Slips, They Make Me Feel Dainty...

I saw Gertie's tutorial and I knew I had to try it. I already had fabric purchased for making some slips a while ago. However, I had lost my motivation once I found out the pattern I wanted to use was not suitable for this fabric. Update: I forgot to say what the fabric is. This is lining fabric but it has a sueded finish to it as opposed to a slick surface. Nothing expensive, about $5 a yard from Jo-Anns.

I used Stretchrite lingerie elastic (64% poly/36% rubber) from Jo-anns. It came in a dual pack with 30" of 1/2" wide for waistbands and 54" of 5/16" wide for legbands. As it turns out, I preferred the more narrow elastic (legband) for the waist of the slips. I will try to use this technique as much as possible. It's very similar to the look of the Vogue skirt in that, once on, the elastic doesn't add bulk to your waist because it and the fabric stretches just enough to fit. With both designs you need just enough width to get it past your hips.

Wrights 3/4" wide Flexi-Lace hem tape in #167 Colonial Rose*

For the hem, I originally tried to find wider scalloped lace but there was only black and white available in Jo-ann and Hancock Fabrics. I wanted to try more sophisticated combinations like Angry Chicken did with her homemade underwear. What I did find was this cool aged rose color to spice up the ho-hum pale pink color of the fabric. If my first thought hadn't been to buy one color that would work with both fabrics I probably would have used lavender on the blue and orange on the pink. Perhaps, next time?



I ended up making three slips in different lengths, 16", 17" and 22". The two I made in pink for shorter skirts and dresses, I finished with the lace trim in two different ways. The first one I applied the lace 1/4 inch over the edge of the fabric, stitching close to the edge of the lace, and then folded the fabric back up and stitched again. With the second slip I thought I was doing it the same way but I ended up sewing the lace near the bottom edge; therefore, having it peek down from behind the skirt. I prefer this look.

I decided against using the pink lace on the longer dark blue slip and luckily Gertie had also posted an alternative way (the scallop stitch) to finish the hem, which is the way I decided to go with this one. Even though I had read the instructions before; when I got down to doing it I totally forgot about using spray starch to stabilize the fabric. Luckily, it still worked out and my needle didn't get jammed and ruin the stitch on the slinky fabric.

I officially will never buy another half-slip again! These were so simple and quick (less than two hours to make all three) that I highly recommend them even for beginner sewers/sewists.

* The color of the pink slips and lace are more accurate in the pre-sewn picture.