Who knew (except most of the people who know me - other than me) that I would love the whole idea of a challenge so much? With my usual "beginner's zeal", I am really enjoying making things according to a theme every week. I don't know how long this will last, but at the moment, I'm enjoying it. So. This week's theme is Red. Now usually I would make something out of the yards and yards of red fabric that I have, but I'm short on time this week. I just finished a big project, and we are leaving town for five days tomorrow. What do you make when you are trying not to make things that you won't wear, and you have hardly any time? Underwear!
Project 14 - Underwear from Ottobre Magazine
Fabric - cotton/lycra from the stash - two pairs out of about 30 cm of 60" wide fabric (next time will be less though, since I cut 2" off the top of these.
Foldover elastic - from the stash - purchased last year.
Cost - ?
Wear again - hopefully.
First of all, let's get this out of the way - why would you make your own underwear when you can buy perfectly good underwear for hardly any money? Well, there are a couple of reasons. (Yay, a list!)
1. The underwear that I really like is at least $20 /pair. So this really is cheaper.
2. Unless you are my husband (who actually rotates his underwear so that it all gets evenly used - I kid you not. He was like that when I got here, I swear.), the first underwear out of the drawer on laundry day is your favorite. Right now, those are a pair that I made a few years ago and are still going long past all the ones that I have purchased.
3. I'm becoming very conscious of using my buying power in a responsible way. For me, that means not supporting sweatshops. If the underwear I'm buying from a big box store is costing me $8 for 6 pairs, and they were made on the other side of the world, the person who made them (who does what I do for a living) could not be making a reasonable living doing it.
4. It's a quick task that uses hardly any fabric and yields huge satisfaction. A drawer full of comfy underwear that fits how I like it to fit - a good reason to me!
5. It's hard to find underwear that I like. I find a lot of store-bought underwear is too long in the rise for me, and since my pants never stay up, the bunching that happens when you pull your pants up repeatedly is just not comfortable or attractive. Seriously. When you have a flattish behind, it doesn't matter how well your pants fit, or how tight your belt is, your pants work their way down. There's just no way around it.
So that's why I like to make underwear. This is a new pattern for me, and I've already made a few changes - starting with the removal of 2" of fabric in the back, working it's way around to 1" in the front. They were just too high. I made one pair with the leg holes just turned and stitched (like the ones that I really like) but I have a feeling this fabric won't lie flat on it's own. On the second pair I used foldover elastic on the leg holes as well, and I think these ones will be better.
They aren't very sexy, but they're comfy, and I'm sexier when I'm comfy!
Happy Valentine's Day!
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