…blogtober day 18 :: delicate little delicates…

When my parents, sometime in the mid 90s, decided to put their reserved, obliging, shy young teen in sewing lessons, I’m sure they envisioned a wholesome old fashioned hobby that would distract me from my troublesome reading addiction (doesn’t everyone read Bryce Courtenay’s Jessica in a single sitting?). Maybe they expected I would be sewing quilts, and bags, and tiny little clothes for their grandchildren. I’m not sure they realised they were creating another addiction, when I collect remnants & deadstock fabric with the manic desperate of a crack junkie. I can absolutely guarantee, they did not expect sending me off to those sewing lessons would end with me posting photos of my underpants on the internet.

On the upside, I’m not actually wearing the underpants. It would be like the opposite of OnlyFans, where people pay me to put my gear back on. It’s such a satisfying part of sewing, though. Generally the pieces sew up quickly. It’s like wearing a secret, this cute project that no-one else knows you have hiding under your boring mum-circuit uniform. Unique fabrics and fittings. A custom fit for a non-custom body.

That last is one of the bigger reasons I enjoy sewing underwear. No more settling for whatever is on the shelf, or a piece that is tight in one spot but gaping in another. It’s also wonderful when the tween needs a top of her drawer of drawers. The girl is growing like a weed, and commercial garments of all varieties are tricky to get a nice fit in all directions. Add in the propensity for ready to wear clothes for tween girls to barely be long enough to hide pocket bags, and mama made is the order of the day more often than not.

While in Sydney, I enjoyed a lovely trip to the Remnant Warehouse, and instead of trying to gauge from descriptions and photos what exactly I was buying, I could browse, and TOUCH. I found a lovely matte spandex in chilled white that I thought would be perfect for sewing for a growing, active child. Slightly firmer than the regular jersey I normally use, I chose it deliberately as an underwear fabric, thinking of althetics and touch and hockey, when the firmer fit might be more comfortable than a soft day-to-day fabric.

While she has grown in height (a LOT), she hasn’t grown much size wise, so I was able to use an existing pattern I’d drafted for her off one of her favourite commercial pairs. To account for the height increase, I added a waist band from the same fabric (cut at 2.5″ and then folded in half). For the size increase, I didn’t cinch in much adding the waist band, and in lieu of elastic legs, I merely folded the hem over, and sewed down with a double needle.

I’d had a chance to get the fabric cut out yesterday, so it was just a matter of whizzing them up in a spare scrap of time, between the first trip to town and the second. Madam Butterfly barely granted me the time to grab photos before swiping them and finding them a safe place in her drawer. I’m taking that as a sign she approves!

Today ended up being almost as busy as yesterday. Admin for one committee. Come and try night for another. Banking and errands for the third. I got the secret squirrel project done, and raced into town to catch the express post truck to get it submitted. I picked up the paper I needed to finally do that blackout poetry activity with the children. I’ve made decent progress in procreate, though I discovered a neat short cut and want to re-do the last little bit – I was only 25% through that stage so it won’t be too onerous. The flood shopping has been done. The wine stash has been checked. The fire wood has been topped up. There’s plenty of craft projects to hand. The rain is due to start some time in the early morning, and then we settle in for four days of river roulette. No knitting, no cross stitch, no reading. It’s another day done, though, with everyone fed, educated, and happy, and I remain in possession of at least 60% of my marbles. That, my friends, is what we call a win.