Finch Shorts: clever charlotte

I've had bubble shorts on the brain.

With spring here, I've been trying to make a few play clothes for Ellie and just think chubby baby legs look so cute in shorts.

So I was excited to find clever charlotte.

I was surprised I'd never heard of them.  

Later I realized I'd seen Kristin's Kestrel Coat she made using their pattern.

Anway,

I got this pattern for the finch top and shorts.

I kind of got hooked on their site initially and read about clever charlotte's idea: 

basically to make comfortable, sophisticated but still playful clothing for play or special occasions. Me too!

That's why I was thinking shorts, so she can play, but look a little nicer than the Old Navy sweat shorts her brother wears in the summer.  

They also have sewing kits where you can buy the all the fabric, interfacing, thread and buttons ready to go, which I thought was a cool idea. 

But one of my favorite things is the fact they have a tag in each pattern!  I didn't even realize it was part of the pattern until I was pulling it all out and the fancy woven tag plopped out.

I've always wanted my own fancy woven tags, but never could justify the cost just to sew my name on my kids clothes, so it was fun for me to get to tag something I made.  Made it feel a little more professional.

So here's what I did different from their pattern:

First off, it started at 2T and I had to take it in for 12 months by removing 1" from the sides of the pattern pieces, and 3/4" from the back center seam, and the coordinating waistband pieces.

I wanted these to be a little shorter for the baby proportions, so I also removed  2" from the 2T bottom hem, and cut it at an angle so the side seams lost another 1/2" due to the shape of the baby short shorts.

So basically the hem cut cut up 2" at the inside of legs, and 2.5" at the side seams for the front and back.

The cuff at the leg openings was also shortened to 3/4" from the original thick cuffs for baby sizing.

 Other than making it smaller and the shorts shorter, the only real change I did was create box pleats.  The pattern uses just fold pleats toward the center front, but I chose to sew the pleat, then press it flat from the back to create the open box pleats.  With the top and hem pleats, it makes the shorts have the diamond shaped opening.

I loved my idea, but I think I'll try another pair with their fold pleats as it kind of reminds me of court jester pants or something. You?

I still like them and she'll wear these all summer, but maybe we'll go for less of a Louis XIV with the next pair.

I also made the tabs on the side seams shorter to go with the new baby proportions.

I really love the tab features on the sides and front with the buttons. 

Definitely my favorite part.

I also used buttonhole elastic, which is awesome as any mom knows!

If you follow me on facebook, a few weeks ago I posted Sew True was having free shipping, and you can get really affordable button elastic there for less than $1/yd...the cheapest I've seen (and I'm pretty cheap).  This time I sewed the end of the elastic to the waistband lining, as it's such a pain if the button pops off and it gets sucked in the waistband.

There's a butt shot of the back pleats and to attest the generous fit for diaper bum. 

I love these clever charlotte finch shorts and will be making more!

Bring on the warm weather!

These shorts were part of my KCWC sewing, along with the blouse.