Whale Shorts

I had really good timing, making shorts, because this morning I had to dig my car out of the snow.

Anyway, I said I would make shorts out of our new birch whale print organic cotton, and I did! I think these are my favorite creation! I used the Sewaholic Thurlow shorts pattern. I was hesitant to use it at first, because the patterns are designed for pear-shaped women, and my body isn’t like that, but obviously I did it anyway.  They fit wonderfully, and I’m very happy about it!

I call this look Van Whalin’. Get it?

Sewaholic patterns are very well-designed and wearable. I’m a huge fan. I do feel that the instructions are a little sparse, but the great thing about the internet is that it has a plethora of resources. Some bloggers and patternmakers have sewalongs to work through patterns, and Lauren of Lladybird hosts a sewalong for the Thurlows here.

Making a muslin for this pattern especially is a really good idea. You definitely want pants to fit well, and you don’t want a flappy butt.

Looks good! Also, this pattern has welt pockets, which are pretty tricky, so you definitely want to practice those first.

Now let’s talk about fabric. The thing about organic cotton is that often the ink sits on top of the fabric rather than being absorbed completely into the fibers. That tends to stiffen the fabric a little bit, so it doesn’t drape as well as typical cotton. Birch’s cotton isn’t quite as stiff as other organics, and the way you treat it affects how it feels. I do laundry like a hippy with cold water and air drying, so these puppies will probably be stiff for a while. I imagine if you used fabric softener and a clothes dryer, the fabric would be much softer, but I can’t say that from experience. This stiffness is perfect for my shorts, though, so I’m happy. I wore them all day and they softened a little, so there’s that.