Hey Sunshines! Today we’re going to hear from Jennie about her chosen back to school sewing… And she chose to bless us with a story of Primrose Panties! Let’s see what she has to say!
Back to School Panties?
While many kids have already gone back to school, my children don’t start until next Monday, September 9th. Why so late you might be thinking… well because that is that date I chose! As a homeschooling family, we have a lot of freedom over our school year, and I prefer to wait until September to get started. We haven’t always homeschooled though. When my girls were younger and in public school, we had a lot of fun choosing their Back-to-School outfits.
I didn’t sew as much back then, so most of the time the outfits were RTW. However, I have made new clothes for the first day of homeschool before. This includes an entire Bella Sunshine Designs outfit for one of my daughters as part of last years blog tour. I made her a Reagan raglan, Eden leggings and an Apple cardigan (affiliate links) and you can read about them here.
Back to School 2019
As I was thinking about what to make for this years tour, I realized that they don’t really need anything new. We tend to wear a lot of comfy clothes, another perk of homeschooling, and they have closets full of mama made clothing. The one thing they always seem to need is new underwear. So I decided to try out the Primrose Panties pattern (affiliate link). My girls are all teenagers, so I used the adult pattern, but it is also available in kids and doll sizes. The pattern comes with a few different options:
- high or low rise
- brief or hipster
- fold over elastic or bands
Since I wasn’t sure which options my girls would like the best, I made muslins that included a mix of each of the options. I made two different muslins to see which options my girls preferred. The white/navy plaid is the low-rise, briefs, with bands. The hot pink/navy is the high-rise, hipster, with fold-over elastic. I had my girls try on each pair and then let me know what options they preferred. It is also a good idea to wear each muslin for a few hours to see how they feel with normal movement throughout the day, and to determine if you need to make any personal modifications. Turns out that all of my daughters prefer low-rise, brief cut, and bands, which made it super easy for me.
Sewing Primrose
Panties are a great way to use up leftover fabric scraps, and so I looked through mine to see what would work. When I am using scraps (instead of yardage) I find that it is much easier to have full pattern pieces, and not cut on the fold. To get a full pattern piece you can either print the pattern twice, or you can use tracing paper. I like using tracing paper because it is less bulky to store. Just remember to transfer all of the relevant info to your new pattern pieces, including the size and any modifications you make. Once I had all my pieces traced, I could easily see the best way to get the most out of my fabric scraps, especially for the odd-shaped pieces of fabric.
After determining the options my girls liked, I decided to batch/assembly line sew four more pairs of panties. Again I went to my fabric stash and found a larger piece of fabric that had been used as a muslin for a top pattern that I didn’t really like and had taken apart. In a short time, I had a stack of new panties for my girls.
I have a large metal board in my sewing room. And since my tracing paper pattern pieces are pretty light, I can store them there with a magnet. That way I have the pattern handy anytime I need it. The plan is to cut out panties with the leftover scraps from each project as I go. When I have a few pairs cut out, I will do another batch sew again.
My girls and I are very happy with their new Primrose Panties. Hopefully, I stick to my plan of sewing them up on a regular basis. I would love for you to come check out my blog, Stitched by Jennie, where I write about my sewing adventures. If you need any help with your Primrose panties make sure to ask in the Bella Sunshine Designs Facebook group.
