Sewing: Make Boys' Briefs or Undershorts
|
I have a young grandson who is close to the age of growing out of diapers. So, of course, the grandmother who sews just has to find some funky knit fabric and make him several briefs or undershorts - the kind just like Daddy wears (I think - I'm actually not sure whether his Daddy is a briefs or boxers dude!).
Sewing briefs is really quite easy, although it does feel a bit different from the typical sewing that I do. The hardest part, in all honesty, is getting a pattern. I ended up getting one, Kwik Sew 1943, off of eBay. I have also learned of a couple of website with free patterns: I made a few size 2 briefs and one size 4. The size 2's seem quite large for my favorite grandson, but he will probably grow a bit before he's ready for them. |
|
|
The Kwik Sew pattern is multi-sized, so I copied the individual sizes onto paper, so that I could make all sizes if the spirit moved me. See the article on whether to copy multi-sized patterns or cut them up for more thoughts on the subject.
For these fly-front briefs, only one piece had to be copied, although there are some notes on it about the rectangular pieces that have to be cut as well. I didn't make paper copies - I prefer to use my rotary cutter and ruler to cut rectangles. A key point is that some of these rectangles have to be cut on the cross-grain (most stretch) of the knit, and others have to be cut on the lengthwise-grain (least stretch) of the knit. So those points were noted on the paper pattern. |
|
|
This photo shows all of the fabric pieces cut out.
I actually made three different briefs in total, and the rectangles were cut out of either ribbing or the same fabric as the main part. (Yep, I ran out of ribbing!) |
|
| And this photo shows the main fabric piece folded out. Honestly, when I looked at this, I could not figure out how this would make undershorts for my little one - that is a weird shape. But it really does come together just right! |
|
|
The first step is to bind the fly, on both the inside and outside of what will become the fly opening. These pieces are cut on the cross-grain, so there is some give to the binding.
This photo shows the fly binding pinned in place. |
|
| This photo shows the first seam of the fly binding completed. A short and narrow zigzag stitch is used throughout. |
|
| The fly binding is pressed to one side, to cover the seam allowance. |
|
| And then the fly binding is wrapped to the wrong side. |
|
| From the top, zigzag close to the seam line, to catch the part of the fly binding that is wrapped underneath. |
|
| There is excess width to the fly binding, so trim it. |
|
|
Not shown is the step to overlap the fly fronts, and baste them together.
The fly stay is a stabilizing piece, cut on the lengthwise grain. It helps to hold the layers of the fly in place. Start by pressing the sides to meet in the middle. |
|
| Pin the fly stay in the appropriate place on the briefs. |
|
| Sew both sides of the fly stay, and trim the ends. There's a lot of length to these pieces. |
|
| Now, pin the inner crotch to the back with wrong sides together. |
|
|
Pull the outer crotch around the waistband until it can connect with the pinned pieces, and pin it right sides together to the back.
This forms what has been termed a "burrito" - a reasonably accurate description! |
|
| Turn the briefs right side out - this turns the crotch seam to the inside. |
|
| Sew the ends of the leg bindings to form a circle. (Leg binding are cut on the cross grain.) Pin the leg bindings to the legs, right sides together. |
|
| This photo shows the leg binding sewn in place with a zigzag. |
|
|
And just like the fly binding, the leg binding is wrapped around the seam and sewn in place.
You might notice that for some of the bindings, I used a rib knit, and for some I just used the same knit as in the main garment. |
|
| And then the leg binding is trimmed. |
|
| The first part of sewing the waistband on is to align the briefs, right side of briefs to wrong side of elastic, with the edge of the briefs at the half-way point of the elastic. Zigzag in place, close to the edge of the briefs. |
|
| Then, from the right side, zigzag the elastic to the briefs, close to the bottom edge of the elastic. |
|
|
And the briefs are done. Aren't they just adorable!
They are easy to make, and you can have a lot of fun with fabric selection. As mentioned above, the only challenge is getting a pattern. Try it! |
| >