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Megan Nielsen Patterns - Acacia panty pattern


I have to admit, I was not on the “make your own underwear” bandwagon for a long time. With limited sewing time, there were just always other things I wanted to spend it on.

However, I have totally changed course. One of my reasons for sewing my own clothes is definitely to have personalized fit and design options but I also have concerns about the social costs of clothing production (sweatshops) so to help meet this goal, sewing my own everything as much as possibly makes sense. What really changed my mind though, was seeing how easily I could re-purpose my knit scraps into self-made panties!

There is always a little bit of fabric leftover at the end of a project and it’s always a challenge to think about what can be done with it! Especially when it’s really cute fabric. This is what turned around my view on making underwear more than anything else, it’s the perfect size project for knit scraps. It takes much less than half a yard and multiple pieces or even fabrics can be combined to make a pair.

Plus, all of my dresses will have matching panties!

 
With this in mind, I decided to make the Acacia panty pattern from Megan Neilsen patterns. You can get a free copy of this pattern by signing up for the pattern company’s newsletter.

This is a solid panty pattern and if you are new to making underwear, it would be a good place to start. I found the directions easy to follow even though I had never made underwear before and I like that there are instructions for using different types of elastic or bands.

I used lingerie elastic and I found it quite easy to attach. After I made my first pair of panties, I was totally hooked and ordered a 40 yard mixed bag of elastic from Etsy. Seriously, look at all those pretty colors of elastic! I am so excited to use it all!

Now, there were a few things I did not like about this pattern, mainly related to the sizing. First, the range of sizes is quite limited. I am a size 12 in RTW and I measured to the largest size available in this pattern. This limitation of size makes me
much less interested in their other patterns. I don't like being the largest size in case I need to grade in an area. Also, I like to support pattern companies that are inclusive to a wide range of women.

My second issue with the pattern, was that the crotch width was way too wide. I think this is bad grading, just because my rear is getting larger, doesn't mean the width of my crotch is, if anything I'd think it was smaller because of thigh encroachment! Right? So I followed the pattern for my first pair (the light purple shown above) but then basically went down to the smallest size gusset for my second pair (dark purple) and they fit much better. 

The first pair was scrap double brushed poly and the second pair was cotton knit. Both worked well for making panties!



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