Angelia shorts finished

 So I finished the shorts in time for camping.

Boy, did they take longer than expected... I wanted to finish them before getting camping stuff organized on Thursday and it seemed to take all day.

It did not help that I had to rethread the serger a few times to find out what was going wrong (well, not find out, but to fix... I don't know what had gone wrong!) And then I tried to red0 the belt-loops a different way, only to use the first ones I made (defective as they were!).

The shorts look great. Except for the fly which does not overlap properly and gapes. Oh, and it also splits open sometimes, due to my user-error earlier in the process (where I slid the slider right off!).

So, overall, the pockets look great. The shorts are shorter than I wanted (I had purchased 1 yard of fabric, then chose a pattern, which asked for 1.5 yards; I managed to make it fit, but did not have enough to lengthen it.) They look good when I am standing. But they are not comfortable when I sit; they ride up, and then my thigh is exposed more than I like.

The fly instructions did not work for me. I should have just gone with the method I used recently for the jeans. (Which, incidentally, I finished. No photos yet; more later). The method for these shorts just did not work out.

The fabric (Textured cotton from Core Fabrics) was perfect for these shorts.

In general the instructions were fine, but as I wrote in my PR review, the order of construction is cumbersome. I would have preferred putting pockets and darts in the back of the shorts before sewing the side seams, for example.

Anyway, I sewed much of Thursday and STILL had sewing to do Friday morning, which delayed our camping departure... (I was disorganized. In the end I fogot my walking/hiking stick AND my paddling shoes; but camping was lovely).

I also used a feature of my mew Juki machine, for fun. I stitched a word on the belt loops in a contrasting colour. The are not centered, nor are they straight. Part of the problem is that they are so narrow that it did not move well through the feed dogs. And also I did not centre the word properly; I was careless I guess.

So now onto other projects. This morning I could not find the pattern pieces for the top I want to make (I need to name this self-drafted pattern! It is a tank-top, I guess, with princess seams int he front, and an upper back detail). Nothing like a lost pattern piece to push you to clean up your sewing spaceS. (Yes I am currently at three or four, depending on if you count the mess I have left in the dining room where I cut out!). So I vacuumed the two upper story sewing spaces.

I really need to get pĥotos of the final jeans... Not thrilled, but wearable. I need to dissect the whole project here, and need the photos for that. So, stay tuned!

Plans:

• make up the special occasion tank top in the silk jacquard 
• finish the alterations to the wedding dress I am altering for a friend
• finish the black tankini bottoms (basically a muslin)
• make the changes to the jacket pattern and to the fitted blouse pattern
• then sew up a second (wearable) muslin of the blouse; I think I don't need to do this for the jacket...

That is probably enough planning for the moment...