uniGLO shorts

The original floor model

I copied a pair of super lightweight men's poly knit long boxer shorts from an international clothing chain, to cope with summer and dresses.

And now I wear them under all the dresses.

Me at Frocktails.

See, I do leave the house. And I'm wearing this very pair from this post.

Many of you might be familiar with the concept of chub rub.

I certainly am.

And in the summer, I don't want to wear tights or pantyhose to cope with this.

I figured these would work. And they do.

So I traced off a pair.

It's a very simple pattern.

I don't need a fly that opens, so I just did the front curve.

 This is the entire pattern. One piece, cut on a fold.

After you sew the front 'fly' curve down to that red star dot,  

you'll match those red star dots. 

Sew the center front curve.

You match the dots, you sew across the bottom crotch.

You hem them (not shown. You know how to do that)

(to be honest, you probably don't need to, but this stuff curls up, so I did)

The waist band is the most time consuming part.

You'll want to make a loop of not so wide elastic you don't mind next to your body. You divide it up in half, then half again, then some more halves, and pin it in equal sections to the top edge of the shorts, which you divided up similarly.

 And then you stretch it as you sew it.

 You sew the elastic to the top edge.

I ALWAYS over stretch it, but because I used 1" fold over elastic and and didn't fold it over, so it's not over stretched on the top edge. It looks like hell, but this tricot is translucent, so I am not modeling these shorts.

Melissa Fehr has a variety of methods on her blog (and in her Activewear sewing book)

http://blog.fehrtrade.com/inspiration/625/a-better-elastic-waistband-finish-tutorial/

I sew a button in the front for quick finding. Yes, I get dressed in the dark. 

Thanks Blondini for that idea.

And I wore them.

 While I made a second pair.

Okay, so my paper pattern is missing the back point. I know enough to continue that line when I'm cutting.

But there's the red dot on the fold

And it's friend the red dot at the bottom of the crotch curve seam in the front.

And this is where I put the order number of the tricot I bought on Fabric.com, so I won't forget when I need more.

Yes, it's  108" wide.

Simple as pie. Easy as cake. Right on a grid for your summer convenience.

 You can borrow this all you want. Just gotta be stretchy stuff.