Wardrobe basics - Shorts and T Shirt

Well the weather has finally warmed up around this place so I recently broke out all my summer clothes, only to find that the majority of them don't fit me any more.  As this was in the middle of Me Made May I was only looking at my me made clothes and unfortunately not one pair of my shorts made previously will fit....well back to the drawing board. Some wardrobe basics required!

I pulled out my old shorts pattern that I created last year.  The shorts that I made from this pattern were a great fit at the time so I did a comparison between my new pants pattern that I just made and the shorts - yep I need to add some extra width this year.

I took my old shorts pattern, added about 1/4" to the side seams (Then sewed the entire thing together with 1/4" seams), added a little length to the legs and about 1/2" to the rise at the center back.

To do a test run I pulled out the scraps of red paisley I used to make this dress to use as a muslin.

I only just had enough material to cut out the shorts and the waistband and then I found two tiny little triangle scraps I could use as backing for slash pocket pieces.  This means however that the pocket openings are tiny and they're almost unusable.

The rest of the pockets were made from some scrap orange cotton I had in the stash.

I decided for these trial shorts I wouldn't bother with the front fly and cut off the front fly extension and just sewed up the front seam - they are just big enough to slide on over my hips.  A piece of elastic inside the waistband holds everything in place. (please excuse the wrinkles in all these photos my iron has been packed away and I can't be bothered getting it back out again).

I was pretty happy with the finished shorts - only problem was I had nothing to wear them with....None of my T shirts even remotely go with this fabric so I decided to use up the scraps of leftover grey knit I used for the Sallie Jump Suit to make a new shirt.

I used the kimono Tee pattern from the Sallie Jump Suit - but took about 1/2 inch out of center front/ back as I find that the jumpsuit is a big too baggy.  The V at the center front I then raised about 1/4".  At the back I raised the V about 4 inches since it doesn't need to be able to go on over my hips anymore.  I did not add the straps at the back either.

 I also added about 2" to the length of the pattern as I find it too short and wanted this shirt to be longer.  Unfortunately these new pattern pieces would not fit onto the piece of fabric I had left over so after much playing around, I found that I could cut the pieces into two and just have an extra seam just under the bust area so I went with that.

Then I had to figure out how I wanted to finish the edges - after a bit of thinking I decided that I could use a different material to line it with and make it reversible.  I had some green knit left over from this asymmetrical top so I re-cut the pattern from that fabric as well and then sewed the two layers together.

Stupid me however forgot to follow the instructions and ended up sewing the shoulders together early in the piece and was then unable to turn it right side out which ended up with me doing a lot of unpicking of nicely serged seams.  grrrrr - this simple top ended up taking me a full day to make.

Its a nice top but it's nothing special.

I then went back to my shorts pattern.  I found a piece of black twill in my stash that much have been leftover from making my sister her Victorian Walking Skirt and used that for a nice pair of shorts.  This time I did put in the front fly and full sized front pockets.

 I also added patch pockets on the back.  To add some detail I took the lining I used for the pockets and turned it over the top edge of the pockets to create a contrast edge.

All top stitching  was done in purple thread and the waistband is secured with 4 purple star snaps.

Unfortunately after wearing these shorts for a day I realised that they weren't going to work as is.  The waistband was way too big and my pants were falling off.  I couldn't however be bothered taking the waist band off entirely and reshaping it so instead I just un-picked the top stitching holding the top of the waistband together along the back from side seam to side seam and inserted some elastic in.  I stitched the elastic down at each side seams then re-sewed the waist band enclosing the elastic.  That'll do!