High-Waisted Nautical Shorts

If I were a little more dedicated to awesome photos, I would've tried to figure out if I could sneak on board a yacht or something so that I could caption my picture "I'M ON A BOAT!"* But alas, I am not, so this will have to do.

I'M ON A PLAY STRUCTURE!

Blatantly ignoring the age recommendations! (And yes, that is a tiny, functional spyglass I'm looking through.)

Too loose over that dip, and not quite fitted through the thigh.

As you can see, I've finished my high-waisted, vaguely retro, nautical-only-in-that-the-buttons-have-anchors-on-them, wearable muslin shorts! The striped top I tried to make to go with it was an utter and craptastic fail, so instead, I cut off the bottom of what used to be an extremely long (to the point of unwearability) RTW tee for a whole nautical outfit.

I started out with a McCall's 6266 pattern from 1978, but ended up modifying it a lot to get closer to the look I wanted. It was originally a size 8, which fit in the waist and nowhere else; I took out a couple inches in the back and added an inch in the front, brought in the inseam, increased the crotch depth, and errrr, unsteepened the curve of the crotch in the back. I am pretty impressed with how the pattern fits my swayback without any darts, and the changes were time-consuming (quality time with my seam ripper!), but not difficult. I'm still not pleased with the bagging under my butt; it looks like I'm going to have to check out the fish-eye dart adjustment that Liz mentioned. I also need to figure out how to correct the front crotch area -- it's too loose over the weird dip between my pelvis and bulging quads. The looseness there used to be a lot worse, but I could only correct so much without cutting and sewing up a whole new pair of shorts. The thigh area itself suffers a little from my indecisiveness regarding the style I wanted, as I couldn't decide if I wanted them super fitted, or flaring out a little like Justine's playsuit...so now they're this weird amalgam of questionable flattering-ness.

The shorts as originally shown in the pattern are very short, so with all the added length they sort of turned into this vast expanse of dark blue. I felt like it needed something to add interest, so I sewed on two tabs and some gold buttons. The back, however, is plain, except for the unfortunately visible centered zipper. Tabs on the back don't seem to make much sense, though, so I'm just leaving it as is. Honestly, I don't have to look at it, so I'm not especially bothered by it.

The one side is ultra-wrinkly because of the way I'm standing.

The waistband piece in the pattern was really just a long rectangle, but this results in gaping both in front and back, so if I were to make this again I'd probably try to draft a curved waistband. It's not too bad, though, and the back gaping isn't anywhere near as bad as the gaping I typically get with RTW low-waisted pants, so I'm willing to let it slide this time. I must say, it's remarkable not having to worry when I bend over or sit down! As for the cuffs, they took some spatial reasoning at night while I was supposed to be sleeping, trying to figure out how to attach them so that my pinked seams wouldn't show. I still need to tack them down, but I like this look much better than just blind-hemming them.

I'm on an elephant!! Check out the relatively small gape at the back...I would never climb on play structures in my usual pants because of the low waistbands. I totally get Steph of 3hourspast's whole thing about high waistbands now!

Side view.

Summary:
Fabric: About a yard of slightly stretchy 54" cotton twill for each muslin...thankfully, this fabric was $1/yard (and the same as my 1912 scalloped skirt!)
Notions: Fusible interfacing in the waistband, 7" zipper, hook and bar, four metal anchor buttons
Techniques: Making alterations to a pants pattern? There wasn't really any difficult sewing here, just difficult fitting.
Hours: At least seven, including the 1.5 hours spent on my first, unwearable muslin. That pair (sans zipper) has been relegated to cat bed status.
Will you make this again? Not shorts, but I do want to make pants again! Almost immediately after finishing this pair, I wanted to try making slim-fitting capris, but (thankfully?) I didn't have any other suitable bottom-weight fabric. I want to get some stretch denim and heavier stretch cotton twill, possibly in some blinding color like kelly green or coral. But first, I should probably perfect my pants block.
Total cost: About $6, but I don't remember how much the buttons cost, as I think they were in a bulk bag from a discount bin (but I have so many gold-colored nautical buttons I could be remembering wrong).
Final thoughts: I think for my first foray into pants-making, these aren't bad, but they're not great either. They're comfy and I'll wear them, but I can see that a good pants block will take some time. In the meantime, these were easy enough that they're a good confidence booster. I'm not convinced that high-waisted pants are the way to go for my body type, but since I like high-waisted dresses and skirts I thought I would just start here.

Can I pretend I'm hanging off of rigging?
I mean, I guess technically I am, it's just that the rigging is all of a foot off the ground.

I'm wearing red flippy-floppies wedgie-wodgies?

*I'm not usually a fan of songs with excessive explicit language, but Lonely Island is my weak spot...I don't know why I find their songs so hilarious. I mean, "This ain't my dad, this is a cell phone!?" That's brilliant.

Sewing Pants Is Easy

Don't you love how they're called smile and frown lines?

Sewing pants is easy...but fitting pants is a different story. Oh, I'm sorry, were you expecting me to reveal a secret sewing tip that would suddenly make pants-sewing (or trouser-sewing, so that my UK readers don't giggle madly) miraculously simple? Because I don't have one. As far as I know, there's no pants foot that I can install or lever to engage on my machine that will suddenly make all my pants look awesome. I will say, though, that sewing pants that fit is theoretically possible given enough time and patience. How do I know? Because I've decided to face my sewing demon and actually try making pants. Okay, actually shorts, since they take less fabric, but same idea.

Rounded and full...I like their adjective choice.

The picture also seems to promise that if you make
these pants, your legs will suddenly be 1.5 times longer.

What made me suddenly decide that I could take on pants? Well, first off, I thrifted this McCall's 6266 "Carefree Patterns" pants pattern, circa 1978. I knew I wanted to start my pants journey with high-waisted sailor-esque shorts, and this looked simple (and high-waisted) enough for me -- not even a dart or fly front to be seen! I was also thrilled to open it up and find an extremely helpful and confidence boosting "Pants Fitting A B C's" insert that explained how to make the most common pants alterations.

Armed with this insert, I proceeded to cut out and sew my first muslin. I didn't take any pictures because it was so horribly laughable, but I'll just say that it somehow managed to be both smile-line city in front (indicating it was too tight) and ultra-baggy loose in the back. Also, in a fit of concern, I cut the waist way too big and ended up needing to take it back in. I ripped out the zipper (my only 7" dark blue one in my possession!) and proceeded to alter the heck out of my pattern pieces. My second pair of shorts only took an hour to sew up (hence, sewing pants is easy!), but another couple hours to alter (hello, seam ripper, you are my good friend) into public-wearability status. Even so, they've still got issues, but I'm going to leave it for now as a good-enough-for-now pair of shorts. I just need to add my sailor buttons and hem them and then they'll be totally finished.

Friends, I have been bitten by the pants bug. I am now bound and determined to make my own knock-off Clovers, possibly in denim, and possibly with a fly front. There, I'm declaring it publicly; please hold me to my promise.