Project Planning: Custom Shorts Pattern

Hello Friends and Welcome Back!

After a very rainy start to the season, last weekend was a first to have mostly sun! Luckily, that was also the weekend we had planned for a big family gathering, so we were able to enjoy company and games on a beautiful day!

And while I had hoped to be able to wear a new and properly fitted pair of shorts to that event, I haven't actually made a lot of progress towards a finished pattern just yet.

I'm very much still in the planning phase for this project, but I wanted to share what I've worked on so far! And hopefully this will bring me one step closer to fitting a pattern!

Planning

As I've said many times before, I do not fit a standard size for most mass manufactured garments. I'm taller than average, so sleeve and pant lengths always fall short, and my waist to hip ratio puts me in the curvy category, which tends to be very inconsistent in the way garments fit.

On top of that, my thighs touch when I walk, so if I'm able to find a pair of pants or shorts that fit well enough, the inseam wears out very quickly and I end up with holes that are difficult to mend.

Taking all of these factors into consideration, I've drawn a design that I hope will suit my needs!

There are quite a few pieces to this design, so it's clearly not a basic pattern, but it's the type of garment that I enjoy making! And once I have the pattern properly fitted, it should also be something I'm able to enjoy wearing!

Garment Pieces

Now that I have an idea of how many and what type of different pieces I want to include in my pattern, I can think about how each should be drafted.

For the waistband, I'm planning to draft a curved or shaped waistband. I have made straight waistbands in the past and am not very happy with the fit.

Since I've never drafted a shaped waistband before, I've decided to follow this post on In The Folds, which I believe was written by Emily Hundt.

From there, the rest of the pieces will be drafted from an old pair of pants that sort of fit. I've cut that pair of pants along the seamlines marked on my diagram rather than the original seam placement.

And since those pants didn't quite fit right, and because the new pattern will have a higher waist than the original pants, I'll be making a mockup to adjust the fit. I'll be using the Top Down, Centre Out method to fit my pants.

That method was developed by Ruth Collins and focuses on fitting a body with a range of motions, and maintaining the style lines of the original pattern being used. Traditional fitting methods focus more on redrafting the pattern, and often, fitting a body at rest in a single position. I'm hoping the Top Down, Centre Out method will work for me!

With all of that said, Friends, I'm excited to start drafting! I expect I'll need to make a few different mockups of my pattern before I get a fit that is perfect, but once I do, it will be super easy to adjust an existing perfect pattern into an infinite variety of uniquely styled garments!

As I'm making progress, I hope to share updates over on Instagram!

If you've done something like this before, I would love to hear any advice or tips! You can share those with me in the comments below or privately via email for a more in depth discussion!

I can't wait to see how this project turns out!

Until Next Time Friends, Keep Creating!

~VA