Lilypadesigns Lanai Wireless Bra Pattern Review & Debug

Since its release, the Lanai by Lilypadesigns has been a wireless staple of the home bra making community. It's frequently recommended for larger busts due to its size range (28-44 A-DD, DD-GG, GG-KK).

I've never owned a wireless bra, so I wanted to learn more about fitting them - and answer the question: Can wireless bras be supportive in my large cup and small band size? What design features does it need to do this?

I've seen successes and failures making this bra, and there are some commonly suggested alterations and fitting practices on Lily Fong's blog and facebook group, and in the pattern instructions, which don't necessarily align with my fitting style. I decided to approach this following my own instincts and experience, with an eye towards following those recommendations if I felt I wasn't making progress. 

 

In the end, I did not use any of the suggested alterations and instead came up with some new ones. I feel these better address what I consider to be flaws in the pattern: geometric errors and tension distribution faults. I don't have any pictures of the fitting stages of this pattern as I didn't initially intend to write a blog post on this, but I think a discussion of these issues may be helpful to a broader audience and might help others achieve a better fit. 

 

An extended version of this blog post is available to read on my ko-fi. Donate to read this and my other extended versions for just £2/$3!

 

As it stands, I feel I have made the bra to my preference and am happy with the outcome. I did spend a few rounds of alteration fixing the aforementioned pattern flaws, which prevented me from spending more time fine-tuning the shape. It's purported that the gore can tack on the Lanai even in larger busts - I did not pursue this while fitting and I do have some additional thoughts on that topic for later on.

 

Part 0: Size range and true-to-sizeness

 

I made this bra in a 28H (5.2 cup) with no alterations initially, which put me squarely in the smallest band and largest cup combination of this pattern's size set. During the fitting process, I gained weight and needed to increase cup volume in addition to the other alterations I made, which is technically outside of the pattern's size range. I ended up going up to a bra with approximately 31.4cm HH and 14.9cm BCD on a 30 band, albeit with alterations which reduced the volume significantly (hence why I call it a 30H instead of 30HH). I would say one cup size was as a result of the alterations, and the other (and the band size) was because of the weight gain.

 

The cups are graded typically, with average projection for their given cradles. However, I found that the cups were roomy for their measurements due to the excess outer cup roundness and unusual cradle shape adding volume. If you like the rounded outer cup, you may need to size down in larger sizes, if not, then choose the size that corresponds to your measurements and make the power bar roundness alteration.

 

In all of the Lilypadesigns patterns, there is a recommendation to choose HH and BCD sizes separately - that is, pick a size that corresponds to your breast's circumference (horizontal hemisphere) and then blend the lower cup with a size that corresponds to your nipple-to-inframammary fold measurement (bottom cup depth). I did not follow this as I find that doing this causes fit issues due to an imbalance in the shape of the bra, and does not result in a better fit. I went with the size that fit my HH measurement best and did not measure my BCD. 

 

I have not assessed the A-DD and GG-KK size sets of this bra, however, I suspect most of the same fit issues I discuss below may apply, especially in the GG-KK sizes. If you are in one of these size sets (and even in the DD-GG), I recommend checking to see if the alterations suggested here apply to your bra before making them. 

 

 

Part 1: How a wireless bra works

 

There are a few different ways in which a wireless bra can support a bust, all of which come with their own compromises in terms of the shape and coverage level you can get. The Lanai's support style is full encapsulation, with the strap and neckline system providing stability to the cradle and allowing the cups to be suspended from them. The neckline and strap region are meant to sit tight to the body so that the cradle does not collapse open when the band pulls on it (whereas in a wired bra, typically it's the strength of the wire that prevents this).

 

Part 2: Band fit and comfort

 

My initial bra was a 28H without any alterations, and, unfortunately, it was immediately uncomfortable when worn. It felt like the band sat low on my body, tight at the lower elastic and loose at the upper. I also noticed there was quite a lot of weight on my shoulders too, and I had to take the bra off after about 10 minutes due to this. There were some minor wrinkles coming out from the lower outer corner of the cradle, moving diagonally upwards and flowing into the hook and eye.

The arcs show where the centre of the hook and eye is aligned, red is the original pattern and green is the alteration. Illustrative only.

