apricot bloomers

 

 

 

 

 

I debated the practicality of sewing Audrey some shorts as part of the Shorts on a Line sewalong. She lives in dresses and skirts and only wears shorts under said dresses and skirts when Mom and Dad insist on it. Or when hiking. She adores hiking and will wear shorts or pants if it means a long, long hike in the woods.

But I really wanted to sew some shorts for her. I’m more than a bit smitten with bloomer-style shorts on little girls (and longer ones on boys) and pinned probably a dozen back before the Spring Elsie Marley Kids Clothing Week Challenge and then decided to just indulge her love of dresses. But those little shorts have been sitting in the back of my mind for a while. So with much joy and crossing of fingers that she’d wear them, I cut into a particularly good thrifting find of a gorgeous apricot colored duvet cover and rummaged through my vintage lace collection (courtesy of my Grandma’s hand-me-down stash).

They were sewn using the bubble short pattern in the summer ’12 issue of Ottobre. I left off the bottom hem allowance, gathered the bottoms rather than elasticizing them, and added a matching non-bias trim instead. Then I added vintage lace to the pockets and legs to make them extra feminine (always a good way to help ensure that they’ll get worn). I also left off the fake fly and belt loops as I wanted these to look more bloomer-like and less shorts-like.

And…she likes them! She’s told me a number of times that they’re really pretty. I’m under no illusions that they’ll be replacing her dresses but she has assured me that they’re her new ‘hiking shorts’. Which, to be honest, cracked me up. For a little girl who loves digging in the dirt and hiking for miles out in the sticks, she sure does it in style!

 

 

linking up with Frontier Dreams {Keep Calm Craft On}