Making your own lingerie can seem a bit daunting when you first start, even for experienced sewers! Here are some top tips for when you first start out:
Start Small
You don’t need to become an expert overnight, so start with a simple pattern and easier fabrics. A basic knicker pattern is a good place to start before moving on to a bralette. Knickers can be made from small amounts of fabrics (or scraps) and will help you get the hang of techniques such as elastic attachment and stretch seams. Once you have mastered these techniques then you can move on to wired bras and more complicated designs.
Choose the right fabrics
Underwear can use fabrics that aren’t commonly used in other garments. It is important to choose fabrics that are suitable for lingerie, while also not being too ambitious. Lightweight fabrics like knicker mesh might be too tricky when just starting out, so a jersey is a good place to start for beginners to stretch sewing. You can always practice on scraps when sewing with lingerie fabrics such as denier, powermesh or silk.
Use a zigzag stitch
Stretch is super important when sewing lingerie or swim and a zigzag stitch is one of the best ways to keep a garments stretch when sewing. Zigzag stitches can be used to attach elastics in a variety of ways so practice sewing this stitch before you begin your first make.
Take your measurements
Because lingerie sits so close to the body, it is important to know your measurements. Get your tape measure or a piece of string and make a note of your bust, underbust, waist and hip measurements.
Small seam allowances
Accuracy is key for lingerie making and small errors can completely change the shape of a garment. This means seam allowances are usually really small with 5mm and 6mm being very common allowances. Marking these out on your patterns or even your fabric can be useful when just starting out.
Enjoy the process
Making lingerie can be a really enjoying and rewarding process! Learning these new techniques will let you express your creativity and style in new ways and it doesn’t matter if you make a few mistakes along the way!