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Sewing Adventures – Darcy Boxers Christmas Edition

Feeling the pre Christmas pressure? wanting to make something useful at the last minute? The Darcy Boxer Shorts have got your back!

This cute Christmas edition pair make for a great present and I know some families have the tradition of matching pyjamas for everyone to wear Christmas morning. Add a simple white tank top and Christmas themed Darcy Boxer Shorts and you will be picture perfect in no time.

To make these even more gift ready I’ve made a very simple drawstring bag to hold the boxers. I thought you could use the drawstring as eco wrapping or it would make a great alternative to hanging up a stocking?

Pattern: The Darcy Boxer Shorts from Measure Twice Cut Once

Fabric: Australian Christmas themed fabric from Spotlight, elastic from Prym, drawcord for bag from Pitt Trading, buttons from Rozelle Markets.

Alterations: none

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Sewing Adventures – Darcy Shorts Vroom Vroom edition

The Darcy Boxers are by far my most popular pattern, no doubt fuelled by the fact it’s FREE but also because it makes wonderful presents for everyone in your life.

I’ve been getting in some extra Christmas sewing with this cute animal on mopeds fabric I had left over from another project. Turns out I had enough to fit a pair of Darcy’s and my Prym elastic was the perfect colour match.

This Prym elastic is the business when it comes to making boxer shorts look and feel like professional ready to wear garments. Soft and super plush it’s a dream to wear. Sewing wise I’ve found it good but a few pointers. It does not like being unpicked. It’s so plush the stitches sink right in which is great for wearing, not so good for unpicking. It loves a twin needle or a coverstitch machine. I’ve done this one with my coverstitch and it was a dream to attach that way. With the elastic being quite strong I found that stretching it in place worked really well.

I’ve tried the butting together and zig zagging in place elastic method but have found that just a straight stitch then folding over and topstitching in place. Works just as well and looks neat. Also handy for when you don’t have matching thread to hand.

The finishing touch was these vintage red plastic buttons I picked up at Rozelle Markets.

Pattern: The Darcy Boxer Shorts by Measure Twice Cut Once

Fabric: from stash, originally from Pitt Trading, buttons from Rozelle Markets

Alterations: none

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Sewing Adventures – Bingley Boxers Destination edition

Isn’t this fabric just adorable? I feel like it should be wallpaper gracing the walls of a quaint travel shop where people would go to book holidays to far off destinations. It’s a 100% cotton print from Pitt Trading and I couldn’t resist it.

Made up in The Bingley Boxer Shorts it makes the best presents for someone you love or yourself!

These were going to be for someone else but quite frankly I fell in love with them and quickly switched to making them for myself. I’ve used the super plush Prym elastic (in bright pink no less!) for the internal elastic and it looks so good.

Make wise these are fast with the fly being the only even slightly tricky bit. I highly recommend them as a fast stash buster, great for presents and perfect for your first foray into making pants or shorts.

Now I just need to find the perfect buttons to finish them off.

Pattern: The Bingley Boxer Shorts by Measure Twice Cut Once

Fabric: Destination from Pitt Trading, elastic from Prym

Alterations: next time I could make the elastic a touch more firm for myself?

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Sewing Adventures: Sewing for presents or when I forget how to sew for tall people

Do you make gifts for the family? I try to make as many as I can and for Christmas 2016 there was a definite swimsuit theme happening. I’ve already shared the roarsome suit I made my niece and the cute rashie I made for my nephew.


This swimsuit had slightly less success. It’s the Alison by Burdastyle which I’ve made before here. The pattern has plenty of issues but the style is cute so I thought I’d whip one up for The Englishman’s sister.


Fabric was the easy part using these great prints from Pitt Trading.


I already had H’s measurements so I cut her size in the width and went for the longest length as she is quite tall. Sadly it wasn’t quite enough length! They came up too short in the overall length, a clear case of me being short and forgetting just how tall she is. Rather than send them back I told her to find a shorter friend to give them to and I’ll make her a new pair.


I didn’t get a great pic before I sent the parcel off but I made a coverup to go with the swimsuit. I thought it would be handy getting to and from the beach or the pool?

This embroidered white cotton voile, another Pitt Trading fabric was perfect. It has this amazing border to it which kind of did all the work for the garment. I kept it simple and used the Named Asaka kimono pattern. The only change to the pattern was to cut the sleeves on the fold to take out the nice split sleeve that normally features in the garment. Seeing as how I wanted a sun protective garment I thought it best to cover up the slit. To help secure the cover up I added a decorative white and gold cord as waist tie.

Pattern: Burda Allison swimsuit, Named Asaka Kimono

Alterations: add length to the body of the swimsuit

Fabric: Fabric and trims for both from Pitt Trading