
This post may contain affiliate links. When you click through and make a purchase, SewHere receives a commission at no cost to you. You buy the right stuff and we continue to make AWESOME sewing media- wahoo!
SewHere is committed to helping people sew for WHATEVER their doing- sexy activities included! Thank you to guest blogger Noah for writing this post!
This project is based on our Floozy Doozy Undie pattern, which is a drafting guide where you choose your waist size, hip size, and front-volume preference to get a well-fitting pair of high waisted, low-legged undies!
Buy the Floozy Doozy Undie Pattern and Drafting Guide
From Noah:
Just a heads up! This blog post contains content of an adult nature. I’ll be discussing sewing garments for sexy activities. If you don’t want to read such content or are under 18, stop now! Also, if you are my mom. Mom, please don’t read this. Otherwise, this blog is for anyone interested in learning how to make a strap-on harness!
There are some formative experiences in life you never forget, both big and small, serious and silly. One such seemingly small and silly experience for me was shopping for my first strap on harness with my then partner. It was my first queer relationship, and we were both so eager to try a harness that we did very little research, and went for the closest, seedy sex shop we could find in my hometown. It was as you might expect- dimly lit, smelled a little funny, and incredibly overwhelming. The store clerk was overly helpful and didn’t pick up on our nervous body language signaling to leave us alone. We eventually found our way to the limited selection of harnesses. Both my partner and I, new to our queerness and toying with gender expression, gravitated instantly to the most masculine version we could find. It was a black, boxer brief style harness. The store clerk might have offered for us to try it on over our clothes, but in our haste to get out of the store as quickly as possible we declined the offer. We purchased the harness in a size we presumed would fit both of us, along with the appropriate accoutrements for its use.
Lo and behold, the harness was far too tight for both of us around the thighs, so much so that it was cutting into our skin and couldn’t be worn comfortably. With a strict no returns policy on our purchase, we opted to cut up the thighs so that we could at least *test* it out before shelling out more money for another harness. I remember the red indentations left on my flesh from the too tight harness. Nevertheless, we took the ill-fitting garment for a spin, and I cemented my relationship with this tool in my sex life.
There have been other harnesses since then in a variety of styles, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. I tried a plus size style harness which was super comfy- it had a padded back strap so that it wouldn’t dig into your skin, and offered decent stability. It wasn’t particularly sexy, but is utilitarian. This has been my go-to harness. Another one was simply a g-string style made out of some thin strap material. It works well for double-sided toys, but can be a bit pinchy. Its minimalism was hot, but for someone with specific needs around gender expression it left me feeling pretty exposed. Given that, I tried one of the earliest iterations of the RodeoH boxer style harnesses. The boxers themselves were very gender affirming, but this earliest iteration did not stand up to testing. It didn’t offer much in the way of stability, and it had one, fixed rubber ring size, limiting toy selection.
I gave up on the underwear style harnesses after that experience, and stuck with my tried and true. I knew there were better, fancier harnesses out there, but they were pretty expensive and not a priority for me since I did have something that worked. I had friends that kept swearing up and down to me that newer versions of the RodeoH harness worked well for them. These reviews came out over time as my sewing skills advanced, and eventually I started toying around with the idea that I make my own underwear style harness and tweak it to perfection. I didn’t want to make a pattern from scratch though.
Then it dawned on me. I remember Mallory from sewhere.com discussing some of the customization options of their Floozy Doozy underwear pattern, including the option of having a woven front panel. I had originally talked to her about testing this for gaff underwear (coming soon), then realized this same feature might offer me exactly what I was looking for in an underwear style harness- stability.
And so, here we are my friends. I’ve come to share with you a couple of different options for hacking the Floozy Doozy pattern into a strap-on harness! One simply is an open, O-ring style harness, and the other features a fly front, like boxers. Both utilize elastic for the opening that secures the toy, allowing for some flexibility in using different size toys. I opted to add a really wide elastic waistband to both pairs for mine- It just feels really secure! One I added leg bands, and the other I just cover stitched the openings. I personally preferred just the simple coverstitch, it felt less restricting around my thighs (perhaps a flashback experience to my first harness!)
Both versions stood up to rigorous testing… both giving and receiving! My partner, who is a bit smaller than me, was even able to wear and use them to the same effect. Here is what they had to say:
“The harness stayed snug the entire time, and despite my tendencies to push people out when I’m close to climax, that wasn’t an issue. Making your own seems fun, because you can match the fabric to the mood of the moment. I’d definitely want to make my own harness to match each of my kink looks.”
To be completely honest, I’m pretty thrilled with both of these. They far surpassed my expectations, and have just as much stability as my go-to harness. I’m even more excited about the many possibilities for adapting this design for deviant purposes even further 🙂
Fly style harness- right side
Fly style harness- wrong side
O ring style harness, right side
O ring style harness, wrong side
Floozy doozy harness- both styles
Materials: In addition to materials as indicated in pattern, you will need a woven material for the front panel. I prefer a medium weight powernet, but I think a lot of other medium weight woven fabrics would be suitable! You will need enough of this fabric for one front panel piece. You will also need some ¼ elastic- you’ll determine what length you need during construction based on your toy size but I only needed a few inches. For your main fabric- you should use a knit fabric with good recovery, preferably a spandex or athletic knit.
