Everyone deserves Pretty Knickers – Page 3

Posted on 06/06/201418/01/2016 by Susan Goodwin — 2 Comments

Everyone Deserves Pretty Knickers – The Jane Knickers Sewalong Part 2

Today in Sydney the weather is dark and dreary and it’s looking to be this way for the whole weekend. So load up on supplies and make yourself knickers all weekend. Much more fun than bothering about in this weather!

We are part way with The Jane Knickers, we left off just after overlocking the raw edge of the crotch seam.

On the lower front panels use the notches to indicate the gathered areas. I’ve shown them using pins to make it easy to see.

Between the notches run a gathering stitch. A gathering stitch is a straight stitch with a very long stitch length. Stitch a row and then stop, leave long thread tails and stitch another row. Again leaving the long tails. They should be a few mm apart. Repeat for the other front panel.

Pulling the lower threads of your gathering stitch, gently pull them to create gathers.

Once you have created your gathers, pin the yoke to the lower front panels with right sides together.

Using a straight stitch (be sure to change it back to regular stitch length after gathering). Sew a 1cm seam allowance.

Take out your gathering threads by gently pulling them through.

Finish the raw edge using an overlocker/serger or zig zagging.

Press the seam allowance from the yoke seam up towards the waist and topstitch down. This is not 100% necessary but is a nice way to ensure a smoother finish to the inside of the knickers.

With right sides together, match side seams and pin together.

Using a straight stitch sew a 1cm seam. Repeat for other side.

Finish the raw edge using an overlocker/serger or zig zagging.

Finish the raw edge of the hems by using an overlocker/serger or zig zagging. If you are using a very fine fabric you make like to think about doing a roll hem or a very fine double turn hem.

Press hem up by 6mm to 1cm and iron into place. Straight stitch hem in place.

Finish raw edge of waist by overlocking/serging or zig zag stitch.

Turn finished edge of waist to the inside of the garment and press down by 1cm. The elastic is going to be topstitched in so you will be stretching the elastic as you are stitching it in place. I’m using a pretty purple lingerie elastic because that’s what I had in my stash and I like the way a contrast colour looks.

Measure the waist circumference, ideally your elastic length should be 2/3rds the full circumference. Before you cut, wrap the elastic around you and see if the 2/3rd measurement suits you. If you would like it roomier than go for a longer length of elastic. If you are unsure stick with the 2/3rds measurement.

Take your waist elastic, fold in half and half again. Put a pin at each of the quarters. Starting from the side seam pin the elastic on the inside of the waist at side seam, centre front, side seam, centre back and the last one will go to the side seam but we don’t want to pin that one just yet. It’s easier to attach it once you have already stitched the start point to the side seam.

Stitch and pull the elastic to one pin, once you reach the pin then move it, stretch the elastic to the next pin and stitch down. By going quarter by quarter it’s not only easier it means an even distribution of gathers too.Keep going until you reach the last pin, the end of the elastic should now be matched to the side seam you started at. Stretch the elastic for the final quarter and stitch in place.

Your waist should now have elastic attached all the way around.

And you are done!

That’s it! With the sewalongs this week you can now construct The Charlotte Knickers a full bottom coverage style, The Georgiana Knickers a bikini brief style, The Lydia Knickers a cheeky G string style and The Jane Knickers a sweet style style. We have other DIY/Tutorial posts scheduled for the future where you can build on these skills. Till then have fun making knickers and remember to tag your makes #everyonedeservesprettyknickers

Tomorrow we have some more fun stuff planned for the wrap up of Knickers week so be sure to check back then.

Posted on 05/06/201418/01/2016 by Susan Goodwin — Leave a comment

Everyone Deserves Pretty Knickers – The Jane Knickers Sewalong Part 1

What a week! Seriously it’s been a whirlwind of excitement. With seeing peoples makes and being featured designer on Kollabora. It’s all just been fantastic and one of those times where I’m supremely happy to have made the leap to share my love of sewing with everyone. Thank you to every single person who has supported Measure Twice Cut Once in any way, I truly appreciate it.

Today kicks off with The Jane Knicker sewalong. If you haven’t got your pattern yet, you can pick it up with a 20% discount until the 10th of June over on Kollabora.

