do you think I could knit a bra?

Tuesday, January 3, 2006

Ok so I guess I am joking. But I am getting desperate here, desperate enough to wonder about sewing my own, and I have more faith in my knitting than my sewing. Here’s the problem, or the whole list of them:

  • I haven’t quite outgrown my normal bras yet, but the underwires are bothering me.
  • My options sans wires appear to be a) nursing bras b) granny bras more scary than nursing bras c) bralet things intended for teenagers with no gravity or shape problems to speak of
  • I wore nursing bras for 3 years with Isabelle, they were comfortable and actually gave me a great shape. They also came up to my chin and wearing the exact same bra for so long (all be it in many different sizes and a few different colours) gets really really old, I don’t know how many more years I can face.
  • I have yet to try on a single other nursing bra that works with my shape or is even remotely comfortable. This is Australia, the choices are very limited.
  • So I have one nursing bra option and I just don’t want to go there out of boredom alone but the coming up to the chin thing really is an issue, at least while pregnant. I am so hot and that is before the temperature gets to 45C (I think that is like 115F). Nursing bras require covering up with more/bulkier clothing than I am comfortable wearing at the moment. The granny bras are obviously no alternative given they are even bigger.
  • Which leaves us with the bralets for people who don’t need bras in the first place. Although my breasts are growing again they are still small enough that I can get these contraptions in my size. But given that they don’t actually do anything there doesn’t seem to be much point. I gained about 18kgs (40lbs) when pregnant with Isabelle, then I lost 32kgs (60-65lbs). Along the way I breastfed for 2.5 yrs and went first up 3 or 4 cup sizes and then down about 5. My breasts aren’t large, they don’t require scaffolding that comes up to my chin, but there is no denying they need HELP

Why is it that nursing bras are so damn huge and ugly? Why is it almost impossible to get nursing bras in a B cup? Why can’t you get pregnancy bras, given the idea that nursing bras bought in early pregnancy will actually fit when nursing is laughable? Why is there no middle ground in the underwire free world, somewhere between scaffolding and window dressing?

I realise that knitting a bra is a stupid idea but I don’t have any better ideas at this point.

18 Comments

Comment by Melinda on 3/1/2006 @ 11:10 pm

Hey Mama,

Have you tried anything from http://www.bluecanoe.com? They might fall into the bralet category but they are made of heavy organic cotton and designed for real boobs. Not sure about the shipping to Australia thing. . ..

Comment by terhi on 3/1/2006 @ 11:11 pm

Oh, I feel your pain! Onni is three now, I haven’t been able to get back to underwidered bras, they just feel so uncomfortable. I’ve got big boobs, and after pregnancy and nursing they are a really sad sight. So I’m wearing sport bras, all the time. I hope you can find a solution for your problem.

Comment by Chris on 3/1/2006 @ 11:13 pm

Desperate times call for desperate measures! I’m not sure that anything knitted would be significantly cooler than the nursing bras, alas… Have you tried sports bras? There are some underwire free sports bras that seem very supportive. I haven’t worn anything other than a sports bra for more years than I can remember - in large part because they tend to have the most cotton in them.

There’s a bra pattern in Lily Chin’s book The Urban Knitter. If you go to Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0425183289/qid=1136295602/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-1199640-8222433?n=507846&s=books&v=glance
you can click on the book and search inside the book - search on bra and start on page 109.

Comment by Cara on 3/1/2006 @ 11:20 pm

You should check the Internet. I think there are actually some really pretty nursing bras out there. My sister wears one that looks just like my bra (which admittedly is pretty plain.) But since babies are a hot market these days, and nursing is much more popular, I suspect that there are some nice bras out there. Although I shudder to think of what the google search will bring up. Good luck! If I remember, I’ll ask my sister what bra she wears. I think she gets them at Nordstrom’s. I can’t imagine they won’t ship internationally.

Comment by Alison on 3/1/2006 @ 11:47 pm

Lol, my cloth nappy (Aussie) list has *just* been discussing this one!! If I get a minute I’ll collate the links and send them to you. Have you tried Target?? I did see some pretty maternity (both feeding and non-feeding) ones in our local store the other day. HTH!!

Comment by Brandi on 4/1/2006 @ 12:36 am

I don’t know if you can order from Canada, but there is a great store here called Thyme Maternity. Fashionable and reasonable for the most part and very comfortable bras. check out www.thymematernity.com. I know what you are going through though. I think I’ve bought more bras than any other item during my pregnancy last year. Good luck!

Comment by Cher on 4/1/2006 @ 3:26 am

This may sound silly, but if you can find a copy of “The Urban Knitter” by Lily Chin, there is a pattern in there for a knitted bra that actually is pretty comfortable.

