Lore Piar – Essential Shorts

Not very many things beat a good t-shirt and shorts combo, and I’m so happy now to have these two new garments to add to my summer lineup.

I’ve been on the hunt for good basic style shorts for a while, and I think I’ve found them! These are the Lore Piar Essential Shorts (sizes up to 58″ waist & 72″ hip). I like the fit and the perfect slash pockets with the little bar tack. I also liked that these are more mid-rise, so I didn’t have to adjust the rise like I usually do if the rise is too high for me.

Both the shirt and shorts fabric are from my friend Pauline’s (@sewuthinkucan) recent de-stash. These shorts are a cotton chambray that’s probably a shirting, but I really wanted shorts, so that’s what I made. It worked well, but the fabric gets wrinkly super easily when I sit for even just a few minutes.

It’s pretty lightweight, and I immediately thought of the boxer trend when I tried them on. I’m not really into that, but at the end of the day boxers are just cotton shorts! I think the lightweight fabric, loose style, and narrower waistband is what gives it the boxer vibe. They are very comfortable.

The only adjustment I made was to lengthen the pattern by about 1″. The pattern’s method for attaching the waistband was different than what I’m used to, so instead I did the method of stitching most of the way around and leaving a 2″ opening to insert the elastic. I wasn’t really in the mood to try something new, but I might try out the other method next time and see if I like it.

I also used self bias tape to hem the shorts. I did hem them like normal first, but I didn’t do a great job with the ironing, and it just looked bad. So, I unpicked the whole thing, trimmed off what would have been for the hem and then attached the bias tape instead. I think it looks so much better and it’s much easier to sew around the curve at the side seam.

Next time, I might try using a wider waistband+elastic. I also think the pockets are a little bit shallow, so I will lengthen them by 1″. I really want to make these in a French terry this Fall/Winter. If I do, I won’t do a self bias binding, but I will make the other changes.

The pattern instructions and illustrations were clear and easy to follow. At the end, you are supposed to add two rows of topstitching to the waistband and add a faux tie, but I was under the impression that the tie was functional, so that was a little disappointing. If I decide to add a real tie on my next pair, I’ll need to remember to add buttonholes for the rope before attaching to waistband.

Now onto my new favorite Union St Tee (pattern by Hey June)! I have been terrified to sew 100% cotton knits because I had no idea what to do for the neckband if it couldn’t stretch very far. This fabric is also from Paulines de-stash, so I felt a little braver about trying a new neckband method.

I remembered that I saved a neckline binding method on Pinterest that Megan Nielsen shared on her website, so I looked it up and decided to go for it. First, I measured the neckline of my pattern and then multiplied it by .9 (+3/8″ for the SA). That gave me the length to cut, which was 90% of the neckline, and the tutorial says to make it 3″ wide. Then I followed the tutorial exactly.

I am SO happy with the result! It worked so nicely, and now I want to buy more 100% cotton knits. They are little bit lighter than cotton/spandex. I go between the Large and XL size of the Union St Tee, but this time I made the large. I’m curious to see what the fit is like if I make it in the XL size next time.

I’m pretty happy with how these both turned out and since they’re both made from lightweight cotton, they’re going to be great for the rest of summer…which is still here for the next couple of months.

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