13.1.13

My first ever pair of sweatshop free undies!!!



I have made a pair of undies. Oh yes. Exciting times.

Considering where our clothes come from has been a major motivating factor behind our family trying to be dressed completely second hand (other major factor being our Op shopping addiction!!) Being dressed entirely in pre loved clothes has never proven to be too difficult, but the underwear situation is a little different! I feel a bit uncomfortable with the idea of wearing a stranger’s used underwear, and so have continued to buy new underwear over the years, whilst wearing my second hand finds and home made experiments on top!!

There are ethical undies out there by the way, and they are worth checking out if you are interested, but I must admit I'm a bit fussy when it comes to what I wear on my bottom and I find that I've never liked the "sporty" designs of the ethical undies I've found. It’s just not very me!!

So today I finally sat down and gave some handmade underwear a go. I made it up as I went, but am very happy with the result even with all the little mistakes that make them quite clearly “homemade". I also appreciate in a new light just what those poor factory workers who get paid close to nothing do to whip through hundreds of pairs of these a day, so that we can then buy them for next to nothing...oh dear, what a strange and messed up world we live in...But I digress.

I didn’t really know what I was doing, which just goes to show that you don't need to either if you want to try this as well! Here is what I did...


I chose a favourite pair of undies, and some stretchy fabric that I recently paid a few bucks for at the Op shop.

Had a look at the way they were made and then traced around the shapes that I though I'd need, and cut the shapes out.

I don't have an over locker, so juts zig zagged over any edges that would be exposed.

Then started figuring our how to "build it" all together and went for it!

I finished by attaching decorative elastic with a strong zig zag stitch to the waist and leg holes.


I won't horrify you by modeling them, but I'm wearing them right now, and I must say they are very comfy. I'm brimming with happiness over these handmade cherry, high wasted, boy leg undies!!

Hooruh for handmade!

Mezz xx

2 comments:

  1. Wow! Well done! And how exciting that theyre in cherry fabric! Undies are a hard one to get so well done that youve sorted that problem out! xx

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  2. My wife has actually been doing homemade underwear for almost a year now. This helps a lot in cutting our expenses on underwear for the kids, for her and for me. What I like the most is that it’s very comfy because the underwear she made perfectly fits us. Glad you also discovered and enjoyed the idea of doing homemade undies.
    -Ted Juhl

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