I am not a fan of underwear. Unfortunately, I am also not a fan of going commando. So, for years I wore uncomfortable undies. Too tight, too loose, too high-waisted. Don’t even talk to me about thongs. Emily happily wears teeny tiny underwear – which jives well with her love of pencil skirts – but not me, no sir. If I did find a pair of decent fitting cotton undies (yes, natural fibres only, please. Synthetic fibre underwear are the DEVIL’S WORK), the elastic would give out long before the undies themselves. SO FRUSTRATING.
And then, I had children. Scrawny little imps with long long legs and no bums whatsoever. Seriously, they could never keep their pants up. I’d hunt through the packages of kids’ undies in the store, carefully read the weight/age/size guidelines, and then laugh and laugh and laugh some more. Gah.
One miraculous day, I found a style of undies I liked. No elastic – they were bound in the same soft jersey as the main body. They were awesome, so I bought more. WHICH DIDN’T FIT. Different fabric = not the same stretch = not the same fit. Double gah.
So Emily, life saviour and Seamstress Extraordinaire, stepped in. “I can make those”, she said, then proceeded to pattern draft an improved version that fit me perfectly. YAY!!! She went on to draft kid-size ones, and I haven’t had a emotional breakdown in the underwear section EVER SINCE.
Kid-size Classic Undies in Black bamboo with colourblocked waistbands
On kids, this style is super cute. On adult women? Not so much. These are not your sexy underwear, ladies. And yes, they’ll show through your pencil skirts. But worn with jeans/trousers/flowy dresses/pj bottoms? They are RIDICULOUSLY comfortable. And they stay in place, just where they belong. These became our Classic Undies.
Aiming for some more visually appealing options, we introduced our Boyshort and Bikini style undies. Compared to our classic style, both of these ride up a bit more. But compared to their department store counterparts? Their fit is awesome.
Boyshort style (left) and Bikini style Undies (right) in Black bamboo
In the last few weeks, we received several requests for merino undies. We’ve resisted in the past, because our pure merino fabric isn’t as stretchy as our other jerseys. Also, it lacks spandex content, so it tends to relax (ie. get bigger) throughout the day. But after a bit of research, it seems like most of the merino underwear available out there is in a similar fabric. The difference with ours would be the jersey binding, the improved design, and the made-to-measure aspect.
So we tried some. Emily has since proclaimed SHE IS NEVER WEARING ANYTHING ELSE. Okay, then! We decided to skip the Classic Undies pattern altogether – there’s no way it will work well in merino. The Boyshorts work just fine, though – they can be done with an everyday jersey waistband OR a taller-than-usual merino waistband for added stay-up-ability. The Bikini also works well, but the leg and waist bindings both need to be in everyday jersey.
Why would you want wool underwear? They breathe. They wick away moisture and odour. They’re warm. And if you’re travelling, they’re very lightweight and dry quickly. That’s the only downside of choosing the everyday jersey binding, by the way – they’ll take a little longer to dry.
(clockwise from top left) Classic Undies in print rayon; Bikini Undies in merino with bamboo bindings; Boyshorts in stripe bamboo; Boyshorts in merino
You can get an extra special deal by choosing the Surprise Pack of 3 in any style – we’ll choose the colour/print and make them up according to your measurements.
xoxo Amanda