An undie odyssey

I have always liked the undies made by the likes of Thunderpants and Fanny Adams. They are super comfy and soft, and there's no tight elastic or wedginess. However I can't really afford to spend up to $28 per pair. Plus their undies only come in 4 sizes - if their hipster undies don't fit you perfectly they are going to fall down!

The other thing is that I hate wearing bras because they make me feel asthmatic. I basically just don't wear one if I can possibly get away with it (it helps to wear tops made from crisp wovens rather than super-drapey knits). I can get crop tops that fit but are made of synthetic fabric, which is a bit sweat-making in summer, or pretty cotton ones (from Thunderpants for example) that would be great except they don't fit me.

So all this is leading up to...my sewing my own underwear.

I started out with Kwik Sew 3239 which is actually a swimsuit pattern. ( I may even use it to make a swimsuit one day - variations include crop top, halter neck bikini top, low cut boylegs, high cut boylegs, briefs, bikini bottoms and tankini).

I used a viscose and elastane fabric that was sitting around doing nothing ever since I realised that brown looks horrible against my skin tone -

these are the low cut boy legs. I raised it to a mid-waist.

These are the briefs, after I lowered the waist.

For both of these I used self fabric binding instead of elastic, for the Thunderpants look. Of course they otherwise don't resemble Thunderpants pants at all.

Then I had a go at making the crop top, using a combination of the above fabric plus an old black long sleeve t-shirt that I no longer wore -

The fit is almost perfect on me. I had to remove length from the shoulder straps, and veered between small and medium in size. The lower band is probably a bit wider than the pattern would recommend, but that's to accommodate my need for room about my rib cage.  The only thing I would change for the next one I make, would be to narrow the shoulder straps - either by cutting them narrower or by turning in the binding after sewing it in. I may also experiment with using the halter bikini to get a more plunging neckline in a future crop top.

I have also had a go at Megan Neilson's Acacia pattern for undies. This is your classic hipster brief, and the one I have decided to use in future undie-making. The shape is great (covers your bum, just the right about of rise, comfy to wear). However I don't have a photo for you because it's in the laundry basket (have already worn them twice since making them). As I did with the other undies above, I substituted the elastic for self fabric binding.

I've already cut out my next crop top and Acacia undies - it will be the first time I match top and bottom!