Flowy pants, but make it shorts

This fabric (Blackbird Fabrics tencel twill) was always intended to be Esther Pants, but then it got re-assigned to be another Victory Patterns project, a Boundless Style Dress. But then I realized that I had probably just enough leftover to make myself some swishy swishy shorts, and that Esther could probably make cute swishy swishy shorts, so that’s what happened!

I shortened these to, in the end, about 3 inches below the thigh line marked. I started out about midway between the thigh and knee points marked, but it really was much closer to my knee and looked like board shorts (I’m 171 cm tall, so right within Victory’s height range of 170 - 176 cm) in a somewhat unpleasant (which I’d say is good for me + board shorts) way, if worn with something untucked.

The project was a quick one, because I skipped the invisible zipper and followed Helen’s Closet’s tips for making an elasticated back because SUMMER and COMFORT and CASUAL (also, I am not ready to return to that adventure after the Boundless Style Dress, or even the last Esthers) .

Following the Helen’s Closet tutorial but NOT for winslows, I should have checked that the resulting waist would be large enough to easily get over my hips. These squeeeeeeze over, but are deffo a couple inches smaller than preferable. More space would also make the back look more properly gathered. Not that I super mind the flatter look this gives, but one should be advised: measure and make sure that waist will get over your butt!

If I were to make these again, I’d properly add a “jut” to the pattern for the hem. Since I wasn’t sure where to shorts-afy these to, and anyway where I initially chose was MUCH too long, I ended up just shortening the shorts after assembly. Which left me with a really unsightly hem when I tried a nice thick hem, so I shortened it more and used the rolled hem foot. It’s not a perfect solution — the twill wants to unravel so the teensy hem is prone to little bits of visible fray.

For the front half of the waistband, I interfaced with some fairly heavy fusible interfacing, but I sort of wish I had something a touch sturdier. I feel like the waistband crumples over the day, and it’s non-woven interfacing so I’m sure it’ll get visibly weaker over time.

Nevertheless, this was a nice quick project and I much prefer the elasticated back to messing with an invisible zipper right about now. Plus, no more useable scraps of twill left!

Measurements: Waist 30 1/2, Hips 38 1/4
Pattern: Esther Pants by Victory Patterns
Size: 8, elasticated back and shortened
Fabric: Blackbird Fabrics Stonewashed Blue tencel twill
If there is a next time: Add space to get them over hips properly, alter hemline to allow a nice 1 inch hem to sit properly