Introducing the Roxie Bralette, Sports Bralette and Swim Top

Having released two bodysuits in the past year – Lawren and Fenix – I was craving a bralette design for the next Madalynne style. Maybe it was the influence of the pandemic and all the athleisure that became WFH uniforms, or maybe it was all the fun I had teaching Intro to Sewing Sports Bralettes and the Intro to Sewing Swimwear virtual workshops… who knows? What I do know is that I couldn’t stop thinking about a super sleek, modern and versatile style that could be lingerie, swimwear or activewear. Enter Roxie. 

The Roxie is a sleek, asymmetrical bralette that features a high neck overlay and wide bottom band. View A has no bust darts and is available in band sizes 30-44 and one cup size, which is based on  A-C cups (if you’re a C cup or larger and still want to use the non darted version, read below for my tip!).  View B has two bust darts to accommodate larger cup sizes and is available in band sizes 30-44 and cup sizes A/B, C/D, DD/E-F, G/H and I-J cups.

Sizing

The Roxie uses a different sizing than the Lawren, Fenix, Maris, Barrett and other Madalynne patterns. It is based on a person’s underbust measurement and offers the widest range of cup sizes (A-J cups from 1″ – 10″ difference between full and underbust for 8 band sizes). In order to make the sizing work, a new size chart was created. This was to avoid someone making the size they “normally” wear in Madalynne patterns because when we tested this after the pattern was first graded, we found that people weren’t fitting into their normal size. There is an overlap between sizes, and you may be confused, but don’t be. Basically, I suggest sizing down or to the lower size if you’re an A-DD cup and a sizing up if you’re a F+ cup.

View A versus View B

View A has no bust darts and View B has bust darts. All my inspiration images (shown above) had no bust darts, but being a person and brand that believes in size inclusion, I wanted to offer a version with bust darts for people who have more volume (AKA large cup sizes). Don’t get discouraged that if you’re not a A-C cup, you can’t make the non darted version. Personally, I like the cleaner look of View A. If you’re a D, E, F+ cup, you can combine a larger front bralette pattern with a smaller back band – you can read more about the “why” behind this in this blog post. Angela, one of Madalynne’s pattern testers, measures 36” full bust and 30.5” ribcage. She cut View A in size 32 but felt that she was being compressed too much, especially on the side with the overlay. On her next one, she will size up to a 34 for the front bralette, but keep the size 32 for the back bralette. Be sure to watch Madalynne’s sew along/video tutorials on YouTube (link below), for a demonstration on how to do this.

Below is another example of darted verus non darted. Nesiah on the left measures 51″ for full bust and 45″ for underbust. Allie on the right measures 48″ and 41.5″ for underbust. Nesiah is wearing View B in size 44 in DD/E-F cup and Allie is wearing View A in size 42 (due to the nature of the fabric, we didn’t combine two different sizes for the front and back bralette patterns.

If you are full busted and worried about support, you can use an additional layer of power net in between the main fabric and the lining fabric, or you can stabilize the shoulder straps/area with sheer cup lining. For Nesiah, the front was lined with power net and for Allie, no power net was used. For both, we stabilized the shoulder area with sheer cup lining. We actually found that the power net to be bulky in this style, especially when trying to pull the bralette through the shoulder strap during sewing, so we only included power net as an add-on option to the Roxie DIY kits.

What I love, love, love most about the Roxie is it’s versatility. It can be lingerie, swimwear or a low to medium activewear sports bralette (perfect for yoga, weight lifting, elliptical and indoor cycling). Eliminate the front overlay and you have a super simple, extremely easy to sew, one shoulder bralette. Seriously, you can whip it up in an hour or so. You can finish the edges with the lining as per the instructions, or you can finish it with fold over elastic binding, like we’ve done on the Roxie bralette below. Don’t like sewing FOE? You could also finish it with picot elastic. Worried about the side without a strap falling down? I totally get ya. Add a pop of color or contrast with a single shoulder strap elastic. Want more options? Eliminate front overlay and cut the front and back bralettes on the fold and you have a simple bralette that is very Calvin Klein. 

There are eight – yes eight!- DIY kits that are activewear, swimwear and lingerie. The activewear kits come with a lycra with Extra Life or compression fabric. Both use our regular fold over elastic, which is slightly different than our FOE for swimwear and activewear. Both have the same fiber content (polyester) and will stand up to salt/sweat/chlorine, but one has a grosgrain finish and one doesn’t. Again, the Roxie is not for long marathons or Olympic swimming. 

Download the Roxie PDF pattern

Join the Roxie virtual workshop

Join the Roxie Facebook group 

Watch the video tutorials on YouTube