As I said yesterday, I also finished a pair of shorts. I still had some left over fabric from this dress, and as I’ve said before, I love the fabric. It’s just really nice to both sew, and touch and do stuff with as far as I’m concerned. I have had the idea of making a pair of pants from a navy linen for a while now, but pants are always a nightmare for me. The shorts you will see shortly are meant as a wearable muslin (yes I know, some people don’t believe in those) for those navy ones which I will make full length.
This in theory seems like a good idea. However, I forgot to add more room in the crotch section to play around with. So this one is not really to satisfaction fit wise (although I’m sure I’ll wear it) in the crotch, although the length is absolutely perfect. I don’t like my shorts too short. They also come up a little high in the waist, and although I like coverage, this might be a little too much.
Live and learn people, live and learn. I have now learnt that on these pants slanted pockets, like in these pants, stand out a lot and make me look really fat so I changed them to squareish pockets which don’t stand away from the body. Furthermore, I learned that I need more room in the front crotch because the inseams are too close to the front for my liking. I also learned that my ass is strange and needs a lot of taking in at the top, and therefore an extension on the bottom of the waistband. I’ve learned how to make fancy zipper fly thing from this wonderful tutorial, without which it would have looked a million times worse (*takes a sneak peek at her first attempt at pants and groans in disgust). I did some topstitching around the waistband which also makes it look much nicer. I added belt loops somewhat following this tutorial (although not fully because I attached them differently (the fabric was too thick to be backed over like that). I tried using my blind hem foot to make a blind hem, and failed miserably, twice. So I gave up and just double folded over the hem and stitched it. I did use my blind hem foot for the topstitching and the zipper outside (and of course the zipper foot for setting the actual zipper). I braided some elastic and attached it to the waistband to go around a button, because the band was a little to short to accommodate a button after the belt loop. I put in a hook and eye thing for pants for the first time. Also, I matched stripes in the front and back! Sadly the sides were impossible to match/I didn’t think about doing that. I made do with small bits of fabric and cut the back waistband pattern to be able to piece it from scraps of fabric.
All in all I think I learned a lot from this project. Now hopefully the weather will clear up and I’ll be able to wear it outside!
