The Perfect Pair // Rust Dot Culottes

Just as suddenly as you may find yourself a mum, you may also find yourself required to contort into all sorts of amazing and compromising positions during the course of a day. Most likely you will be retrieving something from the ground, sometimes a child, sometimes a snack, sometimes a child with a snack. Whatever it is, rest assured, said incidence will occur at a. school pick up b. school drop off  c. any place you don't want to hang around with your butt skyward. It is the nature of the beast, there's nothing you can do. But, if you're a moderate to quick learner, you'll only do it, mmm, maybe nine or ten times in a mid thigh skirt / dress.

Until the day you wake up and you realise that you are not the same person you were six short years and a lifetime ago. Clothes that were perfectly comfortable, even practical pre-kids, now fall short, literally. There's been no dramatic change, just a million small ones that has lead to feeling like I'm on the cusp of a new era of dressing. I mean, I don't feel that different than I did at 22, sure I'm a little older, a little wiser, maybe. And there are physical changes, like going from being busty with no hippage to hippy with no bustage. But mostly there feels less of a need to scream sexy from the mountaintops. Sure, I still want to feel attractive but mostly I'm too frickin tired to get to the mountaintops. And if I'm screaming, its probably at my kids to stop fighting in my bed first thing in the morning. Joking, mostly. No, they really do fight in my bed.

One thing I've been noticing, now more than ever, is how important it is to dress for the day. And, in things that allow you to get on with the day. When I get up in the morning and put on something I feel good in, it colors the whole day. I stand up straighter, smile more, take things less to heart, look out for fun, am more productive and, here's the big one...I parent, completely differently. Last year I found dressing for the day challenging. Most of the clothes I sewed, fell into the 'too good' for every day category. I thought maybe I could start celebrating the everyday by breaking out these clothes but then I thought I might cry if Hudson smeared butter chicken on La Sylphide. This year the plan is balance; sewing more every day clothes for the hand-made wardrobe.

 What has all this got to do with shorts? Well, since a day in the life can involve all sorts of weird and wonderful outings / acrobatics it demands a wardrobe to match. And SHORTS are the way forward. The perfect pair can tick ALL the boxes, all two of them: mum friendly and fiercely attractive. This is a fugly shorts free zone, friends. Besides the practicalities, there are a lot of great looking shorts patterns out there that keep getting shoved down the queue by more exciting projects. So I figure, divide and conquer.  I'm aiming to make 4-5 pairs, in the hopes of finding a staple go-to, never-fail shorts pattern for ever more. And where do you start when you want to make yourself some dandy shorts? Here is a list, mostly from independent pattern companies because we love them so...

Ralf Pink // Paperbag Shorts

Pattern Runway // Scalloped Hem Shorts

Burdastyle // Pleated Shorts

Colette // Iris Shorts

Salme // Paperbag Waist Shorts

Salme // Side Zipper Shorts 

Megan Nielsen // Tania Culottes

Dixie Diy // Movies in the Park Shorts

Peppermint Magazine // Short Stuff shorts

Sewaholic // Thurlow shorts / Trousers

Papercut // Pleated Shorts

Burdastyle // Wool Shorts

Deer and Doe // Chataigne Shorts

Fine Motor Skills // Jimmy shorts

Grainline Studio // Maritime shorts

New Look // 6100

Pattern // Megan Nielsen Tania Culottes

Fabric // Floaty delicious rayon from here

Size // M (a size up from this version)

Mods // 1.5 inches added to length.

 First up, an oldie but a goodie: After this version, which turned out very very short and haven't been worn much, I've been wanting to another go at the Tania's. The bones are good: the fit is nice, the wide waistband feels secure and the invisible side zip is flattering. Mostly I've been waiting to hoe into this amazing rayon, which is so soft and drapey and delicious and I am sad that it's over but glad it was the Tania's that did it. If you're making the Tania's, you will need something flowy otherwise you'll get poofy. I let the hems hang for a day or two and decided I rather liked them lower and higher in parts. Also because I wished I had cut them another inch longer so places where the hem dropped kind of made up for it. The upshot: I've been wearing them weekly!