Dear readers,This is so rare that it is worth noting. I MADE IT FOR A DEADLINE. Ok, at work, I'm pretty much fine with deadlines but when it comes to sewing I believe that I am cursed. As soon as I think about following a sewalong/contest/etc. there are 100% chances that I won't. Hence, new strategy, I make whatever I want and then believe that the sew along gods will align their plans with mine. This is totally what happened with Shorts on the Line! 2 weeks ago I was browsing my burda magazine collection for a color blocked dress (did not find) but then I rediscovered those seriously cute vintage shorts from the issue of july 2013. I'm not entirely sure what is supposed to be retro about them but I know one thing, I LOVE THEM SO MUCH! I've reached a new level of comfort in the daily Caribbean heat that denim cutoffs CANNOT compete with...
As you can see my ability to have any picture taken without a beagle biting my heel has considerably decreased over the last 4 months. Along with the one of making it with clean pants from the front door to the car, but that's another story. I also have to apologize for the wrinkles, which are the result of way more than 1 day of wear... (TMI?)The nice bonus about this project is that it felt "free". You may or may not recognize the navy linen I used for this dress, the pattern came from my existing burda collection (justifying to move twice overseas with magazines, yes), zipper and eyes and hooks from stash!
Regarding the construction I did not look at the instructions but shorts are pretty straight forward. I used my usual technique for the fly (see here), the pockets are self lined and all seams are finished with the serger and then topstitched.My only note is about waistband, I HATE (yes hate) waistband. Especially the moment when you try to stitch in the ditch the wrong side folded. It gets distorted, it looks bad, stop me now because I can go on for HOURS. I've been experimenting with different techniques (I know Colette just wrote something about using the invisible hem of your machine but I haven't tried), and these were done with a lot of swearing and using the technique described here for shirt cuffs on which I plan to write very (or not) soon.
I can foresee a another version with single welt pockets in the back because honestly, this was way too satisfying and eventless...Now pleeeeaaase tell me if you have a waistband secret (no hand sewing) that I have not heard about!!!