Weeding Out Short Shorts Simplicity 5695

Around the house Girl M wears knit shorts.  Short shorts.  Now that she is getting taller, very short shorts.  I knew I needed to take care of this little problem.

It's impossible to find appropriate shorts at the stores.  They are either too tight, too short, too everything.   What ever happened to just plain old shorts?

I had this Simplicity 5695 pattern in Girl M's pattern stash forever.  Would it be considered a vintage pattern since it's from 1982?  Wow I was in the 2nd grade!

The Simplicity 5695 was an easy short pattern.  Only two pieces. I used a cut of blue cotton/poly/spandex knit I had 2.5 yards of.  I planned on making a cardigan/jacket with it.  The shorts only took 8" of fabric!

I don't think I've ever sewn a garment that only took 8"!

Simplicity 5695

$1.50 shorts ($.88 fabric + trim)

I had a piece of red plaid bias tape to use for the trim and a perfect sized length of 3/4" elastic for the waist.  This was pure luck!

Simplicity 5695  Shorts

Girl M couldn't figure out which way to put the shorts on.  Unfortunately they are backwards in this picture!

I did sew in a piece of ribbon into the back casing so she would know how they went.

Shorts on backward

Back View

 I had some knit fabric in my knit fabric scrap bin to make her up a few more pairs.  She didn't like the cotton bias tape for the trim so I just made a 1" strip from the same fabric to add for the trim.  I sewed it to the shorts right sides together with a little less than a 1/2" seam allowances then turned the binding piece over the seam allowance and stitched in the ditched along the top side.  I trimmed the binding excess along the back.  The trim turned out nice and she liked the black shorts even more.

This version was made with a scrap piece of ponte knit.  I only had 1/2" elastic so I trimmed the waistband height, serged the edge, folded over the waistband and top stitched.

Simplicity 5695 Black Shorts

Not a great picture, she wouldn't stand still!

Candid Shot

Back View

  For every pair of shorts I make Girl M I make her bring me a pair of too short shorts.  I've made her three pair so far.

My next project will be making her a muslin for school shorts.  A twill or denim style with a zipper and button closure, 12" length, waistband with belt loops and pockets.  The things we do for our kids! I think the Butterick 6061 pattern fits the bill perfect.

Butterick 6061

Until next time..................

Bonnie

Heather Blue Jersey Knit Yoga Skirt

I'm on a roll with the yoga style skirt.  I used the leftover fabric from this project to whip up another yoga skirt.

I used the 118" skirt hem flare pattern for this version.  I serged it up in about 5 minutes, added a waistband, serged the bottom hem & turned it up 1/2" and top stitched.  I think it might have taken me 20-30 minutes to make up this skirt.

I LOVE IT!

Yoga Skirt

Yoga skirt with Sears T-shirt

Yoga skirt with cap sleeve v-neck shirt

$4.00 yoga skirt.

I am thinking of maybe hacking the skirt  pattern once or twice more for a skirt with a little less flare at the bottom hem.

Until next time.....................

Bonnie

Chivalry Isn't Dead (Part 2)

Girl M has softball tournaments on Saturday and Sunday.  She asked if  Boy Manners could come with us.

After Boy Manners arrived at our house (on time!), he introduced his Mother to Girl M, and myself.  A few minutes of pleasant conversation we were ready to pack up and leave.  Boy Manners carried out bags for us and holding doors open,

We arrived at the ball field and once again Boy Manners took bags, chairs, etc and carried to the field without hesitation.  The heat was horrible.  It was 97 degrees and there was no wind.  Not one complaint did we hear from Boy Manners.  The start of Girl M's game was delayed for over 3 hours because of scheduling and they were able to sit and chat and joke around.  It was strange to see them sitting there next to each other talking.  He was a gentleman and I noticed he was very attentive to her.  She was a little giggly.

Once games finally got started Boy Manners was stuck with Girl M's family for the next 7 hours.  Not once did I hear him complain.  Either about the heat, how long the games were or that he was bored (which I am sure he was).

My brother-in law came to watch the games and brought my Nephew who is the same age as Boy Manners.  Between games they were going to go grab something to eat and bring it back.  Boy Manners asked Girl M's Dad permission to go with them.  And asked if he could bring anything back for us.

After games wrapped up, Boy Manners put up chairs and grabbed Girl M's softball bag to carry back to the car.  We had planned on going out for dinner but since it was almost 10pm we opted for McDonald's.  What teenager doesn't want to go on a double date with their parents to McDonald's?  We made a memory!

Everyone was so exhausted that dinner was short and quiet.  The ride home was even quieter.  I don't think the two of them said five words to each other the whole hour drive.  Girl M. fell asleep in the car on the way home.  He kidded her about that!

Boy Manners thanked me for allowing him to come & said he had a good time.  He also thanked me for dinner (a whole $2) and said when he gets back from visiting his sister he would love to visit our Church with us.

He did text Girl M the next day to see how she felt and that he enjoyed the day with her & her family.

Overall I think it was a great first time.  I was afraid my first impressions of Boy Manners would be shattered after getting to know him a little better but it was all good.

