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I dragged my mom in to Nordstrom today to get her a new bra. She's been in a 38DD for years, but I measured her at about a 38F. Our fitter was really nice and mostly helpful, but she said that the double letters in UK sizing are "half-sizes" and I wanted to hit my head against the wall. She ... also didn't talk about the importance of swoop and scoop, which knowledge I tried to impart but I was probably not the most forceful. But mom found something new that she liked and seemed to be a much improved fit (and broke the DD barrier!).
While we were there, I decided to try a few things myself. I wanted to try Cleo, and they had a few in stock. Unfortunately, the 30Gs I tried in the Jude and Karen were laughably small in the cups. Which I had expected as Bratabase's recommendations suggest an H. I also tried Freya's Marina, Taylor and Ivy longline (which the fitter called a "cami bra" -never heard that before), which all seemed to fit pretty well in the 30G. I've read a lot of complaints that Freya's backs run loose, but I was still surprised that these new 30 bands were looser than the 32 band I was wearing. Nordstrom doesn't stock 28 bands, so I wasn't able to check how those compare.
I didn't end up getting anything (I don't really need more bras right now!), but it was fun to actually see my options in person and not just on my computer. And with mom's purchase, we had a successful trip.
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Shared on Jan 05, 2013 Flag this
You might want to give her one of your bras to asses the fit. The band will probably be too snug so just hold it back with your hands, but the cups shouldn't be that far off, no? That's the easiest way to asses her size - look at the cup fit and then sistersize it up or down, depending on the fit. If you still have those freya bras, that could work cup wise, no?
Perhaps you could approach it from a medical angle. My mom just turned 70 and in the past few years has begun to suffer severe back pain (accompanied by obvious curvature) from osteoporosis. She's a tiny thing, but busty - probably a 30-32HH+. But she grew up in the deep South US with poor nutrition and even worse bra-ducation. I have no doubt that a properly fitting bra with decent support would have prevented a goodly portion of her problem. I wish I'd had my bra epiphany years ago so I could have helped her. You could order a couple bras for her from a returnable source online & tell her "because I said so" ;) You might be able to prevent her from serious misery down the road.