DIY Bra Inserts / Bra Pads for Belly Dancers (and everyday use)

Whether you are a belly dancer or not, you may lose weight and your regular bra or costume bra doesn’t quite fit you anymore. Or you may buy a costume bra from someone else, and the bra cups happen to be a bit too big.

Stuffing cotton balls in the bra cups may work, but they don’t really stay in place, and with body heat and sweat, it may get all crummy after a while. So I wanted something that stays together and  I can keep clean more easily.

In this video, you will see how to make 2 shapes of bra inserts which I call lemon pads and moon pads. They are comfortable, easily removable, washable and transferable and give your girls a little lift. So let’s get started!

Click here to get the lemon pad and moon pad patterns! 🙂

To make these bra inserts (lemon pads and moon pads), you need:  

Washable fabric – I’m using stretch cotton here. Old t-shirts would work well too.

Batting or filler – pick one that is washable. You can use washable shoulder pads, but shoulder pads I saw at a store were just made out of layers of batting anyway, so I’m using regular batting in this tutorial.

The free bra inserts patterns – Sparkly Belly subscribers can get the patterns from the Sparkly Belly’s Secret Studio page. If you are not a Sparkly Belly subscriber, sign up for the newsletter from here and you’ll get your password to enter the Secret Studio. 🙂

Sewing tools such as scissors, pins, needle, thread, marker, and sewing machine

How to Make Bra Inserts / Bra Pads for Belly Dancers (and everyday use)

You might be wondering why the lemon pads and moon pads? So this was inspired by bras I bought in Japan, and they often come with either one type or both types of these pads. The lemon shaped ones go at the bottom of the bra cups to give your girls a lift, and the moon shaped ones go against the sides to give your girls support from the side.

And by making these yourself, you can stuff as much or as little as you like. 😀

I think lemon pads are actually called lemon pads (remon paddo) in Japanese, but I nicknamed the moon pads 😉

So, first, cut the patterns – one for the lemon pad and another one for the moon pad.

Then, place one of the patterns on your fabric, and trace it with 5mm or 1/4in seam allowance (or eyeball it) and cut. Make 4 of these for each pattern.

Next, place the same pattern on the batting, and cut out as many as the thickness you need. I’m using 5 layers for each insert. Then take a threaded needle, and make small stitches to hold the layers together at 4 points near the edges.

Once you have everything ready, take 2 pieces of the fabric at a time, place right sides together and sew around the edge with a 5mm or 1/4in seam allowance. Leave a 5cm or 2in gap, so you can turn it inside out. Repeat this with the other set of the fabric.

Snip off the corners, flip the pockets, and stuff them with the batting. Make sure to fill all the way into the corners.

Once the pockets are filled to your liking, pin the gaps, and do a wide zigzag stitch all along the edge. Try to catch the batting inside with the stitches. This will ensure the batting doesn’t move around when you wash them.

And that’s it! Follow the same steps to make the moon pads.

Here is how to place the lemon and moon pads in your belly dance costume bra cups. First, undo the stitches that hold the lining fabric. It’s usually attached with simple stitches, and don’t worry, it’s not going to undo the beading on the front!

**If your bra has beaded fringe along the bottom, the thread holding the fringe and the stitches holding the lining may be very close. If that’s the case, look and examine which thread is holding the lining, then rip a stitch and loosen the rest to make sure you can ripping the right stitches!

Next, place the moon pad against the side edge of the bra cup, and the lemon pad against the bottom of the cup. You can try it on and see where you would like them.

Then just do quick stitches at corners so they don’t move, and stitch the lining back on in a spiral fashion.

Here’s how it looks. It’s a bit hard to see, but the right side has no pads and the left side has both lemon and moon pads. The left side definitely feels more full, and I don’t worry about a horrible gap showing when I bend down.

And these are made of washable material, so you can easily remove the pads, toss them in a mesh lingerie bag and into the washing machine and place them back in the same bra or different one. 🙂

Hope you liked this tutorial, and if you make your own lemon pads and moon pads, share your experience on Sparkly Belly’s Facebook page. And to get the patterns for these pads, sign up for the Sparkly Belly newsletter from the below link, and you will get access to the page where the pattern is waiting for you!

Click here to get the lemon pad and moon pad patterns! 🙂

Thanks for reading, and keep sparkling!

P.S. Pin!