some new knickers: Orange lingerie Montgomery briefs

 These are very pretty. 

The question was, of course, whether they would adequately translate from a pattern made out of plastic (that's YOU stretch lace and power mesh) into a pattern made from my cotton fabric scraps (the goal).  

I started by following the instructions (is it funny that this is rare, unusual, and requires comment?)  I made size S. I used some navy power mesh from my stash, matching lace, and some pink picot elastic.  The instructions are fine. The problems are technical.  Four layers coming together on the back of the crotch.  A weird edge where that all meets up.  Other than that, the fit was fine.  

I cut out two pairs of mixed rayon and silk jersey.  In retrospect I should have gone for the beefier interlock I had sitting around, at least for the front.  One pair got entirely scuppered as I decided to change things up a bit and sewed the edges of the crotch pieces together with right sides facing, then flipped the crotch out to avoid putting elastic along the crotch piece. However, the result was that the front and the front crotch didn't match up.  It was not a salvageable mistake.  

Take 2 I did the same thing but I *also* did that to the front, which I doubled.  So I avoided any picot elastic, which for me is a good thing as all the stuff does is shred all over everything in the wash and then fall apart.  I did a clever thing where I put the crotch into the front and sewed them together inside out, so I got a nice finish there too.  Of course I was still stuck with four layers at the back.  This pair of underwear is wearable, but very loose.  I won't avoid panty lines - because the back won't really fit under tight pants!  Haha I will wear them to bed anyway.  I'll try out the plastic ones too and see what I think.  I have a lot of power mesh and it would be nice to have a way to get rid of it.  I don't really have much lace, because I dislike sewing it and I dislike wearing it...

This was a fun experiment but it seemed to conclude in: 

Acacia panties are best. 

Watsons are just a bit narrower so they cut my butt cheeks in half.

Between these two patterns I can happily upcycle tshirts into underwear for me and all of my friends basically forever...except when we don't want pantylines. 

Barry briefs are for when I figure out the coverstitch binding attachment. 

And Esme panties by Evie La Luve are the epic wonder for avoiding pantylines and looking fancy.  I think it just won't get any better than those.  (Which just led me down a wormhole of panty patterns so expect me to be trying out two more in the next few weeks....oooopssss.)

Evie La Luve Esme Panties

Well well, I have been looking for awhile for a knicker pattern that could be done in a satisfactory fashion without an overlocker.

The Watson bikini, the So Zo knicker, and the Kitschy coo Barrie bottom (here is an overview of all of them that I sewed recently) ...are all lovely and fit just fine.  However they all shred or fall apart because of using a normal sewing machine, and they all give me horrendous panty lines.  So there was still room for improvement.

I saw this pattern on etsy first, but then got even more keen when I saw Elle Joan's had a kit with all the right lace in it.  I've been really enjoying service from her shop lately since she is local in NZ and the shipping is so fast!  Tailor made shop was my go to prior to this, and most of the time I was happy with what I got from her - the kits are certainly beautiful, but I did find once that the various elements didn't match very well, and when I ordered Madalynne lace kits, the lace was non-stretch.  It didn't stop me from ordering from her again.

I thought this pattern would give no panty lines, since the back is lace AND that simplifies a lot of the sewing. I was less sure how the FOE at the waist would go.  It doesn't feel very substantial.

My one kit had enough of everything for 2 pairs of knickers in a size S.  The second one needed FOE from elsewhere, hence teal.  On that second pair, in order to tighten the waist, I pulled the sides around to the XS mark instead of just the S mark, which is an improvement.  I think I could use the size XS instead of S.  My hips are 37". 

These took honestly like 12 minutes to make.  I was initially wary of just folding over the leg openings and zig zagging down, but it seems to hold up ok.  On the second pair I took out extra steps like finishing the front of the crotch piece, and doing an extra layer of stitching on those leg holes before you fold over.  I didn't plan quite far enough ahead to do a sandwich for the crotch piece to enclose it - you have to do that very early on before attaching all the pieces - so it is still unfinished but the lace is good at camouflaging my layers of zig zags.

These are comfortable on.  They are low lying over the hipbones in the front, so the elastic behaves ok.  I will see how they handle being washed before I comment on their longevity - so far no pair of panties with picot elastic has lasted very long (at least looking good) because the elastic all shredded in the wash.