Sports bra for curvy body types
Good sport outfits for curvy women are hard to come by. Especially sports bras. After 3min of wearing them, I get so annoyed because my girls won’t stop flopping around 😆🙈. Do you know that feeling?
Time to check if I can make a SUPPORTIVE sports bra.
Scowering the web and social media, I found a couple of sports bras that seem to work for people with larger cup sizes (hier habe ich eine kleine Liste). I went with the Mighty Sports Bra von Evie La Luve. It’s built with a Powernet overlay for extra support and that looks very promising!
Before I cut into my fabric, I pinned the paper pieces to my body (after the Palmer/Pletsch-method). That showed me that the bra would not fit over my breasts – it did not have enough length (even though my measurements fit). So, I’ve added 1.5cm (about .6in) in width to the pattern. I decided to forgo a full bust adjustment (FBA) because I did not want to add to the width of the pattern pieces, only the length.
Spoilers: After wearing the bra for about 10 sports sessions (yoga, crosstrainer, some workouts) I decided to add an additional pattern adjustment to my pattern pieces for the next sports bra: The armcycle on the front pattern piece is a bit too low for me – it gives me the “sideboob”-effect, which I hate (= means, my breasts spill out on the side of the bra a bit). So to adjust this, I made the armcycle smaller (see picture below). I also decided to widen the straps of the bra a bit. Other than that, the pattern works great!!
I chose a 4-way stretch scuba for the material. I really like the feel of scuba when I do sports. For the overlays, I’ve chosen strong powernet. The whole bra is encased in FOE (fold-over elastic). I also decided to encase the bottom elastic. I bought all the materials from B-Wear, a lingerie store in Sweden (online and offline). I love Bodil’s selection of lingerie and activewear fabrics, excellent quality!
The bra comes together quite fast and can be sewn by beginners. Since so many edges are finished with FOE, it’s such a good practice bra for sewing elastics!
Now for the fit: The sports bra holds its promise: the breasts are softly pressed to your body so that when you do sports they cannot flop around. If you follow us on Instagram, I’ve uploaded a jumping-video where you can check the fit 😂. I love the powernet overlays – they lend extra support and I wouldn’t skip it if you are curvy. I’d even say that for D+ cups they are a must.
Fact sheet on the pattern:
Pattern: Mighty Sports Bra by Evie la Luve
Fabric: Scuba (4-way stretch), strong Powernet
Material: bra closure, Fold-Over-Elastic (FOE), elastic (3.5cm wide)
Size: L, with pattern adjustments for curvy body types
Duration: quick sew, 4h from the pattern adjustments to the finished bra
Difficulties: none.
Have you ever sewn a sports outfit that is custom made to your body shape? For me, that’s the magic in doing it yourself – in the end you get a piece of clothing that actually fits and fulfills its purpose!
At least with this bra, I can’t make excused not to exercise more 😁
Love,
Lenzi