Monday, October 5, 2009

under where?

These are some under drawers I made for Enzo.
We've also got some of these. They're fruit of the loom from Wal-mart. I used them as reference when I drafted my pattern. I was planning to just copy them but they required a few improvements. Well, really just one improvement. Or to be more precise, one change that improved the finished product in multiple ways.
The change is that center back seam. A seam straight up the back of the item worn closest to the body is just a bad idea. If you were planning to put a tighty under the boxer then sure, take the easy route and make them with a center back seam. If, however, you plan to use the boxers as actual underwear that center back seam is going to have a tendency to wedge and that's no good. For this reason I added a gusset to the seat. Any self respecting boxer short has a gusseted seat.
If you make this photo bigger, you'll easily see the gusset seam lines. I made these assembly line style and didn't bother myself with matching thread.
A good boxer short needs to have some fullness in the seat to allow for comfort and ease of movement. It also needs a comparatively narrow leg opening. If the leg is too wide it wont tuck easily into a pair of pants and if your underwear doesn't fit inside your pants you're going to have trouble. I can't think of a better way to simultaneously achieve a full seat and narrow leg. Now,I know the leg on these doesn't look narrow, but believe me in comparison with the volume in the seat it's down right skinny.
The third benefit of the gusseted seat was a surprise to me. It is the "poop hammock" effect I mentioned here. And what a pleasant surprise it was! Lucky for me we haven't had anymore incidents where that benefit was illustrated.
Here's the front of that pair
and the inside front as well.

I could have skipped the step of making flys in these, they don't really serve any purpose. He noticed the fly once and thought that pair was ripped. After my first fly experience though, I was happy to do it again. I really dig technical sewing like that. It's rather exhilarating. Don't even get me started on welt pockets. Those things are the stuff my sewing dreams are made of.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Yesterday he thought the fly was a pocket and got his hand stuck in the "pocket"

Lauranie said...

ooohh I really like these! AWESOME job! I can't wait to make some....that will mean I will be DONE with DIAPERS!! :)

melissa said...

Fabulous boxers. You are brilliant! They look very comfy. I'm sure my son would love them!