Transcripts
1. Intro video Part 2 PPP Sewing SKill Share: Okay, so welcome back to the perfect period
pants classes. This is part two of the series. In part one, we went through all the prep with the patterns,
sizes, and materials. This is part two, and
I'll be showing you how to sew your own knickers. So by the end of this module, you will have sewn your
own meantime periods. There's also a video on washing, as well, because I get a lot
of questions about that. So I've added that in
this part as well. If you've just joined me here, then hello. I'm Elena. I'm a laundry making expert, and I have helped hundreds of home sewers sew
their own laundry. If you haven't seen
part one, definitely go and check out before
you start P two. I hope you enjoy this class, and I'll see you
in the next one.
2. Cutting out SKill Share: So we need to cut
out one of these, one of the back,
one of the front, and one of the gusset
in this cotton jersey. Let's start with
the front piece. Firstly, with your
piece of fabric, you should have one side will be the salvage if it's
not already cut up, and then the other way is
called the width of the fabric. The salvage is basically
the end of the fabric. When they are made
on the machine, they will be held from this side and then the
other side as well. This one here, I think
the width is 1 meter 45, which is a standard size really. With a cotton jersey, you can work out the stretch
yourself. By pulling it. But the direction of greatest stretch will
be on the width, it'll be perpendicular
to the salvage. If I've got the main
stretch going across, then that just needs to
match the main stretch here, which is going across the
cotton jersey like that. If we line that up, if you
are using other fabrics, you can test which way
is the most stretch by pulling it out and seeing which way you think
is the most stretch. When I make sure that the pattern is placed
down correctly, I find because this is a jersey, you can see the grain
going down this way. I try to match up something a
line that's going that way. We've got this line here,
we've got this line there. And you just need to shift
it until the grain line of the jersey here goes straight on that straight
line, and then it comes off. So that's about there. With jersey fabrics
or stretch fabrics, it's actually better
to not measure it from the salvage because the salvage can actually
be a bit warped sometimes, a bit stretched by
the manufacturing. I always go by the
actual fabric grain. It's obviously very hard to
see the fabric up close, but you'll be able to see the
grain line with your own. Okay. Then you just want to make sure that
you don't go into the salvage arrow because it's crispier and won't stretch
the same as the rest. If you just come a bit away, and then you want to put
your pattern weights on to keep it in place. Then before we cut it out, we just want to mark our notch. Get your marking tool and
just mark in your notch here. And then get your rotary cutter and then you can
just cut around. It's always best to use the rotary cutter
cutting away from you. Sometimes it can be
a little bit tricky. You have to move
around the table. But just try your best. Be careful when you're using the rotary cutter because
they are sharp blades, if they are new especially
and even still they are sharp, be careful. So you're just cutting all the way around the
pattern piece. See here I can't
really cut away from myself because of the
angle that I'm at. Then I would come down here and then go back
up to the original cut. And there we go. Sometimes
you just need to go around and cut the little
bits that haven't got cut before it releases. Especially if your blade isn't completely new, that's
fine on that side. There we go. That's
how you cut out your pattern pieces on
this particular fabric. What I'll do, I won't
show you all of it because there's no need because it's just the
exact same process. I will now cut out the
back and also the gusset. Now I will say with this
one because of the curves, be very careful, take it very slow because they
are quite deep curves. It might be best to use the smaller rotary
cutter if you have one. But I need to change
the blade on this one, so that's why I'm not using it. Again, just follow
the same process that we do the main
stretch going that way, and then this would be the main stretch
going that way as well. It's exactly the same process. I've now cut out
the outer kicker in the red cotton jersey. I'm just going to put
these to the side whilst I explain the next bit. The other ones we need to
cut is done the outer. We need to cut the lining,
and we need to cut the PL. With the lining, it will be exactly the same
as the cotton Jersey. You just need to
cut around that. Then with the PL, Again, you just need to place
it on a cut around that. Now if you are using pins, do not pin through this
waterproof fabric. This is why I do prefer
the rotary cutter method. If you are using pins and scissors to cut
out your fabrics, then I would draw around
this pattern piece here, actually on the fabric side, it would be easier than
the slippery side, draw around it and then cut just inside the line
with your scissors. But if you're not doing that,
then you can just do it in the exact same way that we
have done the outta as well. I'm going to cut them out. I'm also going to explain
the absorbent layer. We're also going to do that. So with the absorbent
layer pattern, again, even though there's main
stretch on the pattern, both ways are very similar. I mean, there's a bit
more stretch that way. I'll cut it that way,
but it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter because it's going to be rigitized anyway. I'll cut it that way because
if it's quite nicely. You can actually go
right to the edge with the absorbent layer. You don't need to leave the
salvage because it's going to be all under and in, you
won't be able to see it. Again, place that in the same way that we
done the cotton jersey, so I'm going to line
