Bra fitting help » Do I need more immediate depth/projection at the wires?
Freya » Instinct Padded Half Cup Bra (1753) » 30F 30:7
Issue resolved
My plan is to try a band extender. If that doesn't fix the issue, I think it's either too small of a cup (move to 30FF) or not a good fit. I may end up swapping/selling once I get more bras and see how other ones fit. Thanks everyone!
Original problem
I thought this fit better until I took pictures and wore it at home! But now I see that the wire is about 1/2" to 1" below my IMF, and it's distorting the cups at the bottom. Because of the disortion, I think it's also making the wire dig into my right breast where the gore is. When I do scoop and swoop, I also see the my left nip is just below the top of the cup, but this settles with wear. The cups do lay flat against both breasts at the top as far as I could tell.
I need some suggestions on what direction to go and if this assessment is correct? How is this fit apart from the obvious lower cup issues? Do I need more "immediate projection/depth" at the wire, or is there something else going on?
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Suggestions (3)
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helpfulHmm... well, Freya's half cups are not THE deepest around, of course--they're more of the wide and shallow persuasion. But they're not nearly shallow enough, normally, to explain the weirdness of this fit. You have moderate projection but you're not extremely projected. It looks to me like you could be losing some cup depth due to a too-snug band. You're fairly lean around the ribcage and don't have a huge, heavy bosom to support so you could probably afford to use another 1" of length using an extender, and it might really help the cup fit. I don't know if it would help enough to make this a fabulous bra that you'll love, but it will probably help a bit.
You look to be wearing the band too low in the photos and I'm assuming that is due to band snugness, but if it's not, you could just try pulling everything northwards and seeing if it stays put at that level and if that helps the fit of the cups.
Updated on September 21, 2016 Flag this
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The band feels pretty comfy, and the 32s that I've been wearing (and the ones I tried on yesterday) were too stretchy. When I pull the bra up, it resists getting in my IMF, and no matter what the cups are pulling down on their own pretty quickly. Is there another style that may work better? I have somewhat squishy tissue from breastfeeding twice, so I need lift and support! I've only ever worn push up plunges, but they never fit right, so I'm not sure what to try now. I have a few more styles coming from another bratabase user too, so I might get my answer...
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rainbrasspetals no of course not. I am not a complete moron, only a part-time one, thank you :-) What is it with everyone being so nasty to each other lately?! I am talking to this particular person, so I am saying I would not expect it to do this on her, specifically. I don't think that's a mean thing to say...
Wilderness1 I do agree Freya 32s would be way too big on you, but this appears to be an oddly tight 30 (you measure it as 29.6" stretched so basically +0 band sizing compared to your comfy underbust, which is rarely needed to stay put on someone as lean as you) and that is why I suggested adding just a bit of length with an extender, which would bring the length to about 30.5" and allow the cups to sit where they are supposed to and see if that affords enough room at the base or not. This would still fit much more snug than a 32. Of course there's no guarantee it would make this bra work as well as you'd want , as the cup remains, of course, fairly wide and shallow in the absolute, but if you do like the bra it would help establish if it can work at all. We can see in pic #7 how the cups are sort of orienting themselves east-west more than I'd expect, which is a sign that high tension on the band is pulling the cups outward instead of letting them sit front and center.
If that still does not work, which is possible, that will establish that these Freya halfcups are too shallow for you, in which case you might find a better fit in unlined Cleos. I would just retake your lying down perimeter as it would be a little unexpected for a 10" boob to fit without quadding in this Freya which is 9.2". I think you will be between 30 and 32 bands depending on the brand
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wendybien... I'll have to give that a try. I don't currently have any bra extenders, but I'm gonna search around for one (I'm sure they're easy to find). This particular bra is non-returnable too, so I would like to make it work if I can! Also, I do have some other brands on their way this week from another user, including a cleo lucy, so it'll be nice to compare.
I'm open to any and all suggestions and feedback as I'm super new to all this bra fitting business.... I just appreciate that I'm not all on my own trying to figure this out! :)
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@wendybien
:( so I'm guessing the attempt to convey that that was meant as a friendly nudge with the smiley instead came across as super passive aggressive? You were sort of meant to laugh, but I thought the reminder might be useful for newbies.
