gym-ish shorts

I love these shorts. My mother says they look like pajamas and I shouldn't wear them out of the house... this may have something to do with my choices of fabric. Regardless, I sort of don't care what she thinks about it because they are so comfortable. They've been made for a while now, but I haven't gotten around to posting about them because life? COVID? They're probably two years old, maybe three. 

These shorts [for me, at least] fall into the category of Things-I-Can-Make-With-a-Yard-of-Fabric, or conversely 3/4 of a yard of this and half a yard of that. And some very rando bias tape. Something else I love about these shorts is that there is no pattern - shut the front door, I know! Here's the however because I can see you've already decided you don't want to bother without a paper pattern because anything without a paper pattern is too hard. If you have any kind of straight ruler, a measuring tape, a bowl, and either a few brown paper bags from TJ's or WF or a roll of wrapping paper, you, too, can do this. Pinky promise.

Some things to note:

If you're liking the shorts idea but don't really want your shorts to wrap around, check out this pattern from Purl Soho City Gym Shorts

I mashed up two patterns to do this; the instructions and pattern from a pair of shorts designed by Tara Miller and published in the Stitch Magazine originally and the measurement instructions for these Tap Pants [which I also have made]. I made the tap pants first, and then adjusted the tap pants pattern so that it had the lines I wanted for the gym shorts [tulip shorts, boudoir shorts, seriously, these things go by many names]. The Miller design wants you to cut out out the front fold over bit as two pieces, so that there is a side seam. If you follow the original, you can add pockets. Don't get me wrong, I love me some pockets. At this juncutre, I didn't want a side seam, especiallynot when I planned to use a solid for the back and sides where the seam would be obvious. The blue rose print would hide a side seam better. 

Making the side panel and back panel into one is simple enough. If the pieces are already cut out, simply fold the seam allowance bit over (if you're the type to include a seam allowance in a paper pattern - I am, I never remember to put it back in!) and tape the edges together, or if you're feeling very bold and daring, lay the two pieces down together on the fabric with the edges lined up and pin them to the fabric to cut out the pieces. You make have made a pattern alignment mark, such as commercial patterns have notches so you know where to line things up. That should help. 

And that's it! This doesn't really change the construction of the shorts, only that you've eliminated two side seams.