Do you want to start sewing your own lingerie?

Are you a sewing beginner with a love for lingerie,

sewist with experience ready for a challenge

or experienced sewist with a full hand-made wardrobe, and this is the last piece of garment you are still buying?

But you don't know where and how to start?

Did you answer yes to any of these questions?

Perfect.

I am here to help you!

 Jumping all at once with too much information can be easily too overwhelming!

It can be actually so much overwhelming you can get blocked and never start. 

So my first advice is:

 Take it slow, step by step.

 Don't try to learn everything overnight

 Trust the process

  And don't forget to enjoy the path!

Are you ready?

 So what's the plan?

Where do we start?

First, let me indicate you to the path.

I divided it into three steps.

Then I will describe all these steps in-depth to you. 

The three steps of your journey sound like this:

 

 Your first handmade lingerie project

Let's focus on step one:

Sew an underwear

 Underwear is a perfect place to start!

It may sound really simple, but it will give you the right foundation.

 Sewing underwear offers you endless design options, so you will never get bored.

Suitable for all sewing levels

You can make an easy basic style as a beginner or a more complex design if you are up to a challenge.

Fast project

You need quite a small amount of fabric for this project.

So you are not at a risk to spoil many supplies if something goes wrong.

Great scrap project

But what more, if you are a sewist, 
you may have a lot of jersey scraps from your previous sewing. 

Easy to obtain supplies

Supply all bra making specific fabric may be hard and you may need to order supplies online. 
But not underwear. You are probably able to shop all these at the local shop.
Fold-over elastic, panties picot elastic, and cotton jersey are quite common fabrics in most fabric shops. 

 Last but not least:

 Making matching underwear for your bras may be the biggest advantage of your sewing skills!

Why should I sew underwear?

Now I will tell you details I was always really curious about, but no one told me.

I will answer a question you may already have in your mind:

"Why do you recommend sewing underwear first?

How will this help me? - I just want to sew a bra!"

 I want you to learn and become confident in following tasks before you are making the next step.  

By sewing underwear, you will learn and become confident in sewing:

elastic fabrics

If you are used to regular sewing or if you sew elastic fabrics only on the overlock, this might be a whole new experience.

You will become confident sewing elastic fabrics and stretch laces confident at sewing straight stitches on elastic fabrics, how to feed them, and how to trait them. 

with precise seam allowances

Unlike regular sewing, making your own lingerie is unique in using very small seam allowances.

Most patterns use 6mm (or 1/4 inch) so you will get practice in sewing this!

elastics

Sewing elastics is a very easy routine but requires a little practice.

You will learn and practice applying different elastics.

Learn it now and use it for the rest of your bra making journey!

 

Before you start

"Do you have some advice before my first project?"

Don't use too drapey and lightweight fabrics

Using lightweight fabrics - like lightweight lycra or a bamboo jersey may be really hard and super annoying to sew!

Thin fabrics are more slippery and not very pleasant to sew.

Choose a more stable material, with more body like a cotton jersey with more weight.

You want to stay away from super stretchy fabrics.

Trust me.

Don't use bulky laces

You don't have to be scared of sewing lace underwear. I found it maybe even simpler than jersey.

But if you select the wrong lace, the sewing can easily happen super annoying.

Start with stretch lace that does not have 3D patterns and is flatter.

You want your lace to have decent stretch, but also more body.

"Should I practice on scraps first?"

Sure, you may want to try on scraps first, if you are afraid of ruining fabrics.

Personally, I don´t like practicing sewing on scraps, I never did that.

I like to sew a real project!

That's what keeps me focused and motivated. 

You always need to find what works best for you. 

Just don't stuck at reading, you need to stand up, take your scissors, and give your sewing machine and try!