sewing – Page 7 – Measure Twice Cut Once

Posted on 02/06/201402/06/2014 by Susan Goodwin — 4 Comments

Everyone Deserves Pretty Knickers – knicker making class

It’s been a few hours and multiple cups of tea and I’m finally recovering from the amazingness of teaching my first knicker class.

First up it was SO MUCH FUN and that was down to the lovely ladies in class of Mel, Stef, Carmen and Lyndall. They were all so enthusiastic and willing to give it a try that it made it a joy to teach them.

The space at Sew Make Create was all set up with Janome machines and an overlocker for people to share and a beautiful big cutting table.

We went through how to find the right size, cutting on the bias, creating the gusset and then attaching the elastic. Along the way I was trying to make sure that everyone understood what I meant to not only do it in class with me there to help but more importantly to be able to do it once they got home.

Overall we did really well, I wish we had another hour in class to help out as with many new techniques to learn I felt slightly cramped for time.

It was great and I so hope everyone keeps sewing knickers at home.

If you’d like to come along to a class, there is a button on the sidebar that will take you over to what is on offer with dates and other information and more photos can be found on our flickr page.

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

<a href="http://www.measuretwicecutonce.com.au/2014/04/everyone-deserves-pretty-knickers/"><img src="http://www.measuretwicecutonce.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/knickers-website-button-190.jpg"/></a>

Posted on 09/05/201419/06/2019 by Susan Goodwin — 4 Comments

White

White clothes can get a bad wrap, too pristine, too hospital, too clinical. but therein can lie it’s deceptive quality. A clean slate with which to shine.

It always looks so crisp and perfect, a wonderful foil with which to play with textures and layering or to make accessories stand out.

Personally I would love to add more to my wardrobe but have a massive issue. Cat hair. I’d leave the house looking like I’d rolled in lint and I’m sure it would only get worse from there. Perhaps white is best saved for those without kitties?

1 white coat via Coffeewithnaima 2 white outfit via Stylabl 3 white dress via Stealthestyle 4 white top and shorts via The Petticoat

More white inspiration can be found on our Pinterest board.

Posted on 05/05/201401/05/2014 by Susan Goodwin — Leave a comment

Sewing Adventures – Japanese inspired menswear

Exciting day as today I’m featuring some menswear sewing.

On our last trip to Japan we stayed at a pod/capsule hotel. But not just any pod hotel, this one looks like something from Space Odyssey and is possibly one of the coolest places I have ever slept.

You book in and pack all your belongings into lockers. From there you can go in and have showers, in the lockers at the showers there are pyjamas for you to put on, then lounge about in the common room, before heading off to your pod to sleep (pods and showers are also on separate floors for men and women).

I got a modified version of a tracksuit to wear with long pants elastic waist pants and a long sleeve round neck top. It was fine, until I saw that The Englishman had been provided with a traditional Jinbei or Japanese lounge wear. It consists of a pair of drawstring shorts and a jacket/top with elbow length sleeves, a band style collar and crosses over and ties at the side. Not only did it look Boss As, it was also super comfortable. Despite being highly tempted to pack it in his bag and take it home with him, he didn’t steal it but instead we found a store selling traditional clothes where he bought himself one. That poor Jinbei has been worn to shreds. It was in high rotation as after long bicycle rides or running it was the perfect lounge around the house and recover type outfit.

So the mission has been on to re create a Jinbei. I had picked up a pattern from my favourite Japanese fabric store while we in Japan and made it up once before. I obviously wasn’t thinking as I cut it out on the largest size. It swam on The Englishman who while tall is incredibly fit and so very lean.

On the last Sydney Spoolettes visit to Cabramatta I picked up some fabrics to start the Jinbei production line. A brown stripe cotton linen with a slub in the weave and a blue and white cotton chambray. I tested the shorts of the pattern out in the brown stripe first. This time I’ve cut them out to the smallest size.

They are very simple pull on style shorts with a drawstring waist. To make them more comfortable I’ve made three quarters of the waistband a super soft elastic and then stitched cotton tape to the ends of the elastic to create the drawcord. All of that is hidden inside the waist casing but it just adds to the comfort.

These photos make his feet look weird. He is a cyclist and usually has shaved legs, but here the tan line on his ankle is making his feet look freakishly pale.

The cotton/linen was beautiful to sew with and I’m kicking myself I didn’t buy enough to make a matching Jinbei jacket to go with the shorts. So for now The Englishman is accessorising with Dinosaur t-shirts.

