![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tiffsewcrafty.files.wordpress.com\/2021\/08\/pattern-pieces-cut.jpg?w=1024\")
Ten pattern pieces including the flounce, and eight pieces if you don’t want to add the flounce. And that’s before you have to cut out interfacing for the waistband. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n\n As I am on the short side (under 5\u20190\u201d), I took the crotch up one inch after vaguely test-fitting the pattern piece on me. That was my first mistake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My second mistake was not taking my measurements before buying this pattern and assuming I would still fit a 28-30 inch waist. But, more on that later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For this project I used a desert orange linen-look fabric from Jo-Ann’s. While still slightly transparent, the color was dark enough to not have to worry about a loose pair of shorts to be too see-through. It frays pretty easily as well, but that puts my pinking shears to good use! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I also bought a tailor’s ham for this project, and it has been a game-changer for ironing curved seams. I tried to buy one while I was sewing face masks last year. But, like a lot of things since the pandemic started, it was very often sold out at the store (and way too expensive online, for some weird reason).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sewing the Lapped Zipper<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
As I said, this is my first time sewing a lapped zipper. I thought I would have to do more seam ripping and re-sewing, but I feel like I was pretty successful just following the pattern instructions and illustrations. I\u2019ll admit that I leaned heavily on the illustrations for the directions to make sense, and pinned a lot of seams to make sure that I would be sewing them correctly. I would honestly ditch the pattern instructions and follow a YouTube tutorial instead. However, I was happy to have a still-working zipper sewn into the front of my shorts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tiffsewcrafty.files.wordpress.com\/2021\/08\/marking-zipper-seams.jpg?w=768\")
What I did first is mark how far to iron each side of the zipper opening to create the “front” and “back” of the zipper. That’s because the pattern instructions calls for the fold of each side to be different widths. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li> ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tiffsewcrafty.files.wordpress.com\/2021\/08\/ironed-zipper-seams.jpg?w=768\")
Here’s what the zipper opening looks like after it’s ironed. After that is where the pattern instructions get a little confusing. Basically, you sew the side of the zipper that will be the “back” face down on the inside of the front of the shorts. Then close the zipper and sew the other side of the zipper opening on top of the zipper. (I had to go slow on my sewing machine to make sure I didn’t sew into any of the zipper teeth.) You’ll get a much better explanation by searching “how to sew a lapped zipper” in YouTube. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li> ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tiffsewcrafty.files.wordpress.com\/2021\/08\/inside-finished-zipper.jpg?w=768\")
Here’s what the back of the completed zipper looks like on the inside (or “wrong” side) of the front of the shorts. First time sewing with a zipper foot in a while, so the stitches look a bit dodgy around the zipper pull. (Don’t worry, they haven’t come undone on me yet.) <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li> ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tiffsewcrafty.files.wordpress.com\/2021\/08\/outside-with-zipper.jpg?w=768\")
Here’s what the completed zipper looks like on the outside (or “right” side) of the shorts. Not bad for a first attempt! <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Sewing the Crotch Seam<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Like the zipper, the sewing pattern directions for the crotch seam were equally as confusing. I took some pictures of the process to hopefully better illustrate how to sew the back of the shorts to the front. You basically sew the short \u201cL\u201d of both pieces together, then sew up the center back of the shorts to close them. This took a few times of rearranging, re-pinning, and squinting at the illustrations to figure that out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tiffsewcrafty.files.wordpress.com\/2021\/08\/pinning-small-l.jpg?w=1024\")
First, with “right” side of the front and back of the shorts facing each other, pin and sew the short “L” of the back pieces to the front. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li> ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tiffsewcrafty.files.wordpress.com\/2021\/08\/pinning-back-closed.jpg?w=1024\")
Then just pin and sew of the center back of the shorts from your new crotch seam. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li> ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tiffsewcrafty.files.wordpress.com\/2021\/08\/finished-crotch-seam.jpg?w=1024\")
This is what the crotch seam and back of the shorts look like once it’s sewn together.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n\n With the zipper on and the front and back sewn together, I did my first test fit. Surprisingly, they fit really well! Not too snug, but not too loose. The crotch didn\u2019t seem too short or too long on me. I had hope that I\u2019d get lucky with this pattern, and maybe it\u2019ll fit right out of the pattern envelope. Of course this was before I moved on to the waistband, where my hope would slowly wither away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But more of that in Part 2!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Seriously, this waistband deserves its own blog post)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You know how you have patterns and fabric for six sewing projects just waiting for you at home, but you go out to buy more anyway? This project is definitely the case. I was having a bad day at work, saw that Jo-Ann’s was having a $2 McCall’s pattern sale and linen was 60% off, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[12,19],"class_list":["post-46","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mccalls","tag-m7961","tag-sewing","has-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tiffsewcrafty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tiffsewcrafty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tiffsewcrafty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tiffsewcrafty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tiffsewcrafty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tiffsewcrafty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":251,"href":"https:\/\/tiffsewcrafty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46\/revisions\/251"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tiffsewcrafty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tiffsewcrafty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tiffsewcrafty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tiffsewcrafty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}