I fixed the upper band looseness by moving the hook and eye upwards - improving comfort substantially - but after I made this alteration, the side wrinkles increased. In this case, the cradle shape is to blame here.

I also removed the back strap extension and altered the angle of the side seam as personal preference.

 

After altering the cradle shape (see below), I found that here is the optimal spot for the centre of the H&E (similar to the positioning on a wired bra), which is found on my 28H version. Moving it higher on my 30H version (which had the same cradle) caused the wrinkles to return a little. 

 

Part 3: Cradle shape & cradle collapse

 

The cradle for this bra is an unusual shape. Its curve is very deep, almost a U shape, when compared to a typical cradle in a wireless (or wired, for that matter) bra. While the cradle is not limited by wire shape, it is still limited by material properties - and I have come to believe that this shape causes lots of issues when supporting a heavier bust.

 

This deep U curve has weak points, causing the cradle to hinge open easily and direct tension below the band rather than distributing it evenly up and down into the bra. This hinging also causes wrinkles as the fabric folds.

 

 

The red arrows show where a lot of tension flows through the bra, and changing the blue curve to green helped these regions become a lot stronger.

After altering the outer cradle into a stronger shape - that is, one with a smoother curve -, the band finally became comfortable and supportive in my 28H version.

 

I later noticed that the inner cradle was also collapsing at the deepest point in its curve, causing a deep fold that my breasts sunk into. Smoothing the curve out here stopped this inner cradle collapse.

Of course, when smoothing out these curves in the cradle the wireline also becomes shorter, so I adjusted the cup pattern pieces for this using the technique laid out in my [wireline alteration], focusing on the regions of the cup impacted by this change.

 

Part 3.5: Cradle size and cup volume, and a cradle narrower than your breast root? 

 

After making the alterations listed below to the standard 28H - to the outer cup height, power bar, cradle shape, and neckline, the volume in the cups is reduced significantly. So sizing up the cup radius was a must for me, even before the weight gain.

 

To do this without having to re-do all of the alterations, I digitally scaled the pattern to increase the radii of my cup pieces to match a larger cup volume, and then used my wireline adjustment to ensure they all fit properly into the old cradle - including the neckline.

 

It is important that the cradle fits well on your body, as I initially experimented with scaling up the cradle as well. This gave a bra with the right volume but an incorrect depth-to-width ratio, which caused a big loss of support. In a wired bra, you can get away with this sometimes as the wire provides rigidity for the bra to sit a little below your breast root. Not here! Ensuring this ratio is correct is vital in a style like this, but that raises the question: what is the correct cradle height and width?

 

Fong recommends something quite unusual in this bra - fitting the cradle to be narrower than the breast root. I believe that this is a way of compensating for cradle collapse, especially when alterations are made to the V shaping to attempt to increase upper band tension (which often increases the collapse). I have not seen this fix work amazingly in larger sizes, the wrinkles persist and the collapsed cradle has some cup shaping implications, even if tension is maintained a little better.

 

I chose this cradle size based on the standard one for 28H. I kept it when sizing up to 30H, and the increased projection makes it look a little large on my body. Still, despite this minor excess width, it is very functional and I am happy with the fit. So I do not at all believe that the cradle needs to be narrower than the breast root as long as it functions correctly, and it proportionally sits well on your body and is reasonably close to your breast root without a lot of excess material wrapping around your sides.

 

Part 4: Power bar roundness

 

In my recent post on power bar shaping, I found this bra pattern to be one with a lot of added roundness in the outer cup. While this may be preferred by some, I found that my arms swiped against the side of my breasts when I moved them, which I did not enjoy. It also gave my breasts a bit of an odd appearance from the front. 

 

Blue denotes the original power bar shape compared to the inner cup, and red and green two alterations to reduce the outer cup darting. Red perserves the original wireline, and this resulted in further fit issues due to issues with this wireline shape.

I removed most of the dart from the power bar, changing the shape of the power bar seam to match the inner lower cup almost perfectly. In the end, there was about a 1cm space between the two seams when laid out, to add a small amount of roundness. 

