Jackie Sports Bra Sew Along Week 7

Today is the day the bra is finished! I hope this series has helped you work your way through this project. Today we complete the waistline, the center front and the front strap attachment. Not too complicated. But just as everything else, don’t rush and it will turn out beautiful.

As for my own Jackie, I had to finish up the strap attachment. I didn’t fully think rough through the fold over elastic on the necklines with the strap, so I improvised and I think it works out well.

The first thing I did was trim up the back straps so they were straight then applied fold over elastic to the raw ends. I also trimmed up the strap end and covered that too with fold over elastic. Its a big thick, but my 20 mm FOE did the trick with no problems.

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I trimmed up the fold over elastic so about 1/2″ was left hanging on both ends. I folded the separated strap pieces towards the front and the back strap point towards the back and ran a basting stitch across them to hold them in place. It was pretty bulky. I probably should have just sewn a regular stitch on those.

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I then worked on the front strap position. I pinned the flaps on the front strap points under and folded it towards the back side. I decided to only stitch the edges that have the fold over elastic on it to give a cleaner finish. I reinforced it with like 3 stitches, so its not going anywhere, so its definitely an option for less messy stitches.

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The last thing to do is attach the back strap points. I overlapped them and stitched in the middle. It allows the stitch to be hidden in the ditch of the fold over elastics.

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My bra is officially done! Its definitely a beauty.

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Below are the videos for the final steps of the Jackie.

Jackie Sports Bra Sew Along Week 6

We are nearing the finish line for our Jackie Sew Along. I am taking a different process to create a Jackie bra. I clean finished the back neckline and armhole with fold over elastic and added a hook and eye.

The first think I did was line up my hooks and eyes to the center back and cut off the excess. I have random supplies laying around, so I am using the eyes from a stash of left over beige and the hooks are black. I though the would make a nice combination.

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I then pinned the back necks carefully and overlocked them together to keep them in place. I think I forgot to photograph this step, but then I took fold over elastic and covered the back neckline and the armholes. I love this fold over elastic. Its wider than most and is just really easy to work with. Plus it doesn’t stretch out of shape.

The hooks and eyes went on so beautifully. I straightened up the back and slide it between the flaps on the eye tape. I used a straight stitch right on the edge and backstitched to secure it. The hooks I apply in two passes. The first pass with them open so I can get a full grip with the foot. Then I close it and offset the needles to stitch on the edge for a second secure stitch. I think this is the nicest looking hook and eye I have ever applied.

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The last thing I need to do to complete this bra is to attach the straps. I am planning to cover the raw edges of the strap with a piece of fold over elastic, but I haven’t decided if that is what I’m doing. Until then, this is my beauty. I really like using the beige eyes with the black hooks. I have a ton of extra beige eyes and since I have discontinued the, I will likely be using this combination for a while.

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Now for the rest of you. This week is the neckline. You will need some narrow elastic – 6 to 8 mm in width or 1/4″- 5/16″ wide.

The front neckline I spend just a little extra detail on because that is what people will be looking at (if you show them). The design has a bit of a squared neckline. Not completely square, but angled for sure. Its a bit tricky, but as you can see in my video, even a crappy sewing job can still look good.

I am, by far, not the most meticulous in my sewing. I can be when I want to be. You should see my wedding dress. I spent days working on that beauty making all the edges clean finished. But for every day stuff, I’m not perfect. Between the distraction of having my kid talk to me while sewing and the 99% chance I’m sewing without my glasses on, its always fun to see what the outcome is.

Anyway, just take your time on the neckline and it will all come together.

Jackie Sports Bra Sew Along Week 5

My own Jackie bra is coming right along. Today I added band elastics to the bottom and trimmed up the armholes so I can use foldover elastics as my finish.

The first thing I did was pin the double layers securely at the hem, then overlocked the right side of the elastic to the right side of the bra, right on the edge. My seam allowance is only 3/8″ here, but because I am using a few non stretch panels, I decided not to trim anything off and attached right on the edge so the seam allowance would be 1/4″.

I then flipped the elastic to the backside and zigzagged the seam allowance down to the top of the elastic.

I didn’t want to finish my Jackie today since this sew along still has a few weeks, so I also decided to prep the armhole for fold over elastic. I pinned the double layers carefully and trimmed down the armhole the 3/8″ seam allowances.

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I then overlocked the edges to keep them secured. I know I didn’t do much today, but I seriously have had no time to sew this past month. I am working on several projects at the moment.

I will be attaching the hook and eye next week and changing the back neckline to work with the hook and eye, then the last week of the sew along I will finish it up by adding fold over elastic to the armhole and then my strap.

For everyone else, this week is all about the zipper, how to shorten it and how to attach it.

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Lets make our zipper shorter! We need to customize the length of our zippers. You will need an 8″ zipper for this task. And guess, what? I sourced all the zippers you will ever need for this.

Now, I recommend using a toothed zipper, meaning either a resin/plastic tooth or a metal tooth. I’m not sure how a metal tooth will do during workouts and outer clothing, so the recommendation is really the resin toothed zipper.

Coil zippers can split, no matter how heavy duty they are. Line up the zipper to the center front panel and add 3/4″ to the total zipper length.

You can then chop off the rest and remove the top 1/2″ of zipper teeth with pliers or cutters. You need to secure the top of the zipper. You can do this with hardware, or just wind thread between the top two remaining teeth at the top until it becomes bulky enough to stop the zipper from coming off.

This video can walk you through this process.

Attaching the Zipper

Attaching the zipper isn’t very complicated, but you need to have a zipper foot handy. This is one of the shortest video in the series, so I will let the video do the demonstrating for you.