Comment by the stripey tiger on 4/1/2006 @ 7:06 am

I know what you mean!! I have gained lots of weight and lost it again over the course of two and a half pregnacies and I have BOXES of clothes undepants and bras in graduating sizes. Skinny, skinny + pregnant, pregnant, pregnant and enormous, post baby and enormous, post baby and middle size, breastfeeding and skinny…. I am at pregant and middle size again at the mo - moving rapidly towards pregnant and very large - Te problem is remember ing what is in each box and having it accessible so that when you slip from one sizer to another there are clothes there for you - So I sympathise wholeheartedly!! :-) Stripey

Comment by Vicki Roy on 4/1/2006 @ 7:47 am

Hi Jo, the australian breastfeeding association (ABA) has a website and they have had nicer smaller bras in cotton too. Also I found this link, http://www.bodywise.com.au, I can’t remember the other company that makes no wire cotton bras that are comfortable. I feel for you when I was pregnant I was an 18G then when I had the baby a 16F, Granny bras it was and oh how ugly they are. Good luck.

Comment by Diana on 4/1/2006 @ 12:12 pm

This may not be helpful to you … but IMHO the whole don’t wear underwire whilst pregnant and/ or breastfeeding is rubbish. I have had 2 pregnancies, breastfed for 12 months with each one and was a 14DD before pregnancy so you can imagine the size when my milk came in. I LOVE my underwires and at that size need them. With first pregnancy did the right thing, wore ugly maternity bras from 7 months preg + and during feeding and I was always flopping around everywhere - uncomfortable. With second one I wore my regular bras up to giving birth (he was 1 month early) and wore feeding bras to start off with but after 3 months went back to my underwires and I would just drop the strap and pull bra down slightly and it was easy and after I could walk around without jiggling. The larger Myer stores in Melbourne have a big range of non-wire bras and the Elle McPherson range of maternity bras used to be more stylish (this is 3 years ago) - they even came in lilac and purple ! and had lots of B cups - which of course I would roll my eyes at given my size

Comment by cindy2paw on 4/1/2006 @ 12:15 pm

Have you been to this site? http://www.bodywise.com.au/ They are Australian and
I have bought from them and they were really helpful when I was unsure of which size to buy. Hope it’s cooler for you soon,
Cindy,
Harki-Parki-Parker-Posey and
Peri Naughty

Comment by Kris on 4/1/2006 @ 1:11 pm

I don’t know about the nursing bra’s that come up to the chin, I didn’t have that problem. I’m like you… I must wear a bra and I need a bra. A real bra. I fell in love with Wacoal brand nursing bra’s. They are hard to find and they don’t sell them in the states so I bought mine over the internet. They are pretty, some are lacy, they actually look like a real bra. I had one in a pretty pink that I wore long after I stopped nursing. Mimi maternity and babystyle.com also had some pretty nursing bra’s if I remember correctly.

Comment by jo on 4/1/2006 @ 3:35 pm

Can’t remember the brand but I bought some black nursing bras from Kmart that i was pretty happy with. Triumph I think? (and they came nowhere near my chin) Otherwise I think sports bras are pretty fab, though generally the styles are pretty limited. The Elle McPherson range sounds like a good bet - have you checked out Myers and DJs?

Comment by Susie on 7/1/2006 @ 11:13 am

Last summer (2004?) Knitty.com had a whole issue devoted to lingerie. There may be a bra pattern there for you. Check the archives.

And I’m still wearing some of my nursing bras, three years after my youngest stopped breast feeding.

Comment by Flora D on 8/1/2006 @ 2:27 pm

I know what you mean about pregnancy/nursing bras in smaller sizes. I have been nursing my second one for 3.5 years (hoping to stop any time now!), and I’ve been wearing those Caleda bralets in a XS for at least three years. Like you said, I am getting tired of wearing the same bra for so many years — even though I have probably 8 of the same bra in different colors.

During my pregnancies and nursing my first child, I wore the Bravado pregnancy/nursing bra and loved them. They do come in B cup size. And they grow with you through one or two cup sizes. They don’t have underwire — just a very supportive and comfortable elastic band. I loved these bras.

They come from Canada. In Australia, I found this address:
Baby Bump
(Heather Durston)
Alice Springs, NT 0871
sales@babybump.com.au
tel: 618 8953 4665

I never wore the traditional up to the neck nursing bra. I tried them but it just seemed that given my small size I just didn’t need all that support and structure.

Good luck with your pregancy!

Comment by Flora D on 8/1/2006 @ 2:31 pm

Oh, I forgot to include the website for the Bravado nursing bras:

http://www.bravadodesigns.com/product.asp?ID=1

Comment by Kaz on 11/1/2006 @ 10:21 am

Check out this pattern for the Itty Bitty Friendship Bra.
http://www.crochetville.org/forum/showthread.php?t=11449
Well…It won’t fit, but its a nice thought for other women!
Every best wish for 2006.

Comment by Mary on 21/1/2006 @ 12:54 pm

Do you have Nordstrom’s in Australia? I believe they are the department store chain that actually has trained bra fitters, (Oprah Winfrey did an entire show on how to get a bra that fits).

What about taking an underwire bra that you like and just removing the wire? Or is that still not what you need.

Sorry — not ever having been pregnant, I’ve not had to deal with the nursing bra thing, but there was one lady on the Oprah show that said she was still wearing her nursing bra, three years later, so, you’re not alone!

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