this knot up here. Sometimes what I do is actually fold them
in a half this way. It's just it's bit
easier with that. You can line up the pattern
there and then flip it out. Now, we can't use,
unfortunately, the rotary cutter
on this fabric, so we are going to have
to use pins and scissors. If you get your pins, firstly, I always place a few pins in the middle of the pan piece to make sure it's
sitting straight. Like that. Then you just want
to pin around the edges. If you make sure
that the winged area is nicely secured down, then it will be
easier to cut out. Now, as you can see,
whilst we are pinning, it does lift up the
pattern piece a bit, and this is why I do prefer the rotary method because it
is just a bit more precise. Try and keep your pins going
in the same way if you can. Less likely to prick yourself. Because when you cut out, you can then go the same way that the pins go
around the pattern piece. And then when you've
done your pin, don't forget to do your notches again and then get
your scissors. I will say with this
type of fabric, it's probably prone to
bluntening your scissors. If you have ones that are not as good as your
dressmaking scissors, then perhaps use that
for this type of fabric, but if not, unless you use them unless you cut this out loads of times, I'm sure
it'll be fine. It's not going to
blunt them too much, but I know that that can happen. I'll see how these ones go. These are my paper scissors. They were originally my
dressmaking scissors. Se they're just
not quite as good, but I don't want to blunt
my dressmaking scissors, so so when you cut out, always best to
that's not cutting. I'm going to have to use
mys make and scissors. When you cut out, it's
always best to try and have the pattern as flat as possible. It can be a little bit tricky. Do you have to lift up a bit. Especially when you've
got these curves to cut. There we go. That's the absorbent layer
all cut out like that. I'm just going to finish off
the other couple of pieces. So this is what you
should end up with the front and back
with the gusset liner, all in the outer fabric. You've got the gusset lining. This is going to be the fabric
that's close to your skin, and then we have the waterproof
layer as the gusset, then we have the
absorbent layer as well, which sandwiches in
between the gusset layer. Make sure you've got
all of those cut out and you are ready to so.
3. Prepping the Gusset Layers Skill Share: So the first part of
the construction is putting together the gusset. What we'll do first is we'll put the absorbent layer with
the liner together, and then we'll put
the waterproof with the outer together. Let's concentrate on these
for now. This is the liner. This is where your skin goes, and then directly underneath
is the absorbent layer. So make sure that you have
the right side facing down, so this is the wrong side here. Then we want to place either side is fine and there's not really a right or wrong, but I'm just going
to put the flat side down on top of the liner. And you'll notice
it isn't quite the same and it's not supposed to
be, don't worry about that. It should fit the same on these inner curves here
and then this part here. And then there should
be a gap at ever end, which is for the seam
allowance because the absorbent layer
is quite thick, trying to get that through
a seam is very tricky, so we don't bother doing that. We do it a better way. Make sure everything
is lined up. Then when you've got
everything lined up, again, just place your
pin in the middle. These are almost
like a tacking pin. You're just keeping it in place once you've found the
right place for it, and then we want to
pin around because we're going to be stitching
this in place first. I like to put my pins in
finds the easiest way. Then if you continue to
pin all the way around, Then when you have
done that one, we need to move on to this one, the outer and the waterproof. Again, turn it so that
the right side is down. Then for the waterproof, I prefer to have the fabric side facing the outer or the
inner of the outer. Because otherwise, you feel the slipperiness
under the fabric, which I don't really like
when I'm wearing it. So that's how I choose to do it. Again, match it up.
Remember, you've got your notches
on here as well, so you can match
your notches up. But for this one, we can't do the regular pinning like we did with this one. Because if we put
holes in this fabric, then it's not going
to be waterproof. There's an option to use clips. You can get these little
small sewing clips where you clip on the ends, so they act as a
temporary fastener like a pin without putting
the holes in the fabric, or you can use pins, but you have to make
sure not to go further in of the seam allowance because obviously
when we sew it, there will be stitch marks. We can pin on the outer
edge of the stitch marks, but we can't pin
on the inner edge. It's up to you if you
prefer to use the clips, then you're more than welcome. I'm going to show you
the pinning method because that's the
method that I use. I don't really like clips. That's just my
personal preference. But I know a lot of people
really love the clips. So yeah. When we are pinning it,
again, match it all up. I've got the notches
at the bottom here. Then I'm just going
to pin lengthwiys in to the seam allowance area. Obviously, you have
to be careful this. You have to imagine
the seam allowance. The seam allowance
is six mill on here. Then try and do it so they're all going in
the same direction. Then it's easier to pull
out when we're sewing it. So I'm going to continue
pinning around here, like I did with the other one. There we go. I have
pinned those together. As you can see, I have
used quite a lot of pins. This isn't the easiest
fabric to work with. So the more pins or the
more putting in place is, the easier it's going to be. What we're going
to do now is take these to the sewing
machine where I will explain the
stitches that we'll be using and how we
are going to sew.
