Moar Shorts+ NEWS!

Hello internet friends. I am sorry for being absent for the last few weeks. It was all for awesome reasons which I'll explain further down the post. Until then. Ready. Get set. Shorts!

In the hopes of having a nice and warm summer like the last few years, I came prepared this year. However. The weather has been awful and I can count the times I have worn shorts on one hand. Either way, I made awesome shorts! Again, they are Tap Shorts by Katy&Laney. What can I say. If the pattern fits me and checks all the boxes, then why not make it a million times til it makes me sick?

Compared to my last version, I made no changes. And exactly like the last time, I omitted the pockets and kept the design simple with simply relying on the topstitching.

Oh- My- God. Look at that butt.

So what else can I say? I like the pattern, I love the shorts and I wish I could wear them more often. Tho I made a promise to myself. I will not make the view C anymore. Next time I will try out the view A or B.

And now. To the reason why I have been absent. I got married! We signed the papers and were officially announced husband and wife on the 17th of July. And on the 18th of July we held the reception for our family and friends. The days leading up to it were insanely busy. I had anticipated them to be a bit busy but things got slightly out of control and I had to put some things on the shelf for a bit. But I wouldn't change it in the world. The day(s) were perfect and I am so happy to be married to my best friend. I made a lot of things for the wedding. Including my dress. I had planned on making Mr.Man's suit as well, but I had to give up on the idea due to running out of time. I did start making it, so I will finish it. A longer wedding stuff post is coming up. I promise.

Until then, Kisses.

B&W Tap Shorts

When the weather is cold and rainy outside then blogging about shorts will make the weather better, right? RIGHT?

Last summer Katy&Laney released their first pattern- the Tap Shorts. And I instantly was drawn in by them and made two pairs for myself( Floral and Linen) and during the long heat wave they were my best friends. As the summer should allegedly be here, I wanted to be ready and greet it with new shorts.

Excuse my white pasty legs, it's been a looooooong winter.

Both last year's makes were View C, and I had planned to try out View A and B for this year. But oopsies, I made another C. Mostly because I only had enough of this fabric left for C without any pockets or pattern matching. I cut out size 6 and did no further fit adjustments from the ones I made for my previous versions. I was smart last year and marked all the changes I did to the pattern pieces and cut according to those. Thinking ahead ftw! Though I'm thinking that maybe I should make the hemline lower by a few cm. Last year the length didn't bother me, but this year it feels a bit short. Maybe it's because I haven't gotten used to short clothes yet. And because it's too cold for shorts.

Just like with my floral pair, I serged all the seam allowances and top stitched all the seams open. Call me crazy, but I actually like top stitching. I find it meditating. 

The fabric is 95%cotton and 5% elastane and feels absolutely amazing. I found it in the remnant bin at the fabric shop last year and was waiting for the right moment to cut into it. I knew I wanted a dress out of it, and after I had cut out a dress, I had enough of it left for a cute pair of shorts.

Crazy Tap Shorts

I guess it's safe to say that the pattern that defines my last month or so is Tap Shorts. My friend saw me wear my Floral Tap Shorts and asked where I found a pair of so awesome shorts. THANKYOUIMADETHEM. She demanded I make her a pair like that. So begun my journey to making my third pair of Tap Shorts.

When we went to the local fabric shop, she had her head set on buying the same floral fabric(I cringed inside, I don't want to share the print, I'm selfish!) and when we got to the section of cotton pants fabrics, she saw this. LSD floral/wings/skull/trippy/ thing with so much color and stuff going on. And we both fell in love. I would never make something like this for myself, I think I couldn't pull it off, but she was brave and just went for it. The fabric is 95% cotton and 5% elastane and feels so light.

So the pattern is Tap Shorts View C without the back pockets. I cut out a size 2 for her(she's a teeny girl) and did no alterations to the pattern. I think the pattern is actually made for her as in the fitting everything was perfect(yay, no alterations needed). When I was placing the pattern on the fabric, I was silently praying. This fabric is a nightmare for pattern placements. One little mistake and you'll end up with a buttvortex or a bullseye on something you don't want a bullseye on. Anyways, cutting took forever but I am proud of my print matching skills on the center seams. Almost perfect. I added belt loops and roll hemmed the bottom.

Have you had to make something for your friends because they fell in love with your version? Do tell.

Linen Tap Shorts + Fun Summer Tee

I think it's time to post more pictures of my bum in teh interwebz because (apparently) there aren't enough. I present to you my second pair of Tap Shorts and my first(of probably many) Fun Summer Tee.

