With my desire for cute lingerie and sleepwear still going strong, I went looking for more cute patterns. I had bought a non-stretch burnout velvet when I bought the fabric for my periwinkle bralette, so I needed patterns for woven fabrics. I thought knickers might make a nice lower half and decided to try my hand at drafting a pair from Vera Venus' French Knicker Tutorial.
The drafting went pretty smoothly, even though this was my first pattern drafting attempt besides my corset. Surprisingly beginner-friendly! There is one point where you put in darts, then close the dart to flare out the base of the leg, but I didn't want the shorts to be too loose in the leg so I didn't do that.
Once my pattern was drafted I figured I'd better do a mockup in something simple before cutting into my expensive velvet. So I pulled out some of the pale purple cotton broadcloth that I can't seem to get rid of.
That's when I realized that a pair of simple cotton shorts would make great summer pajamas and waste not want not... I decided to make them as a test run more than a simple mockup.
So I cut out my pattern with a half-inch seam allowance all around to give me room to do french seams. The hems got a full inch, though.
I pinned it all together to test the fit, and I'm glad I did. The fit was a bit too tight in the waist. I simply decided not to sew up the front darts the pattern calls for (I'm not shaped that way anyway lol). Satisfied with the fit, I got to sewing.
The back darts went first, then I french seamed the short inseams. The crotch seam went next and was also given a french seam.
Then I pinned up the sides to double-check the fit and was very happy with the result, except I felt like the waist sat a bit too high in the front. I experimented with folding the center front down a bit and settled on leaving the side front seams at the height they were but dipping in an inch at the center front.
With that settled, I french seamed the full right side seam and the left side seam below the opening. If memory serves, the pattern drafting instructions call for an opening on both sides, but my hip-to-waist ratio is small so I can get away with one opening.
Next it was time to finish the opening. I opted to bind the opening in one long piece of bias tape. The tape was a quarter-inch wide when folded but attached to a half-inch seam allowance. The binding on the front side of the opening gets folded under and still overlaps with the binding on the back edge to form a sort of placket.
Then I could attach the waistband. I wanted something thin since the shorts are already pretty high-waisted. I cut a piece of fabric two inches wide so that once it was folded in on itself it would be a half-inch wide to match my seam allowance. I was too lazy to attach it properly, so I just encased the raw edges of the waist inside the waistband and topstitched it all together.
I finished the waistband end on the front half of the opening to line up with the edge of the opening (mostly), but the end on the back half extends a bit. A buttonhole went on the front end, with a button on the extended back edge.
For the hem, I folded the edges under twice and machine-stitched a bit over a quarter-inch from the edge. My folds weren't super consistent on the inside but no one will see that so it doesn't really matter to me.
To finish I spaced three snaps evenly down the side opening. My side opening is about 7" long, so the snaps are about 1.75" apart. The opening was pulling in an odd way because of how the front placket was folded under but not secured, so I quickly topstitched short lines between each snap on the front.
From drafting to done, I think these shorts took about three or four short evenings of work. They're almost entirely machine stitched except for the button and snaps. All the raw edges are encased to ensure that these survive the heavy wear they're bound to get.
The shorts are just slightly loose in the waist, but they definitely would have been too tight with the front darts. The bottom of the crotch seam could be an inch higher and still fit well. When I make these shorts out of that next burnout velvet, I'll take the front side seams in by about a quarter-inch on each side and try raising the crotch seam a half-inch (just in case).
I'm super happy with how these turned out and they're definitely going to be my go-to pajama/lounge shorts this summer!
Until next time
Stay warm. Stay safe. Stay healthy.
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