Vote For My Liberty Shorts

And a Book Review and my entry for the Shorts On the Line Challenge.

This is my first time making a pair of shorts, or any type of pant for that matter.  I have only made little skirts and dresses for Kat.  I have the book Sew Classic Clothes for Girls, by Lindsay Wilkes.  The book is beautiful, the pages are turn worthy, but the patterns, not so great and the instructions are the bare minimum so not very good for a beginner seamstress.

First problem, measuring the child, she doesn't give a diagram on how to do this, so when I measured Kat, I thought I must be doing something wrong, because her waist measurement came out at 28", not even the size 10 clothes have a waist measurement of 28" (they are a 25"), but her height, weight and chest measurement came out to a size 6 year old (my daughter just turned 4)  So I did the pattern for a 6 year old.

Second problem/(it's nice but also a pain)  Is that the patterns are on a CD, so if you want to know how much fabric you will need you need to plug in the CD to look up how much yardage is needed for what and she uses a lot of embellishments like trims and she does not give you the amount you need for those.

Third problem, when you print the pages for the pattern, she waste a huge amount of paper, look at this small pocket, it could have easily fit on one page, but she has it on 2 and you also waste the tape taping it together, I skipped making the back pocket just cause I didn't want to waist the energy in cutting it and taping it together.

One part of the back pocket pattern.

Another issue with this pattern in particular "The Vintage Ruffle Capris/Shorts" is the shorts line is right on the actual page line and it is very hard to see your size line to cut, they are not colored and the lines kind of all blur into one.

My scissors are pointing at the line that I am supposed to cut and then I am supposed to tape that little tiny piece of paper to the page above, come on now, so freakin' ridiculous.  I actually made my cut a little longer cause I felt that if I cut on any of these short lines, if my daughter bent over you would be able to see her underside.
I also didn't like the placement of the cut line for the age 6 for the sides, again very small, so I just drew the line on the other page and called it good.

My finger is pointing at the cut line for age 6 to add to the other page.

Now after all of this and sewing it together, which was a breeze, best part of the project is how easy it was to put together.  It didn't fit Katerina, I am so bummed, since I used the lovely and very expensive Liberty Tana Lawn fabric for the accent of the pocket 

 And Ruffle on the bottom.

Katerina is a little sad too, because she helped me pick out the solid to match, Cotton Couture Peony,

Cotton Couture Peony

Cotton Couture Peony

Cotton Couture Peony

and we went to the button store together and she picked out the ones she liked.  I think I will be doing a whole lot more sewing for her, because she had so much fun picking out everything and I enjoyed watching her ponder colors (the fabrics) and sizes (for the buttons).

I have now started the Craftsy class, Kids Romper Revamp, this class is awesome, I have only watched the first 2 videos and I have already learned so much!  Like you don't cut the patterns, nope, no scissors, you fold the paper under and butt them against each other and make one big pattern paper, then you lay it out and trace over it with tracing paper!  And so many other hints and tips, I should have watched this first, really go and buy it and watch it!  She also teaches you how to Adapt the Pattern to fit your child, which I guess I need cause these cute shorts didn't fit Kat, she really does have a big bumm and belly, they couldn't even fit over her thighs.  Shelley of Kids Romper Revamp will show you how to measure your kid and adjust the pattern, so happy to give these shorts another go and get the correct size.

Please come and vote for my shorts, on this one you have to log in to vote, sorry about that, but I would love it if you heart my project, Thank you.  Voting continues until 6pm EST on Thursday, August 14
Linking to August Craft Book Sew Along