Sizing on Undies Patterns

 I have been trying to sew undies on and off. Since the Mentorship started with us trying to fit our bottoms, it’s been a niggling thing. As the brassieres get closer to fitting, I consider making a matching bottom, but they generally have issues. Every pair has had fit issues that generally go right up my crack. Baby got back, but apparently designers don’t. 

Over the weekend, I decided to try something new. I sewed up a Tuesday Boyshort. Instead of measuring “my size” and making that, I measured and then printed out the next size up, and the size after that. I compared these to the Bravo Bottoms 2 Boyshort that I’m supposed to fit in. The larger of the sizes in Tuesday were just a smidgeon smaller than the BB2 shorts. Two sizes larger than what my hips measure into. 

I wasn’t sure how they would fit, so I didn’t even change the thread on the machine. But, I now have a pair of boyshorts that pretty much fit right off the pattern. And, green ones in time for St Patrick’s Day. 🍀

Sock Madness 2025 Round 1

 These warm socks don’t fit me. I couldn’t find my 1.5 DPNs, so just used the 1s. They are helical knitting with cables - cabling tightens the fabric- and intarsia heels. So fun to knit!

Day & Night Socks by Alena Malevitch 

Team Umbrella Octopus

 

Last night (my time zone), the teams were announced and I searched for a pattern for my mascot. I found 3 free patterns, and chose this one because I like the way the umbrella is formed with the little nubs for the octopus arms.

Pattern: Umbrella Octopus

Qualifier for Sock Madness 2025

 After Valentine’s Day passes, the signs ups close and the qualifier is released.

This year, we started with a toe-up sock. Knitting a toe-up starts with casting on the toe and knitting up the foot, increasing for the gusset, turning the heel, knitting the heel flap, then working up the leg!

Sounds good so far?

This qualifier was just getting started! 

After the first cuff, we kept going into a cuff-down sock!

Both my sock blockers are inside the sock snake. The second half gets a new cuff, leg, heel flap, heel turn, foot, and finally a toe!

I had to remove the blockers to close the toe. Once the pair is knit together as a closed tube, we end up with this push me pull you. How do we get a pair of socks?

In the pattern, we were to mark a particular stitch for snipping later. At the time, I ran a lifeline in the last round of the first sock cuff. Now that I snipped the stitch, I concentrated on catching the stitches from the second sock. 

Once sock 2 was safely on the needles, I quickly transferred the stitches from the lifeline. This pair of socks is nearly done! They just need a stretch cast off…

Conjoined Twin Socks pattern by Katherine Richmond 

Signing Up for Sock Madness 2025

 February first is the opening day for sign ups for Sock Madness each year. During the first couple weeks of February, sock knitters flock to the Ravelry board to sign up and discuss the potential for the year. The group releases a Warm Up pattern and the knitting may begin! 

Gansey Adventure Socks pattern by Zaliwa. I did not try to match the stripes!

Wires Don’t Have to Match

 This morning, I added an inch to the lower center front of the AFI Elegance pattern. Which seems like a touch too much, but it is better than it was. The cups have rotated into a better position. 

The front looks better, though the tips of the wires swung far enough down, they may need another eighth inch between at the top of the gore. The right wire, though, started to bother me as it was then digging into my ribs. What is it? 

I added a quarter inch to the upper center front, and that did not fix it.

I tried a larger underwire, and that did not fix it.

I tried a smaller wire, and it feels better. The width of the wire is now closer to my breast root and on the front edge of my body, not back in my ribs on my side.

A Positive Direction

 This morning, I sewed up the next Elegance bra. Just for me. I’m kinda done with the group for today, and I don’t have much more time to sew before the course ends.

On their webpage for the AFI Elegance, the company suggests the use of “Regular or Vertical with lowered front” underwires. Well! I was using vertical without lowered front, both sides are tall! So, I grabbed some Orange underwires (same size as Regular from BMS), and popped them into the 90C  practice bra. That did not work well at all! I switched back to the original fitting bra I’d made in size 90B and the wires fit it great, and the cups fit well on me!

At this point, I had wires, a better cup size, and next I altered the band pattern. I always seem to need to swing up the bra band. So, I did the basic band alteration on this pattern, then cut out the bra, and sewed it up. 

Did it fit? No. But, I can see what I need to change. 

So, the underwires need to sit against the outside of the breast in a certain position. They are meant to be close to the line of the breast root and support that edge of the cup. I did not understand this on my first few bras, so I want to express the thought now. 

This regular underwire sits leaning way back in this bra. No support, drag marks everywhere in the fabric. But, if I pull the bra, really rotate it into place, then the band finally smoothed out and the cup wrinkles disappear. If I had a pair of these “Vertical Underwire With Lowered Front,” whatever these mythical unicorns are, I doubt I would have to crank the bra around as far  to fit it. But, I have the Orange wires, which will work fine once the pattern is tweaked. 

So, I pulled off half the lower band elastic and chopped the center gore in half. Next, I’ll patch some fabric into the gap - I’m spreading the gore somewhere between 1/2 to one full inch. Then, I’ll reapply that elastic and try out this fitting bra. It shouldn’t be too many more alterations before something actually fits well.

Note from future me: there is a link on the sizing page of AFI Atelier’s site to a printable about the wires. It look like they do not mean BMS Regular, they mean “Daywires,” which are closer to the BMS Long wires! Try again!