- Draft a muslin of floozy doozies as directed by the pattern instructions.
- Determine and mark the center of O ring opening. I found this was easiest by wearing my muslin and using a toy for reference to figure out where I wanted it to sit and be positioned. You could also put a traditional harness on over your muslin and match the opening to your muslin.
- Transfer marking to the front panel pattern piece.
- Determine the circumference of your O ring opening. I recommend referencing some toys that you like to use. It might make the most sense to use the smallest toy you might use as your reference, as the powernet and elastic will stretch to accommodate a larger toy, but you don’t want it falling out!
- Draw a circle the size of your opening, centered around the point you marked.
- Draw hash marks extending from the center of the O ring opening, as pictured. If you wanted to get really fancy, you could use the circumference and diameter to figure out your opening instead… I never thought I would need that knowledge from grade school for sexy things so it went into the repository of “unimportant information.”
- Cut out your pattern pieces! The only difference here is that you will cut out one front panel piece with the O ring opening as described above out of powernet or your woven fabric, and one without an opening out of your main fabric. We’ll work on that one later.
- On the powernet/woven front panel piece- Cut along the dash marks of the circle, leaving triangular flaps. Fold and pin the triangular flaps back so that your opening is the approximate desired size. Stitch in place, leaving enough room to thread elastic through the flaps.
- Determine the length of your elastic, and thread through triangular flaps. This was a lot of trial and error for me- I initially went for a moderate length of elastic in comparison to the opening. I tested its security but inserting a toy into the opening and tugging on it from the outside to see if it would stay. It did not. So, I shortened the elastic till it did. To be completely honest, it ended up being such a short piece of elastic that it was incredibly hard to stitch, so I ended up just tying it!
- Now that you’ve got the first front panel complete, you’ll want to determine how wide to make the opening on the second panel. As you can see from my first attempt, I didn’t do this, so you ended up seeing the powernet on the front side. I would recommend measuring the opening with the elastic in place, and transferring to the front panel main fabric piece. Cut the hole to size, and finish the opening as desired. I opted to just add a fabric band and used my serger.
- Construct the rest of the pattern as directed by the pattern instructions, and you got yourself a strap-on harness!
Fly style harness- continue below
10) Follow steps 1-6 from O ring harness instructions to create a powernet/woven front panel pattern piece.
11) Now you will prepare the front panel pattern piece for the fly opening. You will want to have a second pattern piece without the o ring opening.
12) The original front panel piece needs to be modified in a few ways. First, it’s cut on the fold, but for our purposes here you will want to trace it as if you were not cutting it on the fold (pictured below.)
13) Second, the pattern piece includes the crotch area, which is a bit long for a fly opening. I opted to reduce the length of the fly opening by cutting the crotch area and turning it into its own gusset pattern piece. In hindsight, I could have added this piece to the back panel, and eliminated some unnecessary seams. Now that you have your smaller front panel piece, you will want to cut about ⅓ off it vertically, and dispose of the ⅓ piece, keeping the larger portion. Add back your seam allowance to the cut edge.
14) You are now ready to cut your fabric out! For the front panel- cut one out of your powernet/woven fabric from the piece with the o ring opening marked. Cut two out of your main fabric from the smaller and asymmetrical fly front panel. Cut all other pieces as instructed in pattern.
15) Follow steps 8-9 from O ring harness instructions to create powernet/woven front panel.
16) Finish edge of fly front panel pieces- I added bands using a scrap of fabric, you could also just fold it over and topstitch or coverstitch.
17) Lay your front panel pieces on top of one another so that you have a full, symmetrical front panel piece. I used my O-ring front panel for reference to ensure that I had it spaced correctly. Pin together at top and bottom and baste.
18) If you left yourself a crotch gusset piece, you’ll want to sew that onto the fly panel now.
19) Construct remaining pieces as directed by pattern instructions.
I’m a straight heterosexual female and will not ever (probably, ya never know) use a strap on, but I love this post! You rock 👊👏🙌 ❤️ Thanks for taking the time to do this tutorial!!
Yeah, I mean YOU NEVER KNOW- right??? Thanks, Em!
Didn’t expect to see this here! Awesome 😎
Such a great mod for an already-great pattern! Well done, thanks for sharing.
Love it! Sexy can be comfy too!
I think this is a great hack, I may never use it but it’s still brilliant 👏 👌 😀
I’m just happy to know that this exists. I will now be visualizing galaxy stars on underwear whenever reading romance novels. And I can now visualize a strap-on when my queer romance reading takes me outside of my experience zone. Everyday learning for all of the important things.
Big congrats from us at BadAss Quilters Society where sex and people positive is at the heart of our mission!!