4. Sewing the Gusset Layers Skill Share: And firstly, we are going to sew the absorbent
layer to the lining. For this, we will need to be using a three step
zigzag stitch. I've got mine at a five
width and a 1.8 length. With this stitch, it will not only secure the two
fabric pieces together, but it'll also finish
the absorbent layer, as you can see it is a raw edge. I've put a thick needle in for this sewing
application because we are going through the absorbent layer and it is quite thick. So I would start off with the
front or back gusset Seam. Then with the further
stitch on the zigzag, you want to just try and clip the very edge of the
absorbent layer. I'm just going to
speed that up a bit. I like that. I'm just going to show you that. So it will look a little
bit stretched out, but it will be fine once
it's all sewn together. It's just because of the type
of stitch that we've used. Then use the same three
step zigzag stitch on the back as well. Just go to take that pin out.
It's kind of in the way. And then with the sides, we don't need to use the
three steps exact stitch. We can just use a
long straight stitch, a basting stitch is
what we call it. So if we put on a
straight stitch, and I'm going to put up to 3.5. Then if you stitch about
three mill in from the edge, three to four mil
taking your pins out. Make sure your
flappy bit doesn't get caught underneath
like mine was. Take that off. That
should look like that. And then do the same on
the other side as well. Okay, so that side is all done. Make sure it's all
looking smooth and flat. And then we need to move
on to the other part. Okay, so for this part, this is where we are going to
switch to our Teflon foot. This is like a plastic
foot and it stops the the slippery layer sticking because that's why it can be quite tricky to sew. I'm just going to
change my feet. Then let's start from the top. Because we have only pinned
within the seam allowance, we also need to stitch
within the seam allowance. Now, take your time of this. If you need to practice, then do this can be a little bit triggier because of
the type of fabric it is. I'm going to, I'm
going to stay on the long straight
stitch with 3.5 length. If you try sewing this with the normal foot and then you compare it
to the teflon foot, you'll see how much of
a difference it makes. When I first started
sewing these period pants, I didn't realize that
a foot existed like this and it has made a
world of difference, so it's definitely
a good investment. So again, I'm just stitching three to four in like I
did on the other one. It doesn't matter what the fred is because it's all going
to be hidden anyway. This little bit at the end
is a little bit tricky. It doesn't have to be perfect. Mine certainly isn't perfect,
but it's good enough. I just realized I put all the
pins the wrong way around. I'm having to take them out in the opposite direction,
which is a bit annoying. There we go. We got to the end, and that is what it looks like. Again, just check the underside. Make sure it's all okay. There's a tiny little
nick just there, but that will be within the
elastic, that'll be fine. I'm going to leave
that. Yes, check that before you go
into the next stage. So next we will be
putting these pieces together along with the
other fabric pieces as well.
5. Back Gusset Seam SKill Share: So now you have the
gusset pieces, correct. You need to now attach them to the rest of the kick
the front and the back. It's best to start off with the hardest first, I'm afraid, which is the back
because it has a bigger, more deeper curve, especially
with this variation. With the different variations,
it might not be as tricky, so this will be the
hardest that it gets. That's why I'm
showing you this one. And so what we need to do, if you imagine it
will be like that, you've got the out
there is the back, and then you've got front. I might not fit on
the camera there, but the front is there. Then that will be facing
upwards like that. That's how it needs to look. But because of all of
the different layers, it can be a little bit tricky to so all at once onto one seam. It's best to do it separately, and it's also best to do
the easiest side first, which is this one
because it doesn't have the slippery fabric. If we take this one away, what we're going to
do now is attach the back to the gusset lining. If you have your gusset lining with the right
side facing up like this, then you want to put
the wrong side of the back to the back
gust it seem like this. It might seem a bit
weird because you have a curve going
to a concave curve. But this is how it goes. This is why it's trickiest. This is why you need
your notches as well because the notches
really do help with this. Match your notches up first. And I'm going to be sewing on this side of the fabric because it's slightly
more easier to sew on. This fabric here is very slinky and just not as structured as the cotton jersey and
then match up your ends. Now remember you have your
six mill seam allowances. This part here, this
pointy bit can go over six mill in then
that's where it joins. Like that and then do the other side and then do the middles. If what you can do, it's
a little technique. I just pull them
apart a little bit and you can find the
middle that way. That's how I like to do it. You see it naturally goes there, and then do the middle
