Materials list for the panties sew along
Okay, is everybody ready to start gathering supplies?

The nice thing about panties is that you can make them out of lots of different things, and you can do lots of different adaptations! They require small amounts of fabric, too, which is a bonus.

Some possibilities for fabric:
cotton jersey
poly/cotton jersey
poly jersey
lycra blend
hemp jersey
nylon tricot

Feel free to expirament with what you have. You'll also need some elastic. I used 3/8" on the waist and 1/4" on the legs. You can also use foldover elastic or stretch lace. See what you have on hand. You'll need about a yard of waist elastic, and about a yard and a half for the legs, depending on your measurements..

Drafting the pattern for your sew along panties
The next step is to pick a favorite pair of existing panties. Pick ones that are comfy and fit well. I chose bikini style, but whatever you like best is what you should make. Take them to your sewing area with either some patternese, tracing paper, regular paper, interfacing... whatever you want your pattern to be on. And a washable marker.

You may feel like you need a third hand for this part, but you want to fold your panties in half and stretch the elastic parts out and mark your paper with those coordinates. I'm including pictures of my pattern pieces to give you some idea of what you'll end up with. And yes, I marked the wrong side with the fold line at first, so it's whited out and re-marked.

When you make the crotch piece, you want to snip the corners triangular, so that when you fold over and sew, the seams are straight. Don't forget to add a seam allowance to all sides of your pattern before cutting out. Otherwise, your finished product may be too small for you.



http://www.amitymama.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=754849

Cutting instructions for the panties sew along
Once you have your pattern drafted, lay out your fabric so that the stretch goes from side to side, NOT top to bottom. Cut all your pieces on the fold. This helps to ensure that both sides are symetrical. When you do the crotch, cut one piece on the fold from your chosen fabric, and then find a scrap of plain COTTON to do the lining piece (again, on the fold). Pretty much all ready made underwear have a cotton lining inside. For my last pair, I didn't have a scrap of white, so I used a piece of hemp/cotton blend jersey instead. For this pair, I happened to have a piece of purple saved from the bottom of a RTW T-shirt I hacked the bottom off of to make a strip dress out of. So I used that since it would match better than stark white against the very PURPLE tricot fabric I picked.

Then comes the ugly part. Take your tape measure in your room and lock your door, LOL. Measure *where you want the elastic to be* near your waist and leg. Take those measurements and subtract a bit. I took 4" off the waist and 2" off each leg. Cut your elastic to those specifications.


http://www.amitymama.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=754854

Sewing instructions for the panties sew along
Okay, the hardest part is the second seam. For the first seam, you want to lay your crotch inner piece face up, then your back piece, then your crotch outer piece. See picture.


http://www.amitymama.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=754859

Sew that seam, and then lay out the crotch pieces as pictured below and add the front piece. Pin. Make sure that when you flip it right side out, everything is in the right place. then flip it back, and sew that seam.

http://www.amitymama.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=754864

http://www.amitymama.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=754868

NEXT PIC

next, serge around your leg holes, sew up your side seams right sides together and then if you're doing encased elastic, serge the waist all the way around and then sew your elastic in a loop, fold the waist seam over it, and sew.

If you're doing stretch lace, sew that in a loop and then serge it to your waist. You should have something similar to this at this point, depending on your choices.

if you're using fold over elastic, just sew that on, stretching as you go. Cut AFTER you sew, LOL. Ask me how I know this? If you're using regular elastic, then fold and sew it in a casing.



http://www.amitymama.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=754873


I hope I got all of the pics in the right places. Shecki, if I need to switch any please LMK. HTH!

I am in your debt!

Now I can make some practice underpants until I feel confident enough to make some wonderwoman underpants!

Yes, I am a freak. But wouldn't you feel more confident wearing wonderwoman underpants? :D

jessica

OK, How, If your using foe, do you know how much to stretch? Pull tight? Any help would be great! Thanks! April