Happy Sunday all! I took to my craft room and attacked my stacks of fabric again. Not sure what got into me, but I got it into my head to make some shorts. It was probably while I was staring out my window, looking at my three inches of snow. I just want spring to come. I'm done with winter. Thanks, Mother Nature, it's been fun, but please haul out any day now.
The only problem with my whole idea was that I have no idea how to make shorts. After a few quick google searches and youtube video watching, I decided to just get on with it.
I grabbed a pair of shorts from my drawer - a pair of Old Navy shorts that I was quite partial to this summer. I folded the shorts in half and also folded the fabric in half. I put the straight edge of the shorts on the folded part of the fabric and traced around it.
Then I did that same thing a second time to end up with two pieces of fabric in the same shape. Then I put one piece on top of the other, right sides together. Keep in mind, although I left room for seam allowances, I did not measure (true to form, I suppose). Should I repeat this process, I would certainly measure and make a deaper curve.
Next, I sewed the two curved sides together. Only the curved sides. This is important. Believe me... I learned that.
Next, I hemmed the bottom so the legs would be properly hemmed. I wasn't going to do this (lazy), but the edges kept rolling anyway, so the thread in the hem weighed it down just enough to stop rolling
Once the hem was sewn, I folded the entire shorts from the middle to put the two side seams together. I know that comes out confusing so maybe these pictures would help.
Find middle:
Put the seams together. See what's happening here?
The next step is to sew up the crotch. You should see it form at the bottom so you'll know exactly where to sew. This was my second mistake - the crotch was rather flat, when it should hae been a distinctive V. Although I knew this, I didn't want to cut into it and totally ruin it, so I let it be. Next time, I'm cutting that crotch into a V. (P.S. Read in the wrong context, this post may become PG-13, My late apologies.)
Next, I worked on the waist. For this, I needed an old friend... non roll elastic.
I sewed the elastic onto the inside of the shorts (keep the shorts inside out and sew the elastic around the band). I then folded down the elastic to completely cover the elastic in fabric, and sewed it down again. Once finished..
And voila. Girl's got herself a pair of shorts. They are certainly not perfect - the crotch area, for most of the reasons listed above, turned out not quite right. It had a bit more fabric bunching than a girl needs, but they are certainly comfortable. I've got myself a new pair of pj shorts. The fact that I made them out of a fancy beach-towel material also played to the fact that they would never see public. Next shorts I make will be an attempt at beach shorts, but maybe I'll wait for better weather to go about doing that. For right now, I'm back in my sweatpants and sweatshirt, cuddled under a blanket and sitting in front of a space heater.
In other news....
I bought myself a sewing machine.
Yes, it was the one that I was eyeing and I ended up getting it for a pretty great deal. Thank you everyone for your thoughts and opinions on the subject - especially all of the super helpful e-mails. In the end, I made the decision on the reputation of the Singer brand and, most importantly, my budget. The fact that I had gift cards to Joann's certainly played a good role as well.
Enjoy your Sunday, friends. I hope it is as relaxed as mine has been. Hopefully next week will be a nice shiny new project on a nice shiny new machine.
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