Since I’ve generally had good luck with the fit of the Make Bra patterns, I decided I wanted to continue on in my pattern testing adventures and try some of their underwear patterns.
At this point, I have several TNT underwear patterns that I go back to on a regular basis, so I wasn’t really in need of another pattern. However, I have been curious to compare patterns from different brands just to see what sort of drafting differences exist between them and to try and discern how that can impact the fit. I hadn’t planned on adding the Make Bra patterns to my existing stash, but when I had such good luck with the DL02, I thought I’d check out other patterns from the brand. The Hip Hugger Retro pattern offers two fairly basic brief styles, however, when I got the pattern and saw how curved the gusset shape was I wanted to print it out and test it right away. It might just be me, but every time I’ve made a pattern where the gusset is very curved around the leg line I’ve had great success with minimal effort, and every time the gusset is fairly wide and straight I end up needing to do a lot of adjustments for a decent fit. At this point I almost use the gusset shape as a base line metric for what I think will be a well-drafted brief style underwear pattern.
In general, I love the drafting of the Make Bra patterns; the seam lines are incredibly precise, the styles are interesting, and the shaping is pretty fantastic. However, for the most part the instructions are not as good as the drafting. For this pattern I almost couldn’t find the instructions; if you only print out the pieces for the hip huggers you won’t even see the instructions because they are on the page with the retro style. Though I have to say I probably didn’t need to worry about them anyway; this pattern recommends nearly every one of my least favorite construction techniques, so I ignored them all. I do understand why some patterns recommend them – they are easier to put together. But the results are just not as tidy. So I sort of did my own thing and put all of the seams together first, with an enclosed gusset, and fold over elastic sewn in the round.
Originally I made a fit sample, but then I decided to use this pattern for a second version to go with my Sew Comfy Bra (review coming soon) just to have a whole Make Bra set. In both cases it’s very basic underwear, so there’s not a whole lot to say about them in terms of construction, materials, or style.
I will say that this pattern, aside from the very curved shape of the gusset, is actually mostly straight lines, which would make it very easy to sew for someone new to sewing underwear. It’s definitely a lot easy to put the gusset pieces together than on my self drafted pattern where the front and back of the pattern piece are also very curved. It has an appearance where it looks to be sitting lower on the hips, but actually doesn’t sit too much into the leg crease as to be annoying, which is my issue with most other patterns. I don’t know if this pattern will overtake my self-drafted pattern or the Kisa, but it will definitely get to live in the pile of TNT options.
Official Pattern Review
Pattern Description: Full coverage briefs with a basic hipster design and a high waisted “retro” design with front panel. From the designer: “Hip Hugger Panties: This lower-rise model sits beautifully at the hips. Still, it has good coverage at the back. The waistline is easy to adjust for your preferences. Retro Panties: High-waisted, full coverage briefs that fit any size beautifully.”
Pattern Sizing: XS-2XL, which is approximately 34-52” hip. My measurements fall directly between the size listed for XL and 2XL. I printed out both and after comparing with some of my existing patterns decided to make the 2XL. I will note that although the 2XL is listed for up to a 52” hip, my measurements are typically around the 49” measurement and I found the 2XL to be very close fitting. So I would say that this is probably not the most size inclusive pattern and expects a lot of stretch from the fabric. If in doubt, size up. If you are looking for something similar with a more extensive size range, I have had good luck withe the LilyPAD Kisa Knickers, and was in approximately the middle of the size ranger there.
Were the instructions easy to follow? The instructions on this pattern are very minimal, but sufficient if you have sewn underwear before. Honestly, the instructions on this pattern include all of my least favorite finishing techniques, so while I read them, I almost completely ignored them during the actual construction. I have been really enjoying the drafting of other Make Bra patterns, and wanted to try their underwear as well. I would not recommend this pattern if you need detailed instructions to complete the project, but if you have some experience sewing undergarments the information included should be fine. One important thing to note is that the actual instructions are scattered on the pattern pages, so if you are making the hipsters, you would want to print pages 1-7 and not just 1-6 to get the instructions printed as well, and if you are making the retro briefs you may want to review the information on the tops of the pages for the hipsters. I will also highlight that this pattern does not include seam allowances but does provide information for where to add them, though I think it forgets to include the gusset seam on the back pattern piece. It’s not a very expensive pattern, and I think the drafting is great so it is well worth the price, but I wouldn’t recommend it to someone who needs a lot of detailed instructions or illustrations to get started, or who isn’t used to adding seam allowances to patterns.
Did it look like the photo/drawing when you were done with it? Yes, I think they look a lot like the line drawing although I did use a different type of waistband on my first version.
What did you particularly like/dislike about the pattern? The more underwear patterns I’ve tested, the more I realize that I really need a gusset piece that is very narrow in the front and very wide in the back to create a full coverage style. I find that a lot of patterns don’t do this; either because the gusset piece is very short which causes the seams to be in an uncomfortable position, or because they don’t really offer a lot of coverage in the back, either intentionally or unintentionally. I was really excited to see just how intense the gusset curve is on this pattern – it flares quite a bit towards the back to give a full coverage without being way too wide in the front (my other common issue). Overall I really like the way the pattern fits and I like the two different style options. My only dislike is probably the challenge in locating the information about seam allowances and instructions when selectively printing one or the other style and not all pages of the pattern at the same time.
Fabric used: My first version was bamboo jersey with cotton jersey lining and a mix of elastics, and the second version was cotton jersey for the main fabric with fold over elastic finishing.
Pattern alterations or design changes you made: In terms of design, I used a lace elastic waistband instead of fold over elastic to finish the waist for my first version. This is a minimal change and does not alter the fit or shaping at all. I also changed the construction order and added extra seam allowance to the back of the pattern so that I could make an enclosed gusset. I have also found that while sewing elastics in the round is a lot more annoying than putting them in flat (as the pattern suggests), it also tends to give me a much neater finish. I estimated the elastic length using the lengths from my self-drafted underwear. The waist length was similar, but I would probably make the leg elastics shorter for this pattern if I were to make it again.
Would you sew this again? Would you recommend it to others? Yes, I expect I will sew this pattern again. I like the way it fits, and I want to try the retro style version as well. I’m not sure if it will replace my self drafted TNT pattern or the LilyPAD Kisa in terms of my favorite patterns, but I can see myself making this again in the future. I would recommend this pattern, but I would say that the size range is not as extensive as the Kisa, and that it is drafted for a significant amount of negative ease, so make sure to use fabric with enough stretch. Overall it’s a good pattern though; I continue to be very impressed by the pattern drafting and finished projects I get from Make Bra.
Conclusion: Overall I really like this pattern, and I’m surprised how little I had to do to fit it (basically nothing). It doesn’t have the best instructions and I do wish the size range was more expansive, but it is also a relatively inexpensive pattern and I think if you fit in the available sizes you will appreciate the fit and drafting of this pattern. Only time will tell, but I like what I made and I expect I will pull this pattern out again in the future.
This was a pretty quick project, but something that gave me the idea to do some slightly more extensive blog posts on my backlog of pattern reviews soon. It’s crazy that it’s October already; I feel like I’ve been slowly plodding through a bunch of small projects off and on, but now I have a lot of things to review and post. My hope is to get fairly caught-up-ish by the end of the month so I can work on other projects heading into the holiday season, but it has been nice to be posting again, aside from my monthly round ups. I’ve got several other posts in drafts right now, so hopefully I’ll have more activity on the blog than I have the past few months. Now I just need to get caught up on blog reading too!
