Summertime Blues

I seem to be working with blue a lot this summer.

Both my girls said jean shorts are out, and flowy, "runner" shorts are in. I started with a pajama shorts pattern and navy blue gauze (that'll show up later in a dress for me). I made them for Megan, and she hated them. I think she's worn them to bed a few nights when she was desparate. I did some looking around on the internet and thought I didn't find anything (more on that later). So after that, we all went to Fabricland to look at the "real patterns".

How interesting to take both girls for their first foray into pattern shopping! Not only did they want flowy shorts, Lucy wanted a romper, so I was hoping for a basic shorts pattern that would work for both. None of the romper patterns in the books appealed to her (or to me...either too fussy or too basic and I wasn't buying a pattern just for potentially ONE project). The girls decided on Burda 6797 and then we went to the fabric section. They each picked out a blue print. Lucy also picked out a cute print for a romper.

 This is Lucy's fabric, "Valencia Prints", a crinkle rayon. It was on sale for $9.50/m. The shorts themselves don't take much, but if you want matching bias trim, that will use up what's left from the metre.

 I'm not sure what this was trying to show. I believe the pen and marker are pointing to something. I just dont' reember what LOL. This was Megan's fabric, "Shinta Prints", also a rayon, on sale at $6/m. I started with Lucy's shorts since I hadn't made anything for her yet this year. And she's more of a standard size.

 Here are some action shots from our recent trip to Muskoka Heritage Place

They are a little cheeky!!

I had issues with following the pattern. It's just very different than the shorts/pants I've done. The bias trim, the inseam pockets. And I've never done a Burda pattern. I wanted to use the serger but I just wasn't sure how it all goes together. The rayon crinkle makes it hard to get accurate cuts and markings. So a lot of it was intuition. I didn't catch the top of the first pocket in the waistband and realized I should have on the second pocket (or maybe on the second shorts). So the pockets were hanging down below the shorts when she used them. I tried to catch them up, and trimmed off the bottom.  The waistband, I didn't realize how tight the elastic fits in the slots, and my sewing wasn't the straightest so there were some issues.  If I remember correctly, she also managed to put a small hole in the shorts very quickly.

The greatest thing happened though. We were out at a small store, and the cashier was a girl in her late teens/early 20s.

 Megan's turn.  She tried on Lucy's shorts, so I went ahead with the same size. On Megan though, the rear is a little snug. She has a skater's bum!

 And with a skater's bum came an epic tear. It wasn't the seam, exactly. Right next to the pocket opening, on the bum side. I couldn't just take it all in and re-seam it. I didn't want to take it apart since it was quite laborious to add all the bias trim. I decided to make a patch. I started with some iron on interfacing on the inside to close it up. Then I laid a patch on top and zig zag stitched around it. It's really hard to see now!

Can you find the patch? Thank god for that busy print!!

The girls are wearing these shorts a lot. That makes me so happy! For some reason I was looking around the internet later, and came across this free pattern: https://www.purlsoho.com/create/2014/07/24/corinnes-thread-city-gym-shorts-for-all-ages/  I knew as soon as I saw it that I had seen it early on in the shorts pattern search, but rejected it because....it wasn't flowy? They seem a bit lower in the back, which is nicer (I think). You could make them more flowy by using a rayon, or cutting a bigger size and gathering it into the proper waist size. Oh, I see, these shorts don't have pockets. That might have been a big factor. I do like how the binding was added to the pieces before being stitched together. The Burda ones, I had a hard time with the ending of the binding just below the pocket. I suspect you could still add a pocket. Or change how you do the Burda ones.