How to Make a Peek-a-Boo Bra Friday, 18 July 2014  |  Essili

There it was in our visitor stats, the search term - "how to make a peek a boo bra". Of course the visitor did not stay long at Ever-so-Sexy because clearly we were not the right site for them because we sell bras not tell people how to make them.

My first reaction on seeing that search query was "why would you want to". You can buy a complete peek-a-boo bra set at very a reasonable price probably equal to the cost of a home made version when you add in the cost of the time spent in sewing to the price of the materials.

But then I thought maybe I was being flippant. Perhaps the person searching for this information was an unusual size and lets face it good quality sexy lingerie for a body shape outside the average can be difficult to find. Or perhaps the visitor had some really beautiful material that they wanted to make into an intimate outfit.

So having thought round the subject to the point of finding a couple of reasons why someone might actually want or even need to make their own peek a boo bra I decided we should put a little guidance on the subject in the blog.

Before starting on a bra making project just think for a moment if it is really for you. I have to say this as someone who has failed sewing projects still lurking in cupboards at home. I know from bitter experience that the dream of some beautiful home made garment can often turn into a crumpled heap of discarded material.

If you are a standard size and don't have a burning desire to use some special fabric you already own then, in my opinion, the cost in time and materials really is not worth it.

But if my words don't put you off,  the materials and equipment you will need are:

• Sewing machine (you could hand stitch but machine stitching is nearly always neater).
• Main fabric, probably lace for a peek-a-boo though there is no reason why a peek a boo bra. could not be made from beautiful soft silk.
• Stretch fabric for the bra band.
• Under wires (if you want an under wired option).
• Under wire channels.
• Picot elastic.
• Strap elastic.
• Matching sewing threads.
• pins
• scissors
• Additional decorative fabrics, eg extra or different lace, ribbons, bows, rosettes or jewels.
• Fittings such as hook & eye plus rings and sliders for adjusting the bra straps
• A pattern
• Some time!

Almost all of the above list would be needed to create a bra like the one shown in the image.

Now I am not being entirely fair! My bias against such a project is showing as I have thrown in almost all the possible elements into the above list. If for instance you decided to make a peek a boo in a bralette style (which is often the form they take) then you would not need the under wires or the under wire channels because bralettes are completely soft underwear. If you already own a soft bra or bralette that you like and that fits well then you can use that bra as a pattern guide rather than going to the expense of buying a new pattern and of course you could also go for a simple look without too much decorative detail so that you could dispense with the different lace, ribbons, bows etc. And if you are a regular home seamstress then you will already own the equipment. So feel free to whittle down my list to your specific circumstances.

As for the actual making of the bra - there are lots of sewing sites on the web with good information on how to make your own intimate underwear so I am not going to re-invent the wheel here by giving cutting and sewing instructions. Instead I have posted some links to other sites that might be useful to you at the end of the article.

The Luxxa Lavandou peek-a-boo bra set shown in the image is a luxury intimate set designed and made in France. Unfortunately it has been discontinued by Luxxa since this blog was written and as we have no more stock it is not available to buy.

Here are some links to sewing sites you might find useful - I found them when preparing to write this article and they are in not connected to Ever-so-Sexy or Crysalis Ltd:

www.bramakerssupply.com

http://www.madalynne.com/what-ive-made-ohhh-lulu-bra

http://www.craftsy.com/blog/2013/08/bra-sewing-tutorial/

The contents of this article are the copyright of Crysalis Ltd and may not be reproduced in part or in full version without the written permission of Crysalis Ltd.

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