Category: knickers!

Skull & Rose Print Knickers

Red and black skull print knickers

This is pair of knickers number five. This time I started with Kwik Sew 2100, the most striking aspect of which was the ridiculous width of the gusset, especially as the sizes increase. I modified that part of the pattern to make more anatomical sense, and I was impressed by the instructions for putting together the lined gusset. It’s a bit fiddly but you end up with no raw edges on the inside, which makes these knickers very comfortable to wear.

I didn’t like the way that the original knickers were so puffy, so I decided to combine a stretch and a woven fabric to try and make them a bit flatter. They are more streamlined than they look in the picture (the mannequin’s so small I can’t stretch them right out), but they’re still not how I want them. I really need to buy a lingerie-drafting book, so I can work out how to do this properly.

I’m trying really hard to avoid using entirely stretch fabrics because there’s so much more interesting variety in wovens, but I’ll have to get the pattern absolutely right if this is going to work. These need the print panels to be smaller and the jersey panels to be bigger, to allow more stretch around the legs.

I also tried two different ways of applying the elastic – the waist has the elastic turned to the inside, and around the legs it’s on the outside. Each method is a two-step process, so there’s no time-saving in doing it one way over the other, but I think aesthetically I prefer the elastic on the outside, which I didn’t expect. Maybe because it looks more like something you’d buy from a shop, which is what I usually try to avoid.

[Later…]
In fact, I liked the elastic on the outside so much that I trimmed off the waist elastic and sewed it again to match the legs. Much better.

Koi Carp Knickers

Koi Knickers

From Cloth Magazine again. These are made from a lightweight printed cotton, leftovers from a skirt and a corset.

This time I experimented with applying the elastic in a different way. First I stitched it to the outside of the knickers, and then turned the elastic to the inside and used a three-step zig-zag stitch to finish it off. I also modified the pattern slightly, cutting in in two at the crotch and adding a seam allowance. This allowed me to separate the front and back, so that I could use this directional print without any of the fish being upside down.

I’m still not totally convinced that I like the style of these knickers. However, I can confirm that they’re really comfortable to wear, and they’ve survived the washing machine – so that’s a plus!

Butterfly Brocade Knickers

Butterfly brocade knickers

Knickers: Pair Three.
Once again from the pattern in Cloth Magazine.

This pair turned out not to be such a success. The fabric’s a polyester brocade, which doesn’t drape as well as other fabrics. I also used a different type of elastic, thinking that the ruffles would look pretty with the golden butterflies. Unfortunately the elastic isn’t very strong, so it doesn’t pull the fabric in as much as it needs to.

Basically this means that unless I change the elastic, these knickers are just going to fall down! So they’re now on a pile waiting to be unpicked, which is a bit of a shame. Still, this is the point of a learning curve, so I can’t mind too much.

Black silk knickers

Black silk knickers

This is pair of knickers number two – in plain black silk.

The silk satin’s very fine, and I’d been worried that the fabric might slip or fray. As it turned out, they were much easier to sew than I’d expected. I really like the lettuce edges, done on the overlocker, and the three-step zig-zag stitch looks nicely professional.

I still need to make some modifications for the pattern. It needs re-working slightly to work with a directional print, although that’s obviously not an issue with this pair! Starting to stitch down the ends of the elastic is a bit fiddly – the machine has a tendency to suck the fabric down into the feed dogs.

Once I’ve got these little bits and pieces sorted out, you can look forward to seeing a lot more of these!

Matching set

Kwik Sew 2489

Once I’d finished making my winter coat, I thought it would be fun to have a go at making a bra to go with the knickers I made at the weekend.

The pattern for this one is Kwik Sew 2489, and I have to say that I found it remarkably easy to put together. It is fiddly, but it’s certainly not difficult – you just need to pay attention to the instructions.

There are a few little alterations I’ll make to the next one:

  1. The straps are too narrow, both for my comfort and for where they join the top of the cups. Next time I’ll just make wider straps. I also didn’t bother with the slidy thing, because if I make them the right length I won’t need them to be adjustable.
  2. The little triangular panel in the centre of the bra needs to be slightly wider at the top. At the moment the band is fine, but the cups pull away from my chest at the centre. If I make the centre part wider and the cups narrower, that should pull the bra in a bit.
  3. I need to make a very slight alteration to the shape of the cups. I might make another bra, unlined and with the seams on the outside, so I can (carefully) pin the seam and make two different cups if I need to.
  4. I might leave out the powernet/lycra panel on the back of the band, and just make it the right length. It’s elasticated all the way round anyway, so it’ll stay put, and the powernet just annoys me by being a different colour from the rest of the bra.

That’s it!

Oh, and I left out the underwires.

So, there are changes to be made, but it already fits better than some of the bras in my wardrobe, so I think I’m going to call it a success!

Knickers!

Knickers!

Today I went shopping to buy some sketchbooks, which is something that I do at the beginning of every year. While I was in the art shop I spotted a little magazine I hadn’t seen before, called Cloth.

I had a quick flip through, and spotted some instructions for making a pair of knickers. They looked easy and fun, so I decided to give it a go. These little spotty numbers took about an hour from start to finish, including printing out the pattern and gathering up all the supplies.

They’re made from a non-stretch fabric, so that when you add the elastic they go all ruffly. I’m not 100% certain that’s a look I like, although the pictures in the magazine of knickers made in silk and with ribbons and ruffles are absolutely adorable!

I think I might make a few more pairs of these – I have loads of lingerie elastic in the stash, and they’d be especially comfy in stretch cotton recycled from an old t-shirt. Not as glamorous as this spotty pair, but lovely and comfy.

The pattern is available online, but I heartily recommend that you buy the magazine. They have a really nice mix of projects, ranging from these simple pants through to building a sheepskin lining for a jacket. They also have a comprehensive section of sewing instructions, so that even a complete beginner could pick up the magazine and have a go. I’ll definitely be looking out for the next issue!

Knickers!

I’ve been meaning to do this for ages, and only just got around to it – I turned an old t-shirt into a pair of knickers!

You need quite a big t-shirt for this. If, like me, your bum is bigger than your chest, there’s no way you’re going to get a pair of knickers that fit you out of a skinny-fit t-shirt! If in doubt, try the t-shirt on, and make sure it goes round your bum with room to spare. You need seam allowances too, don’t forget.

Before

After:

(The picture’s now on the back, in case that’s not clear from the photos. The last one is of the inside.)

I probably won’t be posting these to because I’m really not very pleased with the way they’ve come out. They fit me, and they’re wonderfully soft and comfy, but the finishing is frankly awful. The tension in the elastic is uneven, and I hate the way that there’s a raw edge on the gusset inside. How annoying is that going to be after a couple of washes, when it’s all rolled up?!

The knickers I normally wear don’t actually have a gusset, so I’ll probably leave that out next time. The edges are all overlocked, with pretty elastic topstitched to the outside, so I think I’ll follow that example on my next pair as well.

Now to search Ebay for some pretty knicker elastic…