I'm happy to introduce Tara from girl like the sea as part of the shorts on the line sewalong. Tara is a crafty mom who sews beautiful clothes and shares funny stories about her family. She's got great style and a great sense of humor. Today she is going to share a fabulous version of the Oliver & S Sailboat Pants: nautical placket shorts.
Thanks Tara!
Hi! I'm Tara and I have a little blog called girl like the sea. I mostly keep it to share my projects and family life with my family and friends, and to connect to other people in the crazy crafty world out there. I'm thoroughly an Oregonian, but moved to the D.C. area for love 7 years ago when I married my husband. Now we have two little girls, Clover(3), and Violet(almost 2), who I love to sew for.
Clover was definitely in need of some shorts for summertime, so this opportunity to whip up something for the shorts on the line series was perfect! Though, I must admit.... I have been suffering from some super lame cyber stage fright ever since Rachael asked me to participate. Lol.
What I decided to share with everyone is a pattern remix of the Oliver + S sailboat pants. I've made a few versions of this pattern before, so I knew that I would like how it turned out and felt comfortable messing around with it a little bit. I love me some Oliver + S. The patterns are always spot on, professional looking, and the instructions.... The instructions!! Even a perpetual screwup like me can follow the instructions. They are like taking sewing lessons, and hold your hand along the way with great descriptions and pictures. You won't get lost. And the end results are always really satisfying. As in "whoa, I MADE that? ha!"
My opinion on this particular pattern is that it is for a confident beginner and above. It looks more complicated when it's finished than it feels when you are sewing it up, mostly because of the great instructions I think. Since there are several pattern pieces to deal with, interfacing, button holes, and some precision involved, I don't think it would make the best first project, but you don't need to be a sewing wizard to make these. And for experienced sewers, the finished product is totally satisfying enough to keep you engaged.
Oliver + S sailboat pants remix: placket shorts
Having already made the sailboat skirt (here is a link) and knowing that I liked the cropped length of it, I decided to use it as a reference for shortening the sailboat pants. My 3 year old daughter is actually a bit on the tall side, but she is rail thin. She is a great example of the virtues of taking measurements and using the ones on the back of the pattern. I made her some sailboat pants with her actual age size and the back was all rumply because she's too skinny for them.
Now I know that she is literally a 12month size in the waist, so I just used the 12m sized pants pattern I had already traced. To be honest, I can't remember but I think that I mashed up the 12m size with the 3T rise because I didn't want these crawling up her butt, but I can't remember now....oops!
Looking on the back of the pattern I compared the finished length of the 12m pants (14 in.) to the finished length of the 3T skirt (9.5 in.), found the difference (4.5 in.) and just folded the end of the pants pattern up that much to get my shorts pattern length.
I used some of my beloved Sarah Jane balloons as the facing for the flap, and some cute nautical looking buttons from my vintage button stash. The shorts are made from Lisette chambray. So soft and buttery!
The special touch I put on these little shorts was adding real plackets to the sides. It was kind of a pain in the butt, but I was really proud of myself when I finished putting them in.
Clover insisted on wearing a fedora for this photo shoot because it was her "Maria hat" like in the Sound of Music. Lol! Hey, if it gets her to pose, why not?
I really love how the shorts came out. They are a great length, and the fit everywhere else is perfect. They fit her comfortably but won't fall down, and she has full range of motion to play in, which is definitely important!
Since she was in desperate need of more t-shirts I also made a Figgy's Banyan shirt to go along with the shorts, and I stenciled a little design that I thought would look cute with a sort of nautical themed outfit (because I am obsessed with nautical....ahoy!!!!)
Thanks for inviting me to play along!
What an adorable outfit! Thanks so much Tara!
