Sunday, June 23, 2013

Refashioning my Refashion

In my last post I remade some new knickers but as I mentioned they weren't quite perfect for my apple body shape.
After wearing them for a bit I noticed a little problem and it's one I'm way too familiar with; there isn't quite enough material in the front. They kept slipping down. Now a quick tug brought them back up but that's not really the thing I want to be known for at work or out in public! LOL
My first thought for a solution was just to add another row of the elastic lace at the top.


That worked.....sort of. It added the necessary coverage in the front but added way too much at the back and sides. Not a huge issue but as we all know, most sewers sew because we want more than just adequately fitting clothes - we want clothes that really fit us. Adequate is for off the rack!
What I really needed was what I have now called an FAA. That's a Full Abdomen Adjustment. It's kind of like the familiar FBA (Full Bust Adjustment) but a little... lower. Same theory though; more material needed width wise and height wise, to cover a fuller figure part.
Has anyone else ever done something like that? I'd love to see what other sewers have figured out for the "apple" figure.
Please comment if you know of another blog that's talked about this!


My next attempt at a fix went kind of like this.
Start by marking the center back, center front and sides with pins.


I want about 1/2 or less of the elastic width at the back (I wanted the elastic at my waist and not my hips but I could have left it where it was, no problem. I also thought it would be easier to re-fashion this way rather than going to no increase at center back. I'm not 100% sure what I will decide for the pattern fix. Maybe 2 patterns?!?) - pin elastic 1/2 way down.


I need all the extra elastic width in the front - pin close to the edges.


Find a nice easy slope for a transition from front to back that doesn't leave wrinkles (3/4 of the way down at the sides?) I did this part while I was sewing, no pins. Not the most scientific or precise method, but it worked for me.

Sew and pray and see how it turns out. Hey, not half bad. It looks a little odd but after wearing it for a while it's pretty darn comfortable! Besides, who's going to be looking at my undies anyway?!? Well, except for you all!



Thanks Sew Sassy for having minimums to buy so that I had enough lace left over to make over most of my new panties! (I did not have enough to re-re-fashion the blue ones as I used blue lace on 2 pairs. I may take it off the 2nd pair and use it on the first or I might just make those wear 'around the house day' undies, where no one cares if I have to adjust periodically.)

Next - figure out how to make all these changes onto the paper pattern I made when I had the originals all laid out flat. I could actually end up with a drawer of nice underwear for a change! LOL


2 comments:

  1. My apple shape creates almost a shelf at the bottom of my tummy, so my solution is lower front, I don't try to cover my tummy as it just doesn't work

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    1. I can see what you're saying Shannon. You're lucky that works for you. It wouldn't for me as that's not my narrowest point and what I can see happening is the front would just keeeeep on sliding down. LOL Good option though if you have the right hip shape to go with it.

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