of the other one. Like that. And then
if you want to put some more in as well, I do. I think I need a few more in. So once that is all pinned, we can now take that
to the sewing machine. Now we need to base this
back gusset seam together. I'm going to use a long
straight stitch for this. I've got my straight
stitch on at 3.5. So you want to stitch
six milk in about there, and I would go a
little bit further in because this fabric
can be a little bit tricky to sew like this. Otherwise, it might bunch
up at the beginning. Actually, we won't be
doing this 6 million. I've just remembered,
we'll be doing it three to 4 million because
it's a basting stitch. So we don't want this fabric we don't want this
thread to be seen. Lots of pins can
be really useful. So if you're finding it tricky, maybe use a few more pins. Also just go slowly. If it's a new technique that
you've not done before, then it's going to be harder. Obviously, I've
made lots of these. So I'm going at a
fairly decent pace, although I try not to sew
too fast to be quite honest. I think sometimes in life, there's a lot of things
to do things fast and I don't think you
have to sew fast, so I like taking it
slow, mindfully. And just enjoying it. Enjoying it. You don't
have to do it fast. I have gone over
a few pins there. You can go over
pins when they are perpendicular to the
way you are sewing, but still take care. I still have had broken
needles from doing that. I tend to go a bit slower. And if they're at a funny angle, if they're not actually
perpendicular, more like that, then it's
more likely the needle break. I do tend to try and
take them out actually. But, you know, just
not feeling it today. There we go. That's
what it should look like. I can't
really see on the back. But you can see that black line. Probably good I did use black actually so you could
see it a bit better. I know sometimes red is a little bit hard to
see on the cameras. I'm just bringing that up close. And yeah, just check the back, make sure nothing's gone
rocked or something or caught up or any of
that kind of stuff. I'm just going to quickly go to the end because we did start a little bit feather
in what you can do is turn it around on the wrong side and
then restart the seam, make sure it's all lining up. Just going to put a little
pin in there because it's just not playing ball. Okay, and then just restart the scene from where
you started it, and then you can just
run off the end. You can go back if you want, but you don't have to cause
it's only a wasting stitch. Okay, and then now we need to put the other gusset piece on. So I'll take you back to the table so we
can prepare that. Okay, so now we need to put the gusset on that essentially
wants to sit like that. We need to put right
sides together. This is actually
the right side of the gusset tar and the
right side of the back. We're going to do
a similar thing. But because we have
this tricky fabric, we can't quite pin it as easily. Firstly, again, we need
to join the notches up. Now, mine has gone
actually quite faint on this one. I can just see it. Match the notches up.
Check out right. Yeah. Now we need to pin
it, but again, it needs to be in
the seam allowance, it has to be length
ways like that. Then we want to do that at the end like we did
on the other one. Then the other side. Then you just want to fill it out in the middle like we did before. You can dretch it again. It is a little bit
trickier with all of these fabrics, there we go. You just need to
pull things around a bit and it will line
up for you. Okay. I'm just going to continue
pinning like this. So when you're done pinning, this is what it
should look like. Then you can put
it the right way around and see if
you've pinned it right, which you have, that's good. Yeah, we need to go to
the machine again now. So this time, we are not going to be doing
a basting stitch, but we are doing a real stitch. So I'm going to put my
stitch length on three. So just a little bit
longer than my usual. The usual is about 2.5, but it's not as long as the basting stitch that
I would usually do. So this one, we need
to be even careful. And before we go, I just remembered we need to change to our teflon
foot as well. Right, now we have the
teflon foot on. We can go. So this does need
to be at six mil, so six mile seeing what I want. Line your foot up to be six mil, and then take your fast pin out. And then go back and forward because this is the real stitch. Oh, it's such a dream with
this taflon foot, honestly, it's so I works so much better. I can't even tell you. I used to struggle away with the normal foot because I didn't even realize the
Tavlon fur existed. And, uh, yeah, so much better. You should be just covering up your basing stitches as well, so they'll be all
hidden in the seams. You shouldn't be going
over the absorbent layer. You should be just away from it. And then also when you're
sewing a seam like this, just to make sure that
all of the fabric is kept away from
the seams all flat. You can go back a few at
the end and take off. That's what we got two
lines on that side. Let's just check that side. It's hard to see. But yeah, it looks
good on that side. Then you can see that that's
all been sewn correctly. Now we need to do the
front gusto seam.
