...And even more shorts....

So in my last post I talked about the how the thrifted McCalls 9312 shorts pattern I used for my daughter has A LOT of built in ease.
Well it appears that there is a bonus to having a "roomy" pattern, especially when twins are in the house. 
With this pattern I was able to make shorts for my son -who is a whole two sizes bigger- without hardly any alterations (I did make the side seam allowance a tad smaller but in hindsight I needn't have bothered, a 5/8" seam allowance would worked fine).

Now I wasn't actually planning on making DS any shorts as he already has heaps, but he insisted that if sis was getting some....

He picked the spotty fabric himself. I know they look like pyjama pants but he loves wearing them out and about :D

I also used a some left over green stretch cotton I had to make another pair, with side pockets. The fabric is a fair bit thicker than quilting cotton (think thin stretch denim weight) so they do have a rather "boofy" look to them. 
Oh well live and learn....plus they are most likely to end up in the sandpit anyway ;)

Quite the poser eh?

So after making these shorts for DD and DS I have  decided to see if I could find or make a slightly more streamlined version. 
That is, to make them look more 2014 and less 1990's.

All the while still being elastic waisted in design, roomy enough to play in and not overly high cut in the leg. Not much to ask for right?

If I had any kind of pattern drafting training this would be easy peasy, but..... I'm not. So its been trial and error all the way ;)

Thus far I've had a play with the previously mentioned McCalls pattern - taking a bit off each side seam and lowering the waistband, plus I've found a freebie kids short pattern online that seems to have the right shape but is a tad too small, so am currently trying to grade it up a size or two.

Hanging out for the kids to be at school this week so I can cut out and sew what I've drawn up so far.

Til next time...

Happy Sewing!

Kate :)

Shorts and more shorts

So school has started and my plan to make my kids totally cute individual Oliver + S bucket hats has yet to come to fruition. 

Instead I have investing my sewing time in making up shorts, LOTS of shorts. 

My water-loving, totally-tactile-smears food/yogurt/mud/paint-all-over-everything daughter goes through an inordinate amount of clothing each day. 

DD also pretty much hates skirts and dresses (I'm hoping she'll grow out of this).

 The few odd occasions I've been able to "coax" her (think of trying to dress a really peeved off cat) into anything dress-like she has insisted on wearing "pants" (her word for shorts) underneath. 

The shorts she currently had were getting a bit worn out looking and frankly I find some of the girls toddler shorts for sale these day ridiculously short/high cut in the leg! Honestly I think some of the big chain store clothing designers have been looking to Daisy Duke for inspiration in the kids clothes department, because that's the only reason I can come up with for the brief-ness. 

The fact that the smaller they make each pattern piece for a garment the more fabric- and therefore money- they save also has nothing to do with either right? (cynical much?).

Righty then back to MY shorts, the ones I made. Well for a very easy shorts design (elasticated waist, simple or no pockets) this project ended up being a bit more convoluted than originally planned.

Being super lazy time poor I opted to use this thrifted pattern from my stash that was miraculously already cut to the size I needed:

 

 The copyright for this pattern is 1998, which makes it at least 14 years old. Still I was surprised at how baggy the shorts turned out to be:

Maybe this is just a side effect of fashion being so "skinny legged" in shorts and jeans these past few years, I've started to see a narrower cut as "normal". 

Still they DO give my daughter lots of room to move and climb (as she is prone to) about so I'm thinking maybe baggy is not such a bad thing. 

Also she has had a growth spurt in the week or so since the photos were taken, so that room has come in quite handy- nothing worse than making something only to have the kids grow out of it overnight ;)

One thing I LOVE about sewing for kids is getting to use fun prints and craft fabrics, like this Lisette icecream print: 

Honestly if I could get away with it I would TOTALLY be wearing this fabric. 
As it is it appears I will just have to live voraciously through my toddler daughter's wardrobe ;)

There are a few more versions of these shorts that I've made and have yet to photograph. 
Nearly 4 year olds make quite rambuncious clothing models and getting a usable shot has been harder than I thought.
May be time to resort to bribery..or at least lollies.

Til next time....

Happy Sewing ! 

Kate :)