I love tee shirts! I own so many that my boyfriend sometimes gives me a hard time about it (the drawer is almost overflowing…). When I see a tee shirt design that I really like, I have a habit of buying it even if it only comes in a size that’s way too big for me. I also get a lot of free tees from press events, courtesy of my varied freelance editorial jobs. I rarely turn down a free shirt, but more often than not, your only choice is a men’s large or XL. Well with just a little bit of sewing know-how, you can turn those boxy blah shirts into a fitted, feminine shape.

For this project, you will need:

1 oversized tee shirt
1 tee shirt that fits you perfectly (to use as a guide)
Chalk
Lots of pins
Needle and thread
Scissors

Here is the shirt I chose. It’s actually not that big on me, but the shape is pretty unflattering, the sleeves are too long, and the sleeve seams are way out of place.

Start by turning the shirt inside out and cutting off the arms. Try to keep track of which one goes with what side.

Next, lay it out on a flat surface with the front facing you. Smooth it down so there are no creases or wrinkles. Take your perfectly fitting tee shirt, turn it inside out, and lay it over the oversized one, again with the front facing you. Line them up along the top of the shoulders.

Take your chalk and make a mark on the oversized tee where the sleeve seam will go.

Using the fitted tee as a guide, draw a line up the side of the oversized tee. This is where you’ll sew. Draw an armhole about the same size as the original one, but starting from your new shoulder seam and stopping at your vertical chalk line. Repeat at the other armhole.

Now place pins along the vertical chalk lines.

To re-attach the sleeves, first turn them right side out. Slide the sleeve inside the armhole

Line up the sleeve with the chalk mark. First meet it with the top of the shoulder. Place a pin here, perpendicular to the sleeve’s raw edge. Now shift the sleeve into approximately the right placement so that the bottom of the sleeve is located at the chalk mark. Most tee shirts have a seam on the bottom of the sleeve (parallel to your arm when you’re wearing it). You want this seam to meet up with the shirt body’s vertical seams, which are denoted by your vertical line of pins. The placement of the sleeve doesn’t need to be exactly along your curved chalk line; the most important thing is to get it flush with the armhole without any gapping and get that sleeve seam in the right place. Stick a pin at the bottom of the sleeve now, again perpendicular to the sleeve edge.

A view of the inside of the sleeve, with the pin placed at the base, perpendicular to the sleeve edge (and parallel to the sleeve seam).

Now place pins approximately along your chalk mark to hold the whole sleeve in place.

Doing it on side of the sleeve that doesn’t have chalk is a little trickier. Try to line it up so there’s the same amount of space between the sleeve’s edge and the armhole’s edge as you had on the chalked side. Start pinning at the shoulder and use each preceding pin as a guide until you reach the base of the sleeve. When that’s done, remove the perpendicular pin from the shoulder and the sleeve base. Repeat for the other sleeve.

The non-chalked side. That fat strip of fabric on the right is the shoulder seam.

Finished pinning the sleeve.

You’re now ready to sew. Start with the armholes. Beginning at the base of the sleeve (at the sleeve seam if there is one), sew along your pin line all around the open armhole. Remove the pins as you go. Repeat on the other sleeve.

Finished sewing the sleeve.

Now sew down the vertical pin lines, going from the base of the sleeve down to the bottom hem. When you turn the shirt right side out, the armpit should have a nice T where the body seam, sleeve seam, and the line where the sleeve is attached to the armhole all meet. It’s okay if it’s a little off, but the T is the result you were going for.

You’re done. Turn the shirt right side out and try it on. If it looks good, you can turn it back inside out and cut off all the excess fabric along all the seams so that there’s no bulk. Here’s a photo of my finished shirt:

I should probably make it a little shorter, to help keep it from bunching up around my tummy so much…but I’ll save that for another day.

