Don McCunn's Blog

The Joy of a Custom Made Garment

March 4, 2010 on 6:18 pm | In Bikinis & Bandeaus, Fitting Issues, Online Classes, Pattern Design Guides, Sewing Techniques | 1 Comment

Previously I wrote the post “Tyranny of Standardized Sizing”. I am pleased to be able to follow that up with the results a student in my “Swimsuit, Lingerie, and Empire Dresses” class had. With Deborah’s permission I thought I’d share this experience. But first…

“The most comfortable panties I’ve ever worn!” — Deborah Castle

I use my eBook How to Make Bikinis and Bandeaux as a text for my Swimsuit and Lingerie class. In this eBook I describe how to make fitted briefs. The idea is to create the design lines on the body using bias tape and velcro, measure key places, then draft the pattern.

When Deborah said “The most comfortable panties I’ve ever worn!” I wanted to follow through so I asked Deborah the following.

Theoretically I thought that should be the case. But I’d be very interested in knowing if you can pin point the reasons.

• Fit at Waist?
• Fit at the Leg Opening?
• Custom-Fit at Side Seam?
• Cotton/Lycra Material?
• Plush Elastic in the Leg?
• Lace Waistband?
• All of the above ?

Deborah very graciously responded (and again she gave me permission to share this).

Don:

To answer your questions. For the first series, I’d have to say “all of the above.” Everything is where is should be and the cut is like I wanted. (They actually sit below the waist, the legs give full coverage but with a little bit of rise on the side seam.) The material is baby soft. Because they are made to fit me, nothing digs in, nothing pulls, nothing rides up, nothing slips down, and I can’t even tell I have them on!

They look big compared to store bought panties. That was shocking at first because I’m used to the smaller look with more stretch to fit multiple bodies (although not fit all that well.)

The body is a single layer of fabric, with a double layer for the crotch piece.

The “elastic” I used for the waist is the stretch lace. It is 2-1/4″ wide. I just sewed the stretch lace on at the seam line, stretching as I went. (putting the bottom edge of the lace about 1/4 inch below the seam line, and thus the lace itself adds two inches to the height of the panties — that is, when deciding where my waist would be for drafting the pattern, I considered the width of the lace in the calculations and lowered the waist location on the pattern for cutting the material.) Then I trimmed the seam. So that seam under the stretch lace is “unfinished.” But since it’s a knit, that’s not a problem. In addition to the zig-zag for adding the stretch lace, I stitched a row of the lingerie top stitching. It doesn’t show, but adds some more reinforcement to the seam. The stretch lace has a plush backing. It’s lovely.

I think that when all was said and done, I had taken in about 2 -1/8″ to 2-3/8″ on each side seam, according to comparing the measurements I wrote down, and measuring the latest version of the pattern which I used without taking it in any further on the side seams. The stretch lace is a length about 5 inches shorter than the measurement around where it attaches to the panties. It’s pretty stretchy, so that holds the panties in place without stretching the lace out of shape or having it dig in at all.

I made some significant changes to the crotch piece to get the fit I needed. I narrowed it both in the front and back, and shortened it in length. Shortening it allowed me to lengthen the material over the buttocks without distorting the shape of the leg opening too much. I’m getting the coverage over the cheeks, and it is fitting perfectly. I played with this a lot until I had it so that it fit the way I wanted. I had a fantastic time working on these panties (I’ve made four pairs so far, each a little better fit than the one previous.)

I got all four pairs out of the 1 yard of fabric, 5 yards of the stretch lace and 5 yards of the picot-edged elastic. The only thing I ran out of was the plush-back, picot-edge elastic for the legs. I might have had enough to do the fourth pair of panties, but it was a close call. I have enough of the stretch lace for another pair. I pre-shrunk everything, and did lose a bit of fabric length that way. But nevertheless, I got four pairs of very nice, extremely (and increasingly with each pair) comfortable panties (with a bit of leftover lace & elastic) for $15.50, plus the cost of thread. I know cost is not the focus of our group, but you can’t beat that for quality panties. And I had a lot of fun doing it and can’t wait to make some more.

Anyway, on the final pair, I used a knit elastic and enclosed it in a fold over seam allowance, and then added my lingerie top stitching. That leg treatment looks fine on the outside, but not as pretty on the inside. Also, it’s thicker around the leg opening due to the layers of fabric. Still comfortable, but I like using the plush-backed elastic better for a thinner layer around the leg opening.

Well, I guess this is more than you asked for.

Absolutely you may use my quote. I greatly appreciate your missionary zeal and your passion for teaching, your creativity and your patience in helping all of us learn.

Deborah

Susan at the Fabric Depot has been wonderfully helpful as a fabric and notion consultant for this class. So I asked her to provide the information about the fabric that Deborah used. Here is that information with links to the appropriate ordering information.

• #FL600 Cotton Lycra (Suntan) @ $10.00 yd.
• #E270 3/8″ Picot/Plush Elastic (Nude) @ $.50yd (minimum 5 yds)
• #LTS0246 2 1/4″ Stretch Lace (no plush back) @ $.75 yd

Susan also made the following comment:

Since this panty is made with cotton lycra, you can make the crotch out of the same cotton lycra. If using nylon lycra, then it is recommended to use #FL675 T-shirt Knit Lining for the crotch pattern piece. (Or you can even take one of husband’s old t-shirts and cut the crotch pattern piece out of it.)