Athletic Shorts Sew Along Day 1

Welcome! I’m going to show you how to use the PJ Shorts pattern from my book, Sew  in Style-Make Your Own Doll Clothes, to make a pair of athletic shorts for your doll (as seen on page 110). It’s really easy and fun. I will also show you how to place the fabric under the needle of your machine to make some of the trickier parts easier, just like I do when I teach sewing locally. Make sure you read the bottom of the post to know how to earn extra entries for the Sew in Style Sewing Camp prize drawings!!

Let’s get started. Gather your supplies:

• Your Sew in Style book
• Sewing basket supplies and sewing machine
• pattern #17
• fabric -1 fat quarter
• ribbons
  
• fabric marker (optional)
  
• matching thread (match the ribbon colors, too)
  
• 1/3 yard of elastic (3/8″ wide)

First thing you should do is pre-wash and press your fabric. I used a solid Kona cotton fabric from my local quilt shop. In honor of USA’s success in the Women’s World Cup, I embroidered USA onto my fabric first 🙂  Carefully pin and cut your pattern pieces out for great looking projects. And remember, it’s okay to get help with that or any step!

Step 1

Cut out the paper pattern piece #17. Fold the fabric and place the paper pattern piece on the fold. Pin the pattern’s fold line even with the fold line of the fabric first.

Then pin the rest of the pattern onto the fabric.

Before you cut out the fabric, cut a little triangle along the top edge, just like this:

Then carefully cut around the rest of the pattern.

Step 2

Use a clear ruler to draw lines for the ribbon placements. Draw lines that are 1/4 inches from the center of that triangle. Place the fabric piece straight on the grid lines of a cutting mat if you have one. You can also use the fold line crease as a guide.

Draw the lines on both fabric pieces like this:

Step 3

Pin the ribbon onto the fabric, so 1 edge of the ribbon is straight along the drawn line.

I like to use Wonder Tape  to hold my ribbons in place, instead of pins.  Parent: this is great stuff for helping kids learn to sew. We use it all the time in class. It’s essentially double sided sticky tape for fabric. It washes out and can be sewn over without any trouble. You can find it at most quilt shops and fabric shops (notions wall).

For the second piece of fabric, do the same thing. Only make sure the ribbons are in the opposite order, a mirror image of the first fabric piece.

Step 4

Sew the ribbons in place. For the grosgrain (white) ribbon, I sewed down each side.

For the velvet (blue) ribbon, I just sewed straight down the middle.

Trim any threads and carefully trim any extra ribbon.

That’s the end of day 1. We will start to sew the shorts together in the next post of our Sew Along. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have!

Sew in Style Summer Sewing Club Members:

How you can earn extra entries for our Week 3 prize drawing: Share a picture on the post on my Avery Lane Designs’ Facebook page for an entry as soon as you’ve done all of day 1 of the Sew Along. It’ll be fun to see all your works in progress!

At the very end of the Sew Along, and once your shorts are all done, your finished shorts project is worth 2 entries for sewing along with me ♥