And here’s the original tee again, for comparison:

Yesterday I stumbled upon a blog post called Adventures in Underwear that would depress any full-busted reader who didn’t know better. The writer’s post makes it sound as if our boobs are doomed to a prison of industrial strength granny bras for the rest of our lives.  I know better, so it depressed me for an entirely different reason:  It means there’s a giant percentage of full-busted women in the world who don’t know about the great options available to us.

Last February, I met a woman who wanted to open a bra store in New York City just for D+ women. That was great, except she didn’t realize that a good number of stores in NYC already sell D+ bras. She also didn’t know anything about the vibrant, international community of D+ bloggers. How had she missed this?

For one thing, D+ bloggers may not be doing everything we can to get the word out.  I’m one of the biggest culprits because I’ve been blogging for almost four years without a blog roll. As blog readers, I hope you’ll tell other busty women about Hourglassy and the blogs on my new blog roll.  I know I’ve accidentally omitted some blogs, so please let me know who they are!  Right now the list isn’t organized in any way, but I do have favorites that I hope to highlight soon, and some are far more active than others.

2. Good News

Another bra maker (based in New York) is concentrating on G and H cups and looking for fit models. Are you interested? If so, let me know. I’ll be posting more details as they become available since I don’t even know whether they use UK sizing or the band size range they’re looking for in their models. This is all I have so far:

My company is now looking to expand on our resources for fit models.  We are currently looking for G and H cups.  I’m not sure if any of your clients would be in that size pool, or if they’d even be interested in being “fit models”.  In case you’re not sure, fit models are only used within the design studio and do not show garments to a room full of people.  They would be fitting with the designers and occasionally show a garment to the merchandiser, but not an audience so to speak… Do you think some of your clients would be interested in stopping by our office to be measured/fitted and or open to the idea of fit modeling (compensation is roughly $50/ hr).

3. More Good News?

Frankly, I’m excited about Wacoal’s recent acquisition of the Eveden Group (Freya, Fantasie, Elomi, Fauve, Goddess, etc.). If Wacoal builds on Eveden’s great fit options while adding its own high quality standards, we are in for some great new products . . . and hopefully all the old ones that we’ve come to love and depend upon. A lingerie store owner that I spoke to recently, however, had a different take. She felt that Wacoal’s distribution is so widespread that G cups will become common in every department store, giving your average bra shopper even more chances of putting herself in the wrong size bra. My take? If the major outlets don’t offer enough sizes to begin with, then that woman has even less chance of being put into the right bra! But I can understand an unspoken concern she might have–do you think bra fitters in small lingerie stores will become obsolete if department store racks become filled with all the D+ sizes we’ve been clamoring for?

E.  Fantasie Smoothing Balcony Bra #4520

Pros: The center gore tacks perfectly, no quadraboob, and it’s great under low cut tops. Super reasonable in the $50 range (I link to Linda’s because she offers it for $49.)

Cons: I jiggle when I wear it, and you saw the lift in yesterday’s pics.

D.  Fantasie Rhiannon Balcony Underwire Bra #2222 (I link to Bigger Bras because it’s my only advertiser selling the Rhiannon right now–and most of the colors and sizes are on back order.)

Pros: AMAZING lift as you saw in yesterday’s second pic. Just what I like. Also wide and deep enough to go under wide and deep necklines.

Cons: I swore I’d never buy another contour cup, but with this lift I couldn’t resist. Besides, it’s much less bulky than my old Le Mystere Dream Tisha, and it’s less east-west than my old Panache contour cup bra. Unfortunately, as with all contour cups I’ve experienced, it adds a little bulk so that even my Campbell & Kate 14L won’t button smoothly over it. It’s pricey at $74, but the cost-per-wear is going to be excellent. Also, they try to make it interesting with the lace pattern, but it just isn’t a pretty bra.

B.  Wacoal Romantic Inspirations #85569

Pros: It’s pretty and it was 25% off because it’s past season.

Cons: It’s a LOT of bra. It didn’t actually fit perfectly in the store, but after my good experience with the Wacoal Alluring and because of the discount, I thought I’d give it a chance. Meh. Plus you see the old-fashioned pointiness in yesterday’s pic. EVERYONE who answered the quiz got this one right!

