Bra fitting help » Is my band too tight? Gore too wide?
Cleo » Lucy Balconnet Bra (5851) » 30G 30:9
Issue resolved
Band way too tight and cups possibly too small!
Original problem
I'm hoping to God this is my first bra that ACTUALLY FITS, but maybe I'm so desperate to finally find my first one that I'm overlooking flaws.
1. The gore: I feel like it's a little too wide, and like it pushes my girls apart just a little too much. Or maybe it's too high? I'm not sure what the reason is, but it makes my cleavage feel a little itchy and uncomfortable. I'm willing to ignore it, though, if it FITS, and I'm just not used to the higher gore.
2. The band: When I was first measured, the fitter read me as a 30" band. The band still dug into my underbust similarly to how it does now - and how it does in these photos. Is my band too tight? Is it normal for it to cause so much... indentation? Wendy told me not to use the phrase "back fat", so I'm working on it. ;P
3. The cups: I feel a liiiittle like I am perilously close to quad-boobing. When I scooped and swooped, I felt like my left breast had the tiniest bit of quad going on at the top of the cups (and I also felt like the gore being annoying was more apparent). I wondered if I was doing s+s too severely, though (I tend to be a little too intense, lol) so redid s+s a little more gently and tugged upwards on the edge of the cups after s+s (results are what you see here).
Halp?!
EDIT: I took new photos of how the bra looked when I ORIGINALLY swooped and scooped (maybe I overdid the swooping and scooping?). The new photos are the ones that are brighter because I used the flash.
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Suggestions (4)
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2
helpful
I think you would be happier in a 32 band, yes, at least in unlined Cleos. This will keep the wires from distorting and actually will lead to slightly more effective volume in the cups/it will be pulled less shallow.
Updated on September 10, 2014 Flag this
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I think it could be due to the band being too tight *and* the cup being too small. Try an extender, and if that works out, but there's still quad boob, go for a 32G.
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Ok, I will give that a shot then! Hopefully it will be comfier lol. I'm also wondering if maybe this specific model just isn't going to work for me due to cup width? I'm never really sure how to go with widths because of the big difference between my right and left breast widths.
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Some people actually like their bra band to be really tight. I personally don't, but it's a very individual thing. Yes, it definitely looks like it's on the tighter side for you, but go by your comfort level rather than some ideal standard. Does it FEEL overly tight? How about when you wear an extender? If you can put on a 3" extender and it still doesn't ride up and still feels secure, yes, you probably are better in 32s in this particular bra.
Updated on September 10, 2014 Flag this
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Hmm ok! I actually don't have an extender but I should probably order one. :) What do you think of the new photos I posted where I swooped and scooped harder? Did I over-do it, or does it show a more accurate picture of how the bra fits on me?
EDIT: I should note the newer photos are the brighter ones where I used flash. :) -
Whoa! Big change in fit there. After scooping and swooping, it definitely looks like either band, cup or both are too small in some way. It could be that the tight band is pulling the wires back causing you to lose cup depth, or it could be that the cups themselves need to be deeper, or it could be both.
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Ok, I see! Maybe if it is pulling the wires back so much that is also contributing to the wires looking too wide as well? And any opinion as to whether or not I'm being overly sensitive about the gore? :P Sorry for all my questions -- I feel like I don't know anything about this bra stuff. x_x
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After my recent experience in the Lucy, I'd say try a 32G. The Lucy runs tight. I had problems with the gore, too; it's too wide for me and actually folded over on itself a bit. You might just need a narrower gore if it bugs you (bugged me enough that I don't want to try that particular model again). Lily is better in that regard (and sized similarly).
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I can't say for sure if the gore itself is too wide, or whether the cups just lack adequate volume on the inner quadrant--but either way you are not overreacting. The scooped and swooped pics definitely show overflow/failure to contain all the breast tissue at the center.
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Hmmm thanks for the idea -- the Lily is super pretty; maybe I will give it a shot once I sell a few non-fitting (see: all of the ones I own) bras! Haha!
And Wendy, thanks for the assurance that I'm not imagining it. I'm just so confused because if you look at the photo of my right breast with my arm down, I'm overflowing at the top, but then there's this weird wrinkly folded over section where my boob and the side of my boob looks SO WEIRD. I don't understand how it can do both of those things at the same time.
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Yeah that's because the band's too tight and/or the cup lacks depth. Your boob can't fit into that space at the side & bottom of the cup so they just sit empty.
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I altered my Lucy the sewing the gore along the side of the underwires, making the gore narrower and therefore pulling the breasts closer together. This helped a bit before I realised I still needed to size up two cup sizes because I was quadboobing, and get a one band bigger because the band was digging in. So I went from 36H to 38GG, did the same gore alteration, and after that it's fitted me fine.
Updated on September 10, 2014 Flag this
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Did you just fold in the gore on itself and sew it that way to make the whole thing closer together?
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I pressed the wires together and then sew along the edge of the wires, so the extra fabric in the gore was left like a 'flap'. Probably not the best solution but it worked, just had to tuck the remaining fabric flat on either side of the gore when wearing the bra.
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Agreeing with teremaailma! With a loose underbust measurement of 32.2" you're definitely closer to a 32 band. Unpadded Cleos generally run true to size, except for the Marcie/George clones which run tighter, so many people prefer to sister size up in the band.
Updated on September 12, 2014 Flag this
Hmm, interesting! If you check out my shots where I swooped and scooped as much as I possibly could, you can see the quadding which is making me wonder if it's too shallow -- which is maybe related to the tight band? Thoughts?