OK, So I covered my bra base with a pewter colored satin as an underlayment. Now I am covering it with assuit. Now assuit is somewhat stretchy because it is mesh, but I'm wondering if people just tried to stretch and maybe steam it into place so as not to use darts or if they added a dart in it for a smoother fit. The dart will sort of show because the mesh is not opaque. Here is an example of how I think a dart would show (this is a lace bra -- no I am not using lace, it is just a visual example). If you did use darts, did you put them up top? Or on the bottom like the lace bra? Did you cover them with something? It is a strapless/balconet style of cups. I would probably need to add 2 little darts on the top which I could probably disguise with the nailheads I'm adding as decor, but I think the darts on the bottom will show.
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and now I am going to go a little balady on you all...
Cut a square of assuit. Align the design angled to the edge of the bra cup. This causes an interesting visual AND the fabric is on the bias, so you can take advantage of the stretch to minimize darts.
You might want to get a scrap of other fabric to practice this on before you try it with the actual assuit.
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Of course this makes total sense, I didn't think there would be any more stretch on the bias than on grain with the mesh assuit. Maybe there is, I'll have to try tonight. What if it isn't enough? Dart time?
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I did this by pinning a horizontal line of design along the top edge of the cup and along the bottom edge of the cup and ruching in between. The way the design worked was that the ones on the top and bottom were geometric lines of design with a line of figurative designs (dancing girls or camels or vases) in between. I positioned it so that the figurative designs were evenly spaced, pulled excess together in the center and stitched it down so that you ended up with clear design elements along the top and bottom edges and gathering in the middle.
I did this by pinning a horizontal line of design along the top edge of the cup and along the bottom edge of the cup and ruching in between. The way the design worked was that the ones on the top and bottom were geometric lines of design with a line of figurative designs (dancing girls or camels or vases) in between. I positioned it so that the figurative designs were evenly spaced, pulled excess together in the center and stitched it down so that you ended up with clear design elements along the top and bottom edges and gathering in the middle.
Interesting. Were there 3 pieces for each cup (a strip on top and bottom and a middle I suppose wedge shaped piece) or was it all one piece with the middle potion gathered up. And was it "puffy" in the middle section from the ruching, or was it all stitched down into little pleats?
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I used one rectangular piece that included a row of geometric designs at the top, a row of figural designs and then a row of geometric designs at the bottom. I pinned the top first running the geometric designs along the edge of the cup, pinned the bottom running another line of geometric desigsn on the bottom of the cups, then gathered in the center so that it ruched horizontally. Stitched the gathered portion down and folded excess around the sides of the cup. Stiched everything down. I actually ran a couple of gathering stitches top to bottom through the ruched part in the center between the cups like what you would have on a pinched front top. Stitched it down. I have a big turqoise scarab that I intend to sew there if I can ever find where I put it! Because I wear this under a U-front assuit beledi dress, I did not cover the chest band all the way back, just a couple of inches under the arms. Covered straps with assuit too.
This sounds cute! I would have never had thought of that. And sometimes the assuit looks better gathered up or pleated because it catches the light in interesting ways and adds texture. thanks!
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and now I am going to go a little balady on you all...
I tried this last night and it doesn't quite work in the same way with my designs and cup shape, but I ended up using this idea and gathered the bottom. I'm interested to see your pix.
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and now I am going to go a little balady on you all...
I had an assuit eman and it had a dart on the bottom of the cups, like on the lace bra. it wasn't very distracting. as me and my friends say, "if anybody notices, you're not moving your butt right." ;)