FINISHED FIRST! Maritime Shorts

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Happy Go Lucky 2013!
Yay! My first finished item for the year!  
I started these shorts a couple of days ago and then spent the morning finishing the waist and hemming them. It's nice to have done one piece of sewing during the Christmas holidays. I'm back to work tomorrow for a few weeks before I take some more time off towards the end of January.  Aah summer holidays.  Too short.

Pattern: Grainline Maritime Shorts
Material: Checked seersucker from the stash (bought at A2F in 2010 or 2011?) which I found during the post Christmas cleanup of my sewing cupboard.  I was inspired and thought they would look good as shorts for me. I had previously made a pair of long pants for Oliver out of this material but he wore the bottom out of them sliding down a skater half pipe at a birthday party.  Needless to say the pants never really recovered.
Size: 6 but next time I'll make a 4.  They are way too big around the waist and even though I took them in a bit at the back they are still a loose.  The ease will be ok if I ever wear them with stockings underneath.  Which I might.  But I won't be wearing them with anything tucked in.
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This was my first time sewing a Grainline pattern and I will definitely sew it again.  The instructions and tutorial  were great.  There was quite a bit of basting going on with the zipper but I managed to get it in and overall the shorts are good.
The only real problem with the shorts is the matching of the material.  I thought I did the pattern placement really carefully but obviously not. Not at all! There are three slight 'issues'.
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1.  Matching at the sides, although they do line up in a shadow way (the red stripe with the yellow).
2.  The pockets, but hey, now you can see the pockets! and
3.   The way I've cut the waistband onto the material.  D'oh.  It's curving the wrong way at the back.  I probably could have fixed this, but I'm calling them design features.  All of them.  I'm not that worried about the back waistband because the shorts are too big to tuck anything into anyway, so no-one will know.
So I'm calling these a win!  
Happy 2013 sewing!

8 comments:

  1. The shorts look great and comfy. I find lining up patterns so hard that I tend to avoid doing it - not the best way to tackle a fear.

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  2. They turned out super cute and I love that t-shirt you paired them with in the photo!

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  3. Thanks Jen and thanks for a great pattern! I too love that tshirt!!

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  4. Thanks Alex. Maybe lucky (20)13 will be the year for you to tackle that fear - although hopefully a bit more sucessfully than me!

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  5. Yay for the 1st FO of 2013! Super cute - looks like you'll get a lot of wear out of them.


    And here's how I deal with those little imperfections (which in reality, probably nobody else but me notices!) - my motto is, just keep moving, so no one can see them!!

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  6. Oh I love that motto! That's what I'll do with these. They have already had a lot of wear, but with a top over the top and constantly moving arms and legs, they'll be super!

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  7. Absolutely adorable shorts! I love how you have a strong sense of your own style, and you really know and wear the colours and silhouettes that suit you very well. I think I need to work on this.

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  8. Thanks Carolyn! These shorts have been my go to outfit with the weather so hot over here at the moment. The fact that they are a bit loose has been perfect.

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