Fantasie Rebecca: Altered and Reviewed

Months ago, Cha of Large Cup Lingerie was kind enough to send me the Freya Lacey balcony bra when my size was fluctuating and I didn’t have very many options. Unfortunately, it didn’t work for me at all, which you can read all about here. Cha asked if there was anything else I would like as a replacement, and at around that time I had been considering branching out to 30 bands and having them altered. Enter the Fantasie Rebecca in a 30F, altered to a 28FF.

When I first got this bra, it was very large in the band, larger than other 30s I’ve tried (I think it was fairly average for Eveden though, whose bands tend to run looser than other full-bust companies). I could stretch it all the way to 32 inches. I thought I might need somewhere in the ballpark of three-four inches removed from the band, so I called a well established seamstress in my area to ask how it would be done, how much it would cost, etc. Instead of getting good advice, I was shot down immediately because I wanted more than two inches total removed from the band (I was literally told it is “impossible” to do. Hmm). Even though the logical part of my brain knew that you could remove more than two inches by simply moving the strap placement, the shy part of my brain freaked out and ended the conversation as soon as possible. I’m not going to give the name of said seamstress, because I have it on good word that she is very good, but I’ll certainly leave my bra concerns to someone else.

From here I decided to ask the only person I could think of, Sarah, the shop owner of Ohhh Lulu! I told her about my alteration issue and she agreed to do it. Just to be safe though, she didn’t want to remove any actual fabric, since removing three-four inches is quite a lot of fabric, and she wanted the alteration to be reversible. I sent the bra off to her, and a few weeks later received it again. Sarah simply folded and sewed down the fabric, “removing” 3.5 inches total. I could fasten the bra, but it was rather right, so I wore it with a full extender for a little while. From here, I knew that 3.5 inches was too much to remove, and decided to go with 2.5 for the final alteration(since the band was sewn down in two locations, the stretch of the band was quite limited. 3.5 inches wasn’t too far off, but the method that was used to alter the band made it feel even tighter).

I think this is where I started getting impatient, as I just wanted to wear this bra. I think a little crazy person crawled into my brain, because before I knew it I was ripping stitches and cutting fabric. I just spur of the moment decided to alter the bra myself. I cut 1.25 inches from both sides of the band, and began removing all the parts that I would need to reattach later: the hook and eye closures, some fabric to finish off the edges of the bra, and the straps had to be removed at the back, as their location had to move when I cut the fabric. The whole process went fairly smoothly and only took about two and a half hours to do by hand. And the best part is that it actually fits (though it does look kind of like Dr. Frankenstein did the alteration). I’m decently proud of the alteration given that it was my first attempt at something like this. I’ve done little sewing projects before, but nothing like altering a bra!

Now, onto the review!

The Rebecca is a molded cup bra made of spacer fabric. This kind of fabric is lighter and more breathable than the average molded bra, and conforms to your shape, rather than your boobs trying to fit into the mould of a more rigid cup. I was willing to go through the lengths that I did to alter it because spacers bras are not available in 28 bands (yet! I have hope). This fabric feels like a dream! It conforms to my shape perfectly, and the beige colour is light enough to function as a nude bra for me.

The cups seem to run pretty true to size (perhaps a touch big, not enough for me to need to size down), but some have found that they need to size down in the cup because the spacer fabric is so stretchy. It is very full coverage with a tall center gore, which is exactly what I was looking for. My size seems pretty stuck in the plunge style when it comes to t-shirt bras (cleo jude, freya deco…), and I just wanted an everyday t-shirt bra, sans cleavage, sans plunging neckline. I’ve heard from many that the band on the Rebecca is quite firm, but I found that it ran loose as a 30. However, now that I’ve altered the band, I think I know what everyone is talking about. The fabric doesn’t have much stretch, so I could see how it would feel firm even though it doesn’t actually seem to run tight, if that makes sense. The straps are technically half adjustable, but it’s quite easy to slide the adjusters over the detailed front half of the straps.

Rebecca’s shape is really round and quite lifted, but this bra doesn’t really gather the tissue toward the center of the chest. Compared to a PL bra from Ewa Michalak, for instance, the Rebecca gives me a more subdued profile and wider appearance from the front. a PL would give me a more projected profile, and narrow view from the front. I’m not really miffed by this, as I really like the profile, and don’t mind looking wider. This bra seems to have a minimizing effect, which suits me perfectly for everyday wear. The wires feel like a medium width, not particularly wide or narrow, and very comfortable. I don’t really notice the wires when I wear this bra.

I did mess up my alteration a little bit. First of all, I trimmed a bit too much off the band after my initial cuts of 1.25 inches on both sides. I probably ended up removing something like 2.8 inches total. The band is a bit tighter than I would like, but not terribly so, and I’m sure it’ll stretch out soon. I also didn’t have any proper fabric for re-attaching the straps to the bra (which I didn’t realize until after I cut them…), so I ended up using some teal ribbon that I had lying around. This was fine for a few wears, but it is starting to tear off now. I just need to find some nice, sturdy beige coloured fabric to re-attach the straps and the alteration will be complete. Since I did the alteration by hand, and I am no seamstress, it is rough looking. I don’t really mind though, as this bra has some nice quirk to it now! Honestly though, I would not go through the effort of altering it again, though I’m glad I did once as I do really like this bra.

Fantasie: Please consider making 28 bands, at least in select styles. There is literally no spacer fabric option on the market for the 28 band demographic, and I’m quite sure many women would love to have one.

Other companies who already make 28 bands (Panache, Freya, Anyone!): Please consider making a spacer fabric option for the 28 band demographic. This fabric feels amazing!

-Windie