City Shorts (in Plaid)

Last month, Monica of Another Dress emailed me asking whether I'd like to try her new (free, but only currently available in size 3/4) City Shorts pattern. She's in the Southern Hemisphere, where they're headed toward summer - a great time to launch a shorts pattern.  But in the Northern Hemisphere, winter is soon approaching, and here in Texas, we're finally getting some cooler weather.  I told her I'd love to check it out in the spring.

But as I was cutting out Indigo's plaid dress, I thought of Monica's shorts pattern and how perfectly wintery the shorts would be in this tartan with some tights or leggings underneath.

And having the fabric on hand, leftover from her dress, I simply couldn't help myself.  I had to make them.

The pattern itself was easy to sew.  I had never sewn pockets in this way and was so impressed with how simple they are to make.

Matching all those plaid pieces - two front leg pieces, two back leg pieces and the pocket pieces - was less easy.  It's not that it was hard so much as it took a lot of time and concentration. I think it took me longer to cut out the shorts than to sew them.

I cut the shorts on the bias, so the plaid would run horizontally and vertically. Then I cut the the waistband on the crossgrain, so the plaid runs diagonally there.

A few techy details.  I didn't do all of the topstitching that the pattern suggested.  And it was a little tricky sewing the back waistband casing closed with the elastic stitched in first.  Next time, I'd sew the back casing closed, string the elastic through on a safety pin, and then tack it down with a few stitches before proceeding to sew the front waistband closed. 

I laughed when I saw this photo in my photostream.

I try to make taking photos fun, but it's not all rainbows and unicorns.  On the bright side, though, people would (and do) pay big bucks for a pout like Tarikua's. :)

 She was happy again soon enough.

 
 And here are my two girls, in their plaid mama-mades.