And Now For Something Completely Different

Who would have thought that I would ever sew my own underwear. Quarantine can do that to a person. I was watching one of my favorite sewing youtubers the other night TomKat Stitchery named Whitney and the episode was called "Tutorial: Sewing The Megan Nielsen Acacia Underpants. The pattern is a free download if you go her website and sign up for her newsletter: https://megannielsen.com I have never tried her patterns and this was free so I went to check her out. She has some beautiful pattern. Back to Whitney's video. One of the things she was doing in the tutorial was showing how to use cotton jersey for the waist and leg bands instead of elastic. Ok so I am in quarantine and can't buy elastic. I had a ton for scraps of knits (some I was just gifted recently) so I figured I would just try a pair. As you can from the above photo I made a Spring Collection of lingerie!

The pattern was an easy download and other than trying to adjust my printer to get the scale of the pattern correct the process was a breeze. This is my first time printing a pattern on  paper and taping it all together.........................not so hard. I did make 3 versions of the underwear so I did not cut the pattern, but rather traced two sizes off so I could keep my original pattern intact.

So here is a scrap of fabric I made a top out of years ago. It is a knit fabric of some kind of poly and has a nice drape. I got the fabric online and it was pretty pricey so I saved the leftover scraps as there was enough for maybe a tank top? Well I grabbed this fabric and cut out the size 10. And yes I use pebbles for my pattern weights...................eco friendly and practical. Since I love the great outdoors they are also fun.

I made up the pair with the green bands in a size 10. I used what was left of a cut up t-shirt to make the green bands. I think this is my favorite pair as I love the colors. There was only enough of the green for one pair. I tried them on and they fit snug but not skin tight so I decided to see how the size 12 fit. I traced the 12 pattern pieces and found the yellow cotton jersey in the fabric I was recently gifted and cut the bands out of that. I also decided to cut the waistband at 2 1/2 instead of 2" like the first pair. This pair fits but could be more snug..........they definately fit ok and will be worn but I like the fit of the 10 better.

I found an odd scrap of a beautiful teal knit blend of some sort in the gifted fabric. It was pretty thin as well. I also found the purple cotton jersey in my stash, at some point I must have bought some serious yardage because I already made 3/4 length sleeve top out of it some years back (loved the top till it just got old) and still have serious yardage. Perfect color combo! This time I added an inch to the rise on the size 10. This pair is more stretchy but they look really nice on and fit really well. I love the higher rise.

Here is the alteration I made on the pattern. I simply added 1" to the top and that was it!

Here is the back piece with the 1" added. They do not look that much different but I like the fit better.

The gifted fabric filled up the backseat of my daughter's friend's car and had an amazing amount of variety of different things. I have gone thru all of it to see what there is.............a real treasure trove for sure. The above underwear are made from a small strip of cotton jersey that was just enough to cut the back piece.............the fabric was really wide so I was able to get two pair out of the strip. There are hardly and scraps left. The white bands are again yardage from my stash.

I do love this fabric and was disappointed there was not more to make something...............when I found the underwear pattern I remembered this fabric and decided to see if I could get a pair out of it........well it was enough for two pair!