Short of shorts

Dipping my toes in the sewing blog world.

This is not my first project, but it the only one I have photos of yet, albeit grainy phone pics.

I have wanted to make shorts a long time. Good ready-to-wear shorts are hard to find, despite the fact that summer in Perth lasts about five months and can have weeks on end of over 35 degrees.

The last pair of shorts I bought, and the only pair I owned, I found at a sale in New York City back in 2010. I have tried on shorts in shops, but they are always about $70-$100.

I had seen the Grainline Maritime shorts pattern on quite a few blogs, it seemed to have good reviews, and good results, so bought this pattern and made it up.

I had already made the Grainline Moss skirt with less happy results (more on that in another post, suffice it to say I don't find the fly zip instructions as clear and easy as everyone else on the internet apparently) but the one thing I was happy with the Moss was the fit.

I made up a size 12 based on my measurements using a soft blue linen from Spotlight.

It was all fairly straightforward to sew up. I tried it on as a I went but it's difficult to check the fit exactly without the waistband on, and once the waistband is on it's hard to adjust the fit without a lot of unpicking.

I suppose this is why one should make toiles but for something like this I find it hard to see why I should bother, especially when I was fairly confident in the pattern measurements.

Alas, I have lost weight in the last few months and the shorts are too big. At first I wasn't too worried, they were still wearable and I didn't want them too tight anyway. I was thrilled with how they looked and promptly bought some more fabric to make a second pair - it only uses a metre.

I cut out the size 10 pattern and went back to Spotlight and found some lovely soft yellow and white bamboo patterned fabric.

When I took it to the cutting counter the assistant said "Um, you know this is curtain fabric right?" I didn't, but bought it anyway.

(Please take a moment to admire the pattern matching at the centre front and pockets, ignore the imperfect buttonhole placement though.)

I cut these out and began making them up, trying on as I went again, when panic struck - these one's seemed too tight.

I forged on anyway and finished them. When I first tried them on they seemed wearable but on the tight side. In the weeks since however, either the fabric has stretched or I lost a centimetre, but they now fit perfectly and the original blue pair seems uncomfortably big.

I do wear them round the house and although they stay up, they slide down in a way that feels...risky.

I have been living in the yellow pair for the last months so will definitely be making more Maritime shorts.