…deck ya bum with Christmas undies…

Sometimes, the funnest projects can come out of abject failure. Part of being a crafter is knowing not everything will turn out as planned, and you have to lean in to the pivot. At the minute, I’m knee deep in prepping a 12 Days calendar for the Minister, and trying to come up with 12 items that are small and easy to make, that reflect my hobbies but her preferences…well. It’s been interesting!! One of the ideas I came up with was a pair of sewn knickers. I’ve been threatening to do it long enough, it would be good for a giggle as part of this project. Hunting around for supplies, I came across a dachshund print knickers kit. It played perfectly into a long standing joke from a million years ago, and I couldn’t hit “buy now” fast enough.

Unfortunately, by the time my order hit the top of the pick list, the kit was out of stock. After a week of giggling to myself and patting myself on the back for my genius, it was an abject fail. To replace the kit, I chose a cute Fair Isle style Christmas print, in teal, one of my favourite colours. A few days later, The Lingerie Society had their patterns available for free download, and I grabbed the Harper bralette, knowing immediately what I wanted to do with the pattern and kit.

A cute, comfy set, perfect for sleeping in on the hot summer nights that are the signature of an Aussie Christmas. The crop is the Harper, finished with fold over elastic on the bottom instead of a wide elastic. I didn’t have any wide elastic in stash of the right colour, and I do love a good matchy matchy, so FOE it was. I also used bra strapping from my stash for the straps, rather than the fold over elastic the pattern suggested. Because I was repurposing a knickers kit, I didn’t have quite enough FOE to finish off the straps, but I think the peach works well. I also skipped the rings and sliders – since it is intended as a sleeping crop, I wanted to keep it as comfy and low fuss as possible. As you can see from the pattern, the bottom of the crop is quite gathered into the elastic. I measured the elastic to my preferred firmness, and then made it fit the pattern-sized edge. I made the Harper in a 6, and I think next time I will take half an inch out of the centre of the front to firm up the fit a bit. It’s not out by a lot, and it’s still quite nice to wear. I just think a bit firmer to give less twist & movement in the night would be good.

For the bottoms, I used my favourite low-waist-low-leg undies pattern. I make it in the medium, and don’t add seam allowance except for the gusset joins, and that is a good comfortable fit for me (I’m size 6-8 Australian). I’ve made this pattern a few times now – twice in my kit capsule, as a pair of pilates modesty undies to go under leggings, and also currently on the cutting table as part of my new three piece swimmers that I want to finish up this week. They sit comfortably across the high hip, but come down low enough under the bottom & in the front leg to offer good coverage (especially important for swimmers!! I like the coverage!). It’s such a fun set, and now I want to make a heap more. It’s the perfect combo of covered and cool over summer, in a cabin with no air con!

Today’ though, as much as I would like to make more undies, I am head down, tail up, getting the last of my 12 Days parcel finished and in the post today. I am overdue to get my next Crafty Monkies class info submitted. And there’s four Christmas outfits I haven’t even started. Also don’t ask about the state of my eleven billion challenges. Or the state of my house with those eleven billion projects laying around. It’s the most craftiest time of the year….and I’m getting nowhere fast!