6. Front Gusset Seam Skill Share: And I also just
wanted to show you how although this
initially stretched out, now it's all together, it's
fine. You can't tell at all. That's what I mean,
you don't have to be too panicckety about it because once it all
comes together, it works itself out,
which is quite nice. Yes, we need to move on
to the front gusset now. We're going to do this in the exact same way
we done the back. I'm not going to go
through the whole process again because I'll
be ripping myself. If you place the wrong side to the right side of the
gusset liner, just that one. Sorry, not the
other one. Then pin that how we did it before. At this point, you can either do the same thing
that we've done, so you base this side on first. Or if you're feeling up to it, you can do it all in one go. I'm going to show
that method because there's been two different
methods you can do. This is the slightly
harder method where after you've pinned that, you bring round
the right side of the gusset to the right
side of the front there. And then you need to
pin that in place. Again, match your notches up, but don't forget you can't pin further than the seam
allowance with this fabric. So I'm going to pin
all that in place. I know it looks like a lot
of different pins going in different directions,
but it'll be fine. Before we get to
the sewing machine, just check that the
underside fabric is right up to the seam edge
because with this fabric, it can be a little
bit tricky and sometimes it just
falls below a bit, it just goes a bit like that and then you don't
catch it when you sew. Make sure that was
all pinned correctly. Just make sure you have
your teflon on again. Then as we are doing a
final stitch this time, we're going to be using the three length of the
straight stitch. And then we want
to be 6 million. I've got let pins
to take out here. You could use your hand crank for the needle to just push it down to make sure you don't
catch any of the pins. Then once it's in place, you can then take the
first lot of pins out. And then once you come
forward, go back again, not too far because it
might rack up a bit. Okay. And then take your next pins out
when you get to them. A lot of pins does really hold. That is what it
should look like. Then just make
sure you've caught everything underneath
okay. There's no racking. There's a little bit
of racking actually on my one just there. There we go and put it in the
light a bit better there. If you turn it around
the right way, you can see if it's a problem, if it's not, then
you can keep going. And It doesn't look like it's going to
be a problem to me. So we're going to
keep it like this. Now, all of the
fabric is attached. This is a good part. This is how it is straight off
the sewing machine, so we need to now
turn it the right way. This is the fun part. It's all nicely connected.
Yeah, that's fine. Thought there was a little
rock there, but it's not. It's just the crease in
the fabric. There we go. Then next, we need two. We're going to
base around these, then it's easier for when
we apply the elastic.
7. Basting the Gusset layers Skill Share: Okay, so to baste the
gossip pieces together, we're going to use a
long straight stitch, like we have done before. I'm not going to pin
this. I'm just going to hold them together
whilst I sew. Make sure to change your foot back to the
regular one as well. I'm going to do a four on this one because
it is really very, very much a basting stitch. So about 3 million, three to 4 million from
the end from the edge. I'm also doing it with
the cotton jersey facing up because it's the
most stablest fabric. Just make sure I'm not pulling
it too much. There we go. And then swivel the wing point. And then once you've
done one side, then just repeat the
same on the other side.
8. Pinning the leghole elastic Skill Share: So now we are on to applying
the ford over elastic. First, we'll be applying
it on the leg holes, which is the front and the
back and then the wing. In the previous lesson, there will be a page which tells you the different
lengths for the elastic. You don't need to
work out yourself. You just need to use the ones I've already
worked out for you, so it makes it very easy. For the leg hole for the size three,
which is what I'm doing, I need 60.2 centimeters. If you cut that size, and then we want another one because we're doing
the other side. 60.2 again for the size three. We're going to be applying
this in a one stage method, which basically
means we're going to be doing one row of stitches. Sometimes people do a first row underneath and then they
do a second row on top, but I've actually never
done it that way, and I just don't
think it's necessary. I just think when
you get used to applying it with one
set of stitches, one row of stitches,
it's just as easy. I just comes naturally
after a few goes, then it just makes
it quicker as well. It's a win win. Firstly,
we need to pin it. So with the cut lengths, there is an allowance
for 1 centimeter that goes over each end. If we pin that down, we're
actually going to fold it over the edge like we would
when we sew it like that. I will also say at this point, you can sew this side seams up first and then do the
elastic and the round. But because you've
got these wings, it can be a little bit
triggy to do it that way and I'd like to show you
the easiest method as well. Then go to the other
side, make sure it's not twisted and then
leave a centimeter, fold it over, and then pin it. So once you've pinned
both the ends, instead of finding the middle
because it is a little bit tricky because of the wing area, what we're going to do instead
is pull this at the front and we're going to
apply a little bit of tension on the front there. When you apply a little bit of tension, you stretch
the elastic, but you don't
stretch the fabric, and then you'll see there's
a loop that creates there. You want a bit of a loop and then we'll pin
that in place. And then we'll do the
same on the back. Pull it down to where
you've got the gossip part. Just have a little bit
of tension on that. Because it's going to be the
