So diving straight back in where yesterday left off todays post covers attaching the waistband, hemming your knickers with and without lace and (with reservations, you’ll see why) how to do a hand made button-hole as well showing a thread-loop. (By the way any picture will open full size in a separate window when clicked) More
French Knicker Sew-Along: Day 2
09 Sep 2012 21 Comments
in 1940's, How To, It's in the Details, lingerie, Sew-along, sewing, Vintage Lingerie Tags: 1940's, French knickers, how to sew vintage style french knickers, Making vintage style lingerie, sewing lingerie
French Knicker Sew-Along Announcement
27 Aug 2012 24 Comments
in 1940's, Free pattern, How To, Sew-along, sewing, Vintage Lingerie Tags: 1940's, French knickers, sew-along, sewing french knickers, sewing vintage lingerie
Over the weekend of September 8 & 9 I’ll be hosting the first ever VeraVenus sew-along on making 1940′s style french knickers! More
I See London I See France Draft Some New VV-underpants
14 Aug 2012 39 Comments
in 1940's, DIY, How To, lingerie, patternmaking, Vintage Lingerie Tags: 1940's, free french knicker drafting tutorial, French Knicker pattern, Making vintage style lingerie, vintage lingerie
DIY French Knicker Draft ….
10 page ( don’t panic, it’s because of pics and largish print 
) PDF takes you through the drafting process… no diploma in pattern-making needed.
Includes information on fitting and a brief sewing guide.
Slightly flared 1940′s style French Knicker
All because:
A couple of weeks ago when some nice weather arrived I decided I had Absolutely Nothing To Wear
and fixated on making 3 new skirts as the solution. Of course couldn’t find my custom skirt block anywhere so did a quickie draft and after I’d made a 30′s, a40′s and a 50′s style skirt…
House of Wenger, 3-sided Italian Stitch and a final word on knickers…
14 Mar 2012 5 Comments
in 1920s, 1930's, How To, Inspiration, It's in the Details, lingerie, Vintage Lingerie Tags: House of Wenger
…for now anyway.
A few months back a friend very generously lent me these gorgeous pleated silk knickers to photograph for my reference files. Going by period illustrations and saucy photographs of the time I would date them as from 1925-1930. (clicking on any pictures will open a large version)
Silk pleats!
Think of the ironing. Though I imagine the woman who originally bought these hand-made silk undies from the House of Wenger in Philadelphia in the 20′s had someone to do it for her…. More
Celebrating 100 SewVeraVenus followers with a free big-knicker pattern….
14 Mar 2012 12 Comments
in 1950's, Free pattern, How To, lingerie, Vintage Lingerie, vintage reproductions Tags: 1950's, free pattern, granny-pants, lingerie, stretch silk
Woohoo!
100 SewVeraVenus blog followers as of today, a nice round number
Thank you all so very much for your interest in SewVeravenus!
So to celebrate I thought I’d put up the super-easy version of my ‘Grannie Pannies‘ the big-knickers that I was making patterns for a couple of months back.
A printable-cut-it-out-and-stick-it-together-with-tape pattern.
(UK size 10/12 , that’s hips 36′ to 39″, but easily grade-able to bigger/smaller sizes by following the Threads Magazine grading advice.
The pattern can be downloaded from the VVPatterns & Tutorials page.
Fabrics: one or two way stretch jerseys, stretch silk, stretch lace, cotton lycra…
Have at it- cut ‘em out, stretch-stitch together…. zig-zag stitch some elastic at the waist and legs and presto your very own big-yet-ever-so-sexy-knickers.
Bridget Jones eat your heart out.
1940′s style brassiere pattern give-away…finally!
04 Feb 2012 86 Comments
in 1940's, dressmaking, lingerie, sewing, Vintage Lingerie, vintage reproductions Tags: 1940's bra pattern, lingerie, vintage inspired, vintage style bra
This morning I faced the fact that I had to just stop making samples, doing fittings, planning, thinking, what-if-ing (aka procrastinating) and just get this give-away (first blogged about here) going.
So here’s the deal: More
A “How To Draft and Make 1930′s Style Circular French Knickers” post.
12 Sep 2011 35 Comments
in 1930's, DIY, Free pattern, How To, patternmaking, Vintage Lingerie, vintage reproductions Tags: 1930's lingerie, free pattern, how to draft vintage French Knickers, how to sew vintage style french knickers
Just what it says on the tin: how to draft and make knickers like these.
A few weeks ago while digging in a scrap bag for a bit of fabric to trial a 1940′s bra pattern I’ve been working on (more on that later) I unearthed a very fragile and disintegrating pair of 1930′s black chiffon French Knickers …. I don’t think they’ve seen the light of day for 25 years and it’s anyone’s guess why I ever stuffed them in that bag in the first place as I usually keep study pieces in a more accessible place. However, a timely rediscovery as they’re simple to draft and make, so perfect for this ‘long time a comin’ post .
The style I’m demonstrating has a flat waist and is based on a full circle pattern and cut without any side seams. There is a left side opening finished with a straight grain continuous placket and the waist is finished with either a bias or straight grain binding. Inserting the crutch gusset is the trickiest part if you’ve never inserted a pointed piece into a slash opening .
As the style is full and fluted making them in very soft thin fabrics like silk georgette, lightest weight crêpe de chine or cotton batiste or lawn will work best.
I used a silk mousseline (satin faced chiffon) for this first green sample and the apricot fabric in the pdf pictures is a light weight c. de c.
Theres a 5 page PDF *How To* with all pattern drafting and sewing instructions.
I’ve included some helpful (I hope) pictures incase my text isn’t clear enough.
Have a read through the PDF and if you are inspired just download it and have a go.
I’d really love to know if you make a pair
p.s.
About the bra in the photo above: More
