Perfect Timing for September....Banyan Shorts and Tees!!!

Omigosh....does THIS ring a bell???  Woe is me, for I cannot sew up a simple pair of shorts in under three months....?  How about THIS blog post from last year?

I want to say I'm not sure WHAT could have stopped me from finishing a pair of shorts I started THREE months ago (one week short of three months, to be exact).  I would LOVE to say I have no idea, but the reason is two-fold.  One:  Matt has been working in Idaho for the past four months, and he is about to be home - YAY! - it was pretty much a sewing buzz-kill with him gone.  We were busy most days of the summer (albeit busy in a FUN way, but busy, nonetheless), and I rarely got a chance to sew in terms of daytime or weekend sewing (especially when a certain little boy is tiring me out).  Essentially, after I tossed these shorts aside, I didn't sew all summer, which is pretty ludicrous (though I DID knit; I wasn't totally lazy, aha!).  I bemoaned EVERY day that I wasn't sewing, but I just couldn't get myself to the machine.

Where are her eyes???

That neck binding gap situation is making my twitch

So.  Here we all are, almost September, and I finished one spot of summer sewing - the Banyan Shorts and the Banyan Tee (I have the paper versions, but they are now sold separately, as PDFs on-line).  That is a total bummer, too, as I honestly did have a good plan set up, with a list of patterns I'd wanted to sew the past few months.

Oh - and the second reason is the heat.  I get sluggish and hostile when it's hot out, and I just wanted to sit around and knit, whenever I had the chance.  It seemed somehow easier, LOL.

Past incarnations:

That neckline totally lies flat!

Her first-ever pair! 

Gosh - Spring of 2013!???

Really, though, let's not lie.  There IS a third reason...and it's the fly extension situation.  It has been my nemesis through two previous pairs of Banyan shorts (and one pair of Small Fry Skinny Jeans).  I knew I somehow hadn't done those correctly, but I didn't know WHY....and I have to say that, after MUCH staring and reading and staring and reading, I don't think the directions in either pattern explicitly say HOW to create the correct look for the fly.  I finally nailed it, but only because I winged it, and they turned out okay.  I folded the fly over about a half inch and pressed it - where I thought the zipper should go, and it worked out pretty well.

Will my pants always have that funny gap because of kid bellies??

Not perfect, but it works

I do realize that I shouldn't have added length to the waistband - as in, if I had added MORE length, it'd be a cool off-center/side-button tab situation, but as it is, it looks like "Does Autumn realize her waistband doesn't align with the shorts?" - LOL.  I don't really care - no biggie.  I'll hopefully remember that for next time.

Also, I misplaced the fly guard, so, I ended up finding some cotton lawn from my Violet top (pictured here), interfacing THAT and making it work.  I tried to insert the fly guard in sort of the same way that I saw in a pair of jeans I had, though it obviously doesn't work on the left side (and ignore the non-matching thread color), but I love the fly guard as a different fabric, so, it'll do.

I have to say this is my favorite version of these shorts - so, third time's a charm, eh?  The pattern itself has always been lovely, despite that I think the fly extension directions for the wearer's left side should be more detailed.  Other than that section, I don't believe I did anything differently.

My signature two lines of stitching, LOL

As for the Banyan tees....I totally sewed those before the shorts, knowing that was the smart thing to do, so, the tops have been sitting around, unused all summer, as I wouldn't let Camden wear them until the shorts were done.  I definitely still need to work on my neck binding, as it gaps.  The green knit is heavier, but both knits work for this top.  I always find this tunic/top to be a bit long, so, on previous versions, I have sliced the bottom off a bit, though I can't recall if I did that with these two.  You can see I added the pocket to only one of them.  I may have tried on the green top but found that the pocket was coming out wonky.  Camden gets a LOT of use out past Banyan tees.  They're pretty stinkin' cozy, I'm guessing :)

For real - a LOT of words to say that I love the outfit that hopefully gets a ton of use in the next month - and then next Spring and Summer, aha!

Of late....

Sad morning kid??

Happy grape time!

The beginning of the end of the river days....

Her first missing tooth!!!  FYI - that other middle tooth was noted as loose mere minutes later :O