stretch part of the elastic, this part and that
part where it's more important to get the
tension right because it's rigitize anyway here, it's not going to matter too much with the slight
different tensions. You'll see what I mean
when we get going with it. If we just to make sure I got a nice bit tension on there. Then we're going to find the
middle and pop that around, hold that there and then just try and put that around,
see what you think. Is it too much tension? What you're aiming
for is to create an equal amount of tension
on this bit and on this bit. I'm going to say we just need a little less tension
on that front part. I'm going to move that
along a little bit. Then when you find
the sweet spot, just pin it in place. If you are doing
the Wonder wings, it will be much easier. I'm just going to
try and pull that so it sits where it
wants to go there. Always try and get the middle, then that's right, everything
else will be right. Now, this part here where
the curve concaves in a bit. This part and that part is
the most trickiest part to sew on the kickers with
the photo elastic. I would advise to
put a lot of pins there so that you
have that in place. I should just stretch the
elastic and push it over. If it's not too far, then you
can do it with two hands, but if it is too far, you often need something
else to help you. Eye for another person for
another pair of hands, you have to have
what I often do, a little trick is put the edge, one of the edges under
the foot of the machine. That's holding one end for you. That's a little trick if you need a helping hand
that you don't have. I'm just going to go through
and sort all this out, put some more pins in and get
it right. That side done. As you can see, I have
used a lot of pins, you will need them for getting
around these tight curves. We're just going to do the same on the other side as well.
9. Sewing the leghole elastic Skill Share: Okay, so I have
put on both sides. Pinned on both sides
of the elastic. So we're going to
use a zigzag stitch. So I've put my
zigzag stitch on a 3.5 width and a two length. I actually might just
do a 2.5 length. So if you put the end under the pressifo then because you've got your 1 centimeter
tail of the elastic, you don't have to start
right on the edge. You want to sew the zigzag stitch as further
in as possible on this side. Then whilst you're sewing, if you haven't got
this bit pinnle properly in the middle, then you just need to pull out the tension a bit when you sew, it's an equal tension, and then flap it
down and hold it. Then when you get
to your finger, you can release that
and then hold it where the gusset starts. Then when you get to the
gusto sem, it is quite bulky. We need to try and
lift the back of the presser foot up a bit
so that it sews properly. Now, you can use something
called a Humper jumper. I don't have one because I do a little trick
with my tape measure. With your needle down,
bring your foot up. And then what I do is just
fold my tape measure up a few to the height that I think I need to put
under like that, and then I simply
put it underneath. Like that. And now the foot
is sitting completely level. So continue to take
pins out as you go. And then you might want
to say this a bit more slowly because this is
the more trickier part. And then we go and then the
tape measure just falls off when it's been pushed off. Make sure the fabric
inside is sitting completely to the edge
of where the fold is. Then when you get
to this corner bit, what you can do is try and
almost straighten where you sew out by pulling
the wing this way, you're straightening
the edge a bit. Then it's more likely
that the fabric will sit where it's supposed
to like that. Then when you get to
the end of the wing, you can pull your needle, presser foot up,
keep your needle in. This bit is a little
bit tricky, actually. I'm going to put my
hump and jumper, my tape measure underneath,
again, like that. Again, we're
straightening trying to get everything through
straight as possible. And that is the
hardest part done. Once you've done that, it's
plain sailing from here. Again, you can just
hold the end to create the tension on the
elastic, flip it over. Then you can hold on to the
last little bit of elastic. Try not to stretch the end because that'll
just be the seam. There we go. Then take it off. And then see how you've done. When you turn it over,
you should see that the zigzag is just at the edge of the fold
over elastic. Like that. That's the edge bit there. That has all done very
nicely, actually. Repeat that on the other side, and then we'll get
back to the table.
10. Sewing the Side seam Skill Share: So now the gusset is done. Now we need to finish off the side scenes and then
do the waste elastic. We're going to do
one side seam first, and then after that, we're going to put
the waste elastic on and then do the other side seam. If you put right to right
on one of the side scams, it doesn't matter
which one really. I'm going to put it that way. Then pin those together. When we pin this together, remember that the edges will look as though they don't match up because it's actually six mill in that
we're sewing it. That's where they need to
match up. You can see they do. Pin that in. Then we're going to go to the
sewing machine. So we're going to sew
the side seam up. Now as this is stretch fabric, if you had a long seam, I would just use a very small zigzag stitch if you don't have an overlooker. But because this is
such a small seam, we don't really need it
to stretch in the length. So I'm going to use a straight stitch and then we're going to do a
ziagstitch after. Place your needles, six milk in from the edge,
take a pin out. So I'm using a normal
straight stitch here. Go back and forward a mit. Then pull the other pin out. Then we're going to go
over with a zigzag stitch. You want the inner
stitch for the zigzag to just touch the
original stitch of the straight stitch and not go any further than it ideally. I'm using a medium to
large at stitch for this. And that's what it will look
like. See that bet there. Then you just need to
snip off the ends. Like that.