Dear Hubby even told Girl M that when Boy Manners gets back we'll take them to a movie.  (WOW!  Dear Hubby doesn't EVER  go to the movies!)

Until next time..............

Bonnie

Ocean Blue Paisley ITY Knit Yoga Skirt

I found this royal blue, pleated v-neck top in my closet I bought from Cato's a few years ago that I've only worn once.  I love the top but didn't have a skirt to wear with it.

Cato Blue Top

I used my 135" skirt hem pattern hack pattern for this skirt.

Ocean Blue Paisley ITY Knit

Yoga waistband

Yoga Skirt

New Wardrobe

$7.00 Yoga Skirt

This fabric is so soft and silky.  I was wonderful to work with.  I three thread serged the side seams, made a yoga waistband, serged it onto the skirt and rolled hem the bottom of the skirt in a light blue thread.

I can not wait to wear this outfit!

Until next time...............

Bonnie

McCall 7160 Full Circle Skirt Pattern Hack

I just love the McCall 7160 skirt.  The drape, the fit and the swirl factor!  Since it's a GOOD thing, I thought that I could hack it into a yoga style skirt.

I've wanted a yoga skirt for a year or so but I knew it was such an easy pattern I couldn't see spending $15 from Silhouette Patterns for it.  I did see a similar skirt at Wal-Mart last week for only $8, and thought maybe I would just buy it, try it on, measure it then return it.

But I thought I would just hack the pattern I already liked and add a yoga style waistband.

First,  I copied the tissue pattern onto my brown kraft paper.

McCall 7180 Skirt Pattern Hack

Next I made four pencil lines from waist to hem.

Slashing pattern

I measured 1-1/4" and marked on either side of the penciled lines.  Cutting the penciled lines from bottom to towards the waist leaving a 1/4" hinge at the top.

Mark and overlap

I overlapped each cut piece matching up the pencil marks.  Tape the overlapped paper.  This significantly made the skirt hem narrower.

Pattern hack

I repeated the steps again and again to make a total of three different skirt flare widths.  Would you call this the slash & shrink method?

Slash & shrink again & again

Three new skirt patterns

Three different skirt pattern flares.

I am excited to have a number of great fitting skirt patterns to choose from now.

I am going to go pick a top from my closet that I like and never wear because I don't have an appropriate proportion skirt to top ration to wear.

Cooling Bands For Hot Days

Girl M. is playing in an All-Stars Softball tournament.  I don't think the league realizes it's over 100 degrees when these girls play.  Not only is is bad on the players but it sure makes the parents cranky too!

I bought two of these neck cooling bands a few years ago at Dollar Tree for a trip to the beach.  We've used them many times and I always threatened to make more............ AND finally I made 7 more.

I used some steps from this tutorial.  I would make them longer.  Maybe 44" length. And I wouldn't  sew a parallel seam in the middle of the 14" pocket for the gel.  Making it easier to evenly distribute the water filled gel to fill the entire pocket.

Each band only took 1/2 tsp of the gel crystals.  I have plenty leftover.  Guess what the family is getting for Christmas!

Cooling Bands

Easy, fast, and I am so thankful I did!  They came in handy and helped cool us off.  It was 97 degrees and there wasn't a cloud in sight.  No wind either.  Just plain old HOT!

Girl M warming up

 Sunday's game was cancelled due to weather.  A 360 degree change from the previous day!

Girl M waiting for lighting to pass

I'm off to sew something wonderful in the Air Conditioning!

Until next time...................

Bonnie

Simplicity 7243 White Ponte Knit Princess Sheath Dress

I picked a Bob Mackie navy and white jacket from the back of my closet so make something to wear to go with it.

The jacket measured 30" in length and in the Dressed to Kill Gently book by Peggy Sagers it says to keep the jacket in proportion to my body my skirt/dress needs to be only 10" showing below the bottom of the jacket.

I thought a princess sheath dress would fit the bill perfect.

I've made the Simplicity 7243 pattern many times in the past here and here and I thought why re-draft a pattern when I have a perfect fit one already.

I did change it up a little by making the dress sleeveless, used facings for the neckline and the armholes, shortened it to 40" and top stitched the princess seams.

Simplicity 7243 White Ponte Knit Sheath Dress

Princess seams topstitched

Neck facing

Armhole facings

This is such a great fit on me and I get many compliments when I wear this pattern.  It's a perfect dress to wear with the Bob Mackie Navy jacket I've had in the back of my closet for a few years.

I hope I do Bob Mackie proud.  I'll be wearing it to Church this coming Sunday.

Bob Mackie Jacket

$10.00 Dress

I also made a slip from the same pattern.  I just lowered the neckline and the armholes and shortened the length by 2".

Princess seam slip

I serged all seams with three threads.  The smaller seams helped the seams stretch.

Slip

Slip

Slip bottom hem

This fabric was great to work with.  It sewed up like a dream and with the stretch the fit is great under the dress.

$3.98 slip

I will be making more slips from this fabric in the future for sure.

Until next time...................

Bonnie