Readers, there's an old show business adage: Leave them wanting more. In that spirit, I have decided that today we will formally end the MPB Men's Boxers Sew-Along.
Today, I'm going to show you the second pair of boxers I completed, which is, aside from a few minor differences, very much like the first. Once again, I used McCall's 3438, my vintage Seventies underwear pattern. If you can get your hands on this pattern, which does show up on sites like eBay and Etsy with some frequency, I highly recommend it. For my body type, it's ideal.
This time, I decided to make View C (the light blue shorts second from the right) which has a plain hemmed bottom with a side vent.
You can see the difference between the two patterns here. My earlier pattern, with the rounded leg, is on top, and my current pattern on the bottom. They're nearly identical.
I started making these on my Kenmore 158.141 zigzagger before realizing that I could get far superior results on any of my straight stitch machines. This is because turning curves and topstitching are much easier to accomplish on a straight stitch machine, and you never have to worry about your fabric getting sucked down into the needle hole.
I made these exactly the way I made my earlier striped boxers. Here's how I finished the inside of the right fly facing. I decided not to add a separate facing after all.
Here's the fly from the outside.
I flat-felled all my major seams. I noticed that some of you are using a mock flat-felled seam and serging your inside raw seam allowances. Totally fine.
This time I used a very soft woven elastic that I could only find in black at Daytona Trimming on West 39th St. (They didn't have waistband elastic this soft at Pacific Trim, and the prices seemed much higher there.) I paid about $1.25/yd.
Here's the finished vent, which I completed after hemming the legs. I did both by just rolling up the hem 1/8" and then rolling again roughly 1/4" and edgestitching. Nothing fancy. A bar tack at the top of the vent will make the top of the vent point stronger, if you care to add one.
Here are the finished boxers, which couldn't be more comfortable.
I love my new boxers -- in fact, I'm wearing them as I write this! (You can see the other pair of boxers I made here.)
If you haven't posted your finished boxers in our Flickr group yet, please do. I'm very impressed with what I've seen so far. Great job, Sew-Alongers! I'll still be answering boxers-related questions there too.
On an unrelated note, after debating what to do with my old stereo equipment, I decided that I was not ready to ditch it. But since I don't have -- or want -- large speakers anymore, I will compromise, and listen to my records on my stereo headphones. That way I can still enjoy my old records, collected over more than than two decades, without annoying Michael.
How lovely to reconnect with Vic Damone after all these years!
And that, friends, is that.
What's next here at MPB? Tune in and find out!
Have a great day, everybody!
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