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Sunday, September 18

Cheeky panties

I won't be modelling these for you, but trust me, they are aptly named as cheeky panties.  I like this style because they are sexy, comfortable (when the lace is right) and with only 2 seams dead easy to sew.

I stole the pattern from a RTW pair I bought.  They were okay, but the lace isn't all that stretchy or soft, so honestly, mine are better.  Looking them over, I realized that if you folded them in quarters, the two pieces were identical.  Ideally you want stretch lace elastic, at least 5" wide.  If you are smaller, the proportions may work out okay for 4.5", but I like even a little over 5".  The top part needs to be able to stretch enough to reach your hip measurement. 

The white pair are one of the original 3 pack of RTW, the purple is what I was making for myself.  The bride got a pair like this last week (and a black pair) but I didn't get pictures at the time. 
As mentioned, there are really only two seams, the front/back and then across at the crotch.  You need to cut two pieces of lace so they look like this.  One is folded in half and how I cut it, the other shows it opened up.  The third rectangle is for the crotch.  The RTW do it in a diamond tacked down, but I like the rectangle myself. 



It is important to look at where the pattern is ending on the lace when cutting, it's nice to have the flowers or whatever look symmetrical.

I've mentioned I don't have a serger, I use the overlock stick and foot.  The stitch on my machine is 19 and I've put a picture of my overlock foot.  It makes a huge difference in getting the fabric to line up right and not roll.  Because I am using a sewing machine, there really isn't a seam allowance to these, just the width of the stitching.  If you are using a serger and will be cutting as you go, you would need to add that on.


This is what it looks like with the front to back seam sewn, now there is just the little seam at the crotch left to sew. 

Fortunately I did a good job in matching the pattern.  This is going to be the front.  Sorry it's upside down, it's rotated in photobucket.

Now that the front is determined, it's time to add the cotton crotch.  I've used tshirts, but now I have a bit of ribbing I bought in black, white and pink to chose from.  It doesn't take much.  I have put the RTW and my version over my ham.  The RTW uses a diamond and tacks it down at the corners.  I like a larger rectangle and sew it all around.  Although it won't fray, I sew around the edges of the rectangle, I like the look and it keeps it from stretching out too much.  This something I do differently than RTW, they centre it on the crotch, but honestly, that's puts it further back than I think is ideal.  I put it 2/3rds to the front.  I folded mine over so you can see where the crotch seam is.

And the inside, all sewn down.
Once that is sewn down, the last thing to add is a little bow to the front and you are done.  Ta da!

5 comments:

  1. Yay! Comments are working! I wanted to post to tell you -- hello, we are machine twinsies! Well, more like fraternal twins since I have the Huskystar 219 and you have the 224. I've never seen anyone else in blogland with a machine like mine.

    Now, I'm wondering how the overlock stitch works for you on that delicate lace. I've used it on sturdy cottons, but it tends to pull stretchy fabric out of shape. Are you fiddling with the tension or anything like that?

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  2. Fraternal twins, I like that. It was a gift from my mom. I used her old White for a year or two and she did some machine swapping and bought my Huskystar. It's been good to me.

    I don't adjust the tension, so I don't think that's it. I do set the stich width to 5 or 6, the length to around 3 (4 for the knit part at the crotch). Um, I use a stretch needle, I forgot to mention that. So long as I use that foot I'm okay. I broke it once, had to buy a new one, I didn't have luck using other feet before getting to the sewing machine store. I don't pull the fabric either, just let it feed along at it's own pace.

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  3. Oh, I always use stretch needles but I think you set your stitches bigger than mine. What about the knob at the left-hand side of the machine? It adjusts the presser foot pressure and has 0, 1, 2 and 3 on it. What setting do you keep it on?

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  4. Left hand side is set around 3 usually, maybe towards 2.5 if the lace has a lot of holes and I'm worried about it catching. It has to have a width of 5 or 6 because of the foot, otherwise it won't go around those two little wires properly.

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Thanks for your comments, I love to have a two way conversation. I seem to be getting a lot of spam from anonymous users and am turning off the ability to comment that way. I really would like to hear from you so if you do want to add your two cents without an OpenId, email me at seraphinalina at gmail dot com.