Our Bra Kits take the guesswork out of bra building by putting together everything you'll need to make a beautiful bra using your own pattern. If you need a pattern, we have a great selection on our Patterns Page, both paper and downloadable.
There is nothing quite like silk for lingerie! These kits feature our Stretch Silk Satin, which is a woven product, in a bra kit. This silk works very well for bras due to the presence of that little bit of lycra in the fabric. This allows the fabric to have a bit of give to relieve the pressure on the seam. It also helps to stabilize the weave from silk's tendency to ravel. Finally, adding the Sheer Cup Lining underneath is a light and airy way to solidify the support on the bra and further protect the seams without adding any bulk. Finally, you can add a kit length of any of our laces to your kit. A kit length of lace is either 1 1/2 yards for laces wider than 7" or 2 yards for laces under 7" wide.
If you would like more silk, pop on over to our listing for silk yardage and we'll do our best to cut all your silk together. You can pair the silk with one of our stretchy fabrics like Microlycra, Microlycra Air or Stretch Mesh to make a lovely pair of undies to match your silk bra. There isn't enough give in the fabric (about 15%) to make them entirely out of silk unless you treat the silk like you would any other non-stretch fabric or lace. Those darling tulle lace panty patterns out there will work great! Our Glimmer panties are a nice match to the shiny silk as well.
For matching fabrics and elastics colors to your silk, use the "Any Special Requests" box. We have worked hard to get a color that matches in natural light for the majority of our silks, but at this time Peony and Electric Blue are still evading us. Azalea and River are our closest matches for now. These colors both look very striking with an otherwise-all-black set, too! Please note that if you are ordering items separately that you want to match- Latte Silk is currently matching closer to Oyster, Frosted Petals silk is currently closer to Ballet, Merlot goes beautifully with Cranberry silk and Scarlet is our best match for Fire Red silk.
There are three supportive power net options to choose with your silk bra. Use our regular (medium) weight power net for 75% stretch, great comfort, and very good support. Use our 50% stretch firm weight power net for even more support. This power net is light, airy and breathable, and it still has excellent support. Our stabilized firm power net is another 50% stretch firm weight power net, but it is more rigid and structured for the figure that might want to spill out of the back and sides. The stabilized firm weight is the power net that Bravo Bella carried for much of 2017 and 2018. For some sizes, you have enough fabric to make 2 bras. You get a full half yard of silk. Larger sizes should upgrade with an extra kit cut of Sheer Cup Lining. To get the most out of your supplies, order a bra finishing kit in the same or a complimentary color to get a second bra out of your kit.
This kit contains:
- 18" x 42" of Stretch Silk Satin
- 18" x 30" of Sheer Cup Lining
- 14" x 28" of power net (choose regular, firm or stabilized firm weight)
- 1 1/4 yards of 5/8" or 1/2" lower band elastic
- 1 1/2 yards of 3/8" upper band elastic
- 1 yard of channeling
- 1/2 yard of twill tape for seam stabilization (if requested)
- A set of hooks and eyes (specify 2, 3 or 4)
- Your choice of strap elastic
- A pair of underwires
Silk shown as the kit is the color Spiced Wine. Bra was made by Monica from Bravo Bella Bras in Taupe with Swirling Taupe lace. This is her Bravo Bra #2 pattern, which she changed up using the techniques in her Design Changes for Bras tutorial. The boyshorts are from her Bravo Bottoms #2 pattern.
Sewing Notes:
This satin sews like a dream! It's usually best to keep the silk against the feed dogs. Use silk pins like our Silk or Ultrafine pins. These didn't mar the fabric at all. The fabric doesn't seem to be fussy about needle size, but you should probably use a size 10 needle. Check out a few different scissors to find the best ones. The Clover Bordeaux Ultimate Shears worked great. I do not carry them since you can get them for the same price I can if you pop over to Amazon.