Jedediah Shorts (sharing the linen love around)

Even though I do a fairly brutal wardrobe clear out every 6 months, I’m still reaching the point where my handmade wardrobe is well stocked with the sort of every day basics that I live in, and enough ‘special occasion’ outfits to last me several years (maybe I need to get out more?). Instead of sewing less (ridiculous idea), I’m trying to sew more for others. So far this year I’ve made a shift dress for my Mum, and another pair of Jedediah Shorts for Hamish, both in linen from The Fabric Store.

This is the third time I’ve made the Jedediah pattern (first and second here), though its the first time for a few years. The notes I made in my other blog posts were okay, but I hadn’t altered the pattern or anything helpful at the time so I was a bit sketchy about exactly what I needed to do. I took a wedge off the side seams at the top, tapering to nothing at mid thigh, and then I added half an inch to the width at the hem front and back (so an extra inch in width for each leg). I also remembered having some weird problems with too much fabric between the pockets and the fly on the trousers that I made, so I took a tiny sliver of fabric out there too.

I basted them all together and got him to try them on, and they were skin tight. I probably should have remeasured him, rather than going off the numbers I had from years ago…I’ve learned my lesson there! Luckily I was able to let the side seams out all the way down the leg to get the fit he was looking for. I’ll need to go back and add that wedge I initially removed back into the pattern, along with a bit more width down the side seam…the adjustment I made across the front hip worked nicely though, so I’ll keep that!

In some ways it’s good that these started out a bit snug, as the heavyweight linen I used has relaxed significantly, as linen does. The bum does get a bit baggy in these shorts, but it seems to return to its original shape after a wash! This is the same stuff that I backed my cushions in, but in the gravel colourway, and it’s really nice. It’s smooth and soft, and nicely opaque. No underpants on show here! I sewed these as I would a pair of jeans, with flat felled seams and top-stitching and bar tacks. I was going to put silver rivets at the pockets, but that idea was vetoed before I got the hammer out. The pockets are a striped grey and white stretch cotton that I fished out of the scrap bin. At Hamish’s request, I increased the depth of the pocket by 2”, he wanted them to be deep enough for his iPhone to fit in without it peeking out of the pocket opening. The linen definitely develops stretched points where the corners of his phone put pressure on the fabric, but he doesn’t seem to mind about that!

The tee shirt he’s wearing here is another one of the GBSB Fashion with Fabric tees that I’ve made (and blogged about) before. This one is also merino, but it’s a super lightweight loop-backed merino/lycra blend remnant that I picked up somewhere. Initially I was going to make myself leggings out of it, but it had a flaw that I couldn’t figure out how to cut around, to Hamish’s gain! He wears the three tee shirts I’ve made from this pattern constantly, it’s rather gratifying. I’m going to make some long sleeved tops for him for winter, I just need to get around to printing out the Strathcona Henley pattern…

He seems pretty happy with them, he’s certainly been wearing them lots in this hot weather! Zelda was in peak fiend mode the morning we took these pictures, she was just determined to get involved! She’s always worried about missing out on something…