Hi, I am Cyndi from bdancewear.com. In this video, I am going to show you how you can take one of the lace sports bras that you can find everywhere and give yourself a little more coverage. Most of these sports bras have a very thin lining so you can see through them and it is just not enough coverage for many dancers when they are dancing in it. So, I am going to show you how to give yourself that extra coverage so that you have more confidence when you are dancing.
Supplies:
- Lace sports bra
- Cup inserts for bra
- Non-Fraying Fabric (skin tone or matching color of bra)
- Thread to match fabric
- Pins (Safety pin optional)
- Scissors
- Sewing machine
Directions:
- Choosing Your Materials
Besides the obvious sports bra, you will need a little cup to insert into the sports bra. You can find these little cups in a lot of stores or they sometimes come with the sport bras. You can usually find them at a fabric store or even online. So, you will need to obtain a pair of these cups.
You will also need to obtain fabric that matches your skin tone so that you cannot see an obvious change. If the lace sports bra, you will want to check to see what the fabric looks like under the bra. Sometimes a tan fabric will change the look of the white lace which you might actually like. So, you might want to go with a white fabric or another color that matches the lace. You could also get a totally different look by going with a color that complements the lace. This is a decision that will depend solely on what you like. Whatever fabric you choose, make sure that it does not fray.
- Pin Fabric to Little Cups
First thing you will need to do is cut the two pieces from the fabric that are a few inches larger in all directions than the little cup. I have found that it is best to work with fabric that is larger than the little cups because if you cut it exactly sometimes you are going to have a little bit of a problem.
- Pinning Fabric to Cup
Next, slip the little cups behind the sports bra cups and make sure that none of the edges of the little cups are visible. If necessary, you may need to trim the cup before sewing the fabric to it.
Next, remove the cups from the sports bra and cover the front of the cups with the fabric. Pin the fabric all around the edges of the cup. Start by pinning the fabric to the little cup at the top center because if you need to put in a pleat, the bottom center is probably going to be the best place for it. Then just keep pinning from the center top down each side of the cup. Pin down one side and then the other, leaving the bottom edge for last. See how it is all pinned in there? By putting this little pleat in the center of the bottom, it completes the pinning process.
Be sure to keep the fabric smooth as you are pinning it but do not pull the fabric too tight. If you use a flat piece of fabric and you try to keep it flat, what it that is going to do is flatten up the cup of the sports bra and take the curve away. So, you want to make sure that curve stays in there.
When you get to the bottom, you will see that there is too much fabric left over. So, I am going to put a little pleat in the bottom. Nobody will ever see that. It will be facing the side of sports bra. The fabric will either blend with your skin tone or match the fabric of the sports bra. If you wish, you could use fabric that complements the color of the lace.
- Sew Fabric to Little Cups
So, I am going to go ahead and pull over my sewing machine to get started. The first thing I will do now is set my sewing machine to a zigzag stitch. Remember, no one sees this so do not worry about it if your zigzag is not exactly even or whatever. I am going to use a pink thread so you can really see what I am doing. You, however, will want to use a thread that matches the fabric.
I am going to remove the first pin and sew along the very edge of the cup with a nice, wide zigzag. I am also going to remove the other pins as I am sewing. If your machine sews over pins without any problem, you do not necessarily have to remove them. Try to keep the machine stitching at an even distance from the edge of the cup, but it does not really matter if you cannot. Nobody is going to know. Just keep sewing with that zigzag stitch around the edge. If you notice that you are having any problems with the fabric, you can stop and take a look and determine where it went wrong. If necessary, stop and remove a few stitches to smooth the fabric out and then continue again.
Now, we are going to go ahead and switch to the bottom of the little cup and sew along that bottom maintaining the little pleat in there. Because I do not want the fabric to fold over, I am going to attempt to sew close to the edges of the little cup. I am going to attempt to sew along the edge of the cups because we do not want the fabric to fold over. If I go too far down, the fabric will kind of do a little flop.
There you go. As you can see, I went along the edge yet it still keeps that cut feel.
I am going to cut away the excess fabric from the reverse side where I can see the cut. It is important to make sure not to cut any stitches and just trim the excess fabric away. You can get a nice, clean edge without ever cutting into my zigzag stitching. You want to be careful because if you cut into your zigzag stitches, the whole thing could unravel.
Now, I am going to take the sports bra and insert the little cup. I am going to fold the cup in half so that I know where the center is. This particular sports bra has a seam down the center so that makes it really simple. If it did not have a seam, I would need to fold the cup of the sports bra in half, too. Match up the center of the little cups with the centers of the sports bra and pin the centers of cups in place.
I always suggest that you have the girl wear the bra while you pin the cups to it so obviously you will want to use safety pins.
It is important to stretch the sports bra before pinning the little cups to the inside. The best way to do this is to have the girl wear the ports bra. This will stretch it out exactly to her needs.
Pin the cup to the sports bra at the center top, center bottom and both sides. It is best to do this while the girl is wearing the sports bra because the bra will stretch when she is wearing it. If the girl is wearing it, use safety pins to keep from sticking the girl with the pins.
If you sew the little cups into the sports bra without stretching the bra, everything will be squished down. The sports bra will not have the movement that it normally has. I am going to go in here and I am going to put a little zigzag stitch back and forth in the top of the little cup to hold it in place. If you prefer, you could just hand stitch it and do the same on the bottom of the little cup. This will hold it in place.
You could actually sew the whole thing by hand if you so desire.
If you want to go ahead and tack down the sides, too, that is great. I just don’t like it when it is sewn all the way around the cup because if you sew all around the cup, you will see the shape of the cup and you lose that soft lace look.
At this point, you should have the girl put it on and see how it fits. And that is how you add a little more coverage and hide the sheerness of the lace bra. If everything looks fine, you are done.
If you have a lace bra and are looking for a little more coverage, this just may be the video for you.
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