Our new Kapunda Undies are the perfect high-waisted undies, and they were designed with scrap-busting and colour-blocking in mind!
The pattern is designed for 4-way stretch fabrics, where stretch and recovery are equal in both the horizontal and vertical directions. Suggested fabrics are: cotton/spandex, bamboo/spandex, merino/spandex.
But, you can also make these undies in 2-way stretch fabrics as long as there is significant horizontal stretch! This means the Kapunda Undies are great for pairing with merino jersey and cotton jerseys.
If you'd like 25% off the Kapunda Undies become a Muna and Broad Maker or Insider on Patreon.
Want to know more about stretch in fabrics? Check out this video where Leila chats about the difference between 2-way and 4-way stretch.
Fabric we've used for undies
Leila and I both love bamboo undies- we'd probably say that they're our favourite! We've made undies with bamboo from A + R Fabrics (Australia), Maai Design (Australia) and Sitka Fabrics (Canada). We also love merino undies and I've used merino from The Fabric Store (NZ) with great success.
Shopping 4-way-stretch fabric
4-way stretch fabric stretches and recovers both width and lengthwise. Fabrics with 4-way stretch include nylon or Lycra to aid in stretch and recovery. While lots of online shops will sell 4-way stretch fabrics, they won't always be labelled in a way that will make them easy to hunt down on their website.
Nellie Joans is a NZ based lingerie store which ships world-wide and stocks 4-way stretch fabrics, a variety of elastics, powermesh and stretch mesh.
Etsy has lots of options for 4-way stretch fabric (including this polka dot mesh), as does Mood Fabrics in the USA. If you shop with lingerie stores such as Br . Raspberry Creek in the USA has a wide selection of 4-way stretch fabrics (including swimwear). Water Tower Textiles in Canada stocks 4-way stretch bamboo fabric and stretch mesh too. Rosahuset in Sweden has a lovely selection of bamboo/spandex fabric. Sew Me Sunshine in the UK describes the stretch and recovery of their in-stock fabrics, but it's tough to search specifically in their webshop for them. Tailor Made Shop in the USA stocks everything you'd need for our undies, our Banksia Bralette and the Banksia Swimsuit Expansion.
Another great place to shop 4-way stretch fabrics are your local dance-fabric shops- they also generally stock powermesh, which is perfect for our Banksia Bralette! Of course, you can get lots of nylon, polyester, Lycra and Spandex filled fabrics with 4-way stretch, but those won't necessarily make for comfortable, breathable undies!
Shopping 2-way stretch fabric
2-way stretch fabrics stretch in one direction, usually from selvedge to selvedge. 2-way stretch doesn't have the same recovery as 4-way stretch knits, which means that undies made with 2-way stretch can begin to droop and look baggy throughout the day.
You can absolutely use 2-way stretch when making your Kapunda Undies, and our pattern pieces are marked to indicate which direction the greatest stretch should go on each pattern piece.
Examples of 2-way stretch fabric you could use with your Kapunda Undies includes cotton jersey, and merino jersey,
On the Fabric Store website, you can filter sections search results and one of the options is 'two-way stretch', or you can try looking at individuals fabrics where they ocassionally list width and length stretch, or you can try searching through 'Activewear and swim fabrics' as those fabrics generally have adequate stretch and recovery.