Progress

Those Hawaiian missionaries had a good idea with muumuus. They touch on the shoulders and nowhere else, the perfect clothing for days when the humidity is high and there's no rain except your own sweat.

We're in a heat wave. I found myself wanting to wear my nightgown all day long, so I hauled out  the  Pretty Blouse pattern by  Amanda  from the Modern Marigold blog 

for its second use. The first time I lengthened the straps and made the yoke wider for use as a nightgown.  The verdict is that long straps are good, wider yoke, never again. Sorry, no photo of my work, but follow the link. The designer's work is wonderful.

This is a dandy pattern. Even with dithering, it is no more than 2 hours from  deciding to make a blouse to wearing it. Next time, the straps will be 3/4 of an inch longer, and instead of lining the bodice, I will use bias tape. In fact, I may deconstruct the blouse in order to use bias tape.

Shorts

Thanks to the good example set by bloggers with my figure who took pictures of their struggles, then added a back yoke when a pants pattern didn't work out,  I have a wearable pair of shorts from a commercial pattern. The fabric is a magenta striped sheet that had been holed once too often by cats. The weave is so dense that getting pins to go through was almost Mission Impossible, so I'm not sure how the cats managed. The back yoke is not very deep and needed inches removed from its middle. For the future, I added tissue to the pattern. Before I traced it off in shorts length, it had been a pants pattern.

Through trial and error and stubbornness, I managed to turn a pair of too tight gauzy pants (formerly Gap) into a pair of loose shorts. They were one-seam low-waisted jobbies with a drawstring. At first I thought I would just add another gauze to the sides, and had sliced the legs. Then the heat and sanity got to me, and I chopped off the legs to shorts length and  used the chopped bits to widen here and lengthen there. I love the stripes of my new shorts, which are less low-waisted and have non-roll elastic.

I have come to the conclusion that sewing pants is like writing -- it's all in the redoing.

Onward. I'm using the altered pattern from the loud striped shorts as I chop up a wraparound skirt and try to turn it into shorts. Why bother? The skirt is linen, which is cool in hotter than the hinges weather. I'll have to piece the fabric,  but I love it. I was about to toss the skirt into the Goodwill bag when it occurred to me that I might be able to make shorts from it... and I desperately need shorts.

End of the World

Shorts!  I made shorts from  Simplicity 2654 and they fit without my having to go back and add anything at all. They fit better in the muslin than in the twill, but I'm not going to quibble. I made pants from a commercial pattern. They fit. The world as we know it has ceased to exist.

I'd show you they fit, but my photographer got a picture of her toes, the window,  my knees and many other things instead of the shorts. You'll have to take my word for it. Imagine a small round person in shorts. There.

I chose S2654 because at some point in my misspent youth, I had a pair of high-waisted bell bottoms and loved them. 

My goal was to make a pair of loose shorts for gardening. The high waist was the first thing to go. Inseam pockets? Who needs them in a muslin! I tried them on. They slid nicely up. I put in a zipper. They still worked. I slapped on a pair of pockets and they became phenomenal -- lightweight loose shorts that were perfect for the 99 degree weather. So I cut them out in tan twill and instantly made errors. 

I managed to sew in a fold of 3 inches. The shorts zipped but pulled. I took off the pocket and repinned it while wearing the shorts. Much better. The pattern calls for a folded  cuff, and the twill seems to demand that extra weight, but the muslin version behaves nicely. I'll make them again in lightweight denim and make them a little smaller. Oh, I love that word. SMALLER. Possibly narrower in the leg as well.

The secret to  my success: I began with  a pattern that was too big. When I started sewing many decades ago, patterns did not come in my size. I bought the smallest they had and  kept taking it in until it fit. I didn't do any sewing other than mending for years. When I started again, patterns were available in the sizes I used to be. I bought patterns according to my measurements and couldn't make them work. I could make anything for anybody, but could not sew pants for myself.

This time I enlarged the pattern before I started, then  basted it, and kept basting until it fit. I like this method much better than cutting in pieces here and there and adjusting the rest of the pattern endlessly.