Lilly P Knockoff Shorts

15 Jun Lilly P Knockoff Shorts

Six glorious beach days with Birdie – life gets no better!

I was determined to perfect a pair of scalloped hem shorts before returning to the beach, and my inspiration came from many of the Lilly Pulitzer beach shorts.

Many thanks to Margo Bergman from Creating in the Gap for introducing me to McCall’s 6930, a flat front short with a scalloped hem option (View B).

For optimal results I added a lining to the shorts for comfort and wrinkle reduction, and inserted an invisible zipper – eliminating the need for a hook & eye at the waistband.

Rather than sewing the 3-piece waistband together and attaching it to the shorts as one piece after the shorts’ pieces were assembled, I attached the waistband pieces separately to the corresponding parts.

1. I marked the seam allowances before attaching,

2. and trimmed evenly with the garment piece after stitching it to the back.

After the front waistband was attached to the front (two front pattern pieces sewn together), the shorts were assembled.These steps allow for the invisible zipper to zip to the top of the waistband.

Before cutting the lining, the side front and front pattern pieces were connected and cut as one piece.

The lining for the shorts is sewn from lightweight batiste, but I cut the waistband  from the seersucker.

The back lining pieces were cut using the same steps as I used when assembling the fashion fabric.

Below are the shorts and lining before being attached right sides together at the waistband.

Here they are attached and flipped with the lining slipstitched to the zipper tape.

Attaching the scalloped facing is the last step. I treated the lining and fashion fabric as one piece and followed the pattern instructions.

I learned there was a difference between drafting my own scalloped facing and using the ready made template. Unlike the self-drafted scalloped facing from my previous shorts (blogged here), McCall’s designed the template proportionally around the edge of the shorts resulting in different sized scallops. Upon tracing the pattern I thought I made a mistake at first, but when the facing was sewn and turned, all worked out.

Another perk of lining the shorts is the ability to slipstitch the hem to the lining resulting in an invisible hem.

I’ve enjoyed wearing the shorts with the golf shirt my flight attendant friend found at a South American Lilly Pulitzer,

as well as wearing the shorts with one of the longer prototype tunics from The Tunic Bible (blogged here.)

But most of all I’ve enjoyed being in step with Birdie.

I sewed Birdie’s Reversible Bucket Hat from Oliver+S by Liesl Gibson using the same pink seersucker as my shorts and a small piece of Verna Mosquera floral cotton. The pattern is available as a free download here. Many thanks to Julie Starr for introducing me to this delightful pattern!

I’ll be making more……

For me, results like this make sewing vacation and weekend clothes equally as rewarding as sewing everyday clothes, and who knows, Lilly herself might have even approved 🙂

Until soon!