Underwear, underwear and more underwear

I tested the newest pattern for Jalie last week, making a pair for a friend of mine. The Marie-Josée pattern is extra special as 100% of the profits will go to a Quebec Charity called Centre Philou. A non-profit organization that provides specialized services to children with multiple diabilities and supports to their families.

The description on the website reads:

Briefs for women. The waist is finished with wide foldover elastic or wide lingerie band elastic. Leg openings are finished with encased elastic.

• A: Regular briefs, front lined with shaper mesh for a tummy-tuck effect

• B: Ostomy underwear with a scooped front lining that creates a pocket that supports the bag and keeps it away from the skin.

• You can use this pattern for bikini bottoms, using swimwear fabric.

The ostomy option pocket can also be used to hold a hand warmer to help with cramping, passport or some money when travelling too!

I hadn't thought of using the ostomy pocket option for traveling! Definitely a useful idea. I made the ostomy version as a  friend of mine  lives with crohns disease and thought she might appreciate having a pair of these underwear as Jalie does make some of the most comfortable pairs.

I had some lovely yoga stretch that discovery trekking fabrics included in my order as a bonus a couple months ago so I used that. I used some cotton Lycra for the crotch lining to add a bit of breath-ability. 

From back where you can see the Ostomy pouch

It is always nerve-wracking making clothing for others and something so intimate is even more so. I had her send me her measurements and went off a combination of her pant size and measurements and hoped for the best. Fortunately they fit and she says they are really comfortable.

My friend has an illeostomy rather than an collosteomy for which the pattern was designed. The basic structural difference is that her bag is larger and has a clip at the bottom so she can empty it as needed. It was a bit of a tight squeeze to fit the larger bag in and she'll likely put a slit in the bottom for the end to come out when required. Overall she's really happy with the design and the fabric. Another winner! Especially as this one supports such a worthy cause!

I've also been sewing up a ton of underwear for my 2 year old. He potty trained a couple months ago and for the most part has been doing quite well. The only problem is that he is quite tiny for his age and is swimming in any 2T underwear that I've been able to find him.

Exhibit A and B. RTW underwear in the smallest size locally available. 

I debated making him some that would fit better but rejected the idea due to the work involved. The 2T underwear are a bit big, but not the end of the world.

Then his day home provider asked if I could come up with a system to help with poop accidents. The main problem was the loose underwear was not containing things that needed to be contained. Time to make some underwear that actually fit. I did not want to start pull--ups at daycare as I feel that can make the kids regress so I turned to the Jalie facebook group and asked if anyone had downsized the Gerald pattern. Someone mentioned that jalie 3242 comes in a 12 month size so I decided to start there, as I had that one on hand too. I was actually quite surprised when I measured his hips and he was close to 3 inches smaller than the smallest size! No wonder even 18 month clothing falls off him. He's got a 6 month old bum. but no diaper to keep things up! Cloth diapers did wonders to make his pants filt.

It was my first attempt sizing down and I kept things simple, I measured the difference between the sizes which was 0.5 cm if I remember correctly and dropped down 2 sizes as each size went up by an inch in hip circumference and he was about 2.5 inches smaller than the smallest size. I figured it was safe to go slightly bigger.

I made the first pair out of some left over t-shirt fabric and the fit was perfect. The were so tiny and cute on him.

Please forgive the photo quality. Two year olds don't understand the need to stand still for photos! Also ignore the contrasting thread as I didn't bother changing the thread colour on my machine for the first pair, I mean I added a design element.

Next up, I started to use up some of my scraps. It is awesome to use up even some of the smallest bits I've kept.  I bought this l'oiseau fabric to make maxaloon pants for him when he was a newborn, so it was nice to use the end bits for some of his first underwear.

The blue used on the pouch was re-purposed from the bottom half of leggings I'd cut off to make shorts for my daughter as they had holes in the knees. Got to love using up all the small scraps!!!

The sized-down versions do fit perfectly, but I want them to fit longer so the last 3 pairs I made, I went with the 12 month size hoping that the legs would still be tight enough in case of accidents. Fortunately the are and so cute if I do say so myself.

More L'Oiseau fabic scraps

And one final pair using up some star wars custom fabric from MK Designs. I think I might actually be at the end of this fabric, or very close to it. 

I may have developped a smal scrap-busting addiction with these.