Jalie 3022 Shorts and Pants

So I’ve been working on a pair of shorts for 2 or 3 weeks now and having fit issues.  *shakes fist at fit issues* 

I’m consulting many fit books and I’m up to 5 muslins.  Whew.  I’m not giving up.
I have been feeling discouraged though.  One hot night when I was particularly down on myself I had a light bulb moment. Why not make some quick gratification shorts from a pattern I love and that I know fits well?  Something comfortable to get me through some hot days until I can conquer the woven shorts pattern.

And so it was.  I have made Jalie 3022 4 other times (once for K, three times for me) and I love them.  These pants fit awesome and the seaming makes any backside look amazing. My black pair fits so comfy and was made from interlock from JoAnn’s but is piling horribly. My second pair was a failed mess of cotton velour with not enough stretch. The third pair, green, from cotton lycra is just too tight right now.  Because I was sewing with cotton lycra this time I decided to re-trace the pattern in a bigger size and use the shorts line.  I upped my waist to a size “X” and my hip to a “BB” – these are each 2 sizes above my real measurements. 



I was in a hurry to have these sewn up so I didn’t topstitch the shorts.  They came together quickly and I was happy to find them fitting nicely. 



I used the scraps from my green pair of pants to sew up these shorts – they take so little fabric!  It is Forest Green cotton lycra with Jade cotton lycra for the band.



With shorts like these you wonder, will they ride up?  Sadly, the legs do tend to ride up, but only when I’m bending down, squatting, or moving my legs a lot, LOL. Most shorts from the store do this too so I’m not too concerned.  They were amazing to sleep in when it was hot and I look forward to wearing them around the house and yard with the kids this summer.

In Wisconsin our weather flips flops from hot to cold all the time so I also made another pair of pants with this pattern, since the first 3 are out of commission.  I used the same sizes as the shorts, X in waist, BB in hip and below. 


Sewing these is a bit time consuming because of all the topstitching but it is worth it.  This pair of pants doesn’t disappoint!  I love them and they will get lots of wear.



Fabric: 2 yards of Teal Cotton lycra  from purpleseamstressfabric.com for the pants $13, and scraps of my Laguna Stretch Cotton Jersey in Heathered Knit Pepper by Kaufman, for the band contrast.



It was nice to take a break from fitting stress and sew up something fast and rewarding. Now back to the fitting!