11. Prep and sew the waist elastic Skill Share: So we need to cut the
waist edge elastic now. Again, you'll find that on
the elastics guide -67.2, and we only need one of these. There go. Now we need to put
on the waistband elastic. We're going to do
this in a similar way that we've done the
leg hole elastic. We'll have our 1 centimeter
tail at the end and pin that on and then
follow that all the way around so as to not get it twisted and then do the same on the other
and the side seam. Now we need to find the center. The front and the back
aren't actually equals the side seam won't
actually be the center. What I tend to do is
pull it out again. I've got it at the end,
and then I pull it out and make sure the tens is same on the
front and the back. Then I pin this in place. Now, it depends on
your experience of how much elastic
you have put on. You could potentially just leave it like that and put it on the sewing machine or you
could put a few more pins in. I'm just going to pull that out. I'll do my walking thing and
then find the center there, turn that over and then pin it. I'm just going to check that looks similar
tension on both sides. How I check is I just look at the gap that you've got here
and how much I pull it by. You could also
measure it as well to get a more accurate result. But I just prefer to
do things by eye, most of the time actually. I'm just going to shift
it a little bit though. The more you get to
do things by eye, the more it becomes muscle
memory second nature, as opposed to relying on
measurements and everything. There we go. I'm going
to leave it like that. And then I'm going to do
the same on the back. Now, I'm not going to put
any more pins in actually. The only thing it might
be a little bit tricky with is that the
fabric is rolling. You might want to
put more pins in if your fabric is rolling like that because that can be a
little bit tricky too. You're trying to sort it out washer swing at the same time, it's just a bit annoying. More pins in does
help with that. Keeps it in place a bit better. Okay, great. That is all in place and now we need to
go to the sew machine. We are going to use a medium
sized exact stitch again, 3.5 width and a 2.5 length. I've just put my tail, my lastic tail under
the presser foot. Then once again, I'm going
to sew the exact same way we done the legal.
Take the pin out. Then if you do have fabric that is curling under
a bit like mine, take it extra slow because you will have to
sort it out as you sew. You can see why I haven't
lots of pins is very useful. Again, we're just
making sure that the stitch is as far
as we can get it on this left hand side here with outtake
going over the edge. Then when you come
to your side seam, I should have said when we
were preparing actually, but make sure that your side
seam bulk is facing towards the back because we
are going to push everything to the back
by finishing it off. I'm just going to check this yet mine's not facing
to the back, so there we go. We'll just change
that. There we go. Then you can just
continue on like this. After your waist elastic is on, we're going to go straight onto the side seam and we're
going to sew that up. If you go right to right,
how we did it before, and then pop a few pins in like that. Then we're going to do
exactly the same as we've done on the
other side seam. I won't show you that because it's the exact same process. There's just one more sewing
application to do after.
12. Neatening the Seams Skill Share: So the very last
sewing application to do to the period pants is to just push these side seams towards the right way and
then stitch them down. So like I say, push your seams towards
the back like that. Then we're just going
to do a very small zig zag just on top of them just to keep it in place. I've got mine on a three
width and a 1.4 length. I've just stitched that down. It's a little bit hard
to see it on the video, what it is, I'll take it
to the table and show you. But basically, we're
just stitching on the bulk, on the very end. That just stays down. Then if you do that to all
of the other ones as well, there should be
three altogether. There we go. That one's
worked quite well. That's how it should look. With that last bit
of construction, I've just sewn down
that flappy bit there, which makes it obviously more comfortable as well to you wear. That is all the sewing
done on the pants. If you're not using
the wing style, then you just have to cut
the threads, that's it. They are done. But if you
are using the wing style, then we need to put
the fasteners on.
13. Attaching Fasteners wings only Skill Share: So on to putting
the fasteners on. Get your pack of fasteners, you'll need one male side, one female side, and then
the two ring covers as well. You can either use the device
that comes in the packet here or you can purchase
some of these pliers, which I find just a
little bit easier. So in the pack, there should be some of
these white plastic, I don't know what they
called tools that you clip into the pliers there
for this particular set. Excuse the back of my packet
here. It's been well used. But on the back of your packet, the is instructions to
show you how to use it, which way needs to be up and which way it needs to
be down, et cetera. If you refer to that,
I'm going to put my male side in the
plier like that, and then the other ring side. Yeah, that's right.
