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Aunt Norie’s Sewing Room

By Eleanor Mckee - | Jun 20, 2001

Have you ever heard someone say, “Oh I make all my own clothes”? I can’t use her name, but she really does. “All except my hose and my shoes, and lots of times I recover my shoes to match an outfit,” she said. She gives us some hints on making your own lingerie. “You can save a bundle here,” she said.

Tricot, the lingerie fabric, is sold in fabric shops and some department stores. Buy the heavyweight, nylon for most lingerie garments. Note: If it’s hard to distinguish the right from the wrong side, stretch the fabric along an edge cut on the crosswise grain. Tricot will always roll to the right side.

Lingerie fabric, like many sheers and soft knits, can be a little tricky to stitch. Before you say, “My machine just won’t sew that,” this little trick usually works and is all you need to remember. First, use a very fine ball point needle. Set the needle into the fabric, hold the ends of the top and bottom threads taut in back of the needle as you begin to stitch. This helps prevent the fabric from being pulled down into the throat plate hole. Do not attempt to backstitch. Always leave the threads long enough to tie them later.

Buy some lingerie elastic. It will have one straight edge and one lacy edge. Sew the elastic for the waist in a circle, mark it and the top of the undergarment, first in fourths, then in eighths. Pin first, then stretch the elastic to meet the fabric. Here use the zig-zag or a long basting stitch. Stretch and stitch, turn and stitch, stretching on the wrong side.

She makes several pair of bikini panties from one yard. You will find patterns for them in all of the pattern catalogs.

Summertime is here, so it’s time to cut off those jeans, worn thin in the knees. Leave the dishes, mom, and go play with the kids. You’ll never be sorry. God bless you all. Love, Aunt Norie, P.O. Box 265, Tonganoxie, 66086-0265.