Jackie Sports Bra Sew Along Week 2

This week we work on straps. I am super excited about these straps. Not only do they look awesome, but they are very versatile because they adjust.

The secret ingredients – cut & sew foam on the strap and an adjustable bra strap. Here is my newest set of straps.

The straps are a little more complicated to put together, but once you master it, you will be doing this on all your straps. There are two layers of fabric, 1 layer of foam, a length of strap elastic with matching hardware and an extra set of rings to attach to the front of the sports bra.

You can make varying widths of strap elastic, from 1/2″ to 1″. The only caveat about using a different width, is that the front strap point must be narrowed to accomodate the desired elastic used. I kept the strap width 1 3/8″ or 35 mm so it would be consistent with mixing and matching patterns with the Christina and Laurel, but nearly all the strap elastics require an adjustment.

Even if you use the 1″ elastic, I would recommend using the 1″ ring, rather than the 35 mm slides I carry. I had the problem with the slide twisting on its side, so unless you are using cut and sew foam on the entire body, I’d switch it for a 1″ ring.

I didn’t share my own fabric layout last week, so here it is. As you can see, I’m making mine asymmetrical and mixing it up a bit. I’m not doing the traditional Jackie construction, but a “bra” construction. The center panel is non stretch cup lining, the middle cup is a lace fused satin, also non stretch, lined in a 15 denier cup lining. The side and most of the back are cut in two layers and is of my new double brushed nylon spandex (coming soon to my shop). The side back is a spandex from my stash and the lace is from my shop. I thought I had the same lace as the front lace but I couldn’t find it.

The strap assembly is the easiest so I did that first. I have about a yard left of the tan strap elastic I used to carry, so I used that for this along with some gold hardware for a little bling.

The strap I machine basted the contrast to the foam, then basted the black fabric on top. It is very clear how bad I was at cutting and how much the fabric stretched when basting. I sewed both sides from the small end down, so it would reduce any twisting.

I then took them over to the serger and made a better, consistent stitch along the edges of the strap.

The last step was to flip them inside out and assemble them completely. As you can see, the basting stitches are still showing. I might remove that, but its presently not bothering me. They are less than perfect, but I think they look fabulous!