KwikSew 2224 Review

Reviews

After reading a review patternreview.com, I bought this pattern and made a pair for my DH.

This pattern is a fitted, low-rider style brief. The largest size for this pattern is XL and I needed XXL, so I graded it up myself, using prior differences as a guide. There is no flap on the front, but there is a dart to make them fit around the parts. I made the first pair after grading up. For the second pair, I made the front longer, as my husband does not usually wear low-slung clothes. Here is what my pattern pieces look like after adding to the front. I also took a little bit off the lower back because they were a little baggy.

The first pair is made of a single knit cotton-lycra blend we had already purchased for this purpose. The front piece was placed on the fold, as was the back piece. I did not cut two front pieces per instructions. The front dart was sewn, followed by the crotch seam and the side seams. All these seams were sewn with a small zigzag stitch, then pushed to one side and stitched down with a three-step zigzag stitch from the other side. The elastic waistband was overlapped and stitched at the back, then applied as instructed. The pattern calls for 3/8" elastic at the legs, but I used 1/4" elastic. I used 28" pieces of elastic for the leg openings. I did not stretch the elastic much on the front of the leg openings. I learned this concept from swimwear pattern instructions.

The next pair was made of the same fabric, but I was running low. I created a center back seam so I could use up the rest of the fabric. I attached the two back pieces to the crotch seam separately, since the dart already split the front piece. I pressed one seam up and one seam down to reduce bulk at the dart / back seam. This picture shows the front piece at the bottom, with the dart forming the bottom of the "V" and the back pieces attached at the crotch seam. I then sewed the "V" together, forming the dart and back seam.

This picture shows the inside of the completed briefs with the back seam pulled up to reveal the crotch seam and the dart:

Now I always sew all the seams on the serger with a 4-thread stitch. The last two briefs I made him have a different type elastic at the waist because what I was looking for wasn't in stock.