Pretty Little Underthings

All last week I felt sneezy and snotty and miserable, and then we had friends come to visit (more on that later!), and I'm just now recovering from my cold (which was awful) and my houseguests (who were awesome).  I'm finally climbing back out of my cave with some finished garments!

I ventured into a part of the sewing world I had never been before:  lingerie!  All in one Saturday afternoon, I busted out the following pieces, just for lounging around the house.  First up, some delicate lace shorties:

These guys are the bloomers option from Nutmeg by Colette Patterns. The embroidered eyelet (from Fabric.com) had holes in the design, so I lined them in white cotton muslin.  The border scallops are just perfection.  Even though I shortened them a little from the pattern, they still have about a 3-inch inseam (which is longer than some of my old shorts from Old Navy!), so they are still appropriate if one needed to, say, run out in the hallway of one's apartment to change out the laundry.

Next up, a pattern I had been wanting to try ever since she released it for free on her blog a few months ago:  the Amerson Undies by Madalynne!

The basic shape of my pair of undies is the same as her original pattern, but I did make some minor changes.  I made casings for the elastic at the waistband and leg openings instead of sewing the elastic on the outside.  I also added a little ruffle along the leg openings in a contrasting fabric because the undies were turning out a little cheeky for my personal liking, and I didn't want to make them even more so by taking up fabric for the casing!  Instead, I cut 2" strips of the contrast fabric and added them to the legs and turned them under like bias binding.  I actually really, really like how the contrast turned out.  (From Fabric.com:  roses fabric, yellow floral fabric is sold out)

Last but not least, my lingerie sewing "masterpiece" (which I sadly do not like ON my body at all, but think it looks great on the hanger!).  This is the bralette and tap shorts from Nutmeg by Colette Patterns.  I had a grand vision of a classic black-and-white ensemble that I figured out about halfway through looked suspiciously like a French maid's costume.  Not what I was going for.

So, I decided to break it up by using the roses fabric from my Amerson Undies for the back straps, which I think ended up as a nicely quirky combination.  However, I seriously did not understand the directions for how to sew the back parts to the front part, and improvised that to a not-so-perfect solution.

I used black silk charmeuse for the tap pants, and used the "wrong" side of the fabric from the yoke and the "right" side for the legs, and I love the contrast of the textures.  I took about 3 inches off the length of the inseam from the original pattern.  As I said, I love the way this looks on the hanger, but something about it on just doesn't work!  Some garments are best left to be admired from afar.

I would still call my lingerie sewing foray 2/3 successful - that's a win!