Big Girls Undies

Once there was a pair of big cotton tail undies... they were purchased from a very cheap (and closing down) department store in Footscray. Being so cheap, they did start to fall apart, but they were so big and comfy... giving you a lot of warmth. The kidneys! Cotton Tail Undies warm the kidneys.

So they eventually did fall apart, but became a little sewing science experiment for one shy Veronica Darling, of West Footscray. Cutting them up and examining how they were built created a wonderful high waisted, warming of the kidneys new pair of undies... made from.....

HUSBIE'S DR WHO TSHIRT.

Step by Step:

1. Turn Husbie's tshirt inside out. Lay down old undies (now cut up) on both thickness of tshirt (matching up front piece with Dalek pictures)... cut around but leave about an inch on all sizes.
2. Get to the gusset (is that the underneath bit? Not sure?) and just cut out 2 more pieces with extra thickness.
3. Pin front and back pieces to gusset (both thicknesses of gusset) and sew
4. Cut existing hem of tshirt for leg hole binding
5. Sew (I overlocked the whole thing mind you, apart from the last waist band fold) binding to leg holes.
6. Sew up sides
7. Turn right side out. Marvel at dalek placement
8. Overlock elastic to waistband on inside
9. Turn in and then topstitch with a straight stitch.
10. Undies to wear the next day.

Huge apologies, but you can understand why I'm not modelling these. Especially since they're horrendously highwaisted (which is very comfy for me as it gets cooler), it'd just be a blob of tummy!

I *will* be making more from old tshirts though, they're amazing!

UPDATE: And, I guess this is part of my 100 Things, undies are things! 2/100

Bebe Pantaloons

Sorry to be all 'posting crazy' round here, after no posting for a while. I'm having a great creative spurt and by gosh I have to remember it (for next time I'm stacks busy and too tired to even click the tv remote, I need to spend time time in the sewing room).

I went to a baby shower yesterday, but took only a dress for the Mum to Be... as these little beauties were an afterthought (as the first thought turned out not so neat... and presents should be neat)... and I only just finished them today.

And the back has ruffles. CUTE. The top pair are the original pattern size, and the bottom one smaller as I had adjusted it for the scraps I had left. (I had made a skirt a few years ago, gone to the Op Shop Gods now, from the single bed sheet) And dear oh dear, whoever was making patterns for babies is a little way off. The top pair (when stretched out) could almost fit my petite smallsized woman hips. WTF?

Just in case you were missing the Macbook photos, I quickly took this one of McCalls's 5338 to show you the tiny bubba...

TINY! The 'newborn' size the size of a grown (albeit short one) woman's hips? Lucky I adjusted the second ones. I might be crazy (dur!) but babies are little right? I know they wear nappies and these bebe pantaloons will cover their nappies, but I don't want them to fall off. Nevertheless, they are tres cute and as Mum to Be loves vintage I think these ace prints will look great when the bubba comes (maybe she'll be wearing them til she's 6!).

Oh! And still doing Pincurl Saturday at my house, as my hair gets a bit longer I'm practically a movie star! (Of my own movies, in my dreams, of course)

xoxo

UNDERWEARZ

 

 "Hey Doggie Darling, I totally forgot that by the power of MacBook, I can totes take a phots of my newly made undies for my blogger friends to see!"

"Woof"

"Ta dahhhhhhhhhhhhh"

 

Undies! 

 

So, the grey material was Husbie's tshirt (one of those promo ones for Little Creatures - for some reason we had a couple of them, they were kinda the wrong fit for him), and the red elastic is from the Remnants Warehouse (and so is the little lopsided bow!), so it's no 100 per cent refashed, but totally close enough. I remembered the little pocket (thanks to you if you reminded me this) on the inside, you can see the overlocked white bit at the back there.

They were modeled on another pair of older undies that I cut up before they fell apart, and I think next time I'm going to sew all the elastic on first, then sew up the sides, as it was a bit tricky sewing it on after.

Now. Questions for you, experienced seamstresses: I've never really sewn on elastic before! For this one I folded the elastic over the grey material, and zig zagged it together, stretching it out a bit as I went along. But it was kinda tricky, and I had to re-sew over the bits that the material slipped out of, and it's kinda puckered a bit. They're totally fine to wear though, but next time I wanna get it perfect. I thought I had to stretch out the elastic and the knit so that it fits well, but perhaps I just stretch out the elastic? Or do I not stretch any of it out, and it fits well, and it's all about the stretching over the body and then sitting flat. Am I making any sense whatsoever? Probably not! I'm hopeless at explaining!

Anyways, better go, I'm watching the Oscars! And gotta keep looking at these dresses! I love that they screen it almost live here in Australia now, it's the perfect time for me to watch it!

Faux Svelteness

Oh darlings, some women share their secrets with me and recently I've heard the word 'spanx' so many times, that I do thoroughly believe that the next time a lady utters it I shall spanx the word right off her lips.

But we do like to be svelte. And I'm making a lot of great svelte dresses that perhaps need a bit of structure at times. I've often looked at my daggy undies and thought they should be tighter but not THAT tight and I detest the g-string and don't want to go nudie underneath. I don't mind a bit of visible panty action on a bottom, but perhaps I need a little tummy tucking at the same time.

So, I've found some things (that may not all be available here in Australia but online nonetheless) that help you in the svelte department...

Here's the original Spanx, the one I like anyways,

Then this is the Flexees slip thing, without straps (I think they're removable) and I really like the shape of this bust line:

And this one is not really a dress or a skirt, kinda a high waisty thing, I think it's a TC Wonderful thing:

And that's kinda my fave at the moment, since I don't really wear strap less, but need more hugging on all my loving bits.

But if you'd like to browse a proper review (rather than just my blah blah blahs) The Chic Fashionista has put together a what's what kinda thing with loads of pictures.

Our internerd has been down again, so I feel a bit out of the loop with things! I've had to put the sewing on hold as a guest from Melbs arrives for a night, but I'm practically on holidays now, so Yippee! It's such a gorgeous day here in Sydney, so hoping the weather remains lush to spend the weekend with Husbie and Doggie Darling! Cute!