Fabric choices are fairly varied for the knickers which is great as it means you can go as fancy as you want and it’s brilliant for stash busting too. Look for lightweight cottons like voile, cambric or lawn. Quilting cottons and dress cottons are very nice too. Lightweight silks and satins are also lovely and have the added slinky feel to them.

Avoid anything that doesn’t have a good bias stretch to it, is too bulky (like denim or canvas) and if in doubt make a test version before using up your best fabric.

As an indicator of fabric quantity I’m cutting out the size 18 pattern and this is 112cm wide fabric. For sizing, try going by your hip measurement not your waist measurement. The fabric I’m using is close in handling to a voile and has a printed floral on it. Again it’s a stashbusting piece but I know it came from Spotlight a few years back and I stole it from my sisters stash (um, Hi!).

As with all of our woven knicker patterns The Jane Knicker is cut on the bias. With right sides together fold your fabric in half and ensure that the grainline run parallel to the selvedge.

I then folded back just one layer until the selvedge is at 90 degrees to where it was to create a bias fold line. On this I placed the yoke and cut a single layer.

All pattern pieces are now cut.

Taking one lower front panel and one back panel. Match inside leg seam with right sides together and pin. Repeat for remaining leg panels.

Using a straight stitch sew a 1cm seam along pinned edge. In a never before seen occurrence I am sewing with non matching thread to make it easier for you to see and apologies to Nan (my Grandmother) as I can hear you mentally tsk tsking me for non matching thread. It’s just for the photos I promise Nan!

Clean finish raw edge by overlocking/serging or zig zagging.

Repeat the last 2 steps for the other leg panels.

With right sides together match the joined panels. At the inside leg seam push the seam allowance to the back. Pin in place.

Using a straight stitch sew a 1cm seam allowance.

Finish raw edge by overlocking/serging or zig zagging.

Tune in tomorrow for the remaining steps and don’t forget to tag your in progress photos with #everyonedeservesprettyknickers

Posted on 04/06/201418/01/2016 by Susan Goodwin — 2 Comments

Everyone Deserves Pretty Knickers – Sewalong Part 3

Ready to finish off your knickers? It’s so great that it is such a fast project and we can finish up so quickly.

By now you should have your knickers and your elastic.

Take your waist elastic, fold in half and half again. Put a pin at each of the quarters.

Starting from the side seam pin the elastic on the inside of the waist at side seam, centre front, side seam, centre back and the last one will go to the side seam but we don’t want to pin that one just yet.

Attach your elastic by overlocking/serging or zig zagging in place. You will need to stretch the elastic as you stitch it down. I’m going to use my overlocker because it’s all set up, but you don’t need to use one for this step. You’ll see my elastic is quite close to the edge but not right on the edge. When it is stretched it gets closer to the edge but a little buffer between edge and elastic also helps it glide through the overlocker a little easier.

Your waist should now have elastic attached all the way around.

If you are using the 6mm elastic, follow the same technique for both leg openings.

To show how the lingerie elastic can be used I will be using it on the leg openings. You can use all 6mm or all lingerie elastic or a combination, it’s entirely up to you.

Overlock/serge or zig zag the raw edge of leg openings. Making sure you have caught in the edge of the gusset at you finish the edges.

Using an iron press 6mm – 1cm hem to the inside of the knickers (this photo makes them look the oddest shape! it’s just the photo though).

Taking your elastic, divide it into quarters as shown previously. Then divide the leg opening into quarters. Use a pin to mark each quarter.

Starting from side seam pin elastic to inside of hem edge with scallop edge pointing out.

Using 3 step zig or any stitch which allows stretch eg twin needle or zig zag top stitch the elastic in place. You will need to pull the elastic to stretch it as it is going on. Using the pins and quarters of the garment it will help get the stretch even around the entire leg opening.

Repeat for other leg opening.

Fold over the elastic at waistband to the inside of the knickers. Topstitch it in place using 3 step zig zag, twin needle or zig zag.

and you are all done. You’ve made knickers! yay!

How exciting you can now make your own knickers! All of these photos show The Charlotte Knickers but the same techniques can cover The Georgiana Knickers and The Lydia Knickers.

Once you have the techniques of the gusset and elastic sorted out you can try different fabrics and a range of different trims and accessories. Later in the week we will be talking more about how to add your design flair to your knickers, so be sure to check back for that.

