Ohh Lulu Betty High Waisted Knickers

Back in April [!], I was lucky enough to win the Ohhh Lulu Betty High Waist Knicker pattern giveaway!

As my first real PDF pattern project, it was fairly simple to use - although I'm so glad I made a toile first, because the fit at first was.. disastrous, to say the least. Why I thought that the largest size on the pattern would fit, I don't know.

Front and back

These are pretty simple, really. Black four-way-stretch powermesh for the side panels and polka dot cotton for the front and back - I decided on the cotton for two reasons 1. to see if woven fabrics work on lingerie 2. I couldn't find any stretch satin.
Woven fabrics, on the bias, do work. But be generous with the sizing - the sides need to be a bit bigger to compensate for the fact the woven fabric has little give.

I feel there isn't much to talk about with these, other than they take hardly any time to sew up - I'd say a few hours, including the elastic, which thanks to the Ooh La La Pin Up Sew-along, I've now learned the proper way of using lingerie elastic - and it makes for much neater edges!

Elastic and gusset, because gussets are important.

The big shame on this is that they're still a big snug, and I feel a little bit awkward wearing underwear I'm not sure fits me - which hopefully will be rectified soon enough with a bit of summer weight loss!

All in all, I think the Betty pattern is wonderful, and being that it's so easy to use [with an easy-to-follow sew along to match], it would be a great, easy project for anyone - so go get your knickers on!

Melody ♪

Polkadot Teddy

This is something a little different from anything I've really made before - a teddy! Or a romper, playsuit, whatever you want to call it, I've made one.

I've never been that into teddies before, because I've always thought they are somewhat inconvenient - if you're sleeping in it, how the hell are you meant to work out how to pee when you're half dead? And don't get me started on the sexy funtimes. 

But I thought to myself - why not? If I make it somewhat shapeless with a drawstring, it should be easy enough to work in most bedtime situations, right?

This was the whole design process - click for larger.

I thought with tie-straps as well, it would be easy as pie to get in and out of in a hurry (Practicality isn't my speciality, but sometimes you can surprise yourself!). The whole basis of this was basically the now blog-centric French Knickers, squared up to create essentially a tube with legs. 

There was some fitting problems in the muslin stage (again, fashion school has gotten me into good, fabric-saving habits), what with the back sagging, the underarms looking awkward and the front sagging, too. But a little cutting and pleating and I came out with this:

Front

Back

A somewhat shapeless mess of polkadots! I'd tried hard to match my polkadots up - but as you can see from the center back and front - I have a long way to go before I get that right. (Is there a tutorial on this somewhere?) I bought this fabric, which I'm going to guess is a polyblend by the two-way stretch, from Shepherds Bush Market, which is a mecca for all sewing enthusiasts in London, because the shops all have lovely, helpful staff that will do anything to help you out - and you can haggle a price if you smile sweet enough! I think I got this for just under £5/mt, and due to my short body I only used around a metre of the stuff.

The original design as you can see above features a drawstring around the middle, which I'd planned to have a polkadot casing around the waist - but, well, I got lazy. I added some satin ribbon loops, and simply used an old satin robe tie, again, because I am lazy.

So much more flattering, even on a wall! 

I was quite happy with how this worked out, actually, and I also enjoy wearing it! The only problem I have - remember how I said practicality isn't my strong point? - is that it's on the.. tight side when sitting down. It requires a bit of strategic re-adjusting before sitting down to.. well, I'm sure you can work out. I'm going to guess a slight extenuation of the crotch should sort this out. Maybe the back's a little short. I don't know, honestly. 

Sadly, it's a little uncomfortable to sleep in. It might be due to the gusset again, I'll let you know should I ever get around to doing that.

But I will say that it is incredibly easy to slip off - I will brand this teddy as fully boyfriend-proof, tried and tested! 

Tie straps

Side slits - there's a lot of hip on show here!

And for how it looks on? I'd say quite flattering, myself! (Forgive me for having no better images!)

So all in all, I'd actually say a minor success - even if it's just for the fact I've warmed to the idea of teddies now!

What do you lot think? A yay or a nay?
And what's your thoughts on teddies/rompers/playsuits/sleepsuits in the first place?

Melody ♪

PS: Sorry about the brightness of the images - I'm in the teething stages of getting to know my camera.