#watson bra

Yes, I do think I'm funny.

Anyway, I've seen a few people do version of the Watson Bra that are pull-ons instead of having a back closure. That really appealed to me because as much as I love the Watson bras I've made, bra closures aren't super comfy to sleep in and they're another finding to buy to match your fabric.

Unfortunately, none of the people who have made this closure-less adaptation have written up their process (that I can find), so I was starting from scratch.

My Theory

Using a medium-stretch fabric in the cradle gives you a bit of wiggle room already to get a closure-less bra over your head and shoulders, so the only alteration should be the back band (which is already made of a medium-stretch fabric).

In theory, you should just need to measure how much length the closed closure adds between the band on either side, add that amount of fabric to what would be the center back of the band piece, and cut your new pattern piece as one piece on the fold.

My Method

All the Watsons I've made so far fit best on the loosest hook (that means I'll be able to hook it tighter as the elastic starts to wear out).

To give myself a bit more ease, I measured the total width of the closure on the middle hook instead. That came to a nice even 2 inches.

See that crossed-out paragraph? That makes no sense. How would making the closure length smaller give me more room in the band??? [Spoiler alert: It turned out fine. It's less than half and inch difference. But it was still nonsense.]

I traced the band pattern piece onto paper, then marked out the seam allowance at the center back (1/4 inch) and "removed" it (aka erased that part of the tracing.

Where I removed the seam allowance, I added half of the bra closure width (half of 2in is 1in) leaving the addition the same height as the height of the band where it was attached. There's no need to add the seam allowance back, since I'll be cutting this pattern piece on the fold of the fabric.

I made sure to note on my new pattern piece where the fold would be and that was it! (I hoped.)

Construction

I used the same floral rib knit as the underwear I just posted for my main fabric. The whole thing was lined in powernet (a mix of leftover terracotta powernet and new white powernet which turned out way cuter than I expected). The elastics were all left over from the terracotta kit as well.

Assembly of the Watson bralette was exactly the same as usual except for the back closure and the straps.

Obviously there is no back closure, which eliminates the last step of the usual process. The strap attachment needs to be adjusted, though.

I attached the straps right before bed on the Monday of Labor Day weekend and made a bunch of dumb mistakes because I was tired and running out of thread, so I won't tell you how I did it. Sorry.

[Image ID: the same bra as the above picture, turned inside out and laid flat to show the mismatched lining. /end ID]

Final Thoughts

By some minor miracle, this method of converting the Watson bra to a closure-less bralette worked really well!

It fits, it's comfy, and I still absolutely adore this fabric/elastic combo.

I'll definitely be making closure-less Watson bralettes in the future, but there's one last adjustment I'd like to make - keeping the center back band the same height as where it attaches to the cradle, instead of narrowing where the straps would be attached on the original. I think that might make it feel... sturdier somehow. More supportive.

Maybe next time I'll attach the straps in a sensible way and tell you how I did it.

I'm thrilled with how this turned out, though!