It's barely lunch time, friends, but I have already finished my second Jalie briefs. This time I made the boxer briefs, which were so much simpler than the regular briefs, or maybe I was just more comfortable with the fabric and the process.
Also, there's a Jalie video on YouTube that walks you through the whole project, so you don't have to interpret written directions and drawings.
Like yesterday's briefs, the boxer briefs have a double-layered front pouch, but this one is slightly contoured and has two sides and a center seam. About this pouch: it's on the narrow side. If you or the person you're sewing these for need more roominess in front, you might want to widen the pouch piece along the inside edges.
The rest of the boxer briefs are made from one big piece and cut on the fold (I did't actually fold the fabric, I cut half, turned the pattern paper over and cut the other half, which gave me more control over the shifty, patterned knit fabric.).
Once again I traced size "Z," which corresponds to a 32" waist. Jalie offers 29 sizes to choose from!
I used my Singer walking foot on my Bernina (with the aid of a foot adapter) so the horizontal lines of my pouch piece would line up. It did a great job!
I used my serger on these boxer briefs a bit. I serged the seam attaching the pouch to the main trunks. The serged seam allowances is then topstitched down from the front. I used a narrow zigzag stitch that looks like a straight stitch but has a bit more give.
Next, the leg seam gets stitched and then you're basically done (I serged that seam allowance too.).
There's no elastic or binding in the leg opening, it's simply turned up and stitched. I could have serged the edge first (it's done that way in the video) but my knit is thin and prone to curling at the edges: besides, the edge is caught in the zigzag, and even if it weren't it wouldn't fray.
I did serge the top edge of the briefs before attaching the elastic waistband. You can see how it wants to roll.
To attach the waistband, I first stitched the elastic (as a closed loop) to the top edge of the knit fabric from the inside using a narrow, long zigzag, just to anchor it in place. Then from the outside I zigzagged along the bottom edge of the elastic with a wide, medium length zigzag.
As a result the waistband is relatively clean looking from the inside and, since there are two rows of stitching, very secure.
And here's the result. The fit is excellent.
As you can see, this is the mirror image of yesterday's red stripe/gray briefs.
I'm not sure which I like more. The standard briefs have a bit more going on, what with the contrasting gray leg binding, but the boxer briefs are hipper looking (or are they?). Both are extremely comfortable.
In closing, readers, are you more a fan of a man in boxer briefs, or are you a traditionalist who goes for the skimpier look?
Oh, before I forget: I've decided to name my dress form Roy (as in "Royal" -- the brand). Thanks so much for all your suggestions.
Have a great day, everybody!
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