I made some gorgeous Period Panties for a surgery recovery over the winter holidays (hello endometriosis!), and they were so perfect - I have been absolutely living in them since!!
It was a rather complicated set of laparoscopic procedures, and I was searching and searching groups and reddit to see if there were any suggestions for making the recovery easier in any way, and I was just not finding much to ease my anxiety. A few days before the surgery, I realized!! I have everything I need to make my own period panties with an extra wide, super soft waistband! Perfect!
I made all of my original Perfect Period Panties samples with the higher waist pattern with elastic waistband, or the lower waist with the fabric waistband. But I've been so keen to make some pairs with higher waist version paired with the wide fabric waistband ever since my friend Lolie made some - they looked so fantastically comfy! After my surgery, absorbent undies with a super soft waistband were just the ticket, so it was the perfect opportunity.
Here are the new and improved Period Panty Sewing Kit dimensions! After the release of the Perfect Period Panties, I wanted to make sure that the kits would accommodate all sizes from XXS - 6X easily, so I increased the length by 25%! More material, more making!
I laid out all three of the Perfect Period Panty gusset lengths here for you to see - of course you can mix and match the front and back sizes, but here they are from smallest possible to largest possible! These are in size Small, but you can see how much room there is! I went with the medium front medium back, because I like quite a bit of coverage, but I'm not super active and don't tend to get very adventurous bleeding, like the longest sizes are good for.
I've noticed that with all the layers in the Period undie gusset, the direction of stretch doesn't much matter when cutting pieces, especially since the waterproof jersey is bonded to a polyurethane film, which stabilizes it quite a bit. So with some pattern tetris, I was able to cut six gussets from the kit!
I've been using our sewing kits for my period undies ever since I developed them in 2018? 2019? I don't remember! But this is my first time sewing with the new Pebble Pink kit, and gosh it's so beautiful! It perfectly matches our Pink Sand Fold over elastic, and I am so pleased with how they turned out together (me, writing this from the future).
Attaching the absorbent layer to the wicking layer! Occasionally I get comments regarding the extreme curve and how it's not a typical shape for gusset seams, especially because it makes a more complicated sew. But it's all for a reason!! Firstly, because it lets you conserve width on the front and back of your gusset, which allows you to get more gussets out of your special period materials. And secondly, the gusset is thick and not stretchy - you don't want that cutting across your leg! Especially when you're walking or sitting, it would really rub and hamper your movement, not to mention the friction and pulling that would impact the life of the garment!
Sewing up the side seams! How pretty they all look together!
I tried out a new sewing technique to do the gusset seams without any pins in the waterproof layer, and they turned out a bit wonkier than I prefer. I found out that it works better to line up and pin the center and end points, then everything lays more smoothly at the end.
I ended up throwing a pair of black + blue period undies into the assembly line because I wanted to redo the product photo for the Black period kit with the Perfect Period Panties sewing pattern. I haven't finished them yet, but it's on the list!! My plan is to finish them with a sea foam mesh waistband - I hope I like it!!
There was one back piece that I didn't have quite enough fabric for, so I added some last minute mesh side panels. I put a complete tutorial for adding in design lines and color blocking without doing any pattern adjustments or drafting up on Patreon!!
Post surgery! They ended up being absolutely perfect - so soft and didn't put any pressure across my tummy, even when it was bandaged and full of air. I ended up being so glad I'd made them, especially on the day when they were all in the wash and I thought I'd be fine with a pair of my go-to Medians - no no no!!
When the surgery team was helping me get dressed afterwards, they asked me if I wanted a disposable hospital panty and a pad, and I said I didn't need them- I'd brought period panties! They pulled them out of my hospital bag, and I was like, "Aren't they pretty? I made them last night!!" Sure, Jan. You made period underwear. They absolutely did not believe me. 😂😂
Whenever I need another laparoscopy, the only thing I'm doing differently for an easy recovery is making even more of these!!
I hope you try some out, let me know what you think!!
Xx, Sophie