Friday, October 2, 2015

Fall Shorts Tailoring: A.K.A. How to Deal When that Piece Arrives in the Mail and it's Five Sizes Smaller Than it Should Be





I bought these shorts around this time last year from the Sheinside.com, possibly earlier than that.  I was instantly in love when I saw them online, and performed my traditional ritual of checking the package tracker daily, completely impatient for them to arrive.  The day finally came and I ripped open the package, delighted by the fuzzy pockets and southwestern print.  I went to try them on and very quickly I realized something was very, very wrong.  The shorts were wayyyy smaller than I'd expected.  Unfortunately, it was the largest size available (and my usual size at other retailers! Plus, I did all the proper measuring!), so I couldn't exchange it for a larger size.

I was SO BUMMED. I had been looking forward to these lovelies for weeks!  So I chose not to return them, convinced that somehow, I could make them work.  There had to be another way!!! Also, I'd like to mention that even ritual diet and exercise would not have gotten me into these shorts when I received them.  They were easily at least 2 sizes too small; if I were all skin and bones these shorts would not fit over my hips.



I proceeded to be embarrassingly lazy about the project for months, but eventually I took to my sewing kit and hit them with a seam ripper.  I went out to the fabric store and found a blue wool that matched the color of the waistband, and determined that if I added about an inch of the blue wool to each outer seam, this should solve the problem!  I'll be honest, they don't look totally perfect, but I think it plays pretty well regardless.  The draw of them is the pockets and the print, so I don't think people notice the sides that much.  What do you think??




- The Lovely Red Fox


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