Sewing Your Own Retro Lingerie: Are You Into It?

As you may know, last year I released a lingerie pattern with Butterick for a vintage-inspired knit slip, cami, and panties.

Since then, lingerie has been on my mind: sewing it, researching it, shopping for it. My Butterick pattern was easy to sew and super simple. A big part of me wants to go deeper into the whole subject: more complex designs, more authentic retro styling, more lingerie knowledge for everyone! I love the vintage-inspired designs from Gossard (see the Retrolution collection at the top of this post), What Katie Did, Dita Von Teese, Agent Provocateur, and Kiss Me Deadly--to name just a few.

Agent Provocateur Abby Basque

What Katie Did Valerie Cathedral Bra

Dita Von Teese Star Lift collection 

I suppose this post is an informal post of sorts. Do you share this interest in sewing retro lingerie, readers? How into it are you: would you make your own slip? Your own bra? Your own corselette? Would you buy a whole book on the subject, or maybe just an individual pattern?  

If you are interested in sewing lingerie, what has stopped you up to this point? Difficulty finding patterns, notions, and instruction? Lack of time? Fitting concerns? 

I'm so looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this. Several years ago, I brought up the idea of writing a lingerie sewing book, but there's always been a concern that it's too much of a niche topic. What do you think? 

Make a Bralette Using Butterick 6031

Hey, remember my lingerie pattern for Butterick? B6031 is a collection with patterns for a slip, cami, and panties.

I discovered last weekend that it's also shockingly easy to convert the slip/cami pattern into a bralette. This is a cute little piece for lounging or casual daywear, NOT aerobic activity. (Trust me.) It looks cute when made up with the matching undies. I made this in sheer 4-way stretch mesh for a little spice.

To convert the pattern to a bralette, all you have to do is make the back shorter. Take the bra pattern piece and the slip/cami back and align them at the side seam notches.

Then draw a line across the back pattern so that it ends at the same point as the bra. (See the blue line above.) Then cut off the pattern piece. I added a new "cut on fold" bracket since the original got cut off. (If you don't want to cut up your pattern, make a fresh copy!)

Sew the bralette as you would for the slip, except finish the bottom edge with wide stretch lace, after sewing on the straps. It helps to first hold a length of the lace snugly around your body, right under the bust. Cut the elastic to that length (plus a little extra for seam allowances). Sew the stretch lace into a ring, and then zigzag it to the bottom of the bralette, lapping the lace over the mesh by 1/4". Stretching the lace to fit as you sew. 

For a little more support, you can also zigzag some plain elastic to inside of the bra, at the top of the midriff lace, just below where it joins the bra fabric. Measure it to your torso, as you did with the lace, and then stretch it as you're sewing to fit the lace, if necessary. 

You may also notice that I made the neckline of the bra slightly lower than the original design. See how the center front meeting point of the lace reaches down to the midriff lace? 

If you want to try this, just lay some lace on the pattern piece where you want it to be positioned on the final bra, keeping in mind seam allowances and such. (There's 5/8" seam allowance at center front, and 1/4" at the bottom of the bra, so I placed the lace accordingly so it would end up at center front when the piece is sewn.)

Then fold in the excess at the top of the pattern and cut out with the new lower neckline. 

That's all there is to it! If you'd like more pointers on sewing the slip and panties in this pattern, check out all my relevant posts, including a step-by-step sew-along. 

Butterick 6031: Panty Tutorial!

Panties, at long last! Here's a step by step tutorial for making the undies from Butterick 6031, my lingerie pattern. (See the slip steps in these posts.)

Before we start, perhaps you're wondering, "why the heck would I make my own panties?" Let me tell you, the reasons are numerous. After you make one pair of these, you can tweak the pattern to your personal preferences. I designed these to be my perfect undies: boyshort-esque, with adequate butt coverage, flat lace trim, and a higher-than-usual rise (though not Bettie Page high). The design came from my frustration at finding lingerie I liked the fit of. Second was my frustration at the cost of lingerie. $23 for a pair of panties that rides up all day? No, thank you. Once you get the technique down, you can make a pair of these in about 20 minutes and the cost of supplies is incredibly economical.

Convinced? Okay! Let's get started. First, make sure you have a stretch needle in your machine. 

You'll have three pattern pieces cut out: the front, the back, and the lining. You'll also need a length of wide stretch lace trim.

With right sides together, sew the front to the back at the crotch seam: set your machine to a narrow zigzag (about 1 mm wide by 2.5 mm long) and stitch with a 5/8" seam allowance. Then stitch again with a 1/2" seam allowance. Trim next to your second line of stitching. Finger press the seam allowance toward the panty back.

Get out your lining. Place the lining over the crotch seam, on the wrong side of the panties. Pin in place.

Baste the lining to the panties with a narrow zigzag (1 mm wide, 5 mm long). Use a scant 1/4" seam allowance.

Now get out your stretch lace. On the upper edge of the panty front, place the lace on the right side so that it's overlapping the edge of the panties by 1/4". Pin in place. The lace should not stretch at all as you're pinning or sewing it.

Stitch in place close to the lower edge of the lace with a square zigzag (2.5 mm x 2.5 mm).

Repeat with the upper edge of the panty back.

Now open out the panties and repeat the lace pinning/stitching process with the leg openings. Here's how it will look pinned.

You have lace on all the edges, and the side seams are still open.

With right sides together, pin the side seams together.

Stitch in a double-stitched seam with a narrow zigzag, and then trim away the seam allowance.

Finally, place a bow at center front (at the bottom of the lace) and hand stitch in place.

