Making of a Doll Bra

If you follow me in Twitter -and read the stupidity I post on there- you are probably saturated with my doll-bra struggles. Everything started when I saw a really cute lingerie for dolls and came up with a whole set that was really Coco's style. First step was doing the bra+panties set. The panty was really really easy and got it done in a couple of hours -take in mind that I sew by hand, so I'm slower than a sewing machine user.

All of that easiness was destroyed with the making of the bra. It was *really* hard to make it and I flooded my tweeter account, since I needed to release my rage. And in that point... I decided that maybe I should do a post about the bra, to share my experience.

So to begin with, lets add some measures. Coco is 1/4 sized and her boob-rate is 2cm: this is measured from the nipple following the curve to under her breast. Yes. I do all the mathematical voodoo to make the patterns... I think it is in my nature as an Engineer!

So, the first pattern I tried was the one of the push-up bra (very similar to this model). It has three panels, and in the front, it "ties" up really high like in the middle of the breast. When I tried each cup separately on Coco, they looked fine, and like if they would fit perfectly. The problems started when I sewed together the cups in the middle (where the decorative ribbon was):

Why is so damn hard to make a bra for a doll, without getting her boobs to look so fake! :(
— Musume (@musume_desu) February 18, 2014

Yep. That was the tweet of the moment. The problem was this: Withdoll girls big breast is too curvy and already looks cleavage-like without a bra. So, when the cups of the bra were sewed together, they "popped up" in the middle, making the boobs look like if they were badly done, and did not needed any support.

And here came the moment for the first realization: a woman's breast will fit into the bra cup but a doll's breast needs the cup to fit the rigid shape. It does sound stupid, but it was one of those silly things that I needed to find out, in order to get a proper shape. Then, I thought of making a bra like this (but without the embroider) where the center seam is longer and lower than in the push up bra. Also, decided to make the center panel a complete one, with no seam in the middle.

After trying it on Coco, things started to look diferently:

Finally the bra is looking half way decent!
— Musume (@musume_desu) February 22, 2014

So, I sewed a lace on the lower edge, and tried the bra on Coco. You can see that lace in the next pic (and you also can see the no-center-seam thing):

The next step was doing the straps. With the push-up try I used regular satin ribbon, but after trying it on the doll, one of the straps destroyed itself at the front seam. I did not wanted this to happen again on the new model, but I did not what to do. I attached the straps in the front in the apex with a pin, and tried to position them on the back... and that, my readers, was another moment of twitter crysis:

This fucking bra, this fucking doll bra!!!!!
— Musume (@musume_desu) February 22, 2014

After trying like 50 times, pinning the straps again and again, I always got one of this results:

• In the front, the straps looked like if they were too lose, not realistic at all.
• The straps will fell into her arms, not being able to hold on the shoulders.
• The cups will fell or crease, because the straps couldn't hold them.
• In the back, the straps will need to be crossed over like a bikini, in order to hold the cups.

And then, in a moment of illumination, I saw my supply box and stared at the elastic I used before on the panty. The hubby saw my doubts and told me: "You could try it, after all, human women's bra use elastic on the straps". And this was the moment of the next two realizations: second: when a human wears a bra, the strap will even 'sink' a little on the shoulder -thing that does not happen on a doll; and the third one: elastic straps provide the resistance that a ribbon does not have. Yes, resistance, like in an electric system.

Again, this could be silly, but it did helped. I tried the elastic on the straps, and they worked perfectly! They solved all of the four problems I stated before, and provided the pushy cleavage look I needed on Coco. You can check this next pic:

Of course, take in mind that all the things were like this because of the cleavage look of Withdoll girls boobs, the big breast size, and the small size of the doll. On a smaller boobed doll, you could use a more simple pattern, and the fight against the fake-boob-look wouldn't be that intense.

Anyways, I hope this was fun/light to read, and I want to say something else: if you try hard enough, everything is possible. Even making a doll bra, hahahaha.

Finally the bra is drying after laundry :3
— Musume (@musume_desu) February 22, 2014

You know? This could have been annoying as hell, and even more because I'm way too perfectionist, and I ask a lot of myself, but in the end, I did learned a lot. Even my stitches are cuter now! Next time I will try to put rings and sliders on the straps :3