181: Sewing Shorts

8 months ago

Laurel H

Blog, Copying Ready-Made Garments, creating_a_wardrobe, Fast sewing, Sample makiing, Sewing Pants, women's clothing

The front side seam, laid over the back side seam, saving a total of 2 inches in width, allowing the shorts to be cut from one width of the fabric.

This post is a continuation of the video, Tight Cutting.

It was July and hot. I was going to the TexWorld Trade Show at the Javits Center in New York City to attend their seminars. I wanted to wear cool, business attire.

Established in 2006, Texworld New York City serves as a place of inspiration for designers, buyers, and industry professionals with exclusive trend forecasts and educational seminars hosted by industry-leading professionals.

Dress, even in NYC, is now casual. A pair of Bermuda shorts to match my linen jacket would be perfect, but I had almost no fabric left after making a jacket, skirt, and slacks from the blue linen. My son Andrew and I made a video as I cut the shorts. Our video, Cutting Tight, is up on YouTube.

The blue jacket had been copied from a purchased jacket.

How to copy a ready-made garment is explained in Copying a Man’s Shirt. No stitches are removed when copying a ready-made garment.

The purchased, unlined jacket that was copied.

Laurel's new suit jacket. — The new copied suit jacket with added lining. The shorts will be worn with this jacket.

Sewing a mock-side seam down the inside of the pants.

I used the same sewing I used the same sewing procedures I learned in industry to sew the shorts that I use to sew pants.

(Step-by-step instructions for drafting pants and skirts are presented in The Basics for Drafting and Fitting Pants and Skirts; Step-by-step instructions for sewing pants and skirts are presented in The Basics for Sewing Pants and Skirts. I use my books when I draft and sew. I’m really glad I wrote them because they save me hours of time. )

But first I sewed a 1/8 inch seam down the inside of the pants where the side seams would have been to give the illusion that the pants have side seams.

Finished side seam's appearance. — Finished side seam’s appearance. Color is reduced to allow the mock-side-seam to show.

The crotch pieces were sewn after the mock-side-seam was sewn.

The crotch extensions are sewn next. This is important , as the crotch extensions need to be in place before the zipper can be set. As with al garments sewn using industrial procedures, the zipper is set first, or as soon as possible.