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Any ideas for natural fabric underpants?

 
pioneer
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Are you searching for validation on your commando quest?  Just do it girl!
 
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One suggestion...Do not make them any smaller!!!
 
gardener
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French knickers are usually made with woven fabric like silk charmeuse. They are comfortable to wear under skirts or loose pants.
 
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I have made all my underwears for maybe 6 or seven years now. My favourites, hands down are the New Zealand merino wool boxers for winter, the organic cotton boxers for summer and the 1950's woven rayon, cut on the cross, lace trimmed panties for wearing on those occasions when my underwear might be seen (ie changing room after swimming etc).
It took a while to get things exactly right, to find the perfect, hardwearing fabrics, and to perfect everything. Funny enough, the pattern I eventually settled on is a simple boxer short, making it quicker and easier than all the other patterns.
Though there is something about the 1950's lace trimmed panties that I also adore. I do not at all regret the time I invested in making and hand finishing them, and they give me confidence in those situations where your underwears may be seen by the unsuspecting permies.
All in all, I have loved the process, and outcomes, even if the first few were a bit rough. I love having undergarments that I have made, and never want to wear shopboughts again.
Hugshugs from New Zealand where I foraged on the beach today and came home with two bags of kelp for the winter garden.
 
steward
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Sorry it's taken me a while to post some pictures. I've been hand-sewing undies using damaged 100% cotton t-shirts as the donor fabric. I used a worn-out pair to make the pattern. I'm pretty much exclusively wearing the 3 I've finished and as time allows, am working on the 4th pair that's shown part-way done.


 
steward
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I ran across this video, and it reminded me of this thread:



My take-away messages:

  - Knit linen (unsurprisinly) has no elasticity to it. It just stretches out and stays stretched out.

  - The sewist found she could make underwear without elastic...but then realized that her cotton fabric had spandex, and therefore had elastic spun into it.

  - Sewing knit fabrics is hard to do, and it's even harder to get professional-looking appearance without a rather expensive machine.

I wonder is 100% cotton knit fabric would have enough stretch in it to work. I also wonder if there's specific knits that have even more elasticity due to the stitches.

Historically, wool was used for socks because it had natural elasticity, so I wonder if a knit wool could be used for the waistband....but I also wonder how that would hold up in the wash. There are washable wool interlock fabrics. I once bought this washable merino wool interlock fabric, and it does wash without felting or shrinking (when washed in cold water), and it does maintain it's stretchiness. It's not itchy (I used it to make menstural pads and it is quite comfortable). I wonder if it would make good underwear, or at least good "elastic bands" for the underwear. Hmmmm, it could probably also make some nice "period panties" too.

I personally know I don't have time to experiment with underwear making, but it's always fun to learn more new things!
 
May Lotito
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I am wondering if the boy shorts or bike shorts style will be easier since you don't have a long diagonal seam across a curvy surface.
I made a quick test version with some scraps, one with a bit of stretch comparable to 100% cotton interlock and another one of cotton jersey knit with only mechanical stretch.
Cut out and inside view are shown here. I have a few more in my secret minion thread too.
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master gardener
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I wear several pairs of men's undies from this place, and when I saw this thread, I checked for women's as well: https://www.eczemacompany.com/womens-latex-free-panties-100-organic-cotton-low-rise-brief-2-pack/
 
May Lotito
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If someone doesn't want to use elastic for waistband, you may try making a v-shaped wide WB with fabric of moderate stretchiness.

The v shape makes the WB several inches longer so it doesn't need to stretch that much. Also the crossover will allow contour wb to hug the side waist rather than sitting straight up.

I made this pair out of no-stretch cotton jersey with a 2" cotton interlock knit WB. Cotton rib knit will be a good choice too.
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pioneer
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I purchased a "random" item from Primitive Tribal Craft on Etsy and was sent a pair of natural, white underpants. I often roam the house in my underpants and they're still pasta sauce-stain free somehow. It's only inevitable that I spill marinara on them at some point.

I'd definitely like to make some. Singer I think has a treadle based sewing machine still but the treadle base is the hard part to find. I absolutely love treadles, same idea for woodworking, the original woodturning machine. If I had more space I'd do all of this stuff. Love it.
 
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I have found organic clothing, including underwear and lingerie, at https://wearpact.com/.   Karol
 
Karol Klim
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Also, a great vendor for organic clothing and beddingis www.rawganique.com.
 
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I have been wearing Jockeys for Her for years. There is a small amount of elastic - covered by fabric - and the rest of the entire thing is cotton. Not organic, but cotton and rubber are both bio. The Jockeys are more pricey than the crap cheapo underwear some women by at about $21 for a three pack. They are durable and comfortable, totally worth the money.
I also agree with going commando and doing your kegels!
I just have not found organic undies that inexpensively - and a lot of the organic ones I have tried have not been comfortable. Jockeys bikinis are the best.
 
