Denim K & L Tap Shorts

I'm in love with the Katy & Laney Tap Short Pattern and this pair of shorts in particular!

I wasn't, however, in love with this Tessuti Alice top on me. It may have been something to do with my atrocious hair at the time, but I just didn't feel it flattered me. Even so, I've reached for this top a heap this summer as it's so darn comfy and easy to wear. One lovely sewing friend mentioned that it would look great with denim shorts and I was a girl possessed after that. Must make denim shorts! Short story: I did, they are awesome, and they look awesome with Alice. 

It was an obvious decision to make the pockets/facings etc with the leftover cotton/ linen blend from my Alice top. The main fabric is a 3% stretch dark denim from Tessuti. It's a really nice weight and was very affordable. I'm not sure how it would perform for jeans but it's gorgeous for these shorts.

I've previously made the Tap Short's in version B Front (pleats) with Back 2 (Welt pockets) in size 8. The fit was spot on last time. This time I made version C front with a zip fly front and angled side pockets. I used a hook and bar instead of a button to fasten the shorts and finished all the insides with my overclocker. I flat felled the crotch seam for a more traditional jeans look, and stitched in the ditch to secure the waist band rather than catch stitching down. The instructions suggest interfacing the waistband and the facing, but given the weight of the denim I only interfaced the facings.

The pieces came together beutifully and the instructions were excellent. The fly went in really well. My only complaint is that some how my fly shield ended up about 1/2"  too thin but it doesn't affect the shorts at all.
Update: A friend pondered whether I had a small fitting issue around the hips that resulted in the pockets poofing open as seen above. Thanks for the constructive feedback Rachel! I definitely have enough ease around my hips and the pockets mostly sit perfectly flat. I think the photo above is the result of me rushing to stuff the thick denim and linen pocket lining back in so Tim could take some quick snaps. Not to say the shorts fit perfectly but they are pretty darn close.

After making my first pair of Tap Shorts I wasn't sure about the high waisted look. I now realise that they are actually some of the most flattering and comfortable shorts I own and I'm so glad to have added another comfy pair to my wardrobe. These shorts are going to be flogged this summer.

K&L Outfit: Geometry Top & Tap Shorts

Katey & Laney are well known bloggers and now pattern designers. When they released the Tap Shorts pattern I was really intrigued but decided to wait for spring and some reviews (which there are now many). Then the Geometry Top was released and I took the plunge and bought both PDF patterns. Funnily enough the patterns go really well together and I just happened to pick coordinating fabrics.

First up, the Tap Shorts. 

I love that the pattern has a couple of different variations, including a more traditional front fly variation. For my first version I tried front B (open front pleats) with back 2 (welt pockets). I really like the high waisted style but I'm not totally convinced about it on my body. We'll see how I feel after a few wears. 

Fabric is leftover from my my most worn Alder shirt dress. A navy rayon blend with silver metallic thread woven through it. It wrinkles terribly but I love the sheen and weight of the fabric. I cut a size 8 which seems to fit perfectly. There is the perfect amount of room at the waist to fit in a summer BBQ. 

The pattern instructions were fantastic! Incredibly detailed and pretty much fool proof imo. One of the best tips was to remark your welt placement after sewing the back darts which was absolutely necessary.  I ended up sewing only one welt, because why not? The welt instructions were slightly different to what I'm used too but it turned out pretty fantastic thanks to the instructions.

The only changes I made to the pattern was to keep the front pleats sewn down rather then unpicking the basting stitches. I've seen others do this as well. I tried opening them up but there just isn't enough fabric in the front piece to accommodate a nice drape (in my opinion, on my body). The pleats pulled toward my sides despite the shorts fitting me quite well. I also bound the waistband facing rather then folding under and stitched it down by machine.

Now the Geometry Top.
I made version B but sewed the centre front and side pieces together right down to the hem rather than leaving a slit open. I cut a size 6. For the front and sleeves I used a lovely stripey viscose, with a navy remnant for the back ( I think a poly). Both fabrics are from The Cloth Shop, actually the whole outfit is!

The top is quite over-sized and very long, particularly in the back. I ended up hemming the top with a 2" hem to remove some excess. I think over-sized style and the length makes it look like there is just too much fabric in the back. A cropped length might be better suited. Otherwise I like the style and think it looks quite good tucked in. Once again the instructions were very good.

What I don't like about K & Patterns: 

K & L Patterns include a different PDF file for each of the variations, however there is a lot of overlap in pattern pieces between versions. This is not a problem, maybe even good news, if you only ever plan on sewing one variation. But I like variety, so I printed 2 different variations of each pattern to begin with as I had plans for both. For the Top I printed Version B to find that 7 pages were superfluous as they'd already been printed, taped together, cut out from version C. For the shorts there were 10(!) repeated pages when I printed out Version C, after already printing Version B. If I had printed all three versions of the short pattern then at least 20 pages would have been wasted. 

I think these separate files are a great idea in theory, but actually a bigger waist of paper. The ideal would be to have the pages listed that we could skip if already having printed an earlier variation. How do others feel about all this wasted paper? 

Overall, I love my new outfit and I hope to get lots of wear from the separates this summer. I'll definitely make up both patterns again and am particularly impressed with the Tap Shorts. I look forward to seeing what's next from K & L Patterns.