First Pair of Shorts in Decade

 Over the first week of July I completed my first pair of shorts for myself in well over a decade.  I'm not sure why for the last ten years I felt my body type could not wear shorts. So using my limited space and supplies well staying at my son's I decided I needed a project to help break out of my comfort zone.
Using a planning sheet from mybodymodel's Project Planner it was time to re-sketch my pattern of choices mimicking the print in the fabric. 

The Details

Pattern: Lutterloh supplement 273-34-2009. These are a mid-rise knee length short. I'm 5'3" so they might not be knee length on you.
Size: Hip measurement of 128cm. Altered to make them me sized.
Supplies: Fabric, Thread, 4 buttons
Fabric Requirements: I used about 3 yards of African Wax Print. I used this much fabric due to the print. 

Fabric: The Fabric was purchased from Affordable African Prints, which is a group on Facebook. This is a 100% Cotton Ankara Fabric in a green, pink and black print. I would consider it a boarder print as well because the pattern near the bottom selvage was much more condensed than by the top selvage.

Alterations: Need to enlarge the waist by 26cm plus ease. Using the slide and pivot method I added 7.2cm per side. 

Need to also enlarge the hip by 2cm plus ease. Using the same slide and Pivot method I added 1.8cm per side

Modifications: This pattern calls for a zipper fly. I instead decided to make a covered button fly.  

Only one problem with this was I did not have my button hole foot with me to allow my machine to make one step button holes. So did them using zig zag stitch and tacking. 

Thank you to the following tutorials for helping with this process. I did make slight adjustments to their methods but these were very helpful in figuring it out.

Buttonhole: HOW TO SEW BUTTONHOLES WITHOUT AN AUTOMATIC FUNCTION

Button Fly: How to sew: a button fly for jeans 

Changes for Next Time
This pattern went together very easily and created a well fitted pattern. I plan to make these shorts again since they have been a very nice way too beat the hit this summer. In the next pair I will be scooping out the back crotch just slightly and raising the center back maybe  a little. When I first wore them I felt like the mid-rise of these shorts was to low and exposed my under garments in the back a little. What I really think is going on is the crotch might be slightly to short causing some tightness on the bum. Over all I really love these shorts and they could fast become a nice new staple to the summer wardrobe.

Until next time

Live You

Live Now

Live Bold

Start of July Sewing

Starting Fresh

Today is the day to start blogging again. The sewing adventure never stopped. So lets fast forward to summer 2019 and continue the story.

 Currently I am working on a pair of shorts when done they will be made out of  a wonderful Ankara fabric purchased back in 2018 from the Facebook group Affordable African Fabrics. Like every good tale I started with a plan. Let take a quick look at mine.

Before deciding on any patterns this summer I wanted to make sure they would look fabulous on my body type. Using my custom 
mybodymodel 
croquis, and circled by my Lutterloh pattern stash I sat down for days making quick fun sketches in my project planner. In no way are they professional fashion drawing. These simple quick drawings became my fashion idea color book that provided a wonderful chance to try styles I would not normally choose straight away. I drew for days and at the end I had 4 pages of project start points.

One of the best parts of using  mybodymodel as your croquis is that each model is made with your body measurements. This helps you get a truer idea of how something might look in it finished form. Granted a 2D image is never going to be the exact duplicate as your body.







Not sure what a croquis is... Its a French word for sketch. Most often it is a quick sketch of a model done in a few minutes time. The model might change poses several times enabling an artist to have several sketches. In the fashion world it can be used as a quick drawing to see how a style might look. Often these fashion illustrations are not connected to a real persons body measurements.

The pattern I've chosen to use is from my original Lutterloh kit from 2011, pattern number 34 or if you don't have that kit it would be Lutterloh supplement 273-34-2009. 

Lutterloh 273-34-2009

Not sure what Lutterloh is... Lutterloh is a system that uses miniature patterns and a special tape measure to draft up your patterns. You can learn more about the Lutterloh system here.














Lets hope these shorts turn out the way as envisioned. Until next time.

Live you

Live now

Live bold