Posted on 01/05/201419/01/2016 by Susan Goodwin — 16 Comments

Elastic Suppliers for Knicker making

UPDATE: Knicker elastic and bra kits are now available in our webstore! Pop on over to take a look.

I’ve been scouring the web for elastic suppliers for the upcoming Everyone deserves Pretty Knickers week.

Now unless I’ve noted it, I have not personally tried all these suppliers. If anyone has had any interaction with any of them it would be great if you added in the comments so everyone can know who is reliable and offers good service. If anyone knows of anymore please share them, I’ll update the lists as we go along.

Ok here we go

In Sydney and Australia

I have found underwear elastic in white, black and nude at Spotlight stores. They occasionally have other colours but make sure you are buying an elastic, not a trim. They have a trim nearly identical to lingerie elastic except it has almost no stretch? very odd.

EM Greenfields (aka Greenfields or Greenies) in Sydney has a variety of elastics, it is open to the public but you will need to purchase an entire roll as they don’t cut trims. Also only open weekdays.

My super coloured lingerie elastic as seen here was found out at Cabramatta for the bargain price of 20c to 50c a metre! Don’t be afraid to buy the bright stuff as only a tiny sliver shows on the outside of the garment. Plus it’s knickers, have some fun!

Around the web

Minerva Crafts – wide selection of elastic, on the site is a soft backed narrow elastic, no fancy scallops along the top but would still be nice. Plenty of the regular 6mm elastic and stretch laces

eBay – I found a whole bunch of places on eBay selling elastic. Some are small stores which use eBay as their webstore, others look direct from China. Some have some really great looking stuff so it would be a good place to take a look at.

Etsy

Peak Bloom – suppliers of mostly fold over elastic, some stretch lace. I follow these guys on instagram but am yet to order from them, mostly because I can’t make up my mind on which of their amazing patterns to get!

Elastic by the Yard – plenty of fold over elastics here as well as some skinny elastic in fun colours.

Fabric Depo – decent range of lingerie elastic (the scalloped top style), also have a physical store for those in California

Swoon Party Shop – vintage lingerie elastic and metallic ric rac (hey I know it’s not knicker specific but it’s metallic ric rac!)

YYCraft – plenty of fold over elastic and some lingerie elastic

Mrs DePew – vintage lingerie patterns and supplies

DIY supplies and kits – fold over elastic and even some double edge frill elastic!

If anyone knows of anymore places either online or across the world, let me know, I can add them in so everyone can source what they need.

Posted on 30/04/201418/01/2016 by Susan Goodwin — 4 Comments

What you need to make some Knickers

I am so happy with the response to our “Everyone deserves Pretty Knickers” challenge. It’s so exciting to think that everyone will soon have pretty knickers that they made themselves.

To help you get ready for the big week, here is a run down of all the Measure Twice Cut Once patterns and what you need for each one. This way you can raid your stash for your supplies or head on out to buy what you need, am sure you can all stand the drudgery of more fabric shopping, lol.

The Charlotte Knickers

The Georgiana Knickers

Fabric: Cotton wovens such as voile, cambric, lawn, quilting cottons. Also silks and satins.
Gusset: Cotton Jersey
Unsuitable for fabrics with bulk or stiffness such as denim or cord.
Trim: Thread, 6mm width elastic (does not need to be lingerie elastic). This is photographed with a rolled hem, it can be made like that or it can be turned under and top stitched like The Charlotte Knickers. So even without an overlocker/serger you can create this style.

The Jane Knickers

Fabric: Cotton wovens such as voile, cambric, lawn, quilting cottons. Also silks and satins.
Unsuitable for fabrics with bulk or stiffness such as denim or cord.
Trim: Thread, 6mm width elastic (does not need to be lingerie elastic). The top edge does not need to be lingerie elastic, but it looks really cute if you can use it. This is a great one to practice or learn using how to stretch the lingerie elastic while top stitching and still keep the decorative edge peaking up above the top of the fold.

The Mary Knickers

Fabric: Knits such as jerseys, cotton lycra/spandex, super lightweight double knits. Highly recommended to have a high cotton content and lycra/spandex content is nice but not essential.
Gusset: Cotton Jersey
Unsuitable for fabrics woven fabrics.
Trims: 6mm width elastic (does not need to be lingerie elastic), thread

The Lizzie Knickers

Fabric: Cotton wovens such as voile, cambric, lawn, quilting cottons, silks and satins.
Gusset: Cotton Jersey
Unsuitable for fabrics with high degree of stretch, bulk or stiffness such as swim lycra, denim or cord.
Trims: Thread, 6mm width elastic (does not need to be lingerie elastic). Due to the elastic side “strings” on this style a nice soft elastic or a proper lingerie elastic certainly makes it a lot more comfortable. See if you can source some if this is your preferred style?

