They were quite easy to make though, so I thought I'd try again with a different pattern. I have a small collection of vintage patterns and there is one - copyrighted in 1969 - for knickers (see last pic). This style of knicker(?) is really popular on Ebay, especially made from semi-sheer nylon tricot.
Well, I haven't really figured out how to decorate them yet, but I did manage to make a pair from the pattern. They are really cute! Massive, but cute. They are made from a vintage nylon full-slip which I couldn't sell because it had serious problems with the straps.
Please excuse the last picture. I wanted to show them on the mannequin, but they are not really her size, so the crotch looks a bit baggy.
Anyway, I didn't have any orange elastic to match the fabric unfortunately, so I had to use pale pink. But it looks okay - and I found some pink applique flowers to go on the front. Stitching them on was probably the hardest thing about making the knickers.
They also have a pillow tab which - due to the fact that the elastic requires a whole lot of faffing - I managed to get at the front, rather than in the correct position at the back. I also struggled to hold it in place whilst I sewed it. It was only after I'd run a line of stitches across the middle of the tab that I twigged that it would probably be a good idea to handstitch it into place first. The result of all this mishandling is that there is a little frayed section of ribbon showing beneath the tab.
I really like the way they've turned out. My only problem is that there isn't much room for decoration. You can insert lace motifs into the nylon and applique things on top - as I've done here - but lace around the legs or the waist would just get in the way.
So, the next step is to find some more interesting way to decorate them.
I'd also really like to have a go at making camiknickers - with these as the lower half.
2 comments:
Nice pants! Less is more in terms of decoration surely?
Thank you! Well, over-decorated pants would definitely be a mistake, but unfortunately I think un-decorating them would make them look a bit granny-ish. Particularly with 'big pants' like this.
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