Sewing Bras - Troubleshooting the Merckwaerdigh Mix 30 Bra

So a while back, I tried sewing the Merckwaerdigh Mix 30 bra and while the bra came together relatively easily, it didn't fit.  I have since dismantled that bra and turned it into a fitting band.  Its such a cute design - I really want to make it work.  So I went back to made a bra to
ile of the cups to see if I could find out what the problem was.  The 32F (sister sized down from 36D!) toile cup was obviously too small so I tried the 32FF (sister sized from 38D) and its still not quite right.

Anyone else have this problem with the Mix 30 pattern?  I don't really want to try the next cup size up (and last cup!) as that would require even more redrafting since the base of the cup would be too big for the cradle.  I'm now on toile #4...

Sewing Bras - Copying your favorite/best fitting RTW bra!

As a newbie making their way in the lingerie sewing realm [after sewing a whopping 3 bras], I've decided to try my luck with combining my favorite aspects of 2 different bras info one custom design. The cups on the Comexim (my first Polish bra!) are awesome - they push the girls up and together while still looking "dainty". The extra wide band on the Satami is pretty fabulous as well - providing a smooth silhouette in my back and underarms.  This, endeavor, however will require significant time pattern making.

Although I've been sewing for over 20 years (remember when Home Economics was a class in Junior High?), I've had no formal training in pattern drafting. Most of the pattern drafting I've done is largely with the help of Pinterest and Googling how-to's in Eggs middle of the night. I bring this up because I KNOW you absolutely need a pattern to sew bras AND that pattern HAS. TO. BE. ACCURATE.

I essentially copied the seam lines of the existing bra(s) using pattern paper, smoothed out the lines with a ruler and ensured all the seams lined up correctly and sewed up a bra muslin.  Try on, more adjustments based on bra muslin, rinse and repeat.  My first try sewing up this chimera of a bra was more or less an exact replica of the cups [barring correcting a few mistakes like the cups being too open, not pulling the plush elastic hard enough/evenly enough on the cups, etc] and fit pretty well otherwise.  On my second attempt, I decided to move the apex of the cups to more closely align with mine AS WELL AS moving in the straps 2 cm. This opened up a whole new can of worms requiring more bra toiles.  Nevertheless, take a gander at my newest creation - mistakes and all!

The end result of Round 2!:

One of the best pieces of advice I read about sewing bras is to create a bra toile, however, I recently came across a bit of related advice that I find equally helpful.  Create a bra toile of ONLY the band.  In most cases - especially true if you're fitting yourself - the band will fit fine and/or remain the same.  Its the cup shape/design/size that differs that will require multiple adjustments.  The fitting band should be complete - with elastic, hooks and straps.  That way, you only need to make a toile of the bra cups!  Easier to sew, try on, take apart and repeat as necessary.

Here's a pic from the Merckewaerdigh site: