Sewing shorts - Zipper fly, baggy crotch, long crotch, tight butt and other alteration issues

I decided when it comes to jeans (or medium weight woven) bottoms to start with shorts instead of pants, This way if it did not fit right I would save fabric and money. Smart thinking on my part. This blog post will show my experience with my first and second ever pair of shorts, the problems I found, the fixes I discovered, and where I am for next time. Hopefully it helps someone else.

To kick things off I decided to start with McCall's pattern 7165 view A.

For my first go-around I decided to just complete the pattern as-is. No adjustments, just to see how it would end up fitting on me.

Of course, never having done shorts with a zipper fly I had to pause there to figure it out. My McCall's book for beginner sewers had completely different instructions than what came with the pattern. Then, when I looked online, people has additional different ways on how to do it. I was so confused. I decided to just do what the pattern called for. 

After basting the front pieces together, with the wrong side of the shorts facing me, I placed the zipper facing up under the left side of the fly. The fly is folded along the fold line. Here I used the zipper foot to sew it to the fly. The top of the fly sticks up past the top of the shorts. Eventually the part sticking up will be hidden in the waistband.

Once the zipper is sewn to the left side you flip it over facedown. The zipper should land in the center. The zipper edge will not line up with the right edge of the right fly. Here I sewed the zipper to the right fly.

That's really it. I didn't have much of a problem with making the mock fly zipper. I can get into more details on my next pair of shorts if requested.

Of course when I was making these I was not thinking of how hard some of the stuff I would be talking about would beto see in photos. These are the shorts. From a distance they are no too terrible. Honestly I was just happy they fit around my waist and my legs could go through them.

Look at all that extra fabric in the crotch area though! Talk about baggy crotch problems! The crotch of the shorts was about an inch or two lower than it should have been. 

The back was a little too baggy. No butt profile at all. Definitely mom shorts. But I'm not even a mom! Haha. Other than that the back fit wasn't too bad. Much better than the front.

Because the fabric is black this photo isn't much help. But not too bad. Just a little looser than I would prefer.

I have to do something about all this fabric.... So what do I do? I had no clue at the time. Internet research to the rescue!!

These are the websites/blogs that helped me out the most:
Lladybird's blog post on trouser fitting.
This picture from afashionablestitch.com
The Colette patterns pants fitting cheatsheet

I can't recommend them highly enough and probably would just be wearing super baggy pants and shorts if it wasn't for their help.

So for my next pair of shorts I knew I needed to shorten the crotch and adjust the crotch shape. Since this was my first time doing it I had to eyeball and guess how much (because I still have no idea how to measure myself on this stuff...)

Can you see where I folded the pattern? I ended up taking out one inch of fabric. I did this to both the front and the back pieces. I did this where the pattern said lengthen/shorten here. This will shorten my crotch line. Then, where you see the blue ink is where I adjusted the crotch curve. I put an arrow to the thick line that I ended up using. I decided to not go as aggressive as I originally drew the line.

My second pair! Not perfect, but sooo much better in the front than the last pair! I don't look like I'm reserving room for anatomy parts I don't have... Plus the crotch doesn't hang down ridiculously.

Side view is also much better. It doesn't just go straight down in the back. I actually have a profile.

The back is a tad too tight. It is wearable, I don't think I'll bust the seams. But on my next pair I'll add just a touch to the back crotch line.

It's so nice to be able to make my own shorts!

I'm thinking my third pair will be near perfect. I just need to go to the store and get more fabric. I still don't feel comfortable cutting into my nice organic cotton. I'll do one more purchase of the cheap stuff for shorts #3 and will let you know how it goes!

Tank top time!

I made this a week or so ago but life got busy and I could never blog about it. The weather warmed up here and got me ready for the warmer weather.

I decided to attempt McCall's M6751.

The model is super cute in it so I looked forward to the end result. I tried finding a similar colored cotton fabric but nothing really stood out to me at the store. I ended up finding a cotton fabric at Joann's. The fabric is called Burnout Cotton Fabric-Packed Floral Multi and is 100% cotton. It was see-through so I lined it with a plain white cotton (basically I cut out two identical tops using each fabric and sewed them together).

I cut a size 12 and graded it out to a 14 for my hips. I also added 1" in length because it seemed short on the model and I know I couldn't pull it off.

And the result?

I apologize for my hair. I've been lazy with it lately. I should have put it up like the model...

The front neckline does not lay flat. It isn't bad but can be noticeable. Not sure if this was my fault or the way the pattern is done.

The back is where I am most disappointed. The hole is right where your bra strap is. I am not one to be able to go braless. Not sure what to do about this. Any suggestions?

Even adding an inch my belly still shows when I raise my arms. Something you might want to think about if you're making this top.

With the exception of my bra showing in the back it's not a bad top. It is comfortable, easy to move around in, and good for warm weather.

Taking a look at my top now and the model's I see her straps are smaller. I might go back and make mine smaller as well. But it won't fix the bra hole :(

Knit t-shirts, gotta love them.

A good old fashioned t-shirt. Who doesn't love them? Comfy and cozy. Good for cold, warm, and hot weather. You can wear them out, you can wear them in. You get my point.

Taking the same McCalls 6964 pattern I used on my long sleeve knit t-shirt I made this short sleeve one. I actually intended to make another long sleeve but I didn't have enough fabric to pull it off.

I found this fabric at Joann's yesterday in the clearance section. And on top of that they had 50% off all of their red dot clearance. I think this ended up costing me $4/yard. No too shabby.

It took some work to keep the stripes together when sewing. This side is better than my other side. But I'm still proud.

And as I mentioned before, I need a new sewing machine! Mine is a simple one. Almost like a featherweight machine. It has no stretch stitch options and a twin needle doesn't work. All I have is the zig zag to work with. I put my machine on the smallest one and just hope it works and my clothes don't fall apart on me. Because I do like wearing these knits! But I'm stuck with this being visible. It just screams homemade... I'll survive.

Time for a cardigan!

My job requires me to wear a lot of cardigans. A LOT of cardigans. During the winter it isn't such a big deal. It's cold, cardigans are comfy. But during the summer... forget about it!

After being so incredibly jealous of my co-workers who have sleeveless, or short sleeve cardigans I finally decided to just make my own. This is the first, and biggest, reason I decided to re-learn how to sew.

So here I am. After making some fun beginner projects I finally made my first cardigan.

I decided to attempt McCalls Pattern 6084.

It's considered easy. And the package says sew time is only one hour! A beginner like me should do just fine right??

Well, not really. This cardigan gave me one night of complete frustration until I quit. I don't know what it is about these instructions but I was just soooo confused. I'm sure you would laugh thinking I was confused by something so simple.

The next day I went back at it. I pretty much just made up some steps to get by. I think it turned out all right though. I think I probably spent 8 hours sewing this 1 hour pattern...

I used a size large for the pattern. I usually use a medium. But dumb me, I bought patterns before I actually started sewing and didn't realize each package didn't have all the sizes. Oops. Won't make that mistake again. So, I made the smallest size in the package. I am definitely going to make the sleeves smaller. They are huge. The rest I can deal with wearing.

I used just some simple black knit fabric I found at Joann's. It's slightly heavier than ideal for summer, but very comfortable.

Boy do my bangs need trimmed! :)

So instead of posting the few things I did when I first started sewing in 2015 I have decided to just put them here. After this I can start fresh with all my 2016 garments and can keep better track :)

In December I was dreaming about Summer. Maybe because I booked a cruise. So I decided to plan for he heat and make this tank top using the Simplicity 1372 pattern.

I opted to use some cute linen fabric I found at Joann's. For the straps I used silky fabric (I have no idea what it really is - Joann's had it under "silky types")

Here is the finished product:

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Then, my next attempt was my first knit project. I quickly learned I do not have the machine for the job. I can't use twin needles, I have no stretch stitch of any sort, I only have the small zig zag you turn until it's a big zig zag (I'm sure there is a name for it). So, I put it on the smallest it would let me and went with that. Hopefully I don't break the seams...

I used McCall's 6964 pattern, only the long sleeve version rather than this short sleeve one below.

And this is how it turned out:

One thing I learned from this one, other than I need a better machine, is be careful when pulling out threads! It is a lot harder with knit. I accidentally made a hole in my shirt! I had to pull it up slightly on the left to hide it behind the neckline. So sad!

I had one more shirt for 2015 but I don't have pictures so I'll just let it go. For my future projects I hope to get better pictures of me actually wearing the items so they wont seem so baggy on my tiny dress form.