Shorty Shorts

Today I made some yoga shorts. Hard to believe that this is my first blog post as shorts usually aren't my thing. In fact, I haven't owned a pair of shorts in years. But with warm weather coming, I thought they would be nice to wear to bed or around the house and yard. I made them from a Jalie pattern, Jalie 2445. This is also my first time making anything from Jalie. I was hoping I would like them, as I bought different patterns at the same time. 

I used some ribbing I had purchased a while ago, and some jersey from Girl Charlee that I got in a bargain bundle. These are offered on fabric that can't be used as first quality and from my experience really do have a lot of usable fabric. The camo just had some print issues at the side edge and you don't lose much.

Things I like about this pattern:

• Has a nice range of sizes
• Limited instructions. Sometimes these can be confusing when you know generally how to put things together, so I like instructions for the complicated stuff, and stick to the basics for the standard items.
• I printed the PDF pattern and it was fairly straightforward. 

I did make a few minor changes:

• changed the waistband to two pieces, cutting the one provided in half and adding seam allowance.
• put the seam for the waistband in the back instead of the front.
• sewed clear elastic in the top of the band to prevent it from moving around. Maybe this pattern really didn't need it, but I thought it was better safe than sorry.
• Instead of interfacing, I used black fabric patches behind the eyelets, cut to size.
• added about an inch to the length, and I am quite glad I did. Even with that, they are pretty short, but I am pretty comfortable.

Lessons learned:

• I should have understitched the back of the waistband. It is a facing and I should have treated it like one. Not worth fixing as this will almost never be seen.
• Eyelets are best applied with the part that slides inside on the front, and then attached front side down, using the tool on the back.

I actually used a hole punch to punch the holes for the eyelets to go through. They seem to be holding up well.

I'm sure I will be making some long ones as well in the near future. These are very comfortable and a pattern I can see myself using again and again.