Sew: 1930’s Inspired French Teddy

I love shoes, bags and sparkly accessories but my biggest shopping love is lingerie. Filmy confections of lace and satin. Princess pretty or ravishingly racy – I love it all. I’ve decided to sew myself some lingerie and started with this teddy/romper/step in one piece. Essentially, it’s a camiole attached French knickers/cami knickers/tap pants. As you see there have been various words to describe this garment and it’s component parts! I find lingerie history fascinating and I love how chi chi some of the older terms are. These vintage teddies are beautiful! I was rather inspired by this one, for sale on Etsy at the time of posting.

I used the patterns in the Kwik Sew book, Beautiful Lingerie by Kerstin Martnsson. You can pick the book up quite cheaply on eBay but be sure to check the book will come with the original master patterns! I’ve found this book to be a great resource although it does not go into bras. It has an 80’s vibe but you really can work around it. There are heaps of  other Kwik Sew panty and lingerie patterns that include a French knicker or tap pants that will work for this type of thing. You can often pick them up cheaply on eBay, Etsy or in op shops.

Once my pattern was sorted, I had the almost painful task of fabric selection! I decided on a mint polyester spandex with four way stretch and some pale yellow stretch lace – both were found on eBay. I even had some minty picot elastic, almost a perfect match to the fabric, that I used to make the straps. I love the vintagey vibe of the colours. I’m far more into contrast than matching, my finishing touch was a dusky pink bow.

I’m so pleased with everything about the finished product. I love to lounge around in things like this. I can imagine that this would make you feel rather glamorous when lazing around a hotel room! Although, the soft ruffles at the back of the leg are super cute and feminine, the back is a little cheeky!

Would you wear something like this? Or sew something like this? Let me know here or on facebook. I am curious about how people view this type of garment xxx