The “I knew I should have gone up a size” Shorts
The Facts
Fabric: Lightweight floral print cotton in yellow/blue courtesy of my grandma’s throw away pile. Little less than a 1/2 yard.
Pattern: I started out using a vintage pajama pattern, Simplicity 4312. After a few mishaps and some sizing issues, I decided to alter the pattern pieces a bit and go it alone.
Year: c1953!
Notions: 1 in. elastic.
Time To Complete: Around 4 hours. I finished all of my seams using the French seam technique, which slowed me down a bit, but was well worth it in the end.
First Worn: Today! I finished these up a couple days ago and put them on this morning. Luckily for me, the weather today was unseasonable warm.
Wear Again: Yes! Not to toot my own horn, but I feel super cute in these. Great for prancing around my apartment in the winter and wearing out and about in the summer.
Total Price: I spent a whole fifty cents. I bought the pattern at a flea market last month for fifty cents and my fabric was completely free.
The title of my post really says it all. I was midway through this project when I realized, “Dang it! I cut the wrong size.” That’s where the Accessorize part of this week’s challenge comes into play. Midway through my project I realized that my shorts were really wide in the leg and about an inch too tight in the waist, which prevented me from pulling them up comfortably over my hips. I decided to make pleats at the bottom side of each leg, creating a “round on top, narrow on bottom” balloon like effect that completely took care of the width problem and kept with the vintage theme. For the waist issue, I drew inspiration from a belt and decided to extend the waist band into two straps, allowing me enough room to pull them on and the ability to accessorize my shorts with a cute belt-like knot. Here are a couple close ups.
My major sewing goal for 2012 is to work on my finishing techniques. It took me about a year and a half to really master the basic of sewing and now I want to focus on learning a few advanced skills. This project marks the first time I’ve ever tackled French Seams and wow, what a difference they make! I’m just as happy with the inside of my shorts as I am with the outside. All in all, I’m really happy with my Week 1 shorts and I had a lot of fun coming up with an idea for this week’s challenge, even if it was by sheer accident. One project down, and only 49 to go. Oh what to make for next week!
Your french seams look great! And only your first attempt- wow!
Best of luck for the year of challenges!
Thank you! Best of luck to you this year too:)
French seams are great – cute shorts and clever fixes
Thank you!
They look great! Grats.
Thanks!
I love it when mistakes become features!
Me too! It happens to all of us at some point and I love seeing how other people go about keep from trashing things midway through.