Shorts Out of Thin Air

Well, hello.  We have been away, and I will tell you more about that later this week.

In the meantime, let's talk about kids' shorts.  Ben has plenty of hand-me-downs.  Genevieve has plenty of sundresses, but she now, suddenly, prefers shorts and pants.

I scrabbled around and put together some shorts for her.  When we were away in the woods, I realized just how uniquely makeshift the shorts are.

 1.  Knit shorts for school field day. 

These are the most successful pair, maybe because I used an actual sewing pattern.  It was a generic shorts pattern written for woven fabric, not knit, but I just used the mock serger stitch on my machine and hoped for the best.  You do need to know which way the knit stretches before you cut and sew!  This fabric was in my stash from who-knows-where and it suits Genevieve's eye-screeching combinations perfectly. 

2.  Cut-offs with bias tape. 

I had a slew of hand-me-down jeans for Ben in Genevieve's size.  I found the pair with the most ripped-out knees and made them into these shorts.  They are too baggy.  They look funny.  The bias tape is not evenly sewed down.  She wears them and likes them.  Oh well.

3.  The balloon shorts.

 I searched around on Pinterest for an idea here.  Then I stumbled across a beloved old pair of my pajama pants in my stash and poof, made the elastic waist smaller and gathered the legs into a band.  I think they look fabulously Frenchy, but Genevieve is less fond of them because she says they inhibit her movement. I told her to consider them her least-favorite shorts and wear them when the other 2 pairs are in the wash.  Which they always are.

She is clothed most of the time, I tell you.  Maybe I should scrounge another pair of shorts for her?  Like, at a store?  But so far I have not spent a dime on summer shorts and I was planning to keep it that way.