Sewing Underwear

Yes, I'm crazy. Or at least my friends I hang out with here tell me so. Why? Because I've sewn some underwear for myself. I thought it be fun (it is) and pretty easy (for me). It's also fun to say that I've sewn my own undies.

I'm not making crazy fancy lingerie, just little cotton undies. I bought a grab bag of elastics a while back from Kathy's Elastics, and decided I should use the pretty lingerie elastic I got from it. (If you want some elastic grab bags, join her Yahoo Group to get them. She also sells fabric & lace too--all at great prices and fast shipping.)

I traced a pattern from a pair of Sophia's underwear and came up with these. See those cute ruffly elastics? They are made from knit fabrics. (That's my ironing board in the background.)


DH showed them to her in the morning (because all my sewing is done late at night watching old episodes of Law & Order), and she immediately put them on! I consider it a sewing success. So far 2 of the clothing I made for her this summer, she's only worn once.

Truth be told I wouldn't normally bother to make underwear for a 3 year old, but I just wanted to do it for fun. They went together really fast (thanks to my serger and how small they are).

I also made 2 pairs for me. Why not right? I wanted to use some t-shirts that DH brought home from the Spy Museum Store (where he works), but my ass is too big for those size small baby doll t-shirts. At least for me to cut out the undies with the print going the way I wanted. The Mata Hari shirt will languish on my sewing table until I think of something else for it. Thankfully I had some black t-shirt fabric I just bought from the fabric store. And cute lilac elastic. (Sorry about the overexposed pic.)


The last time I made underwear (I keep wanting to type panties, but I guess underwear sounds better) for myself, I used fold over elastic. It was my first time using FOE. I cut out the size for my measurements--according to the pattern--but they were too big. A bit disappointing so I didn't make anymore. Can't have your underwear sliding down as you walk right?

This time the results were much much better. And it took less time to make them than before. I guess now I know what I'm doing. I'm loving the lingerie elastic a lot more. The underwear (almost said panties) looks much more like "store-bought" undies.

I also made myself some pregnancy belly bands. The first time I was pregnant, I thought they were silly, since they're mainly advertised a way to continue wearing your pre-pregnancy pants. Basically you wear your pants unbutton and put the band over the waistband to hide the fact and to keep your pants up.

The belly bands definitely help with my lower back paint. Especially by the end of the day when my baby belly just feels so heavy. There's a great tutorial here. I actually made mine self-lined so there's no seams sewing (overachiever that I am).

Sophia now wants her own belly band so she can be just like me. LOL. Only it has to be pink. I'm going to miss it when I'm not her pedestal anymore. Teen years right?