Sewing Underwear

It may seem crazy to sew one's own underwear (or just quirky?)  But I can't find styles I like that fit, so here I am.  Plus there are so many cute fabrics available!  I traced a favorite pair of undies to make the pattern and sewed up a few pair.

First pair

In the first pair I forgot to account for the elastic I cut off and they're a bit small.

Second pair

The second pair are great!
This is a rayon/lycra knit with black Glisenette inserts and picot elastic.

Third pair

The third pair, my first in cotton, don't stretch as much vertically and seem just ok.  I can't comment more on fit since I haven't worn them yet.

Second pair (L),  originals (R)

After making a few pair I realized that my pattern is shorter than the originals.  The lost height seems to be from the crotch--how'd that happen?

I also need to add even more height to the top edge, to account for a different elastic insertion.  That way they'll sit at my hips and stay up!  If anyone's interested I can take pictures of the pattern and adjustments I make to it.

The saga of the green elastic:

Thursday night I again tried sewing elastic to the pink striped pair.  You'd think it's an easy task, and you'd be right.  Unless you want to do a good job and then we're into impossible territory for me!  I'd already ripped out the leg and waistband elastic once--I hated to waste the materials.  I ended up hand basting the elastic to the cotton knit, then zigzagged over that.  I did the leg elastic this way and it worked better than pinning and hoping.

Other sewers will know how ridiculous this "solution" is.  Next time I'll cut extra wide seam allowances and sew the fancy elastic flush to the edge of the fabric, then trim the excess.