Shorts, Capris & Ankle-length Trousers

Burda 6-2011-110 backDD3 needed some new bottoms this past spring, so after looking through all the stretch denim available in Mom’s stash, she chose three fabrics, and three patterns.  Here’s the collection. Burda 6-2011-110 sideFirst up, another version of the shorts I’d made for her last summer.  It’s a shortened version of Burda 6/2011 #110.  It fit her well last year, and I didn’t want to re-think the fit on another pattern, so I re-measured to ensure it still fit, and started sewing.

Burda 6-2011-110 blue shortsThe next project was capris, and she wanted them to be skinny, but not too skinny.  So I opted for Burda 03/2014 #115. 115_0314_b_largeDD3 has a crotch depth of 11 inches – about one full inch longer than any standard block, and finding RTW trousers/jeans/shorts that fit her properly is a challenge.  She’s inherited the long back crotch measurement, too, but the extra crotch depth means bottoms are always low-riding on her.  As she prefers bottoms that sit at her natural waist, I altered the pattern using the slash-spread method to get the required depth.  Here’s the first pair at a true capri length.  The fabric for all these bottoms is from EmmaOneSock.  You can find it in other colours here.  This was a roll end, and I have enough fabric for shorts next year if she needs more.  This fabric worked extremely well for these capris, and the fit is perfect.  I don’t have any other photos of her wearing them at this point.Burda 03-2014-115 blueThe next pair was ankle length in a striped French stretch cotton blend, again from EmmaOneSock as a roll end. It’s lighter in weight and as a lot of stretch.  I used the same pattern, but they refuse to sit at her natural waist without a belt once they’ve been stretched out through wearing.  They’re her favourite pair, btw. (I’m too lazy to alter the waist yet again).  Burda 03-2014-115 detailsI used a BurdaStyle idea for binding the pocket edges in bias strips.  The denim (?) was lightweight enough to do it easily with a little help from my hammer for flattening the bulk.Burda 03-2014-115 striped frontYou can see in the pic above that the crotch depth appears to be too long, but the trousers are not actually sitting where she would like them to.  I really should take in the waist some more.  Here’s the back view.Burda 03-2014-115 striped backThe fit is pretty good through the back.  The fabric is really fun.  She wasn’t too sure of it to begin with, but every time she puts these on, she tells me she really likes them.

Fitting trousers/jeans/short is always so challenging.  The only trousers I’ve ever been able to fit without any wrinkles whatsoever are classic trousers, although these Burda patterns fit pretty darn well right off the tracing paper.  I’d love to try Jalie 2908 (stretch jeans pattern) for fit on her.  Next time.

13 thoughts on “Shorts, Capris & Ankle-length Trousers

  1. Wow, lucky daughter! Of course I’m in love with the EOS fabrics (especially the stripe-y fabric). 🙂 Very nice fit on all of these (completely understand waistband stretch issues, as I have that with a stretchy pair of slim pants I made in the spring).

  2. 3 wins, these are all really great wearable pieces, lucky daughter! Really like the pocket trim idea on that last pair. Recently I made pants in a very stretchy denim that bagged out too much after a few hours wear and I just sewed in some wide elastic to the inside back waistband to pull it in a bit, that might work for you if you don’t want to unpick the waistband.

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