Tutorial - How to Alter the BCD of the Cambia Pattern

Learn how to alter the Bottom Cup Depth (while keeping the width) of a bra cup!

For some people, the Horizontal Hemisphere (HH) will indicate one size while the Bottom Cup Depth (BCD) will indicate another. The basic premise of the pattern alteration remains the same but is slightly more involved for the overlay pattern piece due to the incorporated cup/cradle of the overlay.

Grab a pen and lets get this alteration done in TWO steps.

The most common situation is where the HH indicates a size that is LARGER than the BCD size. In this case, we will want to keep the WIDTH of the larger HH and the HEIGHT of the smaller BCD. Highlight or trace the smaller BCD along the main center section but extend the length to match the larger HH size [RED].

For the side portion of the overlay, keep the width of the larger HH [RED] then connect the dart portion.

This will result in the seamline of the dart being different lengths [BLUE].

To remove the excess length, create a slash and hinge dart to the underarm [RED]. Overlap as much as necessary for the dart seamline will be equal.

All that is left is to “walk” the altered seamlines to make sure they all match up and add the seam allowance back on!