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.
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| Where are her eyes??? |
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| 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:
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| That neckline totally lies flat! |
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| Her first-ever pair! |
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| 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.
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| Will my pants always have that funny gap because of kid bellies?? |
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| 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.
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| 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....
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| Sad morning kid?? |
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| Happy grape time! |
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| The beginning of the end of the river days.... |
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| Her first missing tooth!!! FYI - that other middle tooth was noted as loose mere minutes later :O |
