I have at least 3 shorts patterns in my to-sew list but somehow these jumped the line. I was hanging out at home last weekend and it was terribly hot but all I wanted was to be wearing a comfy pair of sweat pants. So what's the next best thing? Sweat shorts, of course! You get all the comfort of soft, stretchy sweatshirt fabric without the heat of long pants. Naturally, I had to make a pair, stat.
Right away I thought of two patterns the Prefontaine Shorts (which I purchased from Pattern Parcel) and the City Gym Shorts by the Purl Bee (free pattern). The design of both patterns is very similar. Both have a curved hem with bias binding. Also very similar to the Lakeside Pajama Shorts. (Related note, I think these shorts have a longer crotch rise than the Lakeside shorts, which works for me.) I wanted this project to be as fast as possible so I decided to use the City Gym Shorts pattern because it doesn't have pockets. However, I used the Prefontaine Shorts pattern as reference for instructions. They're pretty similar to the City Gym shorts but have some additional pictures and instructions for using knit fabric.
The only sweatshirt fabric I had around was a pile of scraps and a muslin top that I never wore. I dug the top out of a drawer and set to cutting. The muslin actually had a panel that used the wrong side of the fabric showing and you can see a sliver of the wrong side panel on the right side of the back. I actually like how the stripe mirrors the bound edge like a racing stripe.
One thing I was confused about with the City Gym Shorts pattern was the sizing because it's given in inches. I wasn't sure if that was the finished measurement or the body measurement. Reading it now, I think it does make sense. So it might have just been me! Because I was using a knit I went ahead and made the size that matched my hip measurement. The seam allowance is only 1/4 inch but I did about 3/8 to 1/2 inch.
For the binding, I used a black knit fabric that I bought about 5 yards of from the bargain bin store downtown. It wasn't hard to apply but it was tedious. For the waistband, I used the same method that I do for the many BBW knit skirts I've made. First stitch the elastic into a loop, insert in the folded waistband then stitch the waistband to the shorts. To give it a more finished look, I used the Hudson Pant method of topstitching the elastic to the waistband. I didn't do a great job of evenly distributing the fabric but these are casual, indoor shorts.
I'm really pleased with how these turned out. They are so comfy for hanging out around the house. I've already been wearing them a lot!
