Bra fitting help » Might I need to go up a cup size?

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Freya » Patsy Padded Half Cup Bra (1223) » 28E 28:6

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Suggestions (3)

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  It looks to me more like the gore is slightly too wide for you. some women get really raw from a wire sticking in to them there, but it doesnt bother me. I think a cup up would probably be too big - but it really depends if its comfortable or not. If its comfortable, looks fine under a shirt, you like it - its fine. Sometimes tho, painful bits arent obvious without a few hours of wear

  Updated on April 13, 2015 Flag this

  
  

  • You're right about time of wear, so maybe I'll try the F just to see what happens. If the gore is too wide, then it's too wide...We'll see. Thank you!

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  I see that the horizontal perimeter of your breast measures 9.5", but the cup of the bra only measures 7.5" deep. I would try the next cup up for sure.

  It looks like the 28FF in that bra has a cup depth that better matches your measured breast size, but I wonder if that would make the wires too wide for you on the sides? Can you get a 28F and 28FF, returnable, just to try?

  I'm not sure what is the current thinking on negative ease in a bra cup and how much is okay. I can see, though, where the size is too small for you, especially where you circled. Did you do a swoop-and-scoop? If not, I'll bet you would be popping out of this bra.

  It is super cute and if you are comfortable then definitely go with it, that is the bottom line.

  Updated on April 13, 2015 Flag this

  
  

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    I definitely swooped-and-scooped, so at least there's not more waiting to fill the cups! I suspect the 28FF would be too large but think an F might work, so I'll order that to give it a whirl. IMO negative ease in a bra cup is kind of helpful—it'll 'cling' better, like a well-fitting sweater, if that makes sense.

    It's not uncomfortable for a try-on, but I have wondered about the effect over time. I can always pop a pad into the left cup to even things out if necessary.

  • What is negative ease?

    Anyways, I personally think you don't need to go up a cup, and that it's a gore wide-ness issue as previously mentioned. As far as breast measurements not jiving with the bra measurements, mine don't either. I don't know why that is, but I have a 10" horizontal perimeter, and definitely cannot wear 10" deep bras.

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    lcl0706, negative ease in when clothing measures smaller than your body and stretches to fit. Positive ease is clothing that measures larger than your body and is worn loose. At least this is how knitters use these terms.

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  Your band looks too tight, you have horizontal wrinkles going toward the back and it's certainly not riding up, which means it is being stretched too much. The cup is wrong for you, and it's too small which could be causing the band to fit the way it is. Also look at how low it's sitting. Your side breast tissue is not even in the cup. You need taller wires on the sides. I would say a plunge style will fit you much better than a demi (aka half cup to the UK). Based on your perimeter measurement you should be in a 28FF.

  The bottom of the cups have a bit of spacing between the underwire and the bottom of your breast tissue. This is most noticeable in the last photo. It's almost as if you've scooped too much but this is not the case at all since your side breast tissue is not contained. Because you're spilling in the center, you most likely are experiencing some orange-in-a-glass. The cups on these demi bras are not very deep, and they tend to be too widely spaced both in cup width and gore width, so you need something a little narrower in the gore...however the width of the cups fit you ok. It's just not deep enough to contain all of your breast tissue.

  Negative ease in a cup is not a good thing. Especially the amount you have. Being a knitter and seamstress myself, negative ease applies to clothing that you want to fit smaller than your actual body measurements. In a bra, this should not be happening. You want the cup to contain you, correct?

  Try something in a plunge style, an F and FF cup, and maybe even something with a side support to help bring your side tissue back to the front. When you put the bra on lean over first, anchor it in place directly underneath your tissue, hook it, then stand and adjust anything that is not in place. Sometimes swooping and scooping alone without anchoring first will result in the tissue being dispersed under the wires of the gore and the cups actually forced down and sitting low. Don't forget the "windshield" method.

  If you have been able to try this in a larger cup and the fit is still off, you may want to remeasure your breast perimeter to make sure you have the number correct. When you took the horizontal one, were you leaning over measuring from outer crease to inner crease?

  Updated on April 20, 2015 Flag this

  
  

  • I'm starting to feel like I'm going to be better off just binding the girls down...!

    I'll have to re-measure, I guess, just to be sure, though I believe I measured properly. It's my intent to try an F in this, so maybe I'll try the FF as well to just to see. So far as 28...I'm hoping it's because the cup is indeed too small for me. 30 bands seem to sort of rattle around on me, and Freyas do tend to stretch a bit. There are definitely horizontal lines, I know...I'll have to look again when I'm not contorting to take a photo.

    So far as anchoring the bra correctly, do you recommend that instead of swoop-and-scoop? My apologies if I'm misunderstanding. The windshield method was new, but I found an earlier post of yours explaining this! I've always had a fair amount of tissue on the side (FWIW, so does my mother), though whether that is due to improper bra size (completely possible, obviously!) or genetics or both I'm not really sure.

    If this doesn't work in F/FF, obviously it's back to the drawing board so far as styles. (Too bad, as this is so pretty, and I seem to have only found decent fit with really plain bras.)

    Thank you for your help, I really do appreciate it!

  • The band doesn't look toooo tight to me, but I am still new to this. I agree with the two other posters that it is the gore digging into your breast tissue. Also is the bra right in you imf? I thing that is what the previous poster means about anchoring, make sure it is in the right place before you scoop and swoop. If it is already in the right place than higher cup sides should work better, hope that helps some.

  • It's easy to measure past the outside of breast tissue especially in smaller/average sizes because the edge is not always very noticeable, that's why I asked. The best way to find the outer edge is to press your breast down so you can see a crease, then make a mental note of where this is and start measuring from here.

    You should anchor it first, but always swoop and scoop after. If you find the wires move too much when you scoop try holding them in place at the bottom of the cup with one hand while you scoop with the other.

  • HLA, yes, I am wondering if I went too far—the crease on the outside is, of course, diagonal and I'm not quite sure how far back to go! Should I measure from the crease where there's the most volume, or as far back as I can see the fullness/tissue go? (Hope that makes sense.) That could give me a difference as much as an inch, which could, of course, explain lots of the difficulty I've been having. Of course, that far back the fullness is, of course, not that much.

    All of that said, I did try the bra on again today, being more sure to anchor the wires...if anything, there's *more* quadding/spillage potential, on both sides, even with sensible strap adjustments.

    Note to self: Figure out an efficient way to warm hands up...

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