Sewing Men's Underwear

Finally something for men! A while ago I promised my loved one that I would sew him a pair of underwear. Not that he could not do it himself, no! It’s just more comfortable for him to tell me what he wants. But then I thought, maybe some of you might profit from the experience!

Patterns for Men

As a woman it is slightly difficult to guess which pattern will suit him best. My partner got the John boxers from pattydoo a while back and some other model I can’t remember the name of. Anyway, he did not particularly like the John so he copied his favourite model from a German manufacturer. Now he has a pattern he can always use for himself.

There are multiple patterns for men’s underwear out there and more day by day. It’s worth having a look and compare to what you or your recipient likes.

Fabrics and Notions

The model I will sew up is designed for stretch fabrics. But your sewing patterns and instructions will tell you exactly what you need in terms of stretch.

Mostly I use cotton or modal knits when sewing men’s underwear. Occasionally, I use speciality athleisure fabrics. The original model is made out of pure cotton so they will loosen during wear. If you don’t like this you’ll want to go for a small percentage of elastane.

Bamboo jersey, cotton jersey, and athleisure fabric.

The only thing missing is underwear elastic. Depending on your pattern you will either fold the waistband down or attach the elastic visibly at the top. If your elastic touches the skin, make sure you buy high quality and soft speciality underwear elastic.

On the left you see very soft elastic that feels nice on the skin. On the right is some elastic that should only be used when encased.

Assembly

First I’ll cut out all the pattern pieces (not a lot of them as opposed to a bra). Just make sure the pattern and stretch go the right way and you’re good to go. Please, make sure to prewash the fabric; especially modal jersey will shrink quite a bit.

The fabric I used is a bamboo jersey I got from Brabuilders back in August.

This model has a button placket in the front but my boyfriend explicitly stated that I could just as well omit the buttons and sew the front down.

So I stabilized the front (where the button placket would normally be), folded it twice and sewed it down.

Next, I sewed the back piece to the fronts by using the serger. If you don’t have a serger use a narrow zigzag. I used the cover machine to flatten the seams. This step is not strictly necessary but my boyfriend prefers to keep all the seams flat. If you do not own a cover machine you can use a wide zigzag or a twin needle.

I sewed up both pantlegs and hemmed them.

Next I attached each pantleg to the middle piece and covered the seams.

Almost finished – only the waistband missing. My pattern calls for 4cm wide elastic which is attached with the serger (knife is down), folded down and topstiched with the cover machine.