Wednesday, July 3, 2019

A Trio of Allegro Shorts

Two summers ago, I made a pair of Love Notions Allegro Shorts for the Summer of Basics contest. They are a gorgeous grey linen and I have worn them absolutely to death. It took me until now to get around to making this pattern again, but I made up for it by making three pairs!


Magically, they all go with my newest self-drafted tank top as well. Before I started batch sewing these shorts, I put my previous pair on and asked my husband whether I should reuse the same size pattern, or go up a size. I have added a bit of weight, maybe 10 pounds, in the last two summers. He gently suggested I needed a bit more room. Luckily, I was able to pull out my Sewist's Notebook and refresh my memory on that first pair.

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The first pair was an XS and I shortened the inseam from 5" to 4". I went ahead and printed the pattern in a S and again shortened the inseam to 4". Love Notions patterns are no-trim and super easy to print and assemble. So, the denim pair was a quick one to make sure a Small was really what I wanted.


The fabric is leftover Robert Kauffman denim from my Morgan Boyfriend Jeans. I used scraps of Robert Kauffman polka dot chambray (leftover from a Hey June Phoenix) for the waistband facing and pockets. The drawstring is twill tape folded in half longways and stitched down to make a narrow string. This pair was hemmed to the wrong side for a sort of faux cuff.


The back pockets are not the ones that come with the pattern, they are drafted by me based off a pair of RTW shorts. These are definitely NOT the most flattering pair of shorts I own, but they are so dang comfortable I don't even care! I'd say they fall pretty clearly into some sort of mom-shorts category. They're not great for date night, but they work fine at the park chasing kids.


Next up, a pair in light green twill from La Mercerie. This pair is meant to go with my rust-colored Pinnacle Top (full story and Pinterest inspo here). These have a traditional cuff and again, the same twill tape sewn into a drawstring.


This fabric doesn't have much drape at all, and topstitching the waistband caused some wonky stiffness to form. I added the drawstring after the fact to help pull in the waist, which meant I hand-stitched the holes. Don't look too closely at them!


Lastly, my FAVE pair is made in Avery Slub Linen from La Mercerie (the best fabric on the planet). It's so drapey and soft and amazing as shorts. The color is beautiful as well. Another traditional cuff here.


The only bad thing about this pair is that they seem to stretch out over a few wears. These photos are fresh out of the wash and that definitely helps spring them back into shape.


I was seriously struggling to get the shorts cut from the small amount of slub linen and the Kauffman denim. I had to draft a pocket facing in order to make it work. I'm kind of scratching my head because I swear I easily got a pair of XS out of one yard of fabric...I guess there is that big of a difference in the S.


I'm super excited to have these three shorts in rotation! I have a bunch of RTW shorts that fit just fine, but I'd love to eliminate RTW completely from my wardrobe someday. This is a good start!

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