Hi. I’ve been away for most of the last five weeks and have really missed my sewing machine! I’ve just about managed to keep up with Instagram thanks to a great shopping spree at JoAnns in Burlington, Vermont. With the 4th of July sale and an extra 20% as a new customer, I managed to get almost $300 of fabric for $130!!

I’m planning shirts, bags, pyjamas a woven tshirt and who-knows-what with the leftovers! But that’s for another day…

I’d finally managed to get my printer working smoothly so at last I had the chance to print out some of the patterns from SewSewDef Magazine. I haven’t used a lot of PDF patterns, but I’m not adverse to them. I don’t have a very big floor space at home, so that can be a bit tricky, but the Wooster pattern (from issue 4) has 21 A4 sheets, so thankfully a manageable size!

The pattern comes in six sizes; XS- 30″ waist to 2XL- 40″ waist. I traced out the big ones for MrA as I had this fabric for a while (picked up for peanuts at a car boot sale) and thought it’d really suit both him and this pattern.

I got a pretty good haul from this boot-sale, but this is the first fabric I’ve used from that day. (The red one!). I wanted to do the crotch pieces in a contrast, so I dug deep and used the leftovers of blue cotton from CousinA’s Overalls.

The shorts came together well. All the notches matched and the edges lined up nicely. The instructions were clear. I zigzagged and topstitched all the seams as I went along. The pockets are a bit small, but that is easily changed.

Not the neatest stitching in the world… in my defence I was tired, jet lagged and had really bad lighting! 

I only just had enough fabric to cut them out, so didn’t worry about pattern matching anything. The repeat was too big and I would never have made it! I don’t have any leftovers!

Sewing the two opposing curves together for the crotch pieces was a little bit fiddly, but they aren’t steep curves, so didn’t take much more than a few pins. 

The back…

The front…

They are some pretty fun shorts! MrA loves them. I do to and am planning a variation for myself. He was very good and even though it was late in the evening, he put them straight on so I could take a couple of pictures…

I particularly love the contrast fabric, it looks more blue in real life too. Initially I was drawn to the dropped crotch element, and although I still like the look of it, I’m not sure it’s for me… I might shorten the rise a bit in mine…?

It’s a shame our travels are pretty much over for the year, they make great holiday shorts. Still, our British summer isn’t over yet so there’s still a chance to wear them!

It’s great to be back on my machine!

Happy sewing!

Notes to self:

  • Size up both front and back pockets. 
  • Possibly lower the rise on the next pair…?
  • Extend the fly extension by about 1.5cm (to allow for a wider top stitch)
  • Try a jersey fabric for the contrast for more movement.