Friday, May 22, 2009

playground shorts





It's getting hot around here and my daughter doesn't have too many pairs of shorts. I went to Target looking for some and even $5 was too much too pay. Now you know how cheap I am. So, I pulled out my patterns yesterday morning and found this one for shorts - Butterick B4118. They only took 1/2 yard (maybe less) and I used some of the left over linen from the skirt. These were simple. But, as usual, there are always some adjustments. They are so big even in size 2. I wish I would have tried them on her before I put the elastic in the back waistband. You sew it in to the side seams and I was too lazy to unpick the sides once I was done to re size them. So, I tried putting button holes in the front waist band and my sewing machine kept jamming up with the elastic from the back of the shorts hitting the feed dog. So in the end I just pleated the waist band over and hand sewed some buttons on the front and I really like how they turned out. I also made the leg hem shorter and instead of hand sewing the waist band down inside, I just stitched in the ditch along the seam. Now that I know how I want them, I am going to make a few more pairs because even with the adjustments they really do sew up fast. And, I figured it out and they cost about $2.00 to make plus I like them better than the little ones at Target!

6 comments:

Johanna said...

My daughter Kaya is wearing a pair today that I made for her last year! You can see a pic from last year here:

http://jofrog16.motime.com/post/716649#716649

The pattern is linked there, Butterick 3107, and they couldn't be simpler to make, but they ran large also.

Last year she had a big cloth diaper under them, but this year just her tiny little bum! They still look cute though, were super duper cheap (I used linen on sale at Joann Fabrics), and we are getting two seasons out of them! Who can complain?

KID, MD said...

SO cute! I love her peasant top as well.

Juanita said...

How creative of you, and an adorable little girl to model!

Father's Day Giveaway over at my blog - come see!

Happy Memorial Day!!

Katie said...

Those turned out really cute! I decided to fire up my old beloved machine again recently after a long hiatus (since my third was born two and a half years ago!) I needed to modify some summer pj's for my son, and I decided instead of paying a fortune for nightgowns, I would just sew up some simple ones in pretty fabrics. Nightgowns are so much easier than trying to keep track of a set of pj's!

Thanks for the additional inspiration!

Angie - treasuresfortots@gmail.com said...

I love the little top too! Did you make it? Where did you get the pretty applique?

Bianca said...

You always have the best patterns! I've missed reading your blog...so glad to be back :D I love everything you do.