HOWEVER, it looks like Wacoal is really trying to revitalize its image, and Barenecessities is offering free shipping AND RETURNS on all Wacoal bras until June 3. Wacoal now offers some pretty styles in G and H cups for 32+ bands. I might be taking advantage of the offer to try these:

Wacoal Seduction Demi Underwire is $50
and includes sizes 32G-38G.

Wacoal La Femme Underwire is $58
and includes sizes 32H-38H. I would
order it in hot pink!

A.  Curvy Kate Emily

Pros: Remember how I said I’d give the 36GG a try? Well, I’m glad I did. Plus, everyone recommended the Emily, and they were right–it’s super pretty and comfortable. I had fun wearing it for the first time Monday under a matching coral cami. I can comfortably wear it on the middle hook. It’s definitely not too loose.

Cons: The lift is about the same as the Fantasie 5420, and on my shorter frame, the side of the cups cut into my underarm. I only noticed this while getting dressed and then while walking at the end of the day–nothing about this bra made me notice it while working on the computer throughout the day. The underwire continues to go past the ending of my breast and to leave some space at the bottom of the cup, but it’s actually better than my new Wacoal. I may try it in 36G in the future.  At $67 it’s not cheap, but the only Curvy Kate bra cheaper in the States is the $65 Daily Boost that I’ve been hearing good things about.

C.  Panache Masquerade (or Harlequin?) Persia 6581

Pros: Super pretty and very comfortable. Very little elasticity anywhere. Gives my breasts the shape I like. (I’m not sure why it’s so hard to find this style online. I’ve linked to Herrom above, but it’s also available from Figleaves.) By the way, you can see a photo of a 28FF wearing this in the just-launched Bra Band Project pics.

Cons: As you saw from yesterday’s pics, the lift is meh. The lace at the top of the cup doesn’t lie flat against my breast. Also, because of the pretty straps, they won’t adjust the full range.

Can you match the bra to the lift? I was going to spell it out for you, but I thought a quiz would be more fun. Just answer in comments by putting the letters in the order that you think I’m wearing them. For example, you would answer CBAED if you think that from left to right I’m wearing the Masquerade, Wacoal, Emily, Fantasie 4520 and Fantasie 2222. I’ll post the answer in the comments tomorrow!

]]> http://hourglassy.com/2012/05/the-highs-and-lows-of-my-new-big-bust-bras/feed/ 5 http://hourglassy.com/2012/05/low-coverage-roundup-for-d-cups-and-up/ http://hourglassy.com/2012/05/low-coverage-roundup-for-d-cups-and-up/#comments Mon, 14 May 2012 15:52:44 +0000 Darlene C. http://hourglassy.com/?p=4856 I don’t have a roundup of my favorite posts for you this week, but Holly of The Full Figured Chest published my guest post this past Friday on a topic I’ve been wondering about for a while: “Can large busts do delicate?” It turns out to be an enormous subject, and I only scratched the surface with a discussion of how to wear delicate jewelry. When you read it, please share your experiences with “doing delicate” in the comments, plus any advice you have for the next part of this topic, how to wear delicate clothing.

One reason I didn’t catch up on blog reading this weekend is that Mr. Campbell and I attended a party given by Holly’s parents in honor of her recent wedding. I’ve posted pics of her fabulous gown on Pinterest, and if all goes according to schedule, you’ll find a guest post about it from Holly this week!

There are so many great photos and stories, I had a really hard time picking my favorites. If only you could vote for four, or five…but no, you only get three votes. Of course my first vote had to go to Brittany Jencks, of the website Thin & Curvy. It’s one of my favorite big bust blogs.

So that left me with only two votes. I had to set myself some rules to help narrow it down, since all the contestants are beautiful and confident. Some of the ladies have really beautiful photos but a very short personal statement, while some have a great personal statement, but the photos didn’t grab me as much. So rule #1 was that the personal statement must say something actually personal, not just “I want to be Curvy Kate’s model.”

