Hullo crafty chicas! Does anyone have ideas on decorating undies? I'm craving funky panties but my sad little budget doesn't really allow for stylish undergarment purchasing so I'm thinking I'm just going to buy a pack of cotton hanes or something and decorate them to my liking.....

Cheers...Twiggy

hey! I don't know if this would fit your budget or not, but you should consider investing in some procion brand fabric dye and some soda ash (I think that's the right term...it's what helps the dye adhere to the fabric fibers and resist fading). tie-dying - dying in general - is FUN STUFF, especially with panties. I did a batch of t-shirts over winter break and threw some of my plain white underwear into the dye tub. now I have a bunch of colors - the neon pink came out the best.

charissa

hey u could maybe consider those computer print-out transfer sheets, so u can print out a design or photograph from your computer and iron it on! that could be cute... u could get really creative with that!

you could trim them in lace, or other ribbon. ~Kt

you iron on little patches... like of duckies or cherries..

rhinestone it with the bejeweler (no metal backings)

how about taking two apart (of different colors) and sewing two diff ones together. (so that you have one with a pink front and a blue back ....and then one with a blue front and pink back),

sew sequins to the top

puff paint them with glow in the dark paint

=^.^=

Last nihgt I made little thong undies for my girfreinds for valentines day. i used xerox transfer iron-ons and i put polka dots all over and then and image of the front that had a computer drawing of barbarella that i made. It worked like a charm! And i put there names on the butt so that they would be personalized.
They absolutely loved it! And it only took me an hour!

I didn't add any sequins bu tI 'll remember to that next time..that would be great!

If you know how to embroider, stitching small fruits like cherries on the side could be super cute. Or stitch on sequins or cute little buttons!

You could also use the age-old process and tie-dye a few pairs for a 70s effect. Along those lines, I've never tried it with clothes, only paper, but there are techniques for marbling fabric. Might not be the cheapest alternative, since the supplies can be rather expensive. But what a beautiful and unique result!

I think you should write on the butt "Kiss my......"

I always thought it would be cute to make my own rhumba panties. (AKA ruffle butt panties)

Just take a pair of nylon gramma briefs, and a spool of that scratchy gathered lace they sell at Joanne's in bins. The three thousand yards for a dollar stuff, and just cover the whole back of the underpants in row after row of the stuff. So cute with short short skirts and extra volume for the non-butt endowed.

If anyone needs a cottage industry idea, these horrid things go for big $$ on Ebay for some reason. I mean like 16.00 and up. If you make them in really big sizes they go up to 30.00. Oh I just figured out the reason...

if you're handy with a paintbrush, you could paint little motifs on the side, like vintage tatoos. i saw boy-cut underpants with a red cross once. they were on girlshop, i think...

i saved "simpsons" iron on transfers when they were giving them away in chip bags. all of my friends gave me theirs, too. i painstakingly ironed one on the front of each of my plain white jockeys, to the horror of my roommate. my favourite one was the one with bart that said "hey man! is it getting hot in here, or what...?" as much as i searched through my doritos, i never got that transfer, again. sigh.

Ooh! Luverly ideas....keep them coming! I like the idea of rhinestones....I saw a pair of black undies somewhere that said "kiss my ass" in rhinestone cursive - very nice.

make them. Its like sooooo easy. one piece of whatever fabric you want and another tiny 100%cotton one for the crotch. You can get really cute and sexy fabrics for seriously cheap since you need so little for each pair. Just look through the ENDS bins. You can even put binding around the legs. Using fabrics with stretch is obviosly the easiest option. For the elastic at the top you can make an elastic waistband out of the coolest stuff, lace, beaded cord, etc. At a notions store they have the most amazing stuff. I am making a pair of sheer orange panties with elasticized purple lace for the waistband and around the legs. MAybe I'll make the leftover purple lace into a matching headband. I love pretty panties!!!

add a pocket to the front. i had some panties with a pocket that closed with a button, very cute. i wonder what that pocket was for; it was the perfect size for a condom or mini pad. :]

Do you use a commercial pattern? I want to start making my undies but can't find a pattern I like....

all of the commercial patterns are really cheesy and oldlady like so no. I just make my own pattern its really not that hard. I wish that I could add a drawing of it to this post, if you leave your email I could send you a pattern.
moemoe

I've got to bump this up...cause I'm just sooo inspired! Anybody got any cute patterns and willing to share? ;)

anybody?!
m

I'm diggin the rhinestone idea but I don't have a bejewler/dazzler or similar gadget, and am on a budget. Instead I think I'll try the iron-on transfer idea. My question, how do the transfers hold up with washings?

I've never done iron-ons with panties, but I used to do it all the time when I was a kid. (I have a very crafty grandma.) They start to peel away at the edges after a few washings, unless you:
1)puff paint all the way around the edge of the design
OR
2) Go around the edge with a zig-zag stitch, or an embroidery stitch. The zig zag is very simple to do on a machine.
This will keep the iron on looking good for a long time!

shutterbug@popstar.com wants panty drawings/patterns!

One way to transfer images to fabric is to take a color photocopy of the image (the mirror image if there is text) and coat it with acrylic gel medium. Then put this on the panties, image and gel side down, press it down hard, and let it dry. The image will stick to the fabric, but that's okay. Just soak the whole thing in water, and the paper will disintegrate. If you are careful and lucky, the image is near photo-quality.

Gal-
I sewed old brownie and girlscout badges on my panties. My favorite pair have the "campfire starter" badge.

go to your local goodwill - you can almost always find girl/boy scout patches.

Have fun

I have a bright red pair that I sewed an armored division patch on, it says "HELL ON WHEELS" and has a cute picture of a tank. If you go to an army surplus you can get these so cheap!

I just thought about this last night - You can get some of those stick on eyes that move when you jiggle. They sell buttons like that too in fabric and craft stores. I have a set of 3 that make up the face of a cat.

could you embroider? i would love to know!
plus i think that imagemaker would probably work really well.

these ideas are all fabulous!! i so want to go home and host a panty party for my friends where we all sit around with a big tie-dye tub and decorate.

can someone give me (or direct me towards) specific instructions on image-transfering? how exactly does it work? do you just photocopy stuff onto clear transparencies and iron them onto fabric? and how would you get the mirror image if it's text?