That's it! Pretty easy, huh? After you've worn them for a day, you'll have an idea of changes you want to make: you can have them cut higher or lower on leg openings, have a higher or lower rise, etc. If you want a retro high-waisted look, you can also use super-wide lace just at the waist opening.

Hope you enjoy! Now go forth and make panties.

Adding Underwires to a Bustier-Style Bodice

This has got to be one of my most frequently asked questions: how do you put underwires into a dress? (Especially one like my bombshell dress or other bustier-style design.) Is it possible? To be honest, I really didn't know. So I decided to spend some time exploring the possibility while making B6019, my Butterick Shaheen-style dress pattern. You'll need a pattern with a underbust seam and, ideally, some sort of bra cup seaming.

This pattern is ideal because it has a bodice lining. The underwires will get stitched to the lining only, so that the stitching lines don't show on the outside. If you wanted to put underwires into an unlined bodice, it would need to have actual bra cups (that are the shape of an underwire) or you would have to not care about underwire stitching lines.

Here's how I started. Construct the bodice front lining and add boning channels where desired. Practice positioning the underwires and see if you're happy with how they fit by holding the bodice up to your torso. The underwires should not extend past the top of the neckline. (Tip: you can remove underwires from a worn out bra to avoid having to buy them--plus you'll know they're the right size!)

Place the underwires into channeling. (If you don't have channeling, 1/4" wide bias tape could work in a pinch.)

Mark the underwire placement. It's very important to remember that the underwires will expand when worn. See how I'm stretching them slightly open with my hand in the picture above? This is how you want to mark the placement. Add some chalk lines while stretching the underwire open so you know where to stitch the channeling. The bottom of the underwire should match the underbust seam.

Remove the underwires from the channeling and pin the channeling in place along your marked chalk lines. Stitch along each side of the channeling.

Put the underwire back into the channel and secure the open ends of the channel with stitching. Repeat on the other side of the bust.

Prepare the outer bodice front. I put fusible fleece in the cups for support and woven interfacing in the midriff.

Complete the bodice as usual. Here's how the underwired lining looks from the inside.

I ended up adding some thin circular bra pads between the layers for a little extra oomph--the upper cup was collapsing a bit on my smallish bust (sad, I know). 

And here's the outside!

You want support? This thing is super supportive! Plus it has elastic shirring in the back to hold it snug to the body, and a halter strap for a little extra lift.

Hope this is helpful! Do you all have any other tips for sewing underwires into a dress?

P.S. This method would work for a swimsuit too!

P.P.S. I'll be back with the sew-along on Monday! I'm going to do a video to show y'all how to make bra straps.

Slip Sew-Along #7: Sewing the Front and Back

And we're back! Sorry for the pause; I was having some technical difficulties. I lost some files and had to start my slip from the beginning. The bright side is that now you can see the slip in a different color! This is the lavender slip kit (also available in plus/tall size).

Okay, so the last thing we did was to put the bra together.

Now, get out your slip front. It's the piece that has the wedge-shaped cutout on the left thigh. Cut a length of lace to match the upper edge of the piece. Lay the lace on the piece so that the edge of the lace matches the raw edge of the fabric. If one side of your lace is more scalloped than the other, you'll want the scallops pointing down.

Pin the lace in place and stitch along the lower edge. Use a "square zigzag" (about 2.5 long by 2.5 wide) and follow the scallops with your stitching. The easiest way to do this is to hold the fabric taut from in front of and behind the presser foot, and steer the fabric as you go.

Using a small pair of scissors, cut away the fabric from behind the lace.

Now get out your bra piece again.

With right sides up, lay the slip front over the bra piece so that they overlap by 1/4". Pin in place. Zigzag in place:

Now your lace is stitched at the top and the bottom.

It looks like this on the inside:

Now get out the slip back piece, elastic guide #6, and your picot-edge elastic (that's the elastic with the small scallops on one side). Cut the elastic to your size, as indicated on piece #6.

Lay the slip back out with the right side facing up. Place the elastic at the top of the piece, with the scallops facing down (the wrong side of the elastic is facing up). Pin in place at either end of the back piece. The elastic will be smaller than the back piece.

Using your square zigzag, stitch the elastic to the slip back, close to the scalloped edge. Stretch the elastic to fit as you sew. (It's easiest to use both hands and stretch from the front and the back of the presser foot.)

Next, flip the elastic to the wrong side of the slip back. From the inside, stitch again, positioning your presser foot so that the center of the foot is along the bottom edge of the elastic.

One side of the zigzag will fall to the left of the elastic, and the other to the right of it. Stretch as you sew.

The scalloped edge of the picot elastic will show on the right side.

Now it's time to sew the side seams! With right sides together, pin the slip front to the slip back.

When matching up the pieces, use your notches as a guide. However, the most important thing is that the pieces match at the top at the seam allowance. Do not match the raw edges together at the top.

Stitch with a wobble stitch (about 1 mm long and 2.5 long) at 5/8". Stitch again just to the inside of that stitching line, in the seam allowance. Trim close to your second line of stitching.

Now your front is sewn to your back!

Next we'll move on to the straps!

Previous sew-along posts:

Slip Sew-Along #1: Inside the Kit, Plus Other Supplies
Slip Sew-Along #2: Pre-treating Your Fabric
Slip Sew-Along #3: Picking a Size and Making Adjustments
Slip Sew-Along #4: Bust Adjustments
Slip Sew-Along #5: Cutting and Marking
Slip Sew-Along #6: Sewing the Bra Top