Rule #2 was that the model must be wearing a size that looks correct. No obvious ill-fitting bras allowed. I could see quad-boob and bands riding up the back in some of the photos. I have no doubt that Curvy Kate would fit these women correctly, but if I’m voting for someone to represent the big bust market in the U.S., then it’s important to me that the winner have a really good understanding of size, especially her own.

My third and final rule was that I wanted to place at least one vote for a woman of color. The U.S. is such a wonderfully diverse country, so I want the top 10 finalists to reflect that.

My last two votes eventually went to Krista Cousins and Bonnie Blackmon. Krista’s big smile really captured my attention. She’s also from Brooklyn, and I just couldn’t resist a fellow New Yorker. At only 29, Bonnie is the oldest contestant, and says she still feels sexy even after two kids. I love that! And I’d love to see Curvy Kate use a wider range of ages among their models. Women don’t turn into pumpkins at the age of 30, you know! (Or a pair of pumpkins, as the case may be…)

Who did you vote for, and what was your criteria?

Then I met Charlene. Oh how I wish you could have joined our conversation. I couldn’t write down her words of wisdom fast enough, and today’s post barely touches the surface of her fabulous attitude. She’s a 42G with three lucky daughters aged 6 months, 10 years and 16 years, which makes her the perfect subject for today’s Mother’s Day post.

First off, Charlene considers herself “a full figure plush woman,” and she believes that breasts should be “separate, lifted and appreciated.” She shops for bras at Lane Bryant, Avenue, Ashley Stewart and Fashion to Figure. I was going to recommend Elomi to her until I realized that Lane Bryant’s Cacique line offers way cuter styles like these:

(I was also ready to gush about the Curvy Kate Showgirl line to Charlene because she’s a total Showgirl type of woman, but I was sad to realize that their bands end at 38.)

Charlene’s fitting advice for women in general:

When you see that the bra you are wearing leaves you with four boobs instead of two, then you need to go get measured at a GOOD bra store. If you know that you are a woman with a little extra, you need not be shopping at Victoria Secret ’cause she’s not keeping your secrets. A cheap man always pays twice.

How she approaches her teen:

I teach my teen that a young lady should always have different bras for different outfits: occasion and “just because.” Especially she should always have a black bra. That’s why whenever we go shopping for undergarments, we have that conversation on how it should fit, look and feel. If you put it on and jump in it and all of your girls are falling out, go a size up.

My 16-year-old has a very mature and positive attitude about her body, especially since she wears an 34 C/D bra. She said she gets it from me! Whenever I take her shopping for bras, she gets really happy since she feels that my money is her money–aka nature’s credit card.

When it comes to her picking out bras, she looks for colors. I look for shape, support and comfort. We have our disagreements, but when I explain to her what I am getting at, she smiles. I will say things to her like, “When you’re choosing what bra to wear, make sure that the straps are comfortable and that you have that full coverage, i.e., all of your breast is tucked into the cup, including your sides.”  When it comes to colors, shape and style, she likes a lot of strapless bras, which is cool with me as long as it’s teen-appropriate. I allow her to buy bright, loud-colored bras because at the end of the day, I don’t want anything to show through her bra. Howeve,r she loves color. She has bras that have stripes, hearts, and polka dots.

Regarding her almost-tween:

My 10-year-old loves to go bra shopping since she wears training bras. We usually go to Cookies department store (a kid’s store). She loves  to get the matching bra and panty set with different designs and styles on them. Sometime she will say things like, “Mommy, these can’t fit you. What size are you?”

