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Hello everyone.

Is there such a thing as selfless sewing? I have come to doubt it because after making these shorts (that I am super excited to blog about) for my husband I realised that I really love seeing him wear things I’ve made :-). I wish I could say that this epiphany arrived while I was happily toiling away at the sewing machine (I wasn’t – I was just dying to start on other projects) – it was only at the end with the finished garment that I felt a sense of being a good person).

What kept me going during the sewing of said garment was the awareness that Mr SNS is extremely supportive and tolerant of my sewing (and messes) therefore it would be good for him to benefit. He also patiently takes pictures for the blog.  Selfless acts are supposed to mean that the giver gains nothing from it – so if I am gaining a feeling of satisfaction at making things for him then it cant be selfless surely….

Anyhow I digress, moving on to the important bits….

Since we were going on holiday Mr SNS needed shorts and I made him some using more of the Spoolettes fabric. This is a navy blue cotton with mustard stripe on it. Initially when I purchased it I was going to make him a casual shirt.

McCall M6973 is  described as semi-fitted shorts have elasticized waist casing, and side-front pockets. F: Flap and pleated lower cargo pocket. All have stitched hems.

Line drawings for McCalls M6973

I quite liked the pattern since it also includes a t shirt which one day I hope to make for him. Lucky for me there was  half price sale on McCalls patterns when I bought this :-). I made view E length  with cargo pocket.

McCalls M6973 Shorts

McCalls M6973 Shorts Side view showing the cargo pockets with a horizontal stripe.

McCalls M6973 Shorts

McCalls M6973 Shorts Back view

I have a gripe about this pattern; it takes you through making a zip fly but the waist is entirely elasticated. Its almost an ornamental zip. Since the waist is elasticated, its easier to pull it down rather than to fiddle with the zip (I have been reliable informed;-). Its my fault for not reading all the instructions to the end. Had I realised that I would have just had a faux fly using top-stitching rather than a real fly.

Zip McCalls M6973 Shorts

M6973 Velcro tabs

I was worried about the fly zip since I have never done that yet. So I studiously read the instructions but I couldn’t quite get it so in the end it was a Youtube tutorial that really walked me through my first zip fly insertion. I was so proud of myself but the Youtube instructions were for women’s trousers and it was on the wrong side :-). When hubs tried it on before hemming he was like ‘Uh….something feels a bit wrong here’ LOL!

The pattern runs on the large size. I used his waist measurement and it indicated a medium but that was quite roomy. Roomier than he would have preferred. Next time I will be sizing down to the small.

Back Pockets

stitching on the back pocket

For the hip pocket lining I used fabric from an old shirt of his ( a feature he likes as it was a shirt that he had worn for 8 years.) The pattern calls for cord and eyelets but I didn’t bother with that.

Pocket lining from old M&S shirt

I also added pocket at the back. He wanted pockets with flaps. I added a single welt pocket and just attached a pocket bag on the inside that is sewn to the back of the shorts rather than a free hanging bag. I hate ironing pocket bags so they can lie flat. These will never scrunch up.

1. Fused welt pocket area. 2- single lip welt pocket sewn. 3 Pinned the pocket bag on the wrong side . 4 Draw in pocket lines on the right side and stitch.

All in all he likes the shorts and wears them a lot when its warm enough.

Verdict – an easy pattern to make. Could be a fast make if you have a faux fly instead. It runs large so I would check the pattern sheet measurements and base size on those rather than the pattern envelope.

Thanks for stopping by and have you done any ‘selfless’ sewing lately? Especially for your loudest cheerleader?

Until next time, Happy Sewing!

Hila

XoX