How to sew an hook & eye on a bra ?
You have started to sew your bra, and you can't wait to wear it…Then arrives the moment when you have to do the finishing :
Sewing the straps, cut all the thread excess, sewing the bow or button, among other things… And, of course sewing the Hook & eye closure !
You will quickly realize that this step is often the one we want to neglect. Nevertheless, nice finishing is the reason why you will even more love wearing your underwear 🙂
In this article, we explain how to sew a bra closure. Very useful to ensure a good support, to attach and adjust the length of the band of your bra, according to your morphology, and prevent from the loosening of the rubber band after a certain time ...
You will see, if not the most fun part of bra-making, it's a very simple work to do 😉.
We will explain step by step how to proceed.
Are you ready ? Let's go !
1. Materials
As you can imagine, the materials are : a hook & eye, and a bra ! 😉
Yes, ok, but what is a hook & eye ? What are its dimensions ?
The hook & eyes closures are composed of two parts :
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The “hook” correspond to the shortest tongue, which folds in 2 to be sewn on the right side of the bra. As you can see in the picture, we sometimes find them already folded in 2, and sometimes to fold it depends on the manufacturers. The “eye” correspond to the large tongue where you just attach the hooks to adjust the length of the back. |
The most common width is 3 cm (that's why our bra-sewing patterns are designed to use a 3 cm hook & eye closure), but there are diffrent standard hook & eye widths. There can be 1, 2 or 3 rows of doors, here are the dimensions that you can find in the trade :
- 1 row : 1,9 cm
- 2 rows : 3 cm and 3,8 cm
- 3 rows : 5,7 cm
Don't hesitate to make an alteration on your sewing pattern, to adjust the wing height depending of your hook & eye width 🙂.
2. Step by step
Whatever the width of your closure, the sewing steps are the same, here they are in detail :
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Open the small slots on the hook and the eyes tabs, to insert the wing part of your bra. Pin it together so it won't move during sewing. |
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Hook tab : To facilitate the seam, sew it on the wrong side of the fabric, with the hooks facing up. (or the hooks will be stuck on your sewing machine claws…not good 😑) |
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Make a first straight stitch to maintain and match the fabric and closure edges together. |
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Here is the result you obtain 🙂 |
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All you have to do now, is to make a small zigzag stitch, very tight on all the height of the hook and eye tabs. |
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Et voilà ! 👌 |
3. An alternative : swimsuit clasps
If you decide to make a swimsuit, or if you simply did not find the hook & eye you need, you can easily find swimsuit closure clasps ! There is a few alterations to make on the pattern, but nothing complicated :
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Calculate the fabric height for the wing part of your bra compared to the height of the clasp loop. If the middle wing height is too narrow, the loop will move and it will not be pleasant to wear. If the middle wing height is too wide, you will have a lot of wrinkles. In the picture, the width of the loop is 2.5 cm. The pattern being designed with a 3 cm middle wing height, we cutted down 5 mm in middle wing height ✂️ |
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Make a first straight stitch. |
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All you have to do now, is to make a small zigzag stitch, very tight on all the height of the fabric. Et voilà ! Your bra is ready to be worn ! 🤗 |
If you want to learn how to sew an elastic, or an adjustable bra strap, we have concocted a series of Sewing tips articles here
Have fun sewing !
We hope that the informations helped you. If you have doubts, do not hesitate to contact us :
