Men's Linen shorts

My very first menswear item: the #jedediahpants (or #jedediahshorts) by @threadtheorydesigns!

I want to make a few clothing items for my two favorite dudes, so started with these breezy summer shorts. This pattern only comes in 6 sizes (76-102cm/30-40” waist, 94-119cm/37-47” hips). Their Quadra jeans pattern comes in 13 sizes though, so I hope threadtheorydesigns will update this one with more sizes – there aren’t many companies making nice menswear sewing patterns…

I squeezed this size 30 (smallest size) from 1m of 140cm wide black linen, arranging the pattern pieces to limit waste. The recommended cutting layout and required fabric yardage don’t really consider size and fabric width differences. It says 1.7m for shorts (all sizes, 115-150cm fabric width). When I make this size again I’ll buy 1.2m of 140-150cm fabric so I can cut the back pockets and waistband without piecing them together. I used a small amount of wax fabric and some matching purple bias binding.

I really like this pattern! It comes with shorts and pants variants, the cut is modern and “flattering” (if that matters), and it would work well in different types/weights of fabrics. It has pretty finishing throughout – I learned how to do French seams for the slash pocket linings, felled seams for the back yoke and inseams, and bias-bound seams on the outer leg seams. I also did my first zipper fly! The shorts have a rolled cuff where you can see a tiny bit of the pretty bias seams.

The instructions aren’t the easiest I’ve used, but the photo blog sew along helped somewhat. The only thing I hated was the waistband: the instructions/illustrations were confusing, and so was the blog post. I’m 99% sure I cut accurately and sewed with correct seam allowances – but it was just too short to cover the fly shield and ease in without causing wrinkles/folds/ripples. I ended up hacking it to be 3cm longer (there’s a seam next to the button).

I’m happy with how this turned out and all the things I learned. I will be making more of these, but will cut and sew the whole waistband part differently next time.

#threadtheorydesigns #sewingmenswear #sewingformen #menssewingpatterns