3
Jun 19, 2014
I just discovered a material to make replacement underwires. It is stainless steel and came out of a worn-out windshield wiper blade. A lot of wiper blades have stainless steel bands on both sides of the rubber blade to keep it stiff and serve as a mounting material to slide into the wiper arm. It is the same dimensions in width and thickness as the underwire I repaired a week or so ago, but of course is straight.
The challenge is bending the band into a curve to match the underwire it is replacing. I found out, by using a standard pair of pliers as a jig and a holding devise, I can bend the stainless steel band into a matching curve for the underwire it is replacing, and then just trim to the the correct length. Dipping the tips of both ends in liquid rubber creates smooth, rounded ends that do not poke through the underwire pocket.
Filed under Bras ups and downs
Good job on figuring this out!
If you end up doing the full surgery and figure out how to re-close the wire channel so the wire doesn't poke out, please let us know how you did it. My understanding, from what t_maia said, is the biggest challenge of re-wiring a bra is reinforcing the channel adequately.
Secondarily I'm interested in how non-spring steel behaves in a bra. I had thought spring steel was a necessary component, given the stress boobs put on underwires.
To reclose the channel, I just used fabric glue. A little dab at the point I made the cut seems to work very well.
I made the cut on the gore side of the channel, as opposed to the armpit site. The armpit side always seems to wear more, and since the fabric glue can be a little itchy until it wears down and gets washed a few times, it causes less discomfort on the gore side.
Also, I have used fabric glue to repair holes in the armpit side of an underwire channel to keep the underwire in place, but it can be uncomfortable for awhile.
The stainless steel material from the wiper blade is just as springy as the broken underwire material I replaced it with. This makes it especially challenging to bend into a U-shape, but it worked. I'll have to wear the bra for awhile to see for sure if the material will hold up, but my guess is it will.