The male side, we need to do it so that the
male side is on the inside, and then the female side it's
on the outside of the wing. So the male side on the inside that needs
to go like that. Then we just want to do
it at this very end. When we put it on, we want it right in
the middle there. I think that looks about right. Just check before
you punch it down. Now I'm just going to squeeze it together as hard as I can. Sometimes it actually
hurts my hand a bit. I get my partner
to finish it off. There we go. That's perfect. That's on that side. And then we want to
do the other side. The other side, the female goes on the outside of the wing. You can refer to the box
with the instructions on. But basically, the female
part is quite similar. It's the slightly serrated part, that side there that needs to go down. That's on the outside. Then the other end
is on the inside. Then again, the ring clips in. Those ones don't
stay in very well, I'm going to do it that way and then with the teeth coming out. Hopefully, I got that right.
And just turn that around. The female side on the outside. I'm going to go for it. Yeah, that's fine. Hopefully, that will then
clip together like that. I'm going to secure
that a bit more. I'll get my partner to
squeeze it down as well. He's got stronger hands than me. That's how it should
look when you've done. When you're wearing them, you just need to put these
two fasteners together. We go together, we go like that.
14. Washing and Wearing Skill Share : In this video, I'm
going to go through the washing and wearing
of your period pants. You should now have your finished period pants and they should look
something like this. Period pants don't need
much different treatment to washing normal pants and
they are very easy to wash. Firstly, when it comes to
wearing the period pants, make sure you are using the right variation for your flow type because
if you're not, then you may have to change them more often
than you thought. So period of pants are
designed to last 8-12 hours. So if you are going
somewhere that requires you to wear them
longer than 12 hours, then maybe take a pad or
extra pair of pants with you, and that is for hygiene
reasons, really. I wouldn't advise wearing them
any longer than 12 hours. So that's pretty much it
there wearing, to be honest. They are just like normal pants, just a little bit different. Onto the washings. So
with period pants, you can handwash them and put them in the
washing machine. So because I live on a narrow
boat which is off grid, I actually do handwash
my period pants, and then when I
do go to laundry, I'll put them in the
washing machine as well. Firstly, I'll go
through the method for hand washing and then I'll go through the method for putting them in the
washing machine. So after you have finished
wearing the pyriic pants, the first thing to
do is to rinse them. You don't have to
do it straightaway, but as soon as possible within 24 hours because then that will reduce the
stains and smells. The important thing is
when you rinse them, don't rinse them in hot
or warm water first, rinse them in cold water because the hot or warm water will actually set the bloodstain
into the fabric, whereas the cold water
won't now at this stage, after you've rinse them and you're using a washing machine, you can just put them
in the washing machine. You might not need to rinse them if you've got a light flow, if you've got a heavy flow, then I would advise
rinsing them fast. If you're hand washing them, then what I would
do is soak them. After you've rinse
them with cold water, soak them in warm water
and let them soak. I do about at least 30 minutes because with the
absorbent layer, it is really absorbent. Sometimes you think you've
got all the blood out. But actually, you haven't
because it's so absorbent, that doesn't need a lot
of soaking to get out. You don't need to soak them if you're put them in
the washing machine. That's just for
the hand washing. After you've soaked them, then you need to
rinse them again. I would use a hand
washing detergent or sometimes I just use soap, make sure you really
scrub it well on the gutter area and then
rinse it until it's clear. Then after it's clear,
you can hang them up and then they'll dry. Don't tumble dry them because that will
ruin the elastics. We've put them in
the washing machine. As I said, rinse them first
if you feel like you need to. If you're using the
washing machine, don't put them in
any higher than a 30 degrees C
because otherwise, the elastics will start
to deteriorate over time. Also another thing is,
don't use conditioner. The conditioner actually stops the absorbent layer
working as well. I think it puts a
coating on the fabric. You're reducing the effectiveness
if you use conditioner. Don't use conditioner
with wash period pants. Then again, when they're
washed, hang them to dry. Don't put them in
the tumble dryer. I don't really feel like any handmade laundry should go in the tumble dryer because
it really does reduce the durability of them with the cra that is in the
elastics and the fabrics. The only other thing is
when you are drying them, if you've got the winged
version like this, then just make sure
to open it up so it dries because they can
take a little time to dry. Then the quick drying
things because they do have the
absorbent layering. Make sure that's
opened so it all dries really well as
quickly as possible. If you put them in a warm area, they should dry within 24 hours and then they'll be
ready to wear again.
Yelena Buck, Lingerie Making Expert
