This cute little pair of gym shorts was recently posted on
The Purl Bee. Since I am an avid walker, I go through shorts quickly, so I thought I would give the free pattern a try.
The pattern is great for using up cotton scraps that aren't large enough for an entire project.
The pattern goes together quickly and easily, the only issue that I had was how open the back leg is. But if you look at the picture from the Purl Bee, you'll see that the shorts are rather open on the model as well. Now, if I had only tried them on before I plowed ahead and attached the binding, I could have fixed the issue quite easily.
Since I wanted the back leg to be less open, and I was too lazy to take out all of the binding, I simply took a tuck out of the back leg. This is not an appropriate alteration, but since all I'm going to do is walk in these shorts, I didn't want to spend the time to do it correctly. For the next pair, I'll know what changes I need to make and I'll make the corrections on the pattern before I sew them together.
What I'll do is redraw the lower portion of the back leg as I would like to retain the original rounded edge on both the front and the back. In the picture below, you can see that the back leg hangs closer to the body, but I lost the rounded edge on the back leg due to the tuck . The back isn't pulling. I was sitting down just before I took the pictures, so what you are seeing is wrinkles. Sorry about that.
The instructions tell you to cut a separate waistband. I did not. I added 1 1/2" to the waist of the pattern and then serged the elastic to the edge, turned it over and then zigzagged it in place.
All in all, it's a very quick and easy gym short pattern to sew up. Just be sure to try them on before you attach the binding so you can make any changes that need to be made. Just pin the sides together and then decide whether or not you need to adjust the back leg. The pattern comes in men's, women's and children's sizes. You can find the free downloadable pattern and all of the instructions
here.
For the next pair, I am going to add an attached under pant using the free pattern from
Cloth Habit. I think it will work quite well.
Those shorts are very cute. Love the colours.
ReplyDeleteThanks BeaJay.
DeleteFor walking, is that short length working for you? I was interested in making these too but I was going to add some length.
ReplyDeleteWhen I'm walking/running, I don't want a long short and I especially enjoy wearing shorts with an attached underpant. As for everyday wear, I wouldn't wear these shorts. If I do wear a short, I usually wear shorts that are knee length, kind of like the old peddle pushers. When I'm exercising, I look for comfort and cool. When I dress, I'm much more modest :)
DeleteVery Cute!
ReplyDeleteThey would be good for the beach too ;) Do you ever get to the beach?
DeleteThese are so nice. Your fabric is lovely. Shorts are such a great idea for the summer. We have been having a nice one here too for a change. Thanks for sharing this pattern. Xx
ReplyDeleteThanks. I don't wear shorts very often. These will only be worn for exercising, but no harm in wearing something that is cute ;)
DeleteThe shorts look great - I have to have some! I will check out the attached underpants too.
ReplyDeleteThanks for showing us these Rhonda.
Hi Kim. I am going to make a pair and add the underpants this upcoming week, so hopefully I will be able to work out any ticks before you give them a try :)
Delete