DARTS - Part 3 - Narrow Root Adjustment on a Darted Cup
Check out the entire Darts in Lingerie Series:
This is a 4 part series that walks you through everything from how to sew giant curved darts in bras and lingerie but also how to adjust patterns and some basic understanding about the volume and (cone) shape implications specific to bra cups.
Part 1 - How to Sew Giant Curved Darts
Part 2 - Inner Fullness Adjustments for Darted Cups (Quick & Dirty)
Part 3 - Narrow Root Adjustment of a Darted Cup (Mysa Only)
Part 4 - How to Increase or Decrease Projection in a Darted Cup
If you have Omega or Narrow Root shaped breasts, you may need to adjust your bra and bralette patterns in order to improve the fit. For darted cup patterns like our FREE Mysa Bralette or Lamina Underwired, this is a straightforward adjustment to your paper pattern.
For this example, we are using:
Cup size 17.1/6.7”
Reduced BCD reduction to 15.3/6.0”
Band size 42
Start with the cradle that matches your band size. In my case that’s a 42 band and a 153 cradle. This is the cradle size I start with in other LilypaDesigns patterns.
STEP 1 - Measure the seam length of your cradle piece and the seam length of your cup piece and find the difference between the two measurements. In this example the cup seam is 1/4” (6mm) and 3/4” (20mm) longer for each portion of the cradle seam.
Compare the Seam Length of Cup Piece vs Cradle Piece
STEP 2 - Before you begin any type of pattern adjustment, check of one of the other cradle matches the seam length of your cup. If your omega cup size is 2 sizes larger than the cradle, you may very well be able to simply use the size in between.
Check the seam length of the cup against one of the smaller cradles first.
STEP 3 - On your cup pattern piece, draw a straight line from the middle of the seam line to the end point of the dart. Do the same for the short seam line on the other side of the dart. Slash and hinge these lines.
Slash and hinge a straight line from the horizontal seam line to the end point of the dart
STEP 3 - Overlap to reduce the seam length. In this example we are overlapping each side by 1/8” (3mm) and 3/8” (10mm) for a total of 1” reduction. Smooth out the curves using a curved ruler.
That’s it! Note that the large curved dart has become wider - this is exactly what we need as wider darts offer projection while maintaining the smaller “wireline”. Check out our post on increasing/decreasing projection in darted cups HERE.