Superior Pattern 9030 • c. 1920s • Ladies’ and Missus’ Bandeau Bra & Bloomers

Seeing as I’m currently wearing one of these, feels like a great place to start with this journal! But where to begin talking about this pattern – ha. First, I’ve only made the bra yet, and the pattern is exceptionally basic. Three pieces: bra front, side / back, & straps. Right away I ditched the strap pieces as I’d seen more elegant solutions on antique examples – silk ribbons. I do deep research for each of my makes and comb through extant garments to pick out era details that I want to incorporate – the straps were the first change.

Before I dive into the rest of this – you should know – I’m a very meticulous craftswoman (more on that another time). If a thing is worth doing it’s worth doing right, and if I’m going to make historical patterns (because I’ve not been able to find true vintage in my size), I’m going to get it as close to an original as I can. & so the hunt was on for a suitable vintage or antique ribbon that would work in terms of size, color, and a material that was both delicate & lux and would hold up over time. Let me just say that the search took ages, but what I was able to find for these bras was a 1930s silk* ribbon from France with gorgeous sheen and softness. Perfection.

*I’m no fabric expert. I know enough though, and go by what sellers describe fabrics as / what I feel confident they are or test to be. So keep this in mind, and feel free to correct me if you know better.

The mock up for this bra was pretty hilarious. It hung on me like a halo of cloth, freewheeling and in no way offering any fit or support (always do a muslin!). The solution was to add in bust darts and take out a lot of the ease. I modified the two body pieces pretty heavily, including adding in French seams to keep things very neat. The pattern also called for just turning the raw edges under and stitching them down. Again, as someone intent on refined craft, I went with bias binding the edges – another detail I’d seen on true vintage 20s bras. This was the hardest part of the material sourcing (when I say I spent a ridiculous amount of time fine tuning and sourcing for these…). I was finally able to find a glorious 1920s petal pink cotton lawn bias tape – in the exact size I needed – that’s so insanely lovely.

Here I’ll share a little trick I worked out while sewing this. The body material is a vintage rayon and even with silk pins I didn’t want to risk unnecessary holes in any of these fabrics. Bobby pins are your new best friend with delicate and somewhat slippery fabrics. They gently held the bias in place as I stitched the one side down (I know there are sewing clips you can buy… but with bobby pins close at hand and super effective, why not?). I actually did nearly all of the sewing without pins. It was nerve wracking at first, but being patient and using a delicate touch worked it all out beautifully.

Did I mention I’m intent on refinement and craft? 😉 When I’m sewing I take pains to “hide the brushstrokes.” If I can at all avoid visible stitching (unless to an artful effect), I do. For the bias binding I hand stitched the turned over edge in place, taking care that it was initially ironed & folded properly so I could hide the stitches behind the front showing edge. Careful consideration was given to the body fabric – a 1930s rayon (blend?) I was able to score – and each stitch made with proper needles to keep the integrity of the fabric strong. Never thought so much could go into a simple looking bra, eh? Well, there’s much more you’re not seeing here. & unfortunately, I can’t show you.

The back closure calls for these three buttons. I adore (adore!) button closures. I don’t know, I just love the idea of them compared to any other closure style. Those buttons took forever to search out as well, they’re so tiny – antique mother of pearl at a scant 5/16 of an inch. Another thing that probably makes me crazy – I love hand sewing button holes. Not the level of focus needed to line them all up perfectly, no that’s awful haha, but actually hand stitching out a button hole is so calming, I look forward to it through my entire make.

What you’re not seeing here, though, is a massive amount of work that went into engineering a fit system that ensures these bras perfectly, gently hug me and guarantees their longevity better than this closure would. I want to say more, I want to show it to you, but I worked so insanely hard on it and I can’t protect the system that I developed (otherwise I would make and offer these for sale), so those secrets stay with me.

At current count I’ve made three in these very fine shell pink 1920s/30s materials. Two in an insanely soft modern cotton with a Kona cotton bias binding and a shimmery 1930s silk/rayon ribbon (I’ve dubbed these my ‘Saltwater Taffy‘ version), and one I completely re-engineered the closure system I developed so it can be worn as a day wear bandeau top. I, love, these, bras.

This bottom one is the daily wear bandeau made from leftovers of my self designed “Leyendecker: Dusk” fabric I originally created to sew my 1931 beach pyjamas (post on that make coming later). I did actually use the strap pattern for this one. You can see me wearing it with my 1939 bolero jacket in this video (post on that make also coming later. & this one is a doozy, whew).

& that’s what went into refining and sewing these 1920s bandeau bras from an original pattern. It was one of the first patterns I ever sewed from (I believe the third) & the pattern pieces themselves had nothing but the early cutout markings to guide (no writing as you find with later patterns), so it was a wild ride. Amazing how much of the difficult parts you can forget after you smooth out the process. Remember when I said I’m meticulous? Yeap, I keep extremely detailed notes as well. If I’m going to work so hard on something, I’m going to plot a course along the way so when I go back to make these I have it all laid out and I can just relax and enjoy the making. I use a sewing planner to keep track of it all & if you’re interested – I got mine here.

Overall, to rate this pattern: straightforward to make, will take a decent amount of work to make it fit right. If you’re a confident sewist who knows your way around fit issues, it’s a good one to make your own, as I’ve done.

Hope you’ve enjoyed learning what it took to bring this antique pattern into a wearable & lux bra! Click the button (scroll back up to the top of this page, it’s on the left) & follow along, I’ll be going into alllllll of my historical pattern makes on this blog. xx –

(Don’t worry, those very fine vintage ribbons don’t live in plastic, it was just for the photo. The patterns are, however, kept in acid free archival plastic bags backed with acid free cardboard.)

Some fine print: All images & text here are held under my copyright and are not to be used, sampled, or otherwise shared for any reasons – commercial, personal, or otherwise – without my express written consent. Thank you. The pattern shown here is an original pattern and part of my personal collection, I don’t offer copies at this time and can’t point you in a direction for other originals or reproductions.

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