 

I am now happy with the side support in this bra, as its original state had a major impact on its wearability. Removing this extra roundness does reduce cup volume, so bear this in mind if you want to make this alteration. 

 

Part 5: Power bar wireline and its major impact on support

 

I cannot stress the importance of this section enough in terms of making this bra supportive.

In my initial power bar roundness alteration, I tried to preserve the angle between the underarm curve and the wireline on the pattern, which resulted in an unusually shaped power bar. I proceeded, and when sewing it up I noticed that the strap sat very "forwards", away from the body, even without any weight in the bra. 

 

I initially believed this to be a problem with the overall length of the neckline, but when making this alteration I also re-altered the power bar to be a more "standard" shape while removing the excess rounding. This fixed the problem, and later I understood why.

 

 

The original (blue) power bar has a large dart when aligned with the cradle tip. This effect is similar in both the original and updated cradles.

 

In the original draft, aligning the power bar with the cradle (original or altered, both are basically the same in this regard), a dart can be seen between the power bar and cradle. In most other bras, and in my altered version, typically the power bar ends up overlapping with the cradle.

 

This dart has major implications. When the pieces are sewn together, the dart pulls the power bar down into the cradle and thus pulls the strap outwards, in the third dimension. When this is worn, the strap sits away from the body, and the entire cup sags downwards, either reducing support or putting excess pressure on the shoulders as the straps work to pull it back in. This issue gets worse the larger you go in volume, so fixing it is essential in larger sizes if you are looking for support.

 

Part 5.5: Taking a dart out of the power bar?

 

A typically recommended alteration for this bra is taking a dart through the power bar - usually terminating somewhere in the lower cup, sometimes in the wireline. Narrowing the power bar helps reduce how much the cup sags forwards, but other effects can also be seen:

If the dart terminates in the lower cup, the relationship between the strap attachment and the cup wireline is improved by a small amount, and so this will help with lift. However, it will worsen the outer cup rounding by adding to the dart between the power bar and lower middle cup. 

 

Terminating the dart in the wireline has a neutral or negative impact on the strap attachment/cup wireline relationship (depending on position), possibly making this issue worse - but I suspect this is overridden by the improvement from narrowing.

 

Terminating the dart in these locations has a different effect on the wireline relationship

Narrowing the power bar also changes the proportions of the bra, meaning that if you want a wide power bar to help with side support, you will be restricted here.

 

So both of these will have a positive impact on this issue, but kind of circle around the root of the problem, as well as having other fitting implications in the bra. So my advice, if you're tempted to take a dart in the power bar, is to proceed with caution and try to determine exactly which fit issue (outer cup rounding, lack of upper band tension, or the strap sitting away from the body) you are trying to fix.

 

Part 6: Neckline length

 

The total neckline length from gore to strap to outer cradle tip needs to be short enough to carry tension across the upper edge of the bra. Due to the encapsulatory nature of this bra, this length should be very similar in different people wearing the same size, so, in a well-designed pattern, this should not need to be significantly altered for personal fitting. It will also be similar to the flat distance between the two cradle tips, accounting for some difference due to the bra wrapping around the body.

The neckline should be close to this length, as though the bra were sewn and then projected onto the flat page

My initial - and incorrect - assessment of the "strap sitting forwards" issue was that the neckline itself was too long, and I took around 2cm out of the neckline length of the 28H volume, not wishing to reduce the width of the power bar.

 

I took evenly spaced darts in the upper cup from the neckline to the horizontal seam. Because I performed this alteration simultaneously with the wireline angle change on the power bar, I cannot say for certain whether the neckline itself was, in fact, too long on my body. Shortening the neckline also moves the straps inwards in this style, which again has other fitting implications. 

 

There is evidence that the neckline did need shortening: the neckline on my 30H is a little longer than on my 28H, and the upper band tension feels slightly reduced. My cradle is also about 1.5cm wider at the outer tip than the original, due to the curvature change I made. So ultimately I think there probably is an issue of neckline length in this bra, but I am not as confident about this as with the other issues.

 

If I were to fit the bra again, I would probably leave the neckline length initially, only changing it if I felt there was an issue with support after altering the band/cradle and power bar.

