Another go at Burda Style 08-2011-130: Shorter shorts

Sometimes a pattern won't let go. I made stretchy woven shorts, and thought I had figured out a successful item from this pattern, but I still felt like making version with snaps. I also wanted to try these in a non stretch, my own ranting about the silliness of Burda having made me think about this fabric discrepency far too much, so did not put the pattern away.

A small piece of denim was lying around, thinking it might be an A- line Christmas present dress for a 4 year old niece, but when the shorts pattern happened to lie close enough to it on the floor (yes, I should tidy my sewing room), I somehow found myself cutting out a pair of mid thigh length denim shorts - non stretch denim. This was much more fun than tidying my sewing room. Truly I had entered the room with the sole intention of doing some housework in there, but the atmosphere is very persuasive.....
Here they are.







As expected, the fit is rather more snug that the stretch pair, and I did not do any of the dart or waist taking-in that the stretch pair had required. I also sewed the side seams with a skinny seam allowance. However, the fit difference was not as great as I had anticipated. The pattern pieces are the same as the stretch pair. This is a thin denim, and although there is no official stretch to the fabric, we all know how denim behaves. I expect these to loosen with wear.

The side snaps are my daughter's favourite feature in these shorts. I found them rather tricky to apply. I find any sewing project that involves hammers and a visit to the shed a stretch to my comfort zone. Unfortunately, one snap fell off, due to insufficient bashing, and had to be reapplied. My husband kindly applied superior force to the cap side of the snaps, but was not available for the eyelet side. I may need to recruit him again, should there be any more wardrobe malfunctions. I have suggested to my daughter that she wear these at home for a day before trying them in public ;).

I am pleased with the inside.

I used a cotton/hemp blend as interfacing for the waistband and button placket, and bound the waist facing with a bias strip of quilting weight cotton. Having some of this left, I then bound the crotch seam, for no reason in particular. I think cleaning procrastination had taken over.

My sewing room is still very messy. The procrastination was most effective.