DIY Navy Blue Tap Shorts

I know I keep saying that I can't wait for it to be fall but it's still blazing hot and I have more things left on my summer sewing list to do. Enter the Tap Shorts. I love wearing shorts so I was really excited to try out this pattern. I love that they are a fairly basic shape but have cool, unique details.

I made View B with the large front pleats. A large pleat going right across your hips might not sound like the most figure flattering choice but I like it! I think because it's really flat at the top it doesn't add a lot of extra bulk.

According to the size chart, I'm a size 6 for this pattern (!! never been that small, thanks ladies!). One really great thing about this pattern is that they include the finished measurements along with the size chart. The finished garment has zero ease at the waist and 1.5 inch ease at the hip. I wanted a little ease at the waist so I decided to grade up a size between the hip and waist. Two reasons for this: One, because I'm tall my waist is a lot farther from my hips than most people so unless I planned on increasing the rise of the shorts, that waistband would not reach my waist and it would be too tight. Second, I just like a slightly looser fit at the waist.

I made a quick muslin. (I was shocked at how quickly the muslin came together, probably about 30 minutes.) The muslin fit great but I realized that the cotton had some stretch to it but the fabric I was going to use did not have stretch. So, I went up a size at both the waist and hips. In the end, the fit is a little looser than I would like but it's comfortable, which is a must for me when it comes to shorts. I'm planning to make another pair of these shorts using View A and I'll probably go down a little bit or use a bigger seam allowance.

The fabric is a medium weight cotton that I originally bought when making this painted scarf. The scarf didn't work out so I dyed the fabric a dark blue. You can probably tell from the photos that I didn't do a great job dyeing and the color is rather blotchy. I might dye it again and try to even it out. Or I'll just leave it.

The back of the shorts feature welt pockets which I decided I really should do after reading Heather's post that she regretted not adding them. I was so scared to do the pockets that I waited days before diving in. I've actually done a welt pocket once before and it was not that hard but cutting right into the middle of your fabric is SCARY!! So, I took it one step at a time and followed this tutorial by Workroom Social. The tutorial is really great and I love that she uses different fabric for the different pieces. The only thing missing for me was a photo of how to cut the opening. You need to cut a triangle on the ends and a line in the middle but on my first one I cut a straight line all the way across. See this tutorial for a pic of how to cut the opening.

Overall I'm really happy with how these turned out and can't wait to wear them. And it seems like summer is not close to over yet so they are sure to get a lot of wear.