Crocheted French knickers

Note: This project was originally completed in March 2012.

The knickers are now out to dry. I finished it this afternoon and have taken more photographs. I like the result. I used two strands of silk-camel lace yarn (2-ply) held together.

The pattern is based on an old pair of shorts which I took apart. There are 4 sections of the shorts and I drew the pattern onto a sheet of paper. I crocheted the four sections of the knickers separately using this paper pattern.

I made an error in one of the sections. In particular the back left section has a slightly wider leg. I hoped to rectify the error during seaming but the difference didn’t seem to affect the knickers too much.


I seam the pieces together first by tying with yarn. I never sew up the seams until I am sure of the fit.

After sewing the seams together, I start crocheting the band around the hip. This is done in the round and using a different all-over pattern. I do another fitting to make sure how long (from the waist to the hip) I would like the band to be.

The lace trim around the legs is crocheted next, using the same over-all pattern that I used for the hip/waist band. This lengthened the knickers a bit which made me realise they could look nice when worn under a short skirt or dress.

Finally, I got some white elastic to put around the waist.

I started by crocheting a narrow waist band using simple ch-4 loops of about 3 rows. Then I sewed one end of the elastic to the knickers and covered it with the waist band by folding over the waist band and crocheting onto the first row of ch-4 loops.

Both ends of the elastic are then sewn together as the waist band is completed.