A Short Tutorial (groan)

Jed is away.
4/5th's of the Fab Five are poorly.
I felt like sewing something quick and cheery to break the monotony of wiping feverish brows and dishing out soup&sympathy.
After chatting with a fellow O+S junkie,last week,she mentioned that she had some Class Picnic shorts to finish.
Ding dong,so did I!


So today I made them.
(and I thought you may like a peep).

I hope the top from last year still fits.....

Prepare the pattern pieces snipping all notches.
I cut a wee notch at the circle to mark the 'stitch to' line.

 Right sides together pin and stitch to the notch that the circle indicated.

Snip,at an angle,to but not through,the stitch stopping point.

Following the pattern press the sewn seam open and press well.
I chose to press my seam in opposite directions.

Fold the shorts wrong sides together and sew the open seam.

Press well.

Press the seam on the right side open.
This will be hidden under the facing.

I like to press my inside seams in opposite directions to stagger bulk.

Neaten the seams and press again.
Pop these pieces to one side.

Transfer the topstitching line to the facing piece.

I found this a pretty quick method.

Sew the facing pieces together matching notches.

Press the seam,the open it and press it flat.

Stitch a basting stitch around the inside of the curve and clip to(but not through)the sewn line.

Press carefully along the basting line.

Flip and press again from the right side.

Place the RIGHT side of the facing to the WRONG side of the shorts.

Pin,sew and trim.

I quite like to reverse stitch over seams that will be affected by trimming.

Turn the facing to the right side and initially press the seam towards the facing.

Roll the seam under your fingers for a smooth seam.

Pin the facing in increments.

I found this a little unsightly.

So I tucked it under the seam and pressed it in place.

Catch the folded seam from the outside when you are pinning the facing.

Pin and topstitch in place.

Tidy Heidi.

Very Tidy Heidi.

I decided to top stitch the edge.

Here I take a little detour from the excellent pattern instructions
Pin the crotch seam staggering the inner leg seam.

Pin the seam. I quite like to pencil in my stitching line.

I like to clip the curves before stitching and I find that it is easier to sew as the seam will straighten out a little as you sew. The notches will be inclosed  in the  overlocking stitch.

Sew and neaten the seam.

Mark the mock fly fold line.

Baste this line in place.

My seam allowance was a wee bit out so I needed to add this to my waistband.

Press the fly to the desired side and press the crotch seam in the same direction.

Press again form the outside.

Pin the flap in place,mark the stitching line and sew in position.

Starting from the bottom of the faux fly,topstitch the crotch seam.

I quite like to stitch a bar tack at the base of the fly.

Press the seam in place.

Super Sturdy for Bouncing Bottoms!

How cute is this?

Fold the backs over the front panels and pin in place.

Stitch as directed by the pattern markings.
It may be easier to stitch on the inside of the shorts.

Press well.

Prepare the front waistband section.

I personally prefer to interface the outer waistband rather then the waistband facing.

Stitch the front waist band sections together matching notches.

Another wee detour.
I like to press the seam open.

Pin the front waistband to the back waistband and sew in place.

Press the seam well.

And then press it open.

Another detour....
At this point I like to fold the seam allowance of my outer waistband in place and press.

Pin the RIGHT side of the INNER waistband to the WRONG side of the shorts.
Sew,press,trim the seams and fold the waistband over  to the right side.
Pin the waistband  in place taking care to cover the original stitch line and sew in place.
I apologise for the lack of photos for this step,I think I may have been rudely interrupted by a vomiting child.

Press the waistband well.
Topstitch around the top of the waistband.

On the inside of the shorts waistband unpick a wee section of the side seam inside the casing.

Thread the elastic through and poke the end into the front of the waistband and stitch in place.

Continue threading the elastic through the casing.

Again,poke the elastic to the front and secure in place.

Stitch in place.
Hand sew this opening closed if you fancy!

And there you have them!

I decided to add some river stone buttons for some fun.

Some button hole tips here

I went with some jazzy green thread.

Bottoms up!

Paired with the blouse in the very pretty City Weekend.

Itty bitty blue ones that would also do a boy
I can dream can't I?

So cute!

Again,co-ordinating with the very sweet City Weekend.

Watch think Baby Baby?

Catch you over there for a pickernick!
x N