Tomorrow we will be kicking off our second sewalong and this one is for The Jane Knickers. If you don’t already have a pattern ready to go, Kollabora is having a sale on The Jane Knickers so pop across and pick one up and I’ll see you back here tomorrow for more sewing.

Don’t forget to tag all your Instagram and tweets with #everyonedeservesprettyknickers so I can see all your wonderful creations

Posted on 03/06/201418/01/2016 by Susan Goodwin — Leave a comment

Everyone Deserves Pretty Knickers – Sewalong Part 2

I do hope everyone has been enjoying “Everyone Deserves Pretty Knickers” week. It’s so fun already and we have so much more to come. Don’t forget to tag your in progress work with #everyonedeservesprettyknickers if you are sharing on instagram or twitter so we can see your beautiful makes.

Yesterday we cut out our knickers and added the gusset. So now your knickers should look like this.

Now it’s time to sew the side seams. With right sides together match at the side seams and pin in place.

Using a straight stitch sew a 1cm seam.

Finish raw edge using overlocker/serger or zig zag stitch.

Your knickers should now look much more knicker shaped.

A few people have emailed saying “don’t go to elastic yet! I haven’t found what I need”. So here is a bit about types of elastic that is suitable.

Left to right

6mm regular elastic- super easy to find and possible the cheapest option.

10mm wide knicker elastic. It has a scallop edge and one side is lovely and soft for next to your skin.

Scallop edge elastic, bigger decorative edge and smaller amount of elastic to topstitch on. Some of the trims can look like this but lack any stretch so check the stretch before buying.

Measure the leg circumference, ideally your elastic length should be 2/3rds the full circumference. Before you cut, wrap the elastic around you and see if the 2/3rd measurement suits you. If you would like it roomier than go for a longer length of elastic. If you are unsure stick with the 2/3rds measurement.

To allow those who haven’t yet found the right elastic one extra day we will leave it there, and tomorrow we will cover attaching the elastic and top stitching it down.

If you have any questions feel free to pop them in the comments so I can help you out.

Posted on 02/06/201418/01/2016 by Susan Goodwin — Leave a comment

Everyone Deserves Pretty Knickers – Seawalong Part 1

The start of the first sewalong will be for The Charlotte Knickers but the same construction method applies to The Georgiana Knickers and The Lydia Knickers so you can choose the style you like the most to follow along with.

Avoid anything that doesn’t have a good bias stretch to it, is too bulky (like denim or canvas) and if in doubt make a test version before using up your best fabric.

First up cutting on the bias. Here you want to ensure your grainline is at 45 degrees to your selvedge. It gives the woven fabric a nice bit of stretch to it which I find makes for a much more comfy pair of knickers.

I’m very committed (ahem trying) to my stash busting this year so here is some leftovers that is going to be perfect for knickers.

Iron your fabric and lay it out, if you have an inspector kitty get them to check your work before moving on to the next step (note: despite the pissed off look she is not unhappy with my work merely reminding me it is getting very close to food service time and that I’d better hurry up with these photos).

From the selvedge fold over your fabric ensuring your selvedge edge is now at a 90 degree angle to where it started. And arrange your patterns for cutting.

In this photo the top of the the front and back pattern pieces have been placed together. This is the most fabric efficient way to cut out your knickers and you can see the front pattern piece has been flipped over to ensure that both pattern pieces can fit in a small amount of fabric.

For a directional print, arrange your patterns so the top of the front and the top of the back are in the same direction. We had to fold the fabric over more to use extra fabric to cut the patterns this way

I hope that all makes sense for cutting on the bias? For an idea on how much fabric you need these pattern pieces are cut out to the size 18 and the fabric is 112cm wide

For the gusset you only need a small amount of cotton jersey. Try and use 100% cotton as it’s just a bit nicer to wear than any of the blends. If you are raiding the stash for your make and don’t have a knit, try cutting up an old t-shirt. They are great for recycling into gussets.

Now that you are done cutting we will move onto construction

Right side – the face, front or outside of the fabric

Wrong side – the interior, inside, back of the fabric

Step 1 – Front, back and gusset all right side up.

Step 2 – Gusset right side up.

Step 3 – Gusset right side up with front edge finished. I’ve overlocked it, you could overlock/serge, zig zag or turn under and straight stitch a hem.

