The undies saga returns

In this episode of the undies saga  heourroine makes more attempts to make herself well-fitting, sporty-looking, affordable cotton undies.

The story began when, armed with a swimsuit sewing pattern (Kwik Sew 3239), this slightly stingy sewer bravely tackled issues of pancake bottom, lack of overlocker and few materials (due to stinginess) - to produce promising but not-quite-there-yet underpants.

Then she received a valuable gift - a free bikini-style undies pattern (Megan Neilson's Acacia). This produced a few wearables -

Acacia - Used lingerie elastic for the classic look. The shape wasn't exactly what I was after but it was quite wearable - until the elastic started to come apart with each wash!

I made a couple of versions of Acacia with self fabric binding, with mixed results. One pair didn't stretch much after I was done stitching it up, the other pair wouldn't stay up.

In the spirit of upcycling, the next pair was made out of two of the boys' unwanted t-shirts. I won't be doing a  gusset in a contrast colour next time, okay? 

For this pair I went back to the Kwik Sew pattern for a higher waistline - but it is too high. At least there's a barbeque on the back. I used  foldover elastic at the waist (but it's not folded over), and strips of viscose/elastane (from a maxi dress that I shortened) around the leg holes. 

I made a second pair from the same Kwik Sew pattern with a slightly lower waistline and using viscose/ elastane for the waist and leg openings. But theres no photo because but I'm taking them out for a test drive. My takeway from this exercise is not to use old or thin jersey. It feels a bit baggy on (though the shape is fine.

This one I have high hopes for. It's the boyleg view from the Kwik Sew pattern, with a deep panel of viscose/spandex around the waistband (so it's not too low cut) and the legs are just folded under and sewn down. I had to draft a gusset for this because the original pattern doesn't have one (just a front lining piece).

I found with my first boylegs that the seam at the centre back gives me a nice bum shape. However the flip side of this is having to put up with wedginess. I wanted short legs on than designed because  I want to be able to wear them with re-usable pads when it's that time of the month.