Needing Shorts

In preparation for school starting in a couple of weeks, and reacting to the fact that now that it isn't raining every day it has gotten rather hot, I have been considering my need for some new shorts. I have not bought any new shorts since losing weight a couple of years ago, so my current stash is dominated by ancient shorts that may or may not have ever fit, are possibly desperately out of style, that I just don't want for whatever reason, or are kind of too large but I wear around the house. I also have possibly 3 pairs of shorts that fit okay and look halfway decent to wear in public.

Yesterday I went through my pants and shorts to get rid of ones I don't want (I just did this a few months ago, but I get pickier over time and recognize that I am not going to wear something again) and to identify ones that could use some alteration to fit better. I dumped about 6 pairs and found several to fix.

Among the fixer-uppers were the clown pants I had made from scratch but that were always a little too loose in the hips; I discovered through a safety pin and try on process that if I am willing to lose my pockets (which I am), I could take them in at the hips and they will look quite satisfactory. Once I have altered them and can confirm I am happy with the new fit, I want to make some long Jams-esque shorts using the same (modified) pattern using the $1 and $2 per yard fabric sales at Wal-Mart. I wore homemade long shorts in fun patterns in the 80's so what the hell - I'll call it retro.

I also have two pairs of hand-me-down pants that my mom gave me a while back but that I decided ultimately were too short to look right as pants for work, so I decided to make them into knee-length shorts. (Knee-length is my absolute favorite length for both shorts and skirts on me and one bonus of sewing/altering one's own clothing is ensuring the length is always to one's preference.) Although I would never have worn "work shorts" to my actual office, I like the idea of mildly funkifying a pair of (in all truth, very nice) dressier pants by making them into shorts. I enjoyed how they turned out. The pattern may not come out very well in the photo, but they are shades of grey with a bit of purple in the stripe. (And do not fear that my legs have gone all stumpy since you saw me last; I am a bit foreshortened in the photo.)


Of course, what the shorts really needs to be worn with is a pair of low-cut pink Converse All Stars. Sigh. But I was amused to note that of the items you see in the photo, my total out of pocket was under $7 - the shirt also came from my mom (and required no alteration) for free and the shoes were super cheap at Wal-Mart. (I already regret that I did not buy every pair in my size they had. For a while I had a fantasy that I would be able to get a pair in a dozen different colors, but they only had black. I like these shoes even better than the Chinese mary janes which are my classic version.) Even the watch was a gift.