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Fully Commando unless I need to wear a pair of pants or shorts more than once or twice...then I've scoured the local thrift stores for 100% silk fabric items to remake into 'tap pants' type of undies...close fit enough for jeans and long enough to avoid thigh rub. Look for French panties patterns (I found a historical pattern at the library) A thin hand made cord or a hemp/ cotton cord from the fabric  store for a drawstring works perfectly fine if you can't find real rubber or latex elastic and wear higher seated waistbands. If you can't sew, or just have too much else to do, look for local taylors or places that offer alterations...they can probably provide all sorts of help...especially if you can bring a drawing or pattern. The Japanese undies are fabulous under loose fitting garments but sort of feel like diapers under close fitting pants even made of light silk. Good luck in your search!
 
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Have you ever heard of eatable panties. Then you can use the bioproduct in your garden.
 
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I’m a little late to this convo, but a few years ago I made my wife a couple pairs of panties.
I raided her panty draw and fished out the ones that she liked best and used those (whole) as a template. I laid them out flat, with the cloth (folded in half) on the inside and traced both front and back. I decided to keep the crotch area connected between the front and back panels. ... the cut piece of cloth looked somewhat like an hour glass.
And then I hand stitched. I used a tight blanket stitch to tie the waist portions together. And then blanket stitched a small piece of cloth in the genital region. Depending on the material, you don’t necessarily need to stitch all edges. And I didn’t use elastic, the fabric had enough stretch to keep them up. I think it took me about 2 hours per pair.
I made a brief and a boy short. The boy short took a little more time because she needed to try them on and adjust my cut by using a marker while they were on the model. They look great! Simple and fun to do with your intimate partner.
Good luck hope this gives some ideas of ‘how to’.
Edit... I guess I didn’t make boy shorts, I would describe them as bum huggers, bikini front and back fully covers bum to just above the bottom of cheeks, but semi high waist.
 
Patrick Rahilly
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H Uilis wrote:If you can't sew, or just have too much else to do, look for local taylors or places that offer alterations...they can probably provide all sorts of help...especially if you can bring a drawing or pattern.!



I like this idea to have a professional finish the edges coupled with my description of how to make the cut pattern described in my note above. If you can bring a cut piece of material a good tailor or seamstress can whip them together in an instance! Cheers!
 
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I've been thinking about this thread, and I wondered if anyone has tried knitting underpants. To me, a ribbed waistband seems like the best way to keep them up without elastic. I haven't tried it yet, though. This is one of many pants patterns on Ravelry: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lacy-boy-short
 
Rusticator
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Summer Newcomb wrote:I've been thinking about this thread, and I wondered if anyone has tried knitting underpants. To me, a ribbed waistband seems like the best way to keep them up without elastic. I haven't tried it yet, though. This is one of many pants patterns on Ravelry: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lacy-boy-short



Those are SUPER CUTE!! Now, I may look into a crocheted version!
 
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I can recommend 'Decent Exposures':
https://decentexposures.com/
Undies are made to order from natural fiber, and they have organic cotton options, too. They'll even alter your undies for you, if they didn't fit perfectly when you tried them on.
No, I'm not getting kickback from this business. But they produce good quality, and I really like their business model.
 
pollinator
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Natural fibre undergarments are hard to find, particularly if you also want cotton thread (most natural fibre garments still use polyester threads). I make my own -- the pattern is modified off of Edwardian cycling bloomers, but cutting it shorter and removing the lacy bits. They work great under shorts, pants, skirts, etc.
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pollinator
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Sheila Mleziva wrote:I am currently wearing out my panties which are made of some fake man-made fabric like polyester that is washing into our waterways and polluting the environment and killing the marine life.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/sep/27/washing-clothes-releases-water-polluting-fibres-study-finds

I refuse to buy any more until I can find something that is 100% natural and compostable (is that a word?). The need is somewhat urgent as the current pairs of panties I have are getting threadbare but I will wear them until they are g-strings, if necessary.

Going commando is not an option. Or is it?

Any ideas? Options?

Thanks.

Sheila

I made myself some boxer-style briefs. I used elastic but one could easily use buttons. They work great and feel so much better than elastic running across my tender parts.



 
pollinator
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It is possible to get organic cotton and rubber elastic. I'm tempted to get some to try to make underwear from old t-shirt material. I'll let you know how I get on.

https://jamestailoring.co.uk/product/organic-elastic-18mm/
 
pollinator
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Zoe Ward wrote:It is possible to get organic cotton and rubber elastic. I'm tempted to get some to try to make underwear from old t-shirt material. I'll let you know how I get on.

https://jamestailoring.co.uk/product/organic-elastic-18mm/


They say it's made in Austria ... They don't tell where exactly, who's the producer. But okay, I can order it from the UK, not too far from the Netherlands.
 
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Jay Angler wrote: I was given one of those "biodegradable forks" and I tried 3 different ways and it would not biodegrade for me. Apparently, they're only biodegradable in the large scale, "professional" compost operations.



Cellulose products can be very stable, until they're not. Last and last and last then one day they sort of turn to dust. Much like some types of wood (which is largely cellulose) -- cedar is extremely stable out in the weather for years and years and years, until the day it suddenly comes apart in a zillion little flakes.
 
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