Hello!
Sorry for all the bra photos! Today I’m guest posting at Craft Sanctuary about my journey in finding the perfect bra.
It is a great personal experience and each time I learned some new things about my own body. The journey is still going on by the way!
Thank you for having me, Ashley!
This post was fantastic!! Thanks so much! I’ve always been pretty small and thought I was a big A small B but apparently I’m a D! I sized down one size in the band but 2 in the cups! Shocking!
Thanks again!
Jill
I meant to say but went up 2 sizes in the cup! Thanks again!
I have been wearing a 34C (I think) for a few years now, but a lot of my bras turn out to be too small once I wear them for more than a couple minutes in the changing room, and the band can only be worn on the tightest setting. According to the bra size calculator, I should be wearing a 28F. Since this is what you wear, I was wondering, do you have to do FBAs on everything? Having to do an FBA on a pattern drafted for a C cup, even when everything else was too big, is what first made me suspect I was wearing the wrong size bra.
That happened to me too! The smallest size on most pattern companies are usually still too big for me, so for fitted patterns, I often drafted them down and make an FBA. If I don’t do that, the neckline will show some gaping
I can’t thank you enough for your post and link to the bra calculator. Was thinking I was a 34 AA now wearing super comfortable bras in 32 C! I even went bra shopping with my sister and had multiple sales ladies at high end bra stores still try to fit us in the wrong size bra. I told them I am never stuffing myself in a AA again. Can’t thank you enough. Oh and by the way the woman that owns the store from your link, sophisticated pair, is very helpful and has even ordered me a bra in my size even though she normally only sells larger bras.
Congratulations on finding the right size! I’m so happy that the post is useful!
Ysolda Teague a well known knitting designer, wrote an interesting post on bra sizes, I hope you don’t mind if I copy the link here, I also learnt a lot and now I can wear my real bra size http://www.ysolda.com/blog/2012/05/08/notes-from-sweater-class-what-are-we-wearing-under-our-sweaters!
Thank you for sharing that link! It is very informative. I agree that bra knowledge should be shared to as many people as possible!
I’ve recently started sewing again, after a long break, and I’m revisiting all the sewing blogs I used to read and love. Yours is one of them. I don’t think I’ve ever commented before(I’m not a commenter). But I just have to today.
I’ve been wearing 70(32?)A for years, and for a while I’d been worried it was too large. It just had to be, my breasts are so small. But I kept wearing the same size, out of lazyness, I guess. And then I read your bra post and it was the push I needed to figure out my actual bra size. I went to a store today and tried on two bras, a 70AA and a 65A, I asked the shop assistent for help when I was wearing the 65A, I really couldn’t figure out which bra fit better (I remember thinking: I must be the only woman ever who came in and needed a SMALLER size than she was wearing). And.. the shop assistent told me: those cups are way too small. According to her I need to wear a size 65 (30?)C (which they didn’t sell, so no new bra for me). I was in shock! I am in shock!I keep thinking “well my breasts are fuller now than usually, since it’s right before my period”, and “maybe a B cup?” I honestly don’t want to accept that I might a C cup. Is that weird? I felt perfectly fine about going down a size, but this? No! Did you feel like that at all? I think I might be afraid of being the tiny-breasted girl (I have really tiny breasts!) with a huge bra her breast are drowning in. Help! But also, thank you.
The cup size is always relative to the band size, so actually the cups on 65C/30C bra are exactly the same as on 70B/32B bra. This is called sister sizes. 28D, 30C, 32B, 34A, 36AA; they are all sister sizes with the same cups volume, only the band lengths and proportions are different. So if you have trouble finding the 30C bra, you can try shortening the band on 32B and reducing the center gore width/moving the straps(if necessary).
Most women who feels that their breasts are small are actually wearing the band too big with the cups too small, like I did (and you)! And somehow we are so sure that our breasts are small that the possibility of wearing C cups feel so impossible. But C cups on 30 band are not that huge actually, this is a picture of how a 30C bra look on a woman: http://www.flickr.com/photos/76304212@N06/7190146931 Does it look similar to you?
Good luck on your bra journey!
Thank you so much for finding that picture! You are right, 30C isn’t big. It’s really small actually, and I think it looks similar to me (hard to see though, in a picture. Especially since I don’t know how tall this woman is.) I hope I’ll be able to find a 30C bra, but if I can’t find one I’ll follow your advise and alter a 30b bra. And who knows, maybe I’ll feel ready to make my own bras one day! Thank you again!
(Now I’ve started looking around the entire branbandproject, and wow! That’s confusing! A lot of women wearing a size 30 band look like they have fuller bodies (bodies, not breasts) than me? Aargghh. I think I’m just going to go for the size I was advised to wear, and stop looking at pictures)
alter a 32b bra! not a 30b bra, that was a typo
You might try measuring your underbust to find your band size. I think there are actually lots of women with under 30 band size
What an amazing, informative post. I too went through a similar process when I was younger… and eventually went and got fitted by someone who knew what they were doing – and what a difference a well-fitting bra makes! I fondly remember the day I walked out with a properly fitting bra. One day I’d like to try sewing my own… one day
I know how that feels! It was like I found something that I didn’t know I could have (or something like that…)! It makes everything I wear look better too
Thanks again for posting!
You’re welcome Ashley!
Thank you so much for this post! I’ve never read anything that helpful for finding the right bra-size. I am currently struggling to find my size because after having a Baby everything changed and my old bras don’t fit anymore (I do wonder if they ever did fit right…) So thank you so much for your informative post! <3
Really interesting! I hope make my own bras someday, and I find your insight really helpful. Thank you!
Thank you so much for writing the guest post at Craft Sanctuary. I love reading your journey, so similar to mine, and learning how you were able to actually get bras that fit! I am still working on it, but your post is so informative. Thank you!
You’re welcome! I was so happy to finally wear bras that fit that’s why I want to share the experience!