The Royal Underwear, and How I'm Hand Sewing It

I've started work on the first garment for the Queen of Margonia project, a pair of hand stitched drawers made from the pattern in the Italian Underpinnings package.  

I don't usually hand stitch my garments, especially those that won't show in the final wearing, but I wanted a television watching project. The work is actually going faster than I expected, and is quite relaxing. 

The fabric is a really nice smooth tightly woven linen, part of a set of curtains I found at a thrift store.  I've already made my husband a shirt from it, so I only have a few pieces left.  One of the pieces turned out to be exactly big enough to make the drawers. 

I bought the gorgeous lace trim years ago, thinking I'd make a whisk collar and cuffs, but I decided to use it on this garment because having such extravagant undies will help me feel like a queen!

I'm sewing them with the usual treatment for body linens in the 16th century, a run and fell seam.  This is the handworked version of a flat fell seam, the same seam that runs along the outside leg of your blue jeans.  Here's how to do it.

When sewing tightly woven linen, use a very small, thin needle.  I used a size 10 "Between".

You don't need to iron the folds.  Linen is so crisp that you can simply finger press it into place. 

Step 1: offset one side of the seam from the other by 3/8".  Stitch 1/4" from offset edge, using the smallest running stitch you can manage.

2. On wider edge of the seam, fold seam allowance under 1/4". Fold again toward seam.

Hem folded edge to garment, picking up only one or two threads.

Here's what the finished seam looks like on the right side:

See, that's not so hard!