 

Part 5: Outer cup height

 

After I had made the power bar shaping adjustment, it occurred to me that the outer upper cup had become very tall. I had maintained the length of the power bar seam, just changed the shaping, so the extra height had to go somewhere - and in this case, it went upwards. I realised then just how much excess overall height is in the outer cup.

 

This excess being moved higher in the cup caused a bit of a strange shape, pushing my tissue outwards just below the strap rather than this area sitting relatively flat as it would in most bras.

 

I initially took the inner purple dart and then the red dart, but the outer purple dart would have been better

I took darts from the apex to the underarm which worked nicely to remedy this issue (which was partially of my own making), although in retrospect I should have terminated the dart in the armpit rather than continued it through - this might help the strap attachment point sit a little higher.

Part 7: Gore tacking

 

As I said before, I did not pursue making the gore tack in this bra, and it doesn't, but it comes close and I don't have any breast tissue touching in the centre. Had I used wire channelling as recommended (I opted for seam tape to cover the cradle seam) it may become a little closer by adding some rigidity here.

 

Fong says that moving the straps to be over the apex - which I didn't do - helps the gore to tack. It may, but I think past a certain size a tacking gore is not a goal worth pursuing. The reason is that at a certain volume (and shape), the bra needs to compress the bust inwards to create a fashionable silhouette. This, naturally, causes the bust to push outwards on the bra, especially at the front. The only thing holding the gore in is the tension that goes through the neckline and into the straps. Because this region sits only a little in front of the shoulders when viewed from the top down, it's very difficult to hold this region inwards while compressing the bust significantly. 

 

 

If you really want a tacking gore, I believe the best thing to do is to provide lots and lots of projection, so the bust is not compressed much at all. But you may have to sacrifice a rounded silhouette (as viewed from the side) to achieve it. I'm reminded of those very projected and pointy Jeunique bras, does anyone remember those? Perhaps the strap move will help if you are still struggling, I am not sure. 

 

Part 7.5: Move the straps in?

 

Moving the straps inwards is commonly recommended in this bra both to improve overall lift and to help the gore tack, as mentioned above. 

 

Because there are so many issues with the support structure of this bra, I am not exactly sure which specific issues this helps address.  However I believe it may help prevent the collapse in the centre front (which is contributed to by the cradle shape), and I believe the alteration makes the neckline functionally shorter too, due to how it is performed.  

 

I didn't purposefully move the straps in this version, although they are now pretty central due to my neckline shortening. I don't really recommend moving the straps as I think there are other ways to make the bra fit better, and having the straps too central reduces support from the side. Furthermore, not addressing the other support issues will leave the straps doing more work than they should.

 

Extension - Neckline Angles, and Materials

 

In the extended version of this blog post, I talk about the assumptions I had made about the neckline and straps going into the bra, and what I got right - and wrong - about their angles and how this impacts the support of the bra. I also write about suitable materials in a wireless style.

 

You can read this post - and other extended versions of my blog posts - for just £2/$3. Subscribe monthly to support my work! 

 

I also offer pattern fitting consultations, so if you're struggling with the Lanai or any other bra pattern, click through to the commissions tab for some one-on-one support. 

 

Summary

 

All in all, I made multiple changes to the bra that turned it from non-functional to functional: the hook and eye, the cradle shape on the inner and outer cradle, the wireline shape of the power bar, and (probably) the neckline length. Because these changes are in the geometry and tension of the bra itself, they will be near universal for anyone trying my size, and scale up and down accordingly for other sizes. These are the kinds of alterations that should have been implemented during pattern testing for me to feel comfortable recommending this bra in the DD-GG size set. As it stands, I warn anyone who is not very experienced and has a well-fitting bra pattern to stay away.

 

I also found the lower cup roundness of the power bar shaping to be unwearable as it caused me physical discomfort, although that is more on the side of (questionable) design choice than flaw.

 

Perhaps to those intrepid makers still looking to take on the challenge, this blog post will provide some useful guidance and speed up the fitting process, because I did end up with a pretty nice bra at the end. There's still more to learn about this pattern, and had the bra started off without these errors I would have had time to make smaller tweaks and experiment with things like the dimensions, the fullness distribution, the seam positioning, the coverage.