Peachy Undies & Barrett Bralette Pattern Review

Gwen is wearing a set of lingerie made in the same fabric. Top is Barrett Bralette and bottoms are Peachy Undies.

Welcome to September! I hope your new month is off to a good start. In the final weeks of BRAugust last month, I decided to make a lingerie set using the Barrett Bralette pattern by Madalynne Intimates and the Peachy Undies pattern by Cool Stitches. Here's my pattern review of the Peachy Undies and Barrett Bralette

My body measurements

For reference, my body measurements is as follows:

High bust = 31″

Full bust = 30.5″

Under bust = 26.5″

Waist = 25.5″

High Hip = 33″

Full Hip = 36.5″

Gwen is wearing a set of lingerie made in the same fabric. Top is Barrett Bralette and bottoms are Peachy Undies. She is showing her back to show the fit from the back.

A note on the fabric

Okay, you might be looking at the fabric print on this brown cotton jersey and think to yourself, "huh that looks like...". Don't say it out loud. I bought this fabric on a whim via a local Facebook fabric destash group while I was still living in Singapore. I thought it would be cute because G is for Gwen. Now I'm kind of embarrassed about it but I'm just gonna fake it till I make it and rock this print proudly.

Now that I have gotten that off my chest, let's move on to the pattern review.

Barrett Bralette and Peachy Undies pattern review

Sewing the Barrett Bralette

The right side of the front of the Barrett Bralette

The wrong side of the front of the Barrett Bralette (pattern by Madalynne Intimates)

Details of my Barrett Bralette

Fabric used: Brown cotton jersey (main), black micromesh (lining)

Notions used: 1/4" wide picot plush elastic, 5/8" wide shoulder strap elastic, 1" wide elastic

Size cut: XS

Modifications to size: none

Modifications to construction: yes

Barrett Bralette pattern review

The Barrett Bralette is a free bra sewing pattern by Madalynne Intimates. This is one of the 4 free bra sewing patterns that I said I was going to try to sew for BRAugust 2021. It is designed for 26.5″ – 46.5″ full bust, and comes with written instructions as well as accompanying photos for how to sew.

Now, I am just going to go straight to the point and say that I am not a big fan of the written instructions. As someone who is new to sewing lingerie, I found the written instructions tricky to follow. I had to read the same step a few times before I figured out how the "clean finish" method is executed. The fact that the accompanying photo for the step isn't placed directly next to the written instructions didn't help either.

That said, I did figure out how the bralette is constructed in the end and I LOVE THE FIT. For a free bra sewing pattern, the fit is fantastic and I can't believe how cute it looks!

Modification(s) to construction

The Barrett Bralette pattern asks for a 3/4" (or wider) elastic to be used to finish the bottom of the bralette. In an ideal world, I would have liked to use a black elastic band to finish the bottom of the bralette. Unfortunately, at the time of sewing, I didn't have the right kind of black elastic band for this project. So, I decided to use what I have, and encased my 1" wide white elastic with the brown cotton jersey fabric. It looks pretty good in my opinion and hey, I smell a sports bra potential here!

I messed up when sewing the picot elastic where the keyhole design is so I just trimmed the picot design off to have it look cleaner.

Will I make the Barrett Bralette again?

Yes a hundred times over!

Sewing the Peachy Undies

Peachy Undies by Cool Stitches

Details of my Peachy Undies

Fabric used: Brown cotton jersey (main), bamboo jersey (inner crotch lining)

Notions used: 1/4" wide picot plush elastic

Size cut: 36

Modifications to size: none

Modifications to construction: none

Peachy Undies pattern review

The Peachy Undies is a high-waisted underwear sewing pattern by Cool Stitches. This pattern is offered with the pay-as-you-wish option but with a suggested retail price of 5 euros. It fits sizes 34 - 50 (waist of 24.5" - 38.75" and hips 34" - 38") and I made mine in size 36.

I was excited about this pattern because I love a high-waisted cut! Unfortunately, this pattern yielded a couple of fit issues for me.

#1 fit issue

The first issue is the high-rise that extends beyond the waistline. While the issue isn't too significant on the front, it is a lot more prominent on the back. This is likely due to my posture and isn't too surprising since I often have to make a swayback adjustment for most sewing patterns!

In the photo collage below, you can see a white elastic worn around my waist to show the waistline that I use when sewing and drafting patterns. There's about an inch of excess fabric on the back of my Peachy Undies.

Gwen showing the front, side, and back fit of the Peachy

#2 fit issue

One word - wedgie. The leg opening for the Peachy Undies has a high bikini cut on the front and skin-baring cheeky cut on the back. I had a hunch that this could be a problem based on my experience with sewing other underwear patterns last month, but I was too sheepish to actually make any modifications to the pattern before sewing.

And so, I've got an almost constant wedgie with the Peachy Undies. Perhaps this wouldn't be an issue if not for the shape of my butt... or my age.

Will I sew the Peachy Undies again?

If I ever needed to make a Jane Fonda-inspired workout gear, this is the pattern I will use. Otherwise... no.

More lingerie sewing coming your way!

I hope you have found my pattern review for the Peachy Undies and Barrett Bralette helpful. Now that BRAugust is over, I will be slowly dialling back on my lingerie sewing. But there's still a few more things about sewing lingerie that I want to share so stay tuned for a couple more lingerie sewing posts this month!