FO: Bonus Shorts

Like any conscientious and/or paranoid sewist, I typically buy more yardage than I need for a project. Even though I’m on the smaller end of the size range, and I understand that cutting layouts and yardage estimates tend to be conservative, I also know my myself. If I were in the midst of cutting a pattern—because let’s be honest, I’m unlikely to spread out my entire yardage and lay out all the pieces first, before cutting into my fabric, because I use weights and a rotary cutter, not pins, and who wants to have to readjust and lay everything out again before doing my cutting—anyway, if I were cutting and I ran out of fabric, I know I’d go to pieces. So I’ll continue to err on the side of caution in my purchasing so that I don’t have to with my cutting.

Of course, this is directly at odds with my desire that every project use exactly as much material as I buy and my abhorrence of just-large-enough-to-feel-wasteful-when-tossing-but-not-really-big-enough-to-be-particularly-useful scraps. I’m working on it.

With the remaining aqua and pink athletic fabric, it seemed sensible to throw in a couple other pieces so that I can mix and match based on the weather, my mood, and what’s currently clean. I intended to make a plain t-shirt and a pair of bike shorts in each color. My attempt at cutting up an thin, holey, and all-around ratty t-shirt to turn into a pattern was a total bust, so I gave up on t-shirts for now and stuck to just shorts.

2016-09-23_01_aqua-shorts

Starting with McCall’s 6173, I:

  • Measured the length of a pair of RTW bike shorts I own and chopped off the leg of the pattern
  • Measured the front and back crotch length of a pair of RTW leggings I own and lowered the waist of the pattern
  • Marked the “outseam” (based on the location of the grainline), drew parallel lines on either side to create a 3-inch-wide stripe, cut along the stripe lines, and then added seam allowances to each piece

I sewed the contrast stripe to the main fabric first, and then assembled the shorts just as I would a pair of leggings.

2016-09-23_02_pink-shorts

For the aqua pair, I also attempted a crotch gusset to try to relieve some of the strain that can happen when you have two seams that meet in a “+.” I used Thread Theory’s tutorial for drafting a gusset and Sewaholic’s tutorial for sewing a gusset.

2016-09-23_03_crotch-gusset-detail

I’m not sure if it was worth it, to be honest. Although I tried drafting the gusset so that it wouldn’t make the crotch roomier, just ease the tension, I feel like the crotch is a bit baggy. And my attempts to follow the Sewaholic tutorial to install the dang thing were downright painful, despite basting on my sewing machine first and then serging to finish. It doesn’t help that the photo for one of the early steps doesn’t show an important snip into the seam allowance. In fairness, there is a note about this omission, and there is a photo much further down that does show the snip, but scrolling back and forth just added to my confusion about what direction to make the cut and how deep. Due to the intense wrangling needed to get the gusset to align with the legs, I ended up putting a hole in the crotch, which I had to sew up by hand, and all the seams came out undeniably wonky. I’m not put off sewing gussets entirely, but I think I’ll wait until I have a pattern designed for one before attempting it again.

And thus marks the end of my activewear sewing for a while. It’s been instructive and added some much needed gear to my wardrobe, but I’m ready to turn my attention to new fabrics, new patterns, and new challenges. Now that my machine is back from a brief stint in a repair shop, I can dive into a heap of Halloween sewing. I can’t wait to share what we’ve got planned this year!

2 thoughts on “FO: Bonus Shorts

  1. I do the same thing when I buy fabric, and I always end up with too much left and hate it! The Scrap Exchange accepts fabric donations, but they only accept pieces of a least one yard so you’d have to have big leftovers. I gave them a huge box when I moved. Also you can check out http://www.instagram.com/emilie_lepapillon, she does this challenge with every project to do a tiny secondary project with the leftovers to use 100% of the fabric, most often kids clothes but not always.
    Anyway I love the shorts!

  2. Great tip about Les Créations du Papillon! I love seeing creative reuses of fabric, especially since they often involve free patterns available online (who doesn’t love a freebie?).

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