Ruby shorts

[motorharp]

Ruby shorts from Burda patterns

After going on vacation this summer and realizing I had basically one pair of shorts that worked, I put "shorts" in my list of things to sew.  These are made from old grey with white pinstripe wool pants that simply would not fit me no matter what I did. The pattern is #6005 from Burda called Ruby.  They are underlined with the original silk lining, in which I found the remnants of a cocoon which may be the source for whatever ate all my other wool pants¹.

I used vintage shell buttons, and a couple buttons from some Land's End article of clothing I must have had at some point. I cannot imagine what that might have been.

The instructions were as bad as everyone says - I think the translator got confused between "right and wrong" and "right and left" when referring to the sides as well as "beginning" and "front". They came together just fine, though.  Except for the front welt pocket.  No matter which instructions I use, I can never get them perfectly rectangular or smooth.  Plus, it being so close to the waistband pulled it a bit out of shape.

Next up, since I had a couple shirts have minor failures and with that subtraction from my wardrobe finding I had nothing to wear, I'm going ahead and making two more ... pairs of pants, of course. I'm going to try making the pants from the Ruby shorts because other people have successfully made these into pants and I love buttons².


1 My other wool pants don't fit me, either, which is probably why they were undisturbed enough to get consumed.
2 Apparently.  I looked at my ravelry page the other day and it's heavy on the designs featuring buttons. One might say lavish.