And boy shorts for her

 The white pairs were made first, mainly as prototypes for a swim short pattern I am developing. They are made from a two-piece pattern with centre seams front and back. For the blue pair, I added a panel in the crotch (am I right in thinking it's not really a gusset?) to avoid a centre seam running through the crotch.

The blue pair were eked out of scraps left over from my husband's boxer shorts. I wouldn't normally have chosen such a wide elastic, but I wanted these pants to match the boxer shorts. So much fun to have matching undies!

I attached the elastic with a wide zig-zag with the idea of adjusting it after I wear them a bit to check how tight I prefer it. I may also upgrade to the better elastic if I see it holds up well in my husband's boxer shorts (I expect so) and I restock.

Boxer shorts for him

I do love making my boxer shorts. This set has several changes. I refined my pattern to lengthen the inseams and smooth the inseam hem-line. I also finally had the chance to use proper elastic for mens' underwear, am so excited about that as I was not happy with the previous options. Finally, I used an overlocker for construction for the first time. I was pleasantly surprised that even the awkward area under the fly was not too difficult to sew.

Catch-up post

I didn't sew much in 2015! I did only one real creative project, and it's not shown here because it has returned to "unfinished" status as I decided it needed some changes. For the sake of completeness, here is what I did make! Photos my be poor quality because they were not taken for sharing purposes and/or I dislike the garment...

Silver long pants: 100% nylon knit

Grey shorts: 92% cotton, 8% lycra

The pants and shorts above were made in April 2015. I must have decided I'd prefer the elastic waists to sit lower.

But seemingly got distracted while making the adjustment as the waist on the next pair (May) ended up way too low (particularly at the back). Did some piecing to get it a little higher. I don't actually mind the result. However, the fabric pilled immediately upon wearing. Unfortunately, I have some more of it in another colour as well.

Grey long pants: rayon/poly/lycra ponte

Ponte pants piecing

TNT, though not for me

 It's nice to have a TNT since all my creative projects take oh so long. I still have some fun with these with the coloured top-stitching. I'm down to two evenings for a pair of these (fast for me!).

The elastic is black and matches the shade of the fabric in real life. I used a wider elastic than on previous versions, but I'm still hunting for elastic as nice as that on the RTW boxer shorts these are based on.

Last one for a while

I added twin-needle top-stitching to the side seams and like the effect. I went for more subtle topstitching on the fly than on the previous pair to avoid the topstitching getting too busy.

Happily, these finished off the last of my grey cotton/lycra jersey, so no more grey boxer shorts for a while!

More boxer shorts

Boxer shorts with some topstitching for colour.

I think I might make something other than boxer shorts for my next project...

Long-sleeved T-shirt

I coined a new term in honour of this one--wearable fail. I intended to make a close-fitting top to wear under my jacket, but it ended up plain tight. I learned a valuable lesson in adjusting for the weight of the fabric. I did add more ease than for the pajama, but obviously not enough. I think the tightness is responsible for most of the ugliness of the neckline.

As I had expected the fit to be pretty good, I used white to more easily see flaws. In that respect, I was only too successful! From this and the pajama, I can see I need to adjust the shape of the armscythe at the front.

Another problem, and one I don't know how to solve, is a pulling to one side. I observed this in the pajama, but thought it was due to sloppy cutting or sewing as I didn't take a lot of care for that garment. I did take care to be accurate for this shirt as I wanted to use it for troubleshooting. I'm quite sure I cut it on the grain and symetrically and sewed it up accurately, so I'm not sure what is causing the twisting.

I won't mention the 101 other things that are wrong with this simple T-shirt...

On the plus-side, it is comfortable to wear and I love the super long sleeves!

Boxer shorts

Boxer shorts based on hubby's favourite RTW ones, omitting front opening and placket. I later shortened the elastic. I also plan to use woolly nylon in bobbin rather than regular polyester thread for future versions. Very comfy, by all reports!