Since it’s my blog I don’t actually need a particularly catchy title for my posts; today I am banging out a few photos of lingerie sewing methods that have served me well. I’m also posting as much of my butt as I’m comfy posting in public right now.
The background: indie pattern designer Made for Mermaids put forth a great lingerie set – a bralette/nightie along with a cheekie/thong pattern bundle. This is a relatively size-inclusive, adorable lingerie set that is absolutely perfect for the intermediate stitcher to tackle. The garments can be made of knit fabric (trimmed with lace and elastic, or just elastic) or double scallop/galloon lace and elastic. Best of all, M4M has a massive Facebook community with hundreds of women going forth and boldly sewing, and photographing, lingerie! The Facebook community will be the best place right now to catch their sew-along, videos, and results.
For my post, I am not emulating a sew-along but rather focusing on cutting methods, stitching methods, and sewing methods that result in an absolutely impeccable finish. In the examples below, I am using 8 1/2″ galloon lace and 3/8″ plush-backed lingerie elastic, along with the crossback finish.
Specifically, to succeed with the bralette and panty patterns you need to:
1. make a muslin (wearable or otherwise), in. This is especially important for the bralette.
2. fussy-cut for impeccable symmetry in the garment
3. add length to your strap pieces; you can cut them down later
4. match your threads perfectly
5. use a zig-zag stitch for seam construction; take notes on the settings.
6. use stabilizer where appropriate
7. cut elastic as you go, and cut generously (more below)
8. baste-fit side seams and straps before final stitches
OK? Let’s go!
First – fussy-cutting the pieces. First – make sure you keep track of the right side and wrong side (RS/WS of the lace). These can look very similar, but they are usually different:
Every piece should have its mirror image cut symmetrically. Since the repeat on galloon lace is so tight, this is easy to do.Be sure to flip your pieces and cut mirror images. Below you can see me lining up my laces before cutting:
Here are my four strap pieces; the cut edges butt together and both straps will be identical:
I like to keep my patter pieces with the paper piece, so it’s easy to keep them straight:
To pin, use fine or silk pins and dive the pins at least twice through the lace – this makes for a far more secure pin:
Stitch some of your scraps to get the zig zag you like – I cut 1/8″ after zig-zagging. I generally like the look of a zig zag more than a serge:
Installing the elastic on the cups – do not overstretch the elastic. I sewed with the lace side up, and made sure my elastic extended past the raw edges. I finished one side of each cup, before stitching elastic to the other side of each cup.
No need to trim the elastic (yet) after you sew the first cup side. Make sure to backstitch firmly at the end of the elastic stitching:
Now it’s time to sew the second elastic side. It doesn’t matter if you sew from the top of the cup or the bottom. Go ahead and layer your elastic so it extends off the top of the cup, and firmly backstitch so that the top of the cup’s elastic stitching lines are on top of one another:
Go ahead and trim that elastic now! You don’t want it to show from the right side:
Since your threads match the lace so well, this is an almost invisible effect!
Now, for lingerie elastic we have our first stitch, flip, stitch again (as shown on page 6 of the pattern). I sewed with the right (shiny) side against the right side of the lace, a basting stitch right down the center.
Then, I flipped the lace and snugged it up against that seam, sewing from the topside of the garment in a nice even zig-zag:
Gorgeous! This will be the same technique we use for most of the rest of the elastic application of the crossback (upper strap neckline, upper back piece, and side straps):
For the crossback, we now sew the center back seam. This is a great place to use a washaway stabilizer, to make sure we have a firm and even stitch. You can even use paper; but I use washaway stabilizers a lot (as shown in my tutorials, especially for knitwear) and they are inexpensive, versatile, and handy!
Here’s that center seam before trimming to my 1/8″, from front and back:
For the crossback, we now pin the top of the large straps to the upper edge of the upper neckline. I found it best to baste each strap one at a time, to get them even. Just to the upper right of my elastic you can see the center-back seam I just finished:
I then tacked the cross traps from the right side, where they cross over. The pattern has you stitching all the way across but I didn’t like this effect. I tacked, pulled the thread tails to the backside, knotted them, and then hid them in the topstitching channel underside.
(Above you can see my little tack, before I knot it and hide the tails!)
Now is a great time to really cut across the crossback bottom edge, for a nice clean line. We’re about to install these traps to the upper back piece, before topstitching that upper back piece.
Pinned and ready to topstitch:
Straps! The best-looking method I found, was to baste the two raw edges RS-together, Then press them out. Stitch the elastic, RS of the garment and elastic facing up, with the elastic against the machine bed.
Turn over and make sure you caught the center of your elastic, before proceeding:
Now, go ahead and trim this seam allowance so the lace raw edge is hidden under the elastic:
Now it’s time to do some basting – you will be glad you took the time to get that fitting right! I basted the straps, the side seams, the strap/cup, and the the cup crossover for my first fitting:
Even when basting, make sure your straps line up perfectly at the front and back strap – this is a very visible seam at the shoulder:
Here is the upper strap/cup basted seam:
Time to baste that cup to the front strap – again, exact placement is a good idea for when you topstitch later:
Finally, baste-fit the cup crossover according to the pattern.
At this point, you can try the bra on for fitting. It should fit the bust well, but since there is no elastic under the cups or at the back, it will not hold the bust. This is the perfect opportunity to adjust the cup crossover, the sides, and the strap length.
Once you are satisfied, go ahead and zig zag finish your side seams and all your strap seams, including the cup top (as shown below, before trimming):
I added a narrow topstitch (parallel to the bottom edge of the photo below), to close the crossover and give my bust a tiny bit more enclosure. This is going to entirely depend upon preference, bust fullness, and breast spacing:
Time to baste that entire top assembly to the bottom band! After doing so, I trimmed this seam down to 1/4″ exactly with my rotary cutter:
And one of our last seams – the elastic under the bust!
I didn’t use the elastic from the pattern, but pulled the elastic under my bust snugly. I then applied it, RS-down against the WS of the garment, with the elastic facing up (shown below). You can mark the elastic in quarters; I knew form feel how much to stretch to apply. When in doubt – pin evenly, before stretching and sewing!
At the end of this seam I carefully overlapped and backstitched – you can see about a 2″ excess at left, which I then trimmed off:
Bralette – finished!
Time for the panties – the cheekies, in my case. Both the cheekies and the thong are a walk in the park after the bralette!
My stretch elastic is a 8 1/2″, not an 8″, so it is larger than the pattern piece. You can use this excess at the inseam if you like; just keep in mind your liner (if you use one) will not extend all the way to the hem if you do.
Again – it is relatively easy to fussy-cut such that the panties are perfectly symmetrical! Shown below: RS-together:
Let’s cut that liner! I’m uisng an awesome silky bamboo. I fold the crotch liner in half lengthwise and line that fold up with a knit grainline, then unfold and cut:
I keep the paper piece with the liner piece as the front and back look very similar.
Now it’s time to finish both the front crotch and back crotch seams: shown below, how pretty this effect is when the lace has been cut carefully:
This is the top center front of the panty:
And this is the inseam, after being joined:
Absolutely gorgeous!
Now pin that liner in, matching the front side of the liner toward the front side of the panty. There are many ways to sew this in – I used a whisper-thin zig zag:
All finished!
Check out those teeny teeny seams:
So – there we have it! Model your set (in public or private), and enjoy what the good Lord gave you!
Lingerie-sewing is so intimidating for so many, but once you start it is a veritable playground! Enjoy!
