[sewing] Mini-project: BOOTY SHORTS.
Mar. 2nd, 2009 05:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragonlady7So I bought this gold lamé fabric online with no clear goal in mind. I think it is destined, at least partially, to become booty shorts.
I also bought some t-shirt fabric at JoAnn's a while back to help with t-shirt surgeries. So I have this black jersey fabric that, similarly to the gold, has slight stretch one way, but great stretch the other way.
So I'm doing a "muslin" of the booty shorts in black jersey.
The kicker is, I don't have a serger, or a sewing machine that can handle a zig-zag stitch. So instead of just using my straight-stitch and popping a seam, I'm going to hand-stitch it with a running backstitch. We'll see how it goes.
It shouldn't take long-- the seams are super-short. I might even French-seam them, or flat-fell, or overcast-stitch, or blanket-stitch-- haven't decided. Right now, just going for structure. There's a chance that I may use the jersey as lining for the gold lamé-- we'll see. Then I can just hide the seam allowances between the layers. But who really needs all those layers on their butt? We'll see how it looks.
So far, I took a pair of boyshort undies and traced them. The seam is down the front and back, which I hate in underpants but like in booty shorts (since I wear them over undies and tights, or undies and leggings and fishnets-- several underlayers, anyway). So it's dead simple, a two-piece pattern. I don't think I'll bother with one of them diamond-shaped crotch gusset thingies since these aren't undies and I don't need to protect my ladybits from poorly-placed seams.
Anyway, just thought I'd update. Booty shorts!
I needed something fun but relatively mindless, since I've now been trying for 6 hours to save the movie I finished this morning. I'm trying to do a hojillion other things but I know I'm not getting anywhere and need to do something with my hands instead, for a little while.
Maybe by the time I'm 30 I'll learn not to be so fucking apologetic for taking a little time for myself now and again. I waste so much fucking time pretending to work because I'd be too guilty to just overtly take time off... I should just take the damn break I deserve, then come back and do some actual work, instead of fucking around and feeling bad for hours and hours and hours...
So. Booty. Maybe I'll embroider them. Just to gild the lily, as it were. Though it's more of a brick shithouse situation-- "gilding the lily" means wasting time on improving something perfect; "brick shithouse" refers to wasting way too much effort and thought on something really humble. Right?
Anyway. Maybe it's because I'm a brick house. I don't know what that one really means. (I always thought "brick house" referred to a well-engineered sort of woman, i.e. one of some stature, but I could be way wrong on that one.)
Mm, I'm immediately discovering that it's harder to sew stretch jersey fabric than wool or linen, my usuals. So I may not overengineer this after all. It doesn't help that I'm still using my bent needle because it was there in the pincushion still threaded with black. I ought to go find a new needle and see how that goes.
But the point of this is that I am being lazy, so probably not.
Actually I should go make meatloaf instead. But I want to sew a little first.
Will take/post pics later, and maybe a tutorial since I am sure everyone who reads this wants to know how to make BOOTY SHORTS. Er, by hand.
I also bought some t-shirt fabric at JoAnn's a while back to help with t-shirt surgeries. So I have this black jersey fabric that, similarly to the gold, has slight stretch one way, but great stretch the other way.
So I'm doing a "muslin" of the booty shorts in black jersey.
The kicker is, I don't have a serger, or a sewing machine that can handle a zig-zag stitch. So instead of just using my straight-stitch and popping a seam, I'm going to hand-stitch it with a running backstitch. We'll see how it goes.
It shouldn't take long-- the seams are super-short. I might even French-seam them, or flat-fell, or overcast-stitch, or blanket-stitch-- haven't decided. Right now, just going for structure. There's a chance that I may use the jersey as lining for the gold lamé-- we'll see. Then I can just hide the seam allowances between the layers. But who really needs all those layers on their butt? We'll see how it looks.
So far, I took a pair of boyshort undies and traced them. The seam is down the front and back, which I hate in underpants but like in booty shorts (since I wear them over undies and tights, or undies and leggings and fishnets-- several underlayers, anyway). So it's dead simple, a two-piece pattern. I don't think I'll bother with one of them diamond-shaped crotch gusset thingies since these aren't undies and I don't need to protect my ladybits from poorly-placed seams.
Anyway, just thought I'd update. Booty shorts!
I needed something fun but relatively mindless, since I've now been trying for 6 hours to save the movie I finished this morning. I'm trying to do a hojillion other things but I know I'm not getting anywhere and need to do something with my hands instead, for a little while.
Maybe by the time I'm 30 I'll learn not to be so fucking apologetic for taking a little time for myself now and again. I waste so much fucking time pretending to work because I'd be too guilty to just overtly take time off... I should just take the damn break I deserve, then come back and do some actual work, instead of fucking around and feeling bad for hours and hours and hours...
So. Booty. Maybe I'll embroider them. Just to gild the lily, as it were. Though it's more of a brick shithouse situation-- "gilding the lily" means wasting time on improving something perfect; "brick shithouse" refers to wasting way too much effort and thought on something really humble. Right?
Anyway. Maybe it's because I'm a brick house. I don't know what that one really means. (I always thought "brick house" referred to a well-engineered sort of woman, i.e. one of some stature, but I could be way wrong on that one.)
Mm, I'm immediately discovering that it's harder to sew stretch jersey fabric than wool or linen, my usuals. So I may not overengineer this after all. It doesn't help that I'm still using my bent needle because it was there in the pincushion still threaded with black. I ought to go find a new needle and see how that goes.
But the point of this is that I am being lazy, so probably not.
Actually I should go make meatloaf instead. But I want to sew a little first.
Will take/post pics later, and maybe a tutorial since I am sure everyone who reads this wants to know how to make BOOTY SHORTS. Er, by hand.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-03-03 06:45 pm (UTC)Doing all that hand stitching is definitely impressive however, I don't think I'd have the stamina for it.
You're right about the gild the lily -- here's the definition and origin:
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/gild-the-lily.html
Apparently, there's lots of debate over the origins and meaning of "brick shithouse" -- this is the best discussion I found of it: http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/8/messages/497.html, but it seems every site has "brick house" evolving from this.
Yeah, I'm an etymology freak. :)