Bra

Step 8 Underwires

Cut two strips of interfacing, the length of your cups' bottom edge and an inch wide. Fold one in half lengthwise (if you had to use iron-on, make sure the glue is folded inside) and pin it around the bottom edge of a cup, edges out. Place it over the front stay and side piece, leaving a bit of room next to the seam allowance, as in the picture. Stitch the channel down using a quarter inch seam allowance to the edge of the bra cup. The previous stitching lines shouldn't show at all.

Now fold and wrap the underwire channel around to the inside of the bra cup, releasing the stay and the side piece. It should rest a little more than a quarter of an inch inside the cup, and cover all the raw edges. Stitch this in place close to the folded edge of the channel.

Stitch a bar tack across the end of the channel by the center front stay, so the underwires don't come out. Now insert the underwires from the outside edge by just sliding them in the channel you made. The underwires are not symmetrical; there's a shorter end and a longer end although sometimes the difference is small. The longer end goes at the outside edge.