Her answer to the question, ” What would your advice be to a 13-year-old who has a larger bust than the rest of her classmates, especially if the 13-year-old were your daughter?”*

Well I don’t recall ever having small breasts. I was in the fifth and sixth grade wearing a DD cup, so I was that girl in school with the big ones–or as my friends would call them, “miniature people”. To be honest, I loved it. I think as a parent, first and foremost you have to have that talk with her teaching her to embrace what she has and letting her know it’s ok. Also teach them how to wear the appropriate bras so that they won’t have future back problems. Luckily in this generation the kids are growing bigger and faster than the kids years ago, so they have plenty of options on where to buy their bras. I know Fashion Bug and Lane Bryant have “Minimizers” that make your breasts look smaller than what they are.

Finally, more on her own experience growing up:

In my family having big breasts skips a generation. I can remember my mother taking me to Sterns Department Store in the city for my bras. She gave me some advice. However, I learned a lot on my own when I went shopping for myself. As I stated before, I was in middle school wearing a DD cup, in high school I was a DDD cup, and now as an adult currently I am a 42G, and I love it.

—————–

Recently someone asked the Busty Girl Comics artist,  “Is 36C considered large for a 13-year-old?” She answered, “She may want to wear a sports bra until all her peers catch up.”

1. This dress has a built-in corset . . . a dream for any of us.  Does anyone know what it looks like in back? Read below the photo for a quote from last weekend’s Wall Street Journal about the work involved in creating it.

In the first episode, the seductive character Lily Diamond appears at a New Year’s party in a curve-hugging white gown crusted in white beads. Making the dress from scratch required crushing beads along seam lines with a hammer, then rebeading outside seams by hand. More challenging, actress Jessica Marais wasn’t on set for fittings until a week before shooting began. The tally for the dress, including built-in corset, 10 yards of beaded chiffon and overtime labor: $7,000. “That took the entire shop working four days, and we’ll never use that dress again,” Ms. Ramsey said.

I bet a few of you would be willing to use that dress again!

2. According to this Daily Mail article, it was a challenge to find actresses with natural breasts for Magic City, which I find surprising. One notice sent to modelling agencies said, “GIRLS HAD FULLER FIGURES BACK THEN SO NO SKINNY MODELS. ALL-NATURAL — NO PLASTIC SURGERY/BREAST IMPLANTS.” I’d say they still managed to find skinny models, which makes sense since we all know that a large natural bosom and a small waist can exist on the same woman.

For more background on the costuming for this show, check out this L.A. Times blog post. The costume designer, Carol Ramsey, wants to experiment with lingerie and swimwear in Season 2 because “The modern stuff doesn’t quite fit the show; and the vintage stuff, all of the bra cups are cracked and crumbling or the elastic is giving out.” I’d like to know more about that. She has interesting things to to say about Jessica Marais’s white bikini–bikinis weren’t very common back then.

I’d also like to know more about Elena Satine, who plays a call girl, and the considerations that went into constructing this sequined dress that is one of Carol Ramsey’s favorites.

Do you get Title Nine’s Bounce catalog, and if so, do you still open it? When they first came out, the Bounce catalogs  charmed me with their fun photos, bantering copy, and–best of all–barbell system for rating sports bras. Their description of The Last Resort Bra (which is the same as the Enell) made me feel so understood that I ultimately purchased it from their site.  Because of my good experience with the bra*, I continued to browse their catalog for other great options.

Sadly, those options haven’t appeared. I still look longingly at the Bounce covers when they arrive in the mail, but now I toss them unopened into the recycling bin (unless I’m blogging about them as I am today). That’s because even though the Bounce Manifesto at the front of their latest catalog says that “BIG is beautiful,” they really only seem to mean, “BIG UP TO AN F CUP is beautiful.”

If their vendors only manufactured bras up to an F cup, I could understand the limited offering. That’s the excuse I used to give them. Then I discovered that they only carry the Claudette Cool Cotton Bra (or “Hot ‘n Cotton Bra”) up to a D cup, but we know that Claudette goes up to a G.  When I browsed through the website for this post, I found many offerings from Freya and Fantasie, and we know they don’t stop at F either.

