Maritime shorts — what’s going on?!

I made Maritime shorts! It takes so much mental energy for me to make clothes that I post about what really ought to be muslins, heh. You can see in this picture that there is a seam in the center next to the fly that oughtn’t be there — I had to add fabric because I didn’t read the instructions properly and serged all the way up the center seam instead of stopping before the bottom of the fly.


These are a size 4 and fit really comfortably, even though they’re made out of pretty stiff remnant home dec twill. Next time, I ought to top stitch around the front pockets; the instructions don’t call for it (unless I missed that), but I think the pockets look a little unfinished without any.


But what’s going on here? I’m not experienced enough to even be able to tell what’s wrong — is it the stiff + no-stretch fabric, that I should have serged much closer to the crotch seam, or that I should sew the back-crotchular part with a smaller seam allowance so there’s more room? The weirdness in the back is related to the pulling on the side near the waistband, yeah? How do I fix this?! argh.


I got confused when I was putting the fly together and thought that the instruction’s diagrams were telling me to put the fly shield on with the serged edge on the side that would show. I ended up having to pull out a pair of rtw pants to check what the fly shield looked like. Also, I missed the edge of the waistband facing while top stitching from the front, so I had to hand stitch it down in many spots. The innards of my shorts are not very pretty!


Despite the weirdness in the back, I’ve been wearing these shorts a lot — I can’t see my own butt, so I pretend the funkiness isn’t happening. I love the back pockets — the top stitching looks actually looks okay! Plus, patch pockets on the backs of shorts and pants are my favorite. I know welt pockets look fancy, but I don’t like using them; they’re often wrinkly when empty, and I think they look silly when you load them up.


I’m stoked about the fly front — I feel like I finally made real shorts! I put on a button (using these two tutorials) instead of using a hook and eye because the waistband facing fabric is pretty flimsy, and I was worried that the hook and eye would rip it or pull strangely. Should I not have been worried about that?

Anyhoo, even though there’s something funky going on with this pair, I’m super happy with the Maritime shorts pattern. I like the mid-rise waistline (the three other bottoms patterns I’ve tried all have high waistlines, which I know are good for holding my tummy in, but are a little less comfy), the back pockets, and the real fly!