Yesterday I worked on a different pair of shorts another sweater. The last pair I made were shorter than what I wanted it to be so I tried to cut the sweater so the shorts would be higher up the waist. I took quite I while to cut the sweater because I wanted it to be the right size. I measured the sides where I have to cut and I made it a bit wider than what my pattern I made before. I did this to make sure I had some seam allowance. Instead of using the pattern to trace where to cut, I used it as a guideline. I wanted the shorts to fit better so I looked at the other shorts and see where it could be more loose or more tight. I took the pattern and cut farther away from it where I needed the shorts to be loose. I kind of just eye-balled where to cut. After I got the material cut to the pieces I need, I went on the sewing machine and set it up. I practiced a bit on a piece of the sweater to see how the material acts when I sew on it. I did this so I'll what setting is best to use on this material. After I practiced a bit I started putting together the shorts. I had a hard time when sewing the bottom of the shorts together because there was a part in the material where it was very thick. The presser foot in the sewing machine made the material unable to go through. I decided to skip the thick part of the material and hand-sew it later.
While using the machine, I had a lot of trouble. I had to change the thread a couple of times because they ran out and I had to refill the bobbins. The sewing machine ofter got jammed and I had to take it apart to fix it. It did this a couple of times. I kind of got frustrated when the machine wasn't cooperating with me. Sometimes the bottom thread would go up where the other thread is. I didn't know why that happened but I managed to fix it after a little while.
After sewing the shorts together, it was time to put in the waist band. I analyzed other pairs of shorts I had and see how the waistband was attached. It looked like some shorts were folded so a waistband is able to go through a small opening. Before actually attaching the waistband, I knew I had to finish off the raw edges so they won't fray. I remember my mentor telling me I can finish the edges by using a serger or if I didn't have one, a zig-zag stitch (during our first meeting). I practiced finishing the edges with the zig-zag stitch using the sweater material before actually doing this to the shorts. I finished the edges of the shorts but they started to curl on itself. I thought it would be fine as long as i fold it and sew it in place. The elastic I was using was one inch thick so i folded the sorts to leave room for a one inch thick waistband. I folded and sewed the shorts and I left about an inch and a half open so the elastic can go through. For the elastic to go through the tube of the shorts, I pinned a safety pin on the edge of the elastic and and wiggled the pin across the narrow opening of the tube. The elastic made it around the shorts and I closed the one and a half inch opening. The shorts were finally finished.
Hours completed today: 5 hours
Total hours completed: 23 hours
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