Step 4 – Front panel, right side up.

Front panel with back panel placed on top. The right sides have been matched together so the photo shows the wrong side of the back panel facing up.

From the photo above, we have now added the gusset with the right side matched to the wrong side of the back panel. Photograph shows the wrong side facing up of the gusset.

Step 5 – pin at crotch seam. This seam is a bit tricky as the 2 woven fabrics have opposing curves. It won’t sit flat until it is stitched together. I pin at the centre and then one on either end. It will be bubbly looking but it’s meant to be so don’t worry.

Step 6 – 1cm seam allowance, straight stitch seam. Due to the bubbliness of the seam when you pinned it. As you feed it through the machine it can be helpful to put ever so slight an amount of tension onto the woven fabric by very gently pulling it as you feed it through the machine. This is ever so slight but it just allows you to feed the seam through and achieve a flat seam.

Step 7 – finish raw edge of seam, again I have overlocked but you could overlock/serge the edge or zig zag.

Step 8 – place seam flat and press. Photo now shows the wrong side of both front and back panels but the right side up of the gusset.

That’s as far as we are going to go today, come back tomorrow to join in the next step of the sewalong. If you have any questions about what we have gone through so far just pop them into the comments so I can help you out.

Posted on 01/06/201418/01/2016 by Susan Goodwin — 2 Comments

Everyone Deserves Pretty Knickers – Inspiration

One of the reasons (and there many) that I like making knickers is that I get to choose my own style.

The shape that suits me, the fabrics that I like, trims, ribbons it’s all my choice. My version of pretty may not be the same as yours and that is wonderful. It’s down to you to choose what you want because you get to make it.

If however you are stuck for inspiration, I’ve been doing some research for you. For research like this Pinterest is my weapon of choice as it’s so easy to gather the information and draw from a wide amount of source material.

This lingerie board covers a wide range of styles in a variety of fabrics. I’ve also included bras, cami’s and even some cover ups in here as well. I find it helps to envision and entire wardrobe of beautiful pieces to really get inspired.

Take a look at the shapes of the knickers to see which ones you like. If you regularly wear a full coverage knicker you could be a bit daring and go for a skimpy or even bikini style? Or if you are used to a tiny style perhaps something like The Jane Knicker might be a welcome change?

Once you’ve decided on the shape of your preferred knicker, start looking at fabrics and trims. A Swiss dot paired with a satin ribbon. A floral woven with a lace trim. Raid your entire fabric stash to find all the trims and fabrics you’ve been setting aside for a special occasion.

If you are using a Measure Twice Cut Once pattern then there are individual boards set up for each style showing all the versions that have been made so far. Sometimes it’s easier to see a version so you can see if yours will work?

The Charlotte Knickers

The Georgiana Knickers

Gather together your fabrics and trims and get ready for our first sew along starting tomorrow.

images via Anthropologie, BHLDN

Posted on 31/05/201418/01/2016 by Susan Goodwin — 7 Comments

Everyone Deserves Pretty Knickers week is here!

I cannot say just how excited I am to be kicking off Everyone deserves pretty knickers week. It’s going to be so exciting!

Honestly sewing your own knickers leaves you with this amazing feeling of accomplishment and triumph and I want everyone to be able to experience that.

Over the week we will be covering 2 sewalongs, inspiration and design.

The first sewalong will be for The Charlotte Knickers but the same construction method applies to The Georgiana Knickers and The Lydia Knickers so you can choose the style that suits you best.

The second sewalong will be for The Jane Knickers. These are a super sweet knicker than can be worn as pyjamas or for lounging about in hot weather.

Sunday – Inspiration

Monday – Sew along 1 – Bias cutting and gusset construction

Tuesday – Sew along 1 – side seams and attaching elastic

Wednesday – Sew along 1 – top stitch elastic

Thursday – Sew along 2 – cutting and crotch construction

Friday – Sew along 2 – yoke, hem and elastic

Saturday – Design

Some other fun things will also be happening during the week so keep checking back in. If you use bloglovin you can follow us using the button in the sidebar.

Be sure to use the hashtag #everyonedeservesprettyknickers on all your makes for the week.

Cut and paste the code below to add the pretty knicker lady to the sidebar of your blog

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