I’ve been meaning to make underwear for quite a while and when I finally got around to it, I ended up making boxers for Simon instead of lingerie for me. It’s as good a starting point as any, I guess. I’m slowly moving towards menswear and starting to replace Simon’s wardrobe with handmade garments – apart from lingerie, my wardrobe is entirely me-made.
Fitiyoo are lingerie designers – which is how I discovered them in the first place as I’ve been searching for bra patterns to start my own bra making journey – but among all the bras and panties I discovered the Mai Tai boxers and thought it would be a good palette cleansing project between dresses.
The Mai Tai boxer shorts from Fitiyoo is a gem of a pattern find. These boxers sew up so effortlessly in jersey or microfibre fabrics. I used jersey but I’ll definitely try out microfibre fabric once I get my hands on some. They take less than half a metre, too, so are really useful for sewing up remnants from jersey projects.
The front and gusset pieces are lined and sewn with enclosed sheath seams, making them incredibly comfortable. Apart from sewing the dart, hemming and inserting the elastic waistband, they are quickly sewn up on the overlocker. It’s one of those patterns that lends itself to batch sewing. I only made two (I wanted to make sure the fit was ok but the chart was spot on) but I dare say it would be just as enjoyable to sew up 10 of them.
The pattern is made up of 4 pattern pieces (8 pieces and the waistband) and is infinitely customisable; you can make them in prints or plains, colour block, use a contrasting waistband. You could also insert elastic in the vertical seams or even finish the thighs with jersey bias instead of a triple stitch or twin needle.
I was genuinely amazed at how simple a sew this was – the patterns are written in French but do come with an English translation (and accompanying illustrations) so they are suitable for all levels of sewists. Simon seemed pretty impressed at the fit and comfort, too. I don’t think he’ll be wanting any more shop bought boxer shorts. They even look smarter although he’d never model them for the blog!
I’ll definitely be making more of these… but for now, I’ll be going through the rest of the pattern collection to find some patterns for me! Do checkout Fitiyoo if you want to try your hand at lingerie; the designs are beautiful.