Have you ever wondered if you can repair bra hooks when they get mangled in the wash? Or how you can save a bra that’s perfectly fine, but needs its bra clasp replacing? Keep reading and we’ll give you instructions on how you can quickly & easily complete a bra hook repair.
In this post you’ll find a full colour tutorial on how you can replace a bra back – it’s really not that tricky either. Yay!
This is the first post in our new Care & Repair Series…. we hope you find the series useful
There’s never been a more important time to look after our belongings and Make Do And Mend
Being able to repair our clothes rather than just replace them is one of the biggest things we can do to contribute to saving our planet right now, and we know so many of our readers are eco-conscience Seam-Stars 💚
We’ll be publishing a series of helpful Care & Repair tutorials this year which will not only benefit your pocket, but also the planet.
We’ll be covering topics such as replacing pockets, mending and patching, replacing zips and more!
But if you’re already a mending whizz and you have some clothes to repair you can check out our really comprehensive care and repair range of products over on the website
Back to the bras!
Bras are a garment that every woman owns & wears almost all the time. This means your bras can suffer a great deal of wear and tear. One of the most common things to break over time on a bra are the fastening hooks.
By repairing your bra hooks on the bras that you already own you can save money AND help reduce waste sent to landfill!
Read on for info on how to replace your damaged bra hooks rather than have to fork out for another expensive bra!
Check our full range of Care & Repair products here
How To Repair Bra Hooks: A Sewing Tutorial
- Skill level: Beginner
- Approximate sewing time: It’s a super quick fix!
Tips To Consider When Replacing Your Bra Clasp
- Make sure to match your replacement hooks with the original hooks in number and size as best you can
- Even if only one side of your bra fastening is damaged, make sure you replace both so that the hooks and eyes match up.
- The Bra Back replacements come in various different options, 19mm (1 hook), 28mm (2 hooks), 38mm (2 hooks), and 50mm (3 hooks) widths in black, white, and nude. Check out the full range here and select one that matches the bra to be repaired
- To select the correct size for your bra, measure the width of the current hook and eye parts of your bra and select the width closest to it.
- It is always best to go a little wider than too narrow, unless it means you will be sewing through a hook or eye.
- Colour wise, select the colour that best fits the bra. If your bra is a different colour than what is on offer, I suggest selecting the colour which is closest to patterns in the bra, or if it is plain then opt for black if it is a dark colour and white if a pale one
You Will Need:
1 Hemline Replacement Bra Back. We used Hemline Bra Back Replacement: 50mm: Nude
Sewing Equipment You Will Need:
- Small embroidery scissors or a Curved Tailors Awl
- Tape Measure or ruler
- Pins
- Stitch ripper
- Basic Sewing Kit
How to repair bra hooks
- 1. Remove the original hooks and eyes on both sides of the bra back.
- You will need to use a Stitch ripper or very fine embroidery scissors to undo the original stitching.
- Be careful not to damage the bra fabric itself.
- 2. Take the hook portion of the kit and position it on the right side of the bra back (as you look at it).
- – Fold it around the raw end so that the hooks are on the inside of the back and are laying along the edge.
- – Pin in place through all layers. If your replacement hook tape is slightly wider than the back of the bra you may wish to hem the edges and turn it through to create a pocket for the bra back instead.
- – Here, the hooks are slightly narrower than the bra back. I will show you how to rectify this in a moment.
- 3. Change the presser foot on your machine to a zipper foot as this will enable you to stitch without the hooks getting in the way of the foot.
- – Stitch a line of straight stitch through all layers to hold them in place.
- Increase your stitch length to 3-3.5 – don’t worry if the stitches are a little messy.
- – You may need to use the point of your embroidery scissors or a Curved Tailors Awl to help feed the fabric through your machine as the bra is so small it may not catch on all of the feed dogs. The fabric seams can also be quite bulky.
- – Be careful not to keep your scissors away from the needle!
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- 4. Now the hook part is secure, remove the pin.
- 5. Keeping the zipper foot on your machine, select a narrow zig zag stitch. Here, I have changed the stitch width to 2.5mm and stitch length to 0.5mm.
- – Run a line of zigzag stitching along the line of straight stitch and the edge of the hook tape.
- – The satin stitch will cover up the straight stitch
- 6. If the back of your bra is slightly wider than the hook tape as with my bra pictured, push the ends of the bra inside the fold of the hook tape with a needle or stitch ripper.
- – Use the same zigzag stitch along the edges of the bra back, catching the bra back fabric into the hook tape, and neatening the edges.
7. To replace the eye side of the bra fastening you have a couple of choices, depending on your skill level and how you would like to finish the bra repair.
- The eye part of the bra fastening comes attached to elastic. If you prefer not to have this elastic you can unpick the zigzag seam holding it as indicated by the point of my scissors in the image below.
- If you choose to do this you would attach the eye part to the bra in exactly the same way as with the hooks, only with the eyes facing the right side of the left bra back.
- 8. You may wish to keep the elastic in. This is a bonus, especially if the original hooks and eyes were damaged due to the bra fitting too tightly.
- – By using the elastic, you are creating more ease in the bra back for a more comfortable fit and also protecting the new hooks and eyes from resulting in similar damage.
- – If you are keeping the elastic in you will need to trim it down to the length that you will need. Add 2cm on to your desired length.
- 9. Place the left side bra back right side down and lay the raw edge of the elastic over the top, also face down, overlapping by 1cm. Pin in place.
- 10. Change your machine presser foot back to your universal foot and stitch a line of straight stitch through all layers to secure the eye elastic to the bra back.
11. Lay the bra back right side facing down and fold the eye piece back on itself, towards the body of the bra.
- Next fold it back on itself again to the outside of the bra, enclosing the raw edges inside the rolled seam. Pin in place.
- 12. Sew a line of stitching down each long edge of the rolled fabric to create a sort of fell seam.
- – This will be very bulky and challenging to push under the machine foot so you may wish to use the point of your embroidery scissors again, or a Curved Tailors Awl to assist it through, again, being very careful!
- 13. Now, fix the hooks and eyes together and your bra repair is complete
And you’re finished, well done!
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