Olympia

Beverly Johnson, your one and only Fairy Bra Mother, is travelling around the world in her exciting Master Classes. Designed to lift you up beyond the basics into a whole new world of bra sewing mastery, her decades of knowledge and experience will guide you as you advance your own bra mastery in this project based modular learning experience.  With Beverly’s help you will soon be creating wireless bras with brilliantly incorporated support elements usually found in only the finest specialty boutiques.  An Olympia teaching pattern was created by Beverly exclusively for her Mastery students, with a built-in power bar and support collar in the front with FOUR interchangeable back views. There is also an option for a front zipper, or a wide elastic bottom band. Each view of Olympia is designed to take you a step forward in your bra-making journey. Using this exclusive new pattern you will learn to create bras that are not only beautiful but that include advanced wireless  elements, such as:

-Built-in Power Bar
-Built-in front Support Collar
-a front zipper option
-along with Advanced Construction Techniques, and more!

This mastery course includes hours of instructional video covering all four included Olympia design views with their front support details and four unique back styles, which can all be used with the various fronts. It’s a library of wireless design options! This master class in wireless bra engineering will soon have you dreaming ow ways to use Olympia. Our testers used Olympia as a sports bra (with the racer back), a posture bra (with the full posture power bars), and everyday wireless bra (with the standard bra back) and a bra with no-fall shoulder straps (with the extended bra back)

As part of every class, you will get access to Beverly’s private Facebook group, whose members include students of her classes, her Certified Instructors, and fitting experts from around the world. It’s a great community support group, to share your triumphs and get advice for any challenges you may face.

That’s not all! You also receive, as part of the class, your own personal Olympia pattern in a size range that includes your own BCD size with 5 band sizes, but also 1  BCD size larger and 1 smaller, so you have 15 bra sizes included with the lessons. Yes, these patterns are now in .pdf format, so you can print them at home – no special printer needed (you can print on either letter size or A4 paper) Most pattern pieces use one sheet of paper with only the largest sizes using more than one. You won’t have to spend hours taping patterns together. Just print and start cutting. Don’t have a printer? Don’t worry – we also include a full-size pattern for each size so you can take it to a copy shop, or upload the file to a projector to avoid using paper altogether.

The class includes printable instructions for all four views and their four different backs, an option to use a zipper front and a wide elastic bottom band, plus the instructional videos, all taught by the Fairy Bra Mother herself. Hours of video instruction are geared not only to construction of the bra itself; they are a master class in bra engineering where you will learn to tackle support issues from the back forward!

How do I determine my BCD size?

BCD sizing is a sizing method developed by Beverly Johnson in the 1990s. It is much more reliable and easier to use than the traditional ABC sizing you find in ready-to-wear. The BCD, is simply the Bottom Cup Depth measurement of the breast. That is the distance, in inches, from the apex in a supported position to the base of the breast along the infra-mammary crease (known as the wire line)

In the BCD system, all cup sizes increase or decrease by ¼”; each size will accept 3 different wire sizes and each BCD size includes 5 band sizes. If you need one size larger (or smaller), just go up (or down) one BCD size. No more confusing “sister sizing” to figure out!

There are several ways to measure your BCD:

1. use a flexible tape measure and measure the distance, while standing from the apex to the wire line. If your breast tissue is soft, you can lean over so your back is parallel to the floor and measure again. The average of the two measurements is your BCD.
2. if you have a ready-to-wear bra that fits and it has a seam across the apex, you can measure from the wire up to the seamline.
3. if you have sewn a bra that fits, you can measure from the notch at the base of the breast (if there is one) up to the cross cup seam, on the lower cup pattern piece.
4. Refer to the helpful chart below. Find your ready-to-wear size in the first column, and its BCD equivalent is in the second column. The third column is useful for confirming the wire sizes that fit this particular BCD. Each BCD size includes 5 band sizes, even ones that are usually “in between” and therefore have to rely on sister sizing.