Boardshorts: Simplicity 9060

I LOVE boardshorts. But find the prices to be too high for my thrify blood. I've looked and looked for a pattern and finally found this one... They hit just below the knee. This was a ridiculously difficult pattern and a very wierd construction process that was totally unlike RTW. It was a major hassle to keep taking in the seams to finally get them to fit. (They are very oversized). Women's boardshort should fit slimly, and these didn't. And the wierd construction... I'll get to that.

Here's the OOP pattern: Simplicity 9060: Looks cute as can be, doesn't it. But cut it out and sew it up and you have some huge baggy pants.

My inspiration was RTW boardshorts like these.

Details I wanted:
(1)shaped seamed waistband... got it
(2)velcro front placket ... got it
(3)extra tab front with string tie ... got it (this detail with the two little squared sewn onto the waistband is getting toward the authenticity I was after ... so far so good.


(4)fit nicely ... NOT. This were a bag. I know I know. I should've done a muslin. After adjusting over and over, I finally got shorts I REALLY like the fit of. But it sure wasn't that way out of the pattern.

(5)constructed like RTW ... NOT ... I'll go into that in my pattern review below.

"Blue Screen" Photography: I've always wanted to try blue screen photography, a method whereby you take the garment (or a model) out of it's background, make the background transparent and then -- optionally -- place the model in another setting) and finally did ... just for fun: Easy to do and very cool, I think. Here's a before/after removing the pink ...

Explained quickly... to do bluescreen, you take the photo against a background screen in a color that is NOT found in the garment/model. Often blue is used, but my shorts are blue, so I used deep pink. With the pink background, it's then easy to select all the pink with the photoshop color picker, select inverse, and voila ... you have just the garment minus the background.

This picture also shoes how low the shorts fit below the waist. (I don't anymore wear garments with my belly showing ...)