Hello, I am Cyndi from bdancewear.com. In this video, I am going to show you a cute little top that I made for Stephanie. We are going to collaboration together and you will see Stephanie performing a dance in a costume that we made her. The difference in the sewing is that I have actually used one of our new colors. This is an antique pink, dusty rose is what we call it. I have covered one side of this sports bra in a gray lace which is something that we are now carrying but is not on the website yet. If you are interested in this lace, just give us a call and we can get you straight to it.
We created this top to match one of our skirts. To create this look I covered one-half of a sports bra with the lace. Then I pinched the sports bra down in the center of the bra and covered it with a little appliqué. It is a beautiful costume. You can create different looks in the back by manipulating the strap. So, if you do not want just your typical sports bra, but you want to kick it up a notch, want something soft and are thinking about using some lace, this just might be the top for you. You could also use mesh or another fabric instead of the lace if you prefer.
Supplies:
- Sports Bra
- Lace fabric, mesh or other fabric
- Lace trim or large appliqué
- Matching Thread
- Needles
- Pins
- Scissors
- Sewing Machine
Directions:
- Preparation
The first thing that I like to do is flatten the sports bra out. Remember, if there is elastic and the lace is stretching when you cut the lace, you have to compensate for that. If the lace does not stretch, that is going to be a problem in itself. So, you will want to really make sure and create something that stretches. If possible, put the bra on the person if the extra fabric is not stretching. The first thing that I am going to do is I am going to choose the angle that I want the lace to lay. If you are putting lace on top, you do not have to fold it under but I like to just for a little extra. Make sure it is nice and neat and then this fabric will end up going on top of that spot on the bra. Something you will want to think about is the amount of the pink bra that shows through the lace. You will want to make sure that is evenly dispersed across half of the bra when you place the lace on the bra.
The next thing that I like to do is place the lace on the bra giving me plenty of extra material all around the edges of the bra and then I will pin it into place at the top and the bottom of the bra. Then I am going to stretch out the bottom of the lace. Make sure everything is nice and flat. I am going to cut a generous section around this whole thing… I am going to slide what I am doing over a little in a second just to make sure that it is all on camera. Then, I am going to cut up here. If you cut it too short then you are going to have a problem Next I am going to cut around up here. If it is too much fabric, though, it is going to be a little harder to turn. Sometimes I like to cut a few little slices in the lace around the round edges which will help me turn the lace. I can cover that up later if there is a problem.
Now, I need to make sure that the lace fabric is going to stretch equally around this half of the sports bra. Then I am going to pin here and I am going to do that same thing around at this top point. I am going to make sure and fold it under and then we will pin all of this down.
For the sake of speed, I am going to go ahead and show you what we will do next. Once the lace fabric is all pinned and sewn on, the next thing I am going to do is figure out where I want the appliqué to lie and pin the top of the appliqué to the bra and fold it under. I am now going to gather the center of the bra by pinching the center. Next, I will pin the bottom of the appliqué under the bottom of the sports bra and pin the center of the appliqué to the gathered portion. The next step is to go to go to the sewing machine and sew the appliqué down over the lace fabric. It is important to make sure the gathers remain evenly spaced as you sew or you will end up with lumps here and there. Then I am going to place this on here making sure the same amount of pink shows through and fold this under. Now, sometimes I like to wait to do this to cut this off until I am all done just in case I am off a little. But, we will want to make sure when I see it that there is a piece right there. So, that concludes the preparation section of this project and we will move on to sewing it.
- Sewing
Okay, the lace on our top is all pinned and ready to be sewn. As you see, I folded over any of the lace so that way I do not have a raw edge. I am going to go ahead and unpin this top piece (the lace appliqué) and I will show you why in a second.
At this point, I am going put my sewing machine on a nice wide zigzag. If you have a stretch stitch on your machine, use that stitch instead. It will do a zigzag but it will also be kind of a stretch stitch while it is sewing. To begin with, I am going to go ahead and back stitch. My machine will sew over pins but I prefer to take pins out as I go. That way if it is stretched it is not going to snap out of shape.
I am just going to sew around the edge of this side of the bra from the center to the strap. It is important that the lace pulls under nicely and that there is not some weird spot in there. Because the needles keep breaking, I am going to go a little bit slower. That might be the problem. When I get to the top where the strap is, I am going to fold the edge of the lace under and place it on top of the bra. Then I am going to sew across that and cut the threads. You will notice that I folded the lace over the strap at an angle. I did that because I like the look better than straight and it is likely to be lumpy. As I sew, I am going to check to make sure this is all folded down so that the lace is flat and not weird looking. I will then just continue sewing along the edge of the bra all the way around, all the way to here.
Now, when using a convertible bra, you will want to be careful when you are sewing because there is a loop that the strap has to get through and you do not want to close it off there. When working with a convertible bra, I make a little cut in the lace on each side of the loop and sew up to that cut and back stitch. I then go to the other side and backstitch and then continue sewing. Then, I will tuck the lace between the two cuts under between the lace fabric and the bra like this so that it matches up to the folded lace and then hand stitch it without sewing through the loop. When you sew it by hand, you will not even see that it is different.
In the center front, the lace is folded over like this which is going to end up covering the gathers up. But, I did not want to just sew it. I was worried about the gathers not being even so I am going to start at the top and then I am just going to fold and gather as I go. It seems to be lying funny so I am going to unfold it so that the bra and lace fabric are flat. Then, I am going to sew the lace to the bra down the center and go back and gather the lace and the bra together. I am just going to pinch the front like this and gather it as I go.
Now it is time to sew the appliqué to the bra. I am going to flap this appliqué over to the front and fold the edge under the bra. I am using lace trim as an appliqué which has pearls already sewn to it. It is important to remove those pearls and cut those threads from the length of lace trim that is folded over the edge of the bra at both ends of the lace trim because otherwise your needle is going to try and go through and you are going to break them. It is usually best to do this over a trash can. Then we will pin the lace trim. The front is already gathered up like I want and I know it is good. There are pieces lying all over the place. I will just vacuum them all up when I am done. They are easy to get up. Something that you are going to want to pay attention to is how this lays down. Make sure that this one is at the bottom like we want it. I think this one we want a little at the top. Adjust everything now. Lay it flat and then you are going to want to make sure and go around the edges of the appliqué or lace trim. If necessary, I can then go back and do some hand stitching to catch all the little points sewn down exactly where I want it to be. Make sure and sew these little guys down exactly where you want them to be but when you to do it, make sure that the gathers do become bunched up. Because I know there is no problem on the backside, I know we are safe there. There is extra lace trim in the back of the sports bra but that is good because I can go back and trim it. So, see how I sewed that down and I followed the edges so that you cannot even really see it. I will do that same thing over here. I made sure that it looks even here as we go around. Sewing along the edge of the appliqué or lace trim is important because it gives it a nice finish and prevents the edges of the lace from folding over.
- Finishing
When done sewing the lace to the appliqué, I am going to cover it in rhinestones. That will cover any flaws. As you can see, that is the top right there and all the lace on. Just remember to go back and do all the hand stitching where needed otherwise you get weird things flopping out. Then, make sure and do any hand stitching needed around the strap or the loops for straps. When finished, this top will look really pretty and nobody will even know this piece was added after the fact.
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