Dress bloomers: Betty High Waist Panties (and hipster hack)

It has taken me ages to get up the nerve to write this post.  The undies I’m about to talk about and show pictures of are big.  BIG.  That’s the point, really, since I was looking for “bloomers” that could keep me fully covered, and without panty lines, under a knit dress.  I found the Betty High Waisted Panties pattern by Ohhh Lulu, and knew I had the right idea.  Above my belly button?  Yup, hits at my natural waist and I’m owning it.  The pattern is easy and fast.  I made some test undies (highly unattractive, yet awesomely comfortable in stretch nylon bathing suit lining material), but this is my first “real” pair and they are marvelous:

Fabric and trim: Both from Britex, stretch silk (don’t look at the price, I got this in the remnants department!) and apricot trim.

Pair number two is equally comfortable, useful and cute, but the quality of the lace was really poor–it pilled and fuzzed immediately. The silk pilled a bit, too.  Even if it’s silk and lace, I want to wash and dry them in the machine (in cold water, gentle, low air, just FYI).

Fabric: Stretch silk from Hart’s, stretch lace from Fabric.com (may be out of stock), and beige trim from Britex.

After a couple of waist-high pairs, I wanted to trim them and make hipster undies.  I trimmed equally from the waistline by a few inches, to make a great every day (non-dress) size.  Here’s my trial version:

Leftover red dotted swimsuit nylon from Fabric Fairy, white mesh swimsuit lining, and trim from Joann’s.  Ridiculously comfortable and “slippery” under clothes.

The mesh is awesome–perfectly stretchy and durable.

This is probably my favorite pair, though the silk is pilling a bit after only a few washes.  Stretch silk from Hart’s, stretch teal lace (I think this is the right fabric–I bought it in person at Hart’s) and hot pink trim from Britex. The lace is very high quality and looks like it will be nice-looking for a while.

Okay, so since I forced my husband to model his boxer-briefs, I feel morally obligated to show a photo of myself wearing my handmade undies, too.  Luckily, these are opaque and significantly more enormous than any bikini bottom you’ll see at the beach:

See, they look slightly better on a body than on a hanger (at least that’s what I tell myself!).

If it weren’t for the difficulty finding all the fabric and trim in one store, I’d exclusively make my own underwear.  For my size (XS-S depending on the stretch of the fabric), I can get one large and one hipster pair of undies from 1/2 yard of stretch silk (using lace for the side panels), so they aren’t too costly (check out Mood’s selection of stretch silk!).  I’m not sure I’m ready to tackle bras yet, but there will be many more pairs of dress bloomers in my future!