The Lydia Knickers

Tomorrow we will be covering suppliers of elastic and we have plenty more posts coming up on how you can create knickers to suit your style. Start gathering up your supplies and don’t forget to pop your name down on the announcement post, and grab a sidebar button so we can keep an eye out for your beautiful makes.

Posted on 29/04/201418/01/2016 by Susan Goodwin — 23 Comments

Everyone deserves Pretty Knickers

Everywhere I look I’m seeing sewers from all over the world making knickers and bras and all kinds of lovely underthings. In the comments on all these lovely creations are so many sewists who say they want to try but they think it’s too hard or that they don’t have the right machinery or fabrics or trims or a myriad of other problems.

Knickers are not hard and they don’t take any fancy kind of machinery. You can make them using a regular machine with a straight stitch and a zig zag using normal elastic. So in the spirit of encouragement, I’m announcing Everyone deserves Pretty Knickers Week

Throughout the whole week we will be encouraging sewers to take the plunge and just try making one pair of knickers. Any style, any fabric any pattern that you like. Make what will suit you and what you want. It’s a few weeks away so you have some time to look around, choose a style and a pattern and find some fabric.

So if you’d like to take the challenge, add your name to the comments here and grab a button for your blog. Follow us on instagram to see as many makes as we can find to regram, tag your makes with #everyonedeservesprettyknickers.

I cannot wait to see what you all create.

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

We will be featuring round ups of supplies over the next few weeks to help you find everything you need for the week, so keep checking back for more information.

Posted on 28/04/201419/01/2016 by Susan Goodwin — 1 Comment

Sewing Adventures – The Jane Knickers

I decided to add something a little cuter to my sleepwear so whipped up these three versions of The Jane Knickers.

The green checked looked ok but was a little flat so I added a decorative topstitch to the yoke in a magenta thread to match the magenta lingerie elastic I was using for the waistband. You’ll see on all three versions I have created pleats in the front panels where it joins to the yoke. On the pattern it says to gather these pieces but I wanted to show that you can vary them up by pleating as well.

The pale check is super sweet vintage fabric that I actually made a top in (that is waiting to be blogged). I used the remainder to cut out The Jane Knickers. I find it a little pale so I like to add a touch of colour on the waist elastic. This elastic is a folded elastic that has a decorative bobble edge. It’s one of those trims that I keep hanging on to and yet never get around to actually using. So I bit the bullet and used it here. The folded elastic works fine instead of the lingerie elastic. Just be careful to check the stretch. You’ll notice these ones look a little bigger than the others? they are the same size I just had to ensure not to stretch it too tight as I was topstitching it in as it doesn’t have the same stretch properties as the other elastic I was using.

I dropped by Spotlight on the Easter long weekend with the idea of buying a zip, I came home without the zip (didn’t have the colour and size I needed) but with more fabric! This one is a Japanese Lawn which I adore and it was on special. They are so soft and yet not see through and make up beautifully. I cut a dress out of this fabric and then used up the leftovers for these knickers. On the front yoke I have added in a centre front seam and topstitched down the seam allowance. I couldn’t quite fit the yoke in the scraps so I managed to maneuver it in by adding a seam. Then added the bright green elastic because it is such a fun colour.

The mix and match of elastics helps tie the colours and fabrics together and you’d never know they were made out of leftovers!

Posted on 25/04/201419/06/2019 by Susan Goodwin — 2 Comments

Pink

From pastel to vibrant, fluro to matte, I love pink. In every shade and variation I will wear it, buy it, sew with it and more than once I have gone literally head to toe in it. Pink hair, pink dress, pink shoes. I just love it.

Not only do I find it massively cheering and fun to wear but it suits me! With pale complexion of pink tones I can overdose on pink and instead of looking washed out it makes me look more vibrant.

The odd thing is I barely wore it as a child, I certainly didn’t have a pink barbie princess room and the entire love affair with pink didn’t start until well into my twenties. Now I have so much of it I often have to make a conscious decision to not keep getting more.

Despite having a lot of pink it tends to make things easy as so much of my wardrobe co ordinates together, so if you find a colour that suits you, go for it!

To see more Pink, take a look at my Pinterest board dedicated to the colour.

1- pink dress via coolgirlstyle on flickr 2 – pink jacket via Stockholm Streetstyle 3- my own photo using the Waterlogue App