French Knickers Sew Along... Let's Get Started!

Now that you've gotten your pattern, and hopefully found your fabric of choice, we can get started with the fun part!

The knickers are really easy to sew and the main parts of construction are going to take no time at all. The cutting is simple, just lay the pattern pieces on a folded length of your material, right sides to the inside. The pattern pieces are meant to be cut with the grain, as indicated by your grain marker on the pattern.

Once you have your pattern pieces cut out, if you've cut them with the right sides of your fabric together, all you have to do is remove your pattern piece, and then pin the two front pieces together and the two back pieces together and stitch.

Here is a road map to the seams you'll be sewing!

You're stitching the center front seam, and the center back back seam first (1). Then finish your raw edges together and press to one side. You now have a complete front and a complete back.

Center front and center back seams.

~TIP~When working with slippery fabrics, I find the pieces shift a lot less if they are pinned together with the pins positioned parallel to the raw edge, as opposed to the pins sitting perpendicular to the raw edge.


Next you're going to join these two pieces at the crotch. Ugh, I know I'm talking about underwear here but I still hate that word. From now on, let's just refer to it as the "under bit", shall we?

The "Under Bit" seam.

Lay the Knickers Front right sides together with the Knickers Back. Carefully match them together at the "under bit," making sure that your center front and center back seam lines meet, then stitch. (2) Finish the edges together and press to the front.

The French Knickers drape even better if you press one center seam to the right, and one to the left, as shown above.

~TIP~ to keep the under bit pieces together, pin the hell out of them, including pinning the center front and center back seam allowances flat so that they don't accidentally shift or fold on you while you're stitching.


Next lay the Knicker Sides right sides together and stitch both side seams. (3) Neaten the edges together and press forward.

Pin your side seam. The fabric will shift less if pinned perpendicularly to the raw edges.

The French Knickers, all major seams sewn, from the inside.

The French Knickers, all major seams sewn, from the outside.

Now you've got the major construction details out of the way! In our next post we'll go over adding elastic to the waist.

Any questions?