Honestly, I cannot remember the last time I sewed a pair of shorts?  Its been a long time, like a really long time! Maybe sometime in the 1980’s or so?  Anyway, during one of my obsessive trips to a thrift store, I picked up a Simplicity easy-to-sew pattern for pants, shorts and a skirt made with woven fabric and a knit fold-over waistband.  I have a knit skirt like this and it is really comfortable.  I was a bit curious about making this combination of woven and knit fabric and decided to give it a try.

The first (and only) hurdle was deciding what size to cut.  I am sure I am not alone when I say I dislike measuring my hips and waist.  The number is never what I think it should be, which is to say I think I should be the same size as when I made that last pair of shorts.  Ha.  Guess what? I am not.  When I took measurements and looked at the pattern, it indicated I should make the shorts as a size 14.  The vanity running through me said, well that is clearly a mistake because I don’t wear that size.  Truth be told, I almost cut the pattern out as a 10 (which is my ready to wear size).  Vanity runs strong and deep my friends. At that point,  I had to have a very firm talk with myself. It went something like this:  What does it matter if you cut a size 14?  Well, of course it matters – it means I have gone from a size 10 to a 14.  No, no it doesn’t and if you cut these at a size ten, they won’t fit and you will be so irritated. On and on we went, the two of us inside my head.  Finally the pragmatist won and the vain side lost.  I cut them as a size 14 and here I am telling all the world about it – well, at least the portion of the world who reads my blog.

Shorts that actually fit!!

Guess what?  The shorts took maybe an hour to make and THEY FIT GREAT!!  Shout that to the world – in handmade shorts, I wear a 14 and I made a pair that fit!!!

Woven shorts with a knit waistband = comfortable!

I debated whether to actually take a photo of the waistband but decided I should because I am being all mature and accepting of whatever size I am and the waistband is the cool part of the shorts. (If that isn’t a run-on sentence, I don’t know what is.). I love the fabric I used – it is from Alison Glass’ Handcrafted line of batiks and is called Artifact in Navy. (Click the link if you want to check it out in the shop.). Overall, I love these and will wear them a lot.  My only disappointment is I didn’t put pockets on them.  I like having a pocket for my phone and car or house key if I go for a walk.  I think I can put a patch pocket on the back side still and that will fix things right up!  The next pair are going to be in knit fabric for top and bottom.  I want to see how that changes things up.  I suppose my take away from this project has to be that the numbers are just numbers.  My hips are what they are and if you want something to work, just follow the size and measurements as laid out on the pattern.  They didn’t put those numbers there to make me mad, rather they put them there so I could be successful with the project.

Community Service Quilt, Pine Tree Quilt Guild

One other quick sewing project I did last week was to bind a quilt that someone in my guild made for Community Service.  This project was pieced and quilted, it just needed someone to bind it.  I happen to enjoy binding so that was an easy one to help with. When I got it home, I saw the binding was made and was quite narrow.  The maker cut a two inch strip where I usually cut 2 1/4 and sometimes 2 1/2″ strips.  I decided to machine stitch it to both front and back sides so it would be really durable.

As I came to the end of the binding strip, I realized it wasn’t going to be long enough.  I should have checked it before I started but I made the assumption that the maker had done that.  Looked like it was going to be a scrappy binding.  I found a little print that seemed to work with the polka dot binding provided with the quilt.  It all looks fine.

Pieced binding for the win!

I especially like the backing for the quilt.  It is a nice denim with a printed pattern.  This quilt will last for a long time.  It is earmarked for the local foster youth program.  When the kids age out of the system at 18 years old, our guild gives them a quilt to add to their belongings. This one will work for a guy or girl.

Delicious boysenberries, or are they?

Last story of the day…..  on Saturday, over the weekend, I was picking berries early in the morning.  It was gorgeous out and there are a zillion berries right now.  I popped one in my mouth and guess what?  There was a beetle on the underside of the berry.  Ugh!  It was horrible.  There I was having my zen moment picking berries all alone and all of a sudden, I was spitting beetle out of my mouth.  Yuk!!!  I will be a little more careful before tossing another berry in my mouth.  🙂

Reminder – I will be back on Wednesday this week with the June Blogger Bundle.  It was curated by Paige Alexander of Quilted Blooms and I am really excited to see what she has made with the fabrics!  See you there!!

Linking to Cooking Up Quilts, Lets Bee Social, and TGIFF.  Info is at the top of the page, under Link Ups.

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