Make It Your Own Odessa Corset Top Kit

Our Make It Your Own Bra Kits take the guesswork out of bra building by putting together everything you'll need to make a beautiful bra using your own pattern. This kit is specifically for the free Odessa Corset Top and Undies pattern from Madalynne Intimates, but it may work well for other simple corset patterns.

What's not to like about an undergarment which can also work as an outer garment? We think this pattern is as cute as can be, and it's a fun way to add variety to your lingerie wardrobe. It relies on compression for support, so we're offering a variety of base fabrics to let you adjust the strength of your compression, as well as to vary the amount of transparency of the garment. Some of us like our outer garments to be more opaque! If you want additional support to your garment, join the Bra Sewing Bee in April 2024 (or catch the recording) to learn how to incorporate a fitting band into your garment to give you the support of an underwired bra along with the cute look and easy construction of the corset. 

The three base fabric choices that you have are Stretch Mesh for light support and a sheer look, Regular Power Net for moderate support and a semi-sheer look and Tech Sheen for moderate support and an opaque look. You can pair your base fabric with either lace or our beautiful bamboo jersey. For lace, our sample Mad for Plaid garment has a full stretch lace overlay with Stretch Mesh as the base layer.  We also added 1/2" elastic ribbon to highlight the seams and added boning along the side seams. As designed, there is a front lace panel on the top, and it will work with either stretch lace or tulle lace. You can also use a knit jersey over your base layer. You can specify your boning based upon your own preferences. 

The free pattern comes with a cute thong, and you can often get your undie fabric from your corset kit if you use the Stretch Mesh or Bamboo Jersey option. Just add an Undie Finishing Kit to get your undies. For the other base fabrics, you might prefer a true undie fabric for your bottoms. Microlycra is substantial (but not thick or heavy), opaque, liquid, soft and smooth. Microlycra Air is thin, opaque, soft and smooth. Stretch Mesh is airy, a bit textured, soft and sheer. Glimmer Knit is a bit shiny, opaque, and soft. 

Our kit is offered in 2 sizes, Smaller and Larger. The Smaller kit easily makes up to the size L-XL. The Larger works easily for all sizes. 

A Odessa Corset Top Kit contains:

Your panty will match your lace unless you specify otherwise. As always, feel free to choose your favorite elastics or narrow lace (please leave us a note if you don't see your choice!). You can also add a 9" square of absorbent fabric for your panty panel! You can find our collection of Waist Lace and Elastics here, and our collection of Leg Lace here.

Sewing Notes:
The strength of our microduoplex fabric, which makes it so wonderful for bras, also makes it hard to puncture with needles and pins. This is true with most duoplex fabrics. Use either fine silk pins or Wonder Clips to pin (I find Wonder Clips work best), and a Microtex 80/12 needle with a smooth thread like Superior Threads So Fine or Mettler Metrosene to make it easy to sew. In my testing, the So Fine thread and Microtex 80/12 won the challenge of the nicest stitch on microduoplex, and as long as my presser foot completely covered the seam allowance, I found it just as easy to sew as quilting cotton. I moved the needle to the right to set my seam allowance at 1/4" since my presser foot is a bit wide. I find it works well to saturate the lace with liquid starch and let it dry before laying out your pattern pieces and cutting your fabric. This stiffens the lace until you wash it and the lace has enough body to behave well in the sewing process.
We offer all these pins, clips, needles and thread here on our site.