Well, this is my last of the four reviews, and I waited this long because I wanted to write about my first experience with taking in a band! I finally worked up the courage to take this bra apart (somewhat), because it wasn't doing me any good sitting on my floor and not being worn. First of all, thank you to RubensNotRaphael for selling me this Lily. Lily is basically my holy grail bra, and as we all know, it has been discontinued for several years now and is becoming increasingly difficult to find. (I may be hoarding two Lilys in 28FF that are too big for me ATM, but should I ever gain boob weight, it will be perfect lol.)

I decided to take in the band from the hook and eye attachments, because I didn't want any bulky seams where some other folks prefer to just fold the band over itself, and I would also prefer that the straps are closer together in the back rather than further apart, which I feared would happen with some other methods. So, you can imagine my hesitation at taking in a bra band for the first time since I would be permanently, irreversibly chopping off a length of the band. My first step was to try and guess how much I should take off. I measured 0.5" inward from each attachment point of the hook and eye tape on either side of the band and marked with tailor's chalk. Then I ripped out the original seams so that I could fully remove the hooks and eyes. I chopped off approximately 0.5" of the band, but left 0.25" outside of the chalk mark, which is the part that would go back inside the hook and eye tape. Then I just folded the band over itself a tiny bit in the middle (horizontally) so that the top and bottom edges of the band would fit back inside the hook and eye tape and used a zigzag stitch to secure. I did this for both sides and gave it a try on - it was much better already, but still a bit too big. So I repeated the process, taking approximately another 0.5" off each side. This time, the band is nice and snug on the first or second set of hooks! Hooray, my experiment was a success!!

Now, the band measures 23.25"/59cm flat, and 26.5"/69.5cm stretched (a big emphasis here is that the band is really stretchy, so I can definitely pull it farther, but that would distort the wires and not be accurate to how much it stretches when I wear it)(PS. I measured in actual inches and cm's individually, I did not do a conversion, so the measurements may not be exactly the same). My stitching is NOT neat, but it does the trick! I am so happy with how it has turned out, and this makes me want to attack all my ill-fitting bras with the seam ripper lmao

Aqua colorway

This bra is not owned any more

Updated on Jun 22, 2018 Flag this

• 1

  Looks fantastic! Congratulations on your successful alteration/s :-)

• Love4Pollinators Thank you! :)

• 2

  Hooray! I'm so glad this worked out for you! Makes me feel better about it being a mismatch for me, somehow. I'm also super impressed by your sewing bravery. Rock on! Best!

• 1

  Wow,
  it does looks pretty neat. I did you use a machine? And how long did it take you?

• 1

  aboobaccount Yes, I used a machine. The total process, including ripping the original seams and then sewing everything back together, took less than an hour. I was also going pretty slowly since it was my first try, so I wouldn't be surprised if I could do this in about 15 minutes once I become more confident.

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