DIY Rave Bra
I absolutely love music festivals. So much so, that I make sure to go to a few every year. One of the things I most look forward to is making rave bras ahead of time to wear to whatever music festival I’m going to. Making these bras is my favorite thing to do, I’ve made about five so far and plan on continuing to make them.
There are tons of pretty rave bras online, but many of them rack up in price to $70 or more. With your own supplies, you can make one for about $30—depending on the price of your bra. You can also make them exactly how you want! A personally created bra is perfect to wear to a music festival, rave, or any crazy party!
Supplies needed:
- Glue gun (I found a mini one at Walmart)
- Glue gun sticks
- Gems, big and small
- Mardi Gras beads
- Flowers (you can find cheap ones at the dollar store)
- Glitter
- Fabric glue
- Feathers
- Sequins
- Ribbons
- Broken or old jewelry
- A bra
If you don’t have any bras that you’re comfortable decorating, you can find cheap bras at Ross or any discount clothing stores. I recommend not spending too much on a bra for this project. You are going to be gluing things on it and if you mess up it won’t be as big of a deal with a cheaper bra. Keep in mind you don’t have to use all of these supplies, I pick and choose for the different rave bras I’ve made.
First, pick a color or a theme that you want to go for. Great ideas include going for one color but different shades of that color, rainbow, complimentary colors, or a costume theme—like snow white or tinker bell. You can look for inspiration online to find tons of different ideas. It’s usually easier and looks better to create a design that incorporates the color of the bra that you’re using. I often look on Pinterest and try to incorporate different ideas into my designs. Don’t be scared to try something different!
Next, get your supplies and pick a place to decorate you bra. Make sure that the area that you’re working on can get ruined/dirty in case you make a mistake. I like to work on a hardwood floor or on the dining room table, or even my bed! It’s also a good idea to lay out some newspaper down where you’re going to be working for an easy clean up and to protect the surface you’re working on.
Once you have all your supplies set up and have an idea of what you want to do, just go for it. Use a glue gun to put gems, feathers, flowers, and etc. onto your bra. To put glitter on your bra mix 1 parts fabric glue and 1 ½ parts glitter—I usually just eyeball it. Mix the glue and glitter together using an old paintbrush and paint the mixture onto your bra. If you want a seriously glittery bra, wait for the glue to dry and then add layers of your glitter-glue mixture to get the desired effect. You can also add color to your bra by dabbing nail polish on with a makeup sponge. I did this to create a galaxy effect on one of my bras.
For a fun addition to your bra, you can add gems onto flower petals. Just use your glue gun to add a small amount of glue on the petal and place the gem on quickly as the glue dries fast. I like to add big gems to the middle of flowers. You can take out the center of the flower and glue each layer of petals together in the middle, then glue the gem on top. To make sure flowers stay on your bra when you’re dancing and moving around, try to glue down any flower petals to the bra as well.
For things like feathers, be sure to add extra glue, as feathers tend to fall off easily. Feathers often get damp from sweat, so my advice would be if you want feathers add them as embellishments along with other thing like flowers and gems.
To attach Mardi Gras beads to your bra, put your bra on and figure out where you want to put the beads. People commonly place their beads draped to the side or in the middle. Fold the beads in half so that one part is higher than the other. Glue the beads on the outside of your bra. Try to glue them under a flower or something else on your bra so that you can’t see the glue. This is much more comfortable then gluing them on the inside of your bra. Trust me!
I often like to add sequins to the back of the bra and on the straps. The little details make all the difference! Add old pieces of jewelry, gems, shells, ribbons, beads, pearls, fake leaves, lace, fabric, fake butterflies and any other embellishments that you can think of!
Remember to be patient and don’t rush, good art takes time!
