Perfect Fit Shorts

This post originally appeared on Keeping it Simple. Today I’m going to show you how I modified a pattern based on a pair of shorts that fit me to get the perfect pair of shorts for me.

I started with McCall’s 5391 pattern, which I bought ages ago.

Now most of the stuff you’ll find on my blog is stuff I patterned myself, but before I knew how to do that, I sewed from store-bought patterns. And I learned a lot, including the fact that you should always make a muslin the first time, and that the patterns never fit me “as-is”. With that in mind, I took my former favorite pair of shorts out.

Can you guess why they’re my former favorite pair? Well, they have about a 2″ inseam, and obviously I wore them before kids. And before I was 30. So I think they’re too young for me now – sure sign that you’re getting old is when you start worrying your shorts/skirts/dresses are too short. But I still loved the way they fit. Maybe it’s just my strange body, but even before kids I had a hard time finding ready to wear shorts. The back center seam always seems to want to disappear into my behind, and that is NOT a flattering look, as we all know. Now post kids, with more junk in my trunk, it’s even harder to find shorts without that issue. This pair miraculously fits the bill, even post kids. Now why couldn’t they be a couple inches longer?

Anyhoo, I took out a measuring tape and measured the front rise and the back rise. I discovered that especially in the back, the rise on my shorts was longer than the rise on my pattern.

You  can see what I mean when I lay the pattern on the shorts themselves.

So, I made an adjustment to the rise. You can see the lengthen or shorten here lines on the pattern. I cut along those lines and added the amount I needed to the rise.

Because I was adding so much to the rise, I also had to redraw the side seams somewhat, making sure the front and back pieces would match along the side seams.

I still made a muslin with my new pattern pieces out of scrap fabric, to double check the fit. You can see my muslin pieces here – they don’t look like shorts are “supposed” to at all.

BUT – they fit just like my favorite old shorts! So, I moved on to making them in twill, and here’s what I have now.

Comfy, loose fitting, but not baggy in the behind. Perfect for me.

One other word of caution – there seems to be a pattern error in the waistband piece on this pattern – it is waaaay too short. Give yourself like 5-6 extra inches in length if you use it; you can always cut off the extra.