moon, one side waxing, the other waning. It pushes the girls up and toward the center, filling in the gap at the top of the cup and giving me that nice cleavage. And yes I hike my bra straps up up up!

My puppies are big old dogs. The benefit of padding is to make them firmer above the cup and keep the "watery" effect to a minimum with chest shimmies.

Gothique, I would put the padding in the bottom and towards the outside, so it's shifting the real estate somewhat inward toward the center as well as upwards to fill that extra space. How to best place it could vary according to bra cup shape, but I definitely would want to push upwards from below to fill that empty space.
R

Originally Posted by gothique

What is the best way to pad a bra, when the 'puppies' have a space in the upper cup?
Put padding in the space?

Put padding in the bottom of the cup (or in the bottom a little out to the side). Essentially create a little "shelf" to put your girls on. This will create fullness at the top to fill in that space at the top of the cup. ..g.:

Ha!!
when I'm helping students try on costumes, I always tell them to lift those babies up high!! If they happen to be using a lingerie base for the bra, it's at least an inch tighter in the ribs, and 1-1/2 shorter in the straps than they are used to.
You certainly don't want to give them room to move!!
and it makes your posture look better right from the get go.

I am an A and most of my costume bras are Cs, I pad them WELL at the bottom and bottom side (as Samira mentioned) and shorten the straps and I LOOK like a C (even a full C) when I wear them. Helps to balance my over all look.

I'm going to pad my costume bra the next time I wear it. It's very, very slightly too big at the top, and hey, the higher I hike 'em up, the better for my short waist.

Originally Posted by gothique

Thank you for posting this thread!
(I thought it was about canines too! LOL!)

Anyway, I was just thinking about bra padding last night.

What is the best way to pad a bra, when the 'puppies' have a space in the upper cup?
Put padding in the space?

A dancer friend who is an excellent costumer told me to add an extra strap on each cup angling in from the shoulder and ending a bit closer to the center of the cup than the normal strap - the bra in question is an X-back, so it's not a halter but close. Just padding from below didn't seem to fix that little gap at the top of the cups. I haven't tried it yet but it's on my list of stuff to do before I wear that set again.

I was reading somewhere on a bra fitting site (sorry, link gone) that the fullest part of your breast should be even with the center of your upper arm at the lowest. Lower than that and you seem to be sagging.

I have a dance friend who is a beautiful woman, but I always want to walk behind her and pull on her bra straps. Her breasts seem to hang out down by her elbows.

This is all very useful (and funny info). Last night when I was using socks to see if a two cup jump (turns out the bra is a D) would be too much. There was definitely a shelf shape that my girls sat on. I kept looking in the mirror and giggling! I hadn't looked like that since my youngest was breastfeeding, lol!

I'm going to try the batting because it'll be more sweat friendly than foam rubber. It never ceases to amaze me that us delicate little flowers can sweat through layers of costume!

One other thing that I remembered and felt necessary to mention...
Hike them up there, I've yet to see a bra I thought was too high, but feel free to add extra straps. Cross them across the back if you can, or add extra vertical straps to halters. Big boobs being supported by one halter strap are in my experience, bad for your neck and extremely uncomfortable.

Originally Posted by laura 2

As someone with a very small bust, I hike mine up really high. It's about the only way to effectively get some cleavage going for me.

DITTO (& shukran to my teach Zayna who taught me the proper usage of socks & double-sided carpet tape:))!

P.S. Love the title of this thread--I must confess, I had no idea what the subject would be about 'til I opened it!:)

whatever you do, do not use gel to pad! i found this out the hard way and nearly ruined a bra (i poked the pad with the needle while sewing, but luckily it was before adding the nice fabric or decorations^_^)
i buy the gel pads from Jo-anns, then remove the gel and replace it with a few layers of felt. i pad more to the outside than bottom (maybe 1/3 of the pad under 2/3 to the outside)
it really helps with "lengthening" the torso and with "posture" it also visually takes a lot of weight off to have them lifted.
i think the only thing that would make them "inappropriately too high" wouldn't really be related to your breast being too high or too pressed together, but to not enough coverage. if you're bra curves over your beast and has them well contained it won't matter how high they are you can still look family friendly. but if it looks like you might bounce out of your bra, it doesn't matter if they are low, small, or whatever else.

Gel pads?

Originally Posted by Doozer

Gel pads?

Silicone filled bust pads. Like this one:
Braza Dolly Super Silicone Wedge - Plus Size Clothing, Bras, Swimwear & more from Just My Size | JMS !!!

Braza and Bravo have many options in foam. They're more expensive though.
Dritz is sold at Joanns and other easily accessible (for most) stores. They're even on Amazon
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Dritz-Push-Up-Bust-Enhancers-Fits/dp/B000A86FOM]Amazon.com: Dritz(R) Push-Up Bust Enhancers - Fits A/B Cup:…[/ame]
Or you can just do what some of the Egyptian designers do and use folded in half shoulder pads.

Originally Posted by raqFariha

i think the only thing that would make them "inappropriately too high" wouldn't really be related to your breast being too high or too pressed together, but to not enough coverage. if you're bra curves over your beast and has them well contained it won't matter how high they are you can still look family friendly. but if it looks like you might bounce out of your bra, it doesn't matter if they are low, small, or whatever else.

So true!! Even though it is the fashion in some areas to have way too much upper boob showing, I still go with the concept that overexposure is bad! People are mostly thinking "ARE they going to fall out?!"
And, a poorly fitted bra is about the worst costume error to me. A "too low" look can ruin a beautiful dance.

Originally Posted by Doozer

Gel pads?

yes, NEVER USE THEM! EVER! (in the case of the ones linked, the gel is INSIDE the foam, so its sneaky. those kind are usable, but you need to cut the foam, remove the gel, and if you want it have the same amount of lift replace it with something that can't leak.
a lot of pushup bras, including the ones from VS, have gel in them, squeeze it and you'll see.

always lift the bra up high. Like someone said, I also have never seen a bra that I thought was way too high, but have seen many that were sitting too low, and that's not flattering.
You want your torso to look as long as possible; it's great to show off you movements and also slimming.
I used to pad all my bras, I was a B cup, and generally wore C, sometimes bigger. Padded using batting, sewn between the bra and lining, on the bottom and outside.
I always, always use halters, this means many times altering the bra straps. But I was told halter style is the most flattering and I agree with that. You can decide how close you want the cups to be - that may be tricky, but you can play around, and get the best results for your body.
If you are a B and want to wear a C cup - that is not too big of a jump at all. In fact, when I was learning how to make costumes, my teacher always said to choose a size bigger cup anyways, and then pad it. So when I was a 34B she said buy a bra that's 34 C, and then pad it. A couple of times I used a 34 B and the bra turned out too small - by then time I added buckram and felt in the inside, it wasn't as roomy as before, but still wanted to pad it... it just didn't look right. one time my teacher gave me this beautiful Pharaonics costume, that was worth like $700, as a present. It was gorgeous, but the cup were Ds, maybe even DD. I padded it to the max, and that was the only time I ever felt that it was too much.

I've been looking around and I like the foam ball idea...they're so inexpensive (two bucks!). I'll get one, cut in half, experiment, and report.

It's definitely a must to go bigger than actual cup size, at least in my case. My figure is balanced out quite nicely.

What color ball? LOL!!!

Originally Posted by Doozer

What color ball? LOL!!!

Doesn't matter. You will cover it with a nude stocking anyway.

Have fun!

{{{HUGS}}}