And if I was wrong, I was genuinely open to hear this. I'm still only operating on the fuzzy presumption that my own issue is about needing more projection :\
ETA: oh!! I do have something hopefully more helpful to add, which is that I got a great deal on a pack of extenders on Amazon...
I had previously bought extenders in some stores but they turned out to have a giant stretchy middle which made them MUCH too generous for solving the problem of only slightly too small bras, but these extenders I bought on the word of a friend who promised they were what you'd expect:
The only problem is that they have a loooong shipping time :( but I'm really looking forward to this huge variety of colors in 2-and-3 hooks.
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rainbrasspetals.... It was indeed helpful advice, and I've been looking for bras with a bit more projection now. Hope there's no hard feelings felt by anyone....
Anyways, holy crap those are cheap in the states! Good deal! I checked out amazon.ca (I'm in Cnd), and they're $45.00 plus $5.50 shipping, haha! A bit of a discrepancy, geeze. I do know someone in the states I could order these to, but it'd be Dec before I got them. Thanks for the advice though, truly appreciated.
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Yes I definitely read that totally differently than you intended rainbrasspetals. Thank you for clarifying.
I agree those extenders with the elastic in the middle are a travesty! Wilderness1 I am sure you can find normally priced bra extenders in Canada, just not on amazon apparently haha. Check a store where they sell sewing notions or a maternity store, or the lingerie department of a large store! -
wendybien phew :(
On the extenders: yeah I agree I'm sure you can find some in Canada!
Not as good a deal but way better than that nonsense you got from my first link :\ One of the related items is a pack of 3 hooks by the same company.
The things to watch out for, wherever you buy them, is no elastic middle part and enough of the material to comfortably cover the books when fastened. I've got one bra that is a little short on material at the end of its band and sometimes I can actually feel the hooks. :(
Ideally you would also get some that reviews say feel nice on the skin, but if you buy them in person that might be tricky...
Good luck!!
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Oh, thanks for that link! And thanks for the advice on extenders, I totally wouldn't have known what to watch for! :)
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helpfulI'm actually wondering whether the cups are too small for you, and your boobs are just fighting to find the room they need! The cup depth is nearly an inch less than your breast perimeter. Also, by comparison with my own Freya half-cups, this seem to have less coverage than I would expect. Maybe try a cup size up?
Updated on September 22, 2016 Flag this
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alexad (Hmm, I did reply this morning, but nothing here? odd) Thanks for the feedback... I actually wondered that too. I have a bit of boob muffin-top on the outer/upper cup, and the other bras I tried on yesterday were fitting in 30FF. My range is supposed to be 30F to 30G, but the 30Gs I tried yesterday were too big on the top of the cup. I got this bra 50% off, so I couldn't try the 30FF.
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helpfulOh, hey, I own this one! On mine, the cups come up quite a bit higher -- nipples are not in any danger of escaping -- so maybe the problem is at least partly needing to go up a cup size? Mine's a 28E that fits fine (with strap tightening) despite my otherwise wearing Freya 28DDs. Not that Freya is anything like consistent between models, but you get what I mean. Good luck!
Updated on September 22, 2016 Flag this
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spiderwoman oh, okay, that's really good to know! This is the closest I've come so far to a fitting bra (obviously not there yet), so I'm just learning what to really watch for in fit. I was just amazed that I fit into something that ended in "F", as I've been wearing 34Cs or 32Ds. I'm starting to get over the shock value, but it's taking time.
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Personally I've found that I get this exact problem from bras that are too shallow for me: my boobs migrate the band down in order to find the deepest part of the cups, and I wind up with wrinkling and a band that's lower than it's supposed to be. It isn't something I do to myself (I start the bra out higher up), but something that just happens over the course of the day.
Also, do you really mean that Freya isn't shallow enough to do this on _anyone_? Surely which bras are deep enough and which are too shallow is a very relative thing. :)
I'm not saying this used wouldn't benefit from trying a slightly larger band, but in my dreaded Fantasie Rebecca Spacer bras, I had this problem consistently, whether I was wearing a 34, a 32, or a 30. The band riding down made it very difficult to tell which one was the right size because they were all equally uncomfortable. :\