Husband shorts

Peter from Male Pattern Boldness has a great post about learning to sew...which I read after finishing my first attempt at a pair of mens pants.  And don't get me wrong, the pants are fairly wearable.  Providing you don't want to wear them out of the house.



But following Peters advice, I just tried again, but this time with a pair of shorts, and you can really tell the difference between the first and the second time.  Which is very much the same for everything I've made.  Really puts forward the argument of making a muslin, but I'm usually far too impatient for that.  Such a fool.  Except for the lady grey jacket I'm making, which has a full bona fide muslin.

Anyway, back on track.  The shorts are actually made from fabric bought to be the lining of the original pants, so I skimped a little on quantity.  Which has lead to the only problem with the shorts, there wasn't enough fabric to do back pockets.  Which according to the husband makes them look like girl shorts.

Too bad.  If you don't like them make your own.  Or at least be quiet and I'll make a third even better pair!  And maybe next time I will iron them before blogging them.

Maybe.

one yard wonder shorts

Recently I added One Yard Wonders to the growing sewing library, and have given a few small projects a try.  The first was the sleeping shorts.   I'll start with saying I love the final result, but it took some tweaking.

Where to start...I suppose the first problem was that having seen the picture of the very young slim woman wearing the shorts, I anticipated the outcome would be for my posterior to look the same.  That was never going to happen.  The pattern calculations were based on a slim build, so *hint* by taking the measurements at the widest point, I was able to get the width.  The other problem is the inner seams don't allow for any "booty".  So add on a inch there.  

If a pattern asks for your hip measurement, but you're wider a few inches below - use that measurement otherwise it won't fit as well.  It's better to have some ease around the hips than too tight around - well, where ever that place may be.

Aside from that, the only other issue was insufficient instruction around the final waistband.  I ended up putting in a tie, for two reasons.  One being that my old pyjamas had a tie, and the other being I dislike elastic.  Neither reason being very good, in hindsight some elastic along the back would be very comfortable, but this isn't built into the dimensions of the pattern.

I used french seams for comfort, however the next pair of shorts will have flat felled seams.  Definitely give this a go, very quick to make and overall good instructions.

Like the cherry fabric?  I just couldn't resist.