Let's start with the shorts by Katy & Laney. I went for view C without the welt pockets in the back. As I had worked out all the fit issues in my Floral(muslin) Tap Shorts I simply put my traced pattern pieces with all the changes already made on the pattern piece and cut away. I did make sure that I had lengthened the side pocket as well because as for the muslin I took in the hips a bit, I didn't bother with resewing the pockets and the opening was WAY to small to fit my hands into pockets, haha.

I did go easier on topstitching this time. I only top stitched the pocket sides, zipper closure and waistband. I even skipped the belt loops this time cause ain't nobody got time fo dat. For hemming I used wide roll hem(like for jeans)

For the fabric I used a dark brown(Mr.Man said it's black and I'm cray-cray....Colorblind men.Sigh) cotton and linen(!!!) blend. Yes. Even though I harbored a deep dislike of wearing and sewing linen, I made a pair of linen shorts for myself(cray-cray). But I had Greece in mind and I knew that I needed to have clothes that allow my body to breathe and linen is perfect for that. Plus the fabric felt so nice and dreamy in the shop that I couldn't resist. And now. I'm a converted woman. I wouldn't go and make myself a whole outfit out of linen but for shorts-dreamy!

The top is the Fun Summer Tee by iCandy Handmade. It's a free PDF pattern that comes in one size, which is M. When I saw the pattern, I thought that it's a great stash buster. I've got a lot of jersey pieces in my stash that are big enough for making just half a shirt and this pattern is a great way to use them all. After I had pieced the pattern together and placed it on the fabric, I realized that the pieces I wanted to use were slightly too narrow. I was missing 2cm of each side. After some careful thinking and re-measuring myself and the pattern, I decided that it wouldn't be too big of a deal(besides, jersey has a lot of give). And I'm happy that I did because the fit is perfect. I think it would have been too baggy in the original size. 

For binding the neckline and armholes, I decided to give myself a headache and use binding of the opposite color. That meant 6 meeting seams that could't be off or they would look horrible. After some effort and help of seam ripper, I managed to get them all perfect and I love the outcome. I used serger to sew all the seams. For hem I used the rolled hem function with a bit of stretching on my serger. I might undo that at some point and go for regular twin needle seam. But knowing myself, I'll think about it and will never get to it. And I kind of like the contrasting color on the hem.

The fabrics are both cotton jersey. I got the red one from Abakhan years ago and I bought the white one from my local fabric shop. I'm kind of sad that I won't see the red flowers on my stash shelf anymore but hey, I've got an awesomesauce shirt now. SUCK IT STASH!

What have you been up to? Any tips on great stash busting patterns?

Tap Shorts Wearable muslin

This post is LOOOONG overdue. I finished these a month ago with one goal in sight. Greece. And after that I couldn't get a chance for a proper photoshoot but this weekend Mr.Man and I went out and had a shoot under the scorching summer sun(it was bright, yo) so I'm sorry my eyes are half closed because it was too hard to keep them open without squinting.

Welcome Tap Shorts by the ever so lovely Katy&Laney. This is their first pattern and I think they have done an outstanding job. Plus the pattern came out exactly at the time when I was looking for the perfect pattern for shorts. How great is that!

I thought about these as a muslin, to test the fit and see what alterations I had to make. I chose to sew the view C without the welted back pockets. I cut out a size 6 and they fit me very well around the waist. Though I had to lower the front waist a bit because it was higher on my body than the back which was perfect height. I did take in 4cm from both hips and 6cm from the bottom, I also added 5 cm to the length and I'm really happy with the length.

Because I had to lower the waist in front and take in the hips, my pocket opening is REALLY short on these. Not a big deal as I never wear stuff in my pockets anyways, but I made a note on my pattern to lengthen the pocket opening on next shorts to get the look right. I also added belt loops using my favorite method to make them.

When I started to cut the shorts out of the fabric I was terrified. In my mind I kept repeating "Watch the print placement, watch the print placement." I was super paranoid that I would overlook something and would end up with poorly placed flowers on my flower(if you know what I mean) but in the end my worries were gone when I saw that nothing is highlighting anything I didn't want to be highlighted.

Tap Shorts, RTW top from Greece, shoes from godmother

 The fabric is 95%cotton and 5% elastane and it was a delight to sew. I got so carried away with sewing and topstitching that ALL of the seam allowances ate topstitched in opposite directions. The hem is also topstitched down 2cm from the hemline(that makes 4cm in total for turns).

The pattern was well constructed. I think I had the issue with the hips being too wide as they are constructing for a more pear shaped figure while I fall under hourglass(I think). Anyways it's not a big deal as I traced the pattern(like I always do) for my size and I made the changes I needed to the traced pattern so the next pair would fit perfectly.

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Have you sewn the Tap shorts? How did they turn out? Or are you planning to make them?

This post has been linked up in Simple Simon & Co Sewing Saturdays