Can you think of any other excuses for Bounce to exclude G+ cups from its offerings?  Here’s what I came up with:

1. “Women who wear a G+ cup are better-served by in-person fittings from professional fitters.” ALL women are better-served by in-person fittings from professionals.
2. “The market for G+ cups is too small.” This may be the case, but I’m willing to bet their sales would increase if they began to offer G+ cups. Women like me who throw their catalog away would be happy to return to an online seller who distinguishes itself by thoroughly testing and reporting on each bra. They already offer tips on the fit of the bras (for example, advising when to go up in the band or cup for a certain style), and women who wear G+ cups need this kind of help as much or more than anyone else.
3. “Most American women don’t know their true size and already refuse to purchase anything above a D cup.” This could be a valid point, but I get excited at the thought of a company with such a great marketing reach really educating women about true fit. Besides, if their customers care more about numbers and letters than fit, why should Bounce currently bother to be so meticulous in their fitting advice? I get the impression that Bounce markets to women who are very particular about bra comfort, support and fit. With the right encouragement, enough of them will purchase the G+ cups to make it worth Bounce’s while.

What have I missed?

Ultimately, it’s a business decision on their part, and it’s not a life or death matter for G+ women. After all, none of us depend on Bounce for our sports bras. We can find them on other websites and through great specialty stores. But I’m annoyed because I want to identify with the happy, healthy Every Woman that Bounce pushes in their marketing materials. I want Bounce to have G+ women on their staff who review bras in a way that Hourglassy readers can relate to.

There are a lot of athletic G+ women out there bouncing painfully around the track or clutching their chests in Zumba classes, and there are a lot of less-than-athletic G+ women out there who would work out if they had a bra to support them. Bounce’s manifesto on its About page states that “We believe that it is time for women to own the language of beauty and breasts.” I agree, and it’s time for Bounce to expand its vocabulary.

—–

*You can read about how I chose my Enell size here (three years ago when I still thought I was a 36DD(!)), and my experience wearing the Enell Sports bra here and here). Even though I now realize I’m a 34H/36G, I still fit my Enell size 3 today, and it and my Anita Active Momentum are my go-to sports bras.

P.S. If you decide to purchase a sports bra from Bare Necessities after today’s post, would you click through their ad on this website so that Hourglassy receives a commission? The Enell, Anita and Claudette Cool Cotton are each available from Bare Necessities–but that’s not why I wrote this post today!

Mr. Campbell loved this grey dress . . . from the front. But then I asked him, “If I were a stranger that you saw walking down the street from behind, would you say, ‘She should have called me before she got dressed this morning?’” His answer was “Yes,” so back it went, spacious pockets and all. Shapewear couldn’t iron out my back flab, and the deep armholes aren’t flattering on me. Too bad . . . I was envisioning a search for, and review of, convertible bra straps!

My mother was less kind than Andrew. She thought it looked like a maternity dress from the front.

From 2011

Speaking of mothers, Mother’s Day is on my mind because I discovered yesterday that it’s already impossible to get a reservation for brunch next Sunday at the nicest places in the city where my mother-in-law lives. Fortunately, I found something that I think will be perfect for us. I also found these posts from last year’s Mother’s Week series:

1. My Mom (by me)
2. Advice on a Daughter’s First Bra Fitting (by Ali Cudby)
3. Discovering You’re a Swan (anonymous)
4. The Inspiration for Carissa Rose (by Carissa Brown)
5. Fashion Lessons from Mom (by Jill Homiak)
6. Shape, Cut and Confidence from a DIY Mother (by Karen)
7. A Proper Bra Fitting Shows You Care (by Cheryl Warner)

To celebrate Mother’s Day this year, look for a guest post on Thursday from a full-busted mother with a fabulous attitude. Her tween and teenage daughters are super lucky.

From 2010

I’ve been looking for lift like this ever since publishing this in May, 2010: How High Can You Go?

From 2009

Sometimes I refer to the Strum Strum Factor when I describe knit tops. What do you call it–or do you even notice it?