I made shorts!

I made some shorts!! I am taking this as my first step on my plan to make a pair of trousers - something I said I'd do this year, last year and probably the year before as well. Now I feel a bit more confident it might happen! Despite their imperfections (which I'll get to in a minute) I am so happy with these shorts. They are pink, of course. The cotton is a cotton sateen (I think) with a good bit of stretch and a lovely soft texture so they are very comfy. And they look good enough to wear out in public, not just in the garden. Their first outing was to the Appearing Room Fountains at the Southbank, where they survived getting soaked, and also dried pretty quickly. A win in my book! Apologies for the poor quality photos, I'll try and get a better one next time I wear them out.

The pattern is Burda Pleated Shorts 02/2013 #129. When I mentioned to one of my friends last summer that I wanted to try making some trousers she suggested I start with a shorts pattern and said she had one I could use. So I tried on her toile which fitted me fine and she then very kindly traced me out the pattern and photocopied the instructions from her magazine copy. These are a bit different to the pattern as they have a facing rather than a waistband. This is because my friend made them with a facing and traced me her facing pattern pieces too so I just went with this. Next time I'll try them with a waistband.

I used the guidelines for attaching the facing to the Meringue Skirt in the Colette Sewing Handbook and I also understitched to try and keep the facing flat. It still sticks up though,  I think I should have used a thinner fabric for the facing. I'm reasonable happy with the zip. I tried to put the zip slightly higher up as the instructions say you need to attach a hook & eye above the zip, which I don't like the look of. In my attempt to do this I've ended up making the sides uneven. However I don't really care to be honest, I mean obviously I'll try better next time but I will be wearing these with a t-shirt covering the waist so nobody will ever see it but me. Thinking about it now I think that, with the facing rather than the waistband, the zip would have been fine where it was.  On the plus side the crotch seam (which of course no one will see!) is matched up pretty perfectly. Recently I've really been starting to feel some improvements in my sewing and making these feels like an important step. Trousers no longer seem quite so scary!

You can see the uneven waist here.

Details -

Pattern: Burdastyle Pleated Shorts 02/2013 #129

Size: Not sure as my friend traced out the size she had used.

Fabric & notions: Bright (very bright!) pink cotton (possibly a cotton sateen, definitely with some stretch) was a gift from the same friend who traced me her pattern (aren't I lucky?!).  Pink thread from stash (bought for Brumby skirt). The lovely pink fabric in the pockets is possibly a Rayon, it was a remnant I bought years ago and it's nice to finally use some of it.

Were the instructions clear: Hmmn kind of. I've made so many toddler Sunny Day shorts now that I was confident enough putting them together. Except for the pockets. I've never sewn pockets like this before, I think they're called yoke pockets? Oh and of course I tried to attach the pockets to the back, numerous times! Because the darts are on the back pieces I kept mistaking them for the front (which has pleats) so of course I couldn't get the pockets to fit. Once I realised my mistake though it wasn't too bad. Though I think if I hadn't had my friends toile version to refer to I might have struggled more.

Any changes I'd make next time: Next time I'll try and make them with the waistband.

Total cost: No cost at all!

Perfect seam matching!

Pretty pockets.