City Gym Shorts from The Purl Bee

I don't know about you, but we had a HOT Memorial Day here in Lancaster, PA.  I think it reached 90 degrees yesterday, a far cry from the 60's we've been sitting at for the rest of the week.  Personally, I prefer the 60's.

Anyway, I whipped up a pair of these City Gym Shorts from The Purl Bee and thoroughly enjoyed getting some use out of them yesterday.  I do love these shorts so much.  I love the retro look that that binding and the that 'V' slit thing on the side gives.  I used Robert Kaufman's Essex Dyed Linen in Flax for the back and binding.  For the front accent material I used an old line of Fig Tree & Co called California Girl.  I think that was my favorite line of theirs so far and it has long since been discontinued.  I was lucky enough to find a little bit at a local quilt shop on sale, so I stocked up big time.  I don't fabric hoard though, ahem.

I haven't done too much garment making since I've been sewing, and I have to say, these are a great beginner project.  The instructions were clear and easy to follow.  They also have a great tutorial on making your own bias binding, you can find it here.  I couldn't find my bias tape maker so after cutting the strips and sewing them together, I just folded it in half and ironed, and then folded each raw edge into the center crease and pressed again.  It worked like a charm.  I do have to say, I'm impressed my bias tape on these shorts, but I will attribute that to The Purl Bee's wonderful tutorial and instructions.

I'm going to apologize for my poor picture quality.  We were stuck using my iPhone as my camera battery died before we were able to get any pictures.  It's always something.  At some point, I'll post some good photos of things that I make on here.

Also, I'm VERY awkward when getting my photo taken...definitely not meant to be a model.  As I was going through the photos, most of them my face looked extremely pained, it's making me laugh very hard right now, but what fun would life be if were were all perfect eh?

Xoxo,
A