Shorts

The youngest member of the household required a pair of shorts.  Not any shorts, mind you, they had to be the right shorts.  After an exhaustive trip around all the children's wear stores we came home empty handed.  It's not that we couldn't find shorts, but these had to be the 'right' shorts.  You see, master 8 is rather fussy and prides himself on being somewhat stylish...think Justin Bieber meets One Direction, kind of stylish!  He had a pair of shorts from last summer that we bought from Just Jeans, that both he and I agree, fit the bill but you see, one pair of shorts is never enough for the average active 8 year old boy.  This is where my master plan came in....

I took last years favourite shorts and dug through the cupboard to reveal my collection of Top Kids magazines that actually predate said 8 year old boy and gave him the entire collection to peruse.  In issue 57, we came across a pair of golf shorts in the correct size with a flat front.  I agree, they weren't the most stylish pair of shorts in their 1990's golf tartan but the cut was right and the size was right...we were on to something!

Because master 8 is slender, I wanted to avoid the whole waistband thing.  He grows like a weed and I wanted to avoid replacing these until he wore them out and not when he grew out of them.  Elastic was then, essential.  He doesn't like the button up elastic on rtw shorts because he finds the buttons dig into his hips and fitted rtw shorts simply don't stay up.  The best option then was a fly and half elastic.

 

I found a piece of suiting in olive with a faint check pattern in it, that I had picked up on the sale table at Fabric Vision for the princely sum of $4.40 and was originally intended for shorts for myself, but I think you would agree, that this is a much better use of this fabric.   The zip came from my recycled zip collection and the button was a spare that came with another item of rtw clothing.

 

To ensure a professional look, I added slant pockets at the front and welt pockets at the back.  Although time consuming the welt pockets do make the shorts look well finished.  I then added a facing at the waist and elastic three quarters of the way around the waist before stitching on some belt loops. For the finishing touch I added a mock turn up on the hem by stitching a false hem on the bottom and turning and top stitching it to the outside.   We left off the cargo pockets, because he felt these weren't essential and who was I to complain because that meant less work!

 

 

 

 

Master 8 is rather pleased with his new shorts, so much so that I may have to rustle up some more fabric and make another pair.