It only seems fitting that I should find my sewing mojo and blogging mojo at the same time. I guess they’re both creative endeavors, and creativity has been severely lacking this summer. But I won’t bore you with the details…there hasn’t been anything that exciting going on…I was just feeling pretty burnt out, something I’m sure lots of you can relate to. But I’m hoping most of that is behind me for now, at least for a little while. And after a few failed attempts at sewing this summer, I finally completed a pair of Pomona shorts!
This is a pretty simple make and I’ve made them before. It’s a really great pattern for a beginner, and it should have been a super fast and satisfying sew. But it wasn’t. I felt like everything that could go wrong did. And I tell you this because sewing can be very intimidating and I don’t want you to think that it’s always easy for me and to not try it for yourself. Because as frustrating as it is, sewing is extremely rewarding. And I think that we really need to embrace making and mending our clothes more…the constant demand for new clothing is destroying our home.
So, what problems did I run into while making the Pomona Shorts?
1. I used the wrong needle and tread. I thought the material was a denim, so I used a denim needle and thread. The thread ended up being too bulky for the material and the underside stitching was pretty messed up in some places. If it was on the inside (see pic below), I left it alone.
2. Related to number 1, I had to pick back the entire waistband because it looked so bad. No photos were taken, choice words were said and I gave up half way through and left it for a few nights.
3. Once I had picked back the waistband and started resewing it again, I broke my first sewing needle. I had been dreading this moment ever since I started sewing in spring 2020 and consider myself very lucky to have gotten this far without experiencing this. I did bend a needle while I was making my Persephone pants, but I had never experienced a complete break or the weird noises that my machine emitted once it happened. Luckily my machine was fine and I had a backup needle ready to go.
4. I think I added thread to my bobbin wrong because there are some skipped stitches on the legs. They’re not noticeable and I *might* re-hem them at some point, but not today ;).
The End Result
Even though the process felt frustrating this time around, I’m extremely happy with how the shorts turned out…
How I’ll be styling my Pomona Shorts
I chose a cream colored cotton for my Pomona shorts because I knew that they would be extremely versatile and they would go well with everything in my wardrobe. They did not disappoint!
I had a little styling session where I kept the base outfit the same (black bodysuit, Pomona shorts) and changed up everything else. It feels like 4 completely different outfits to me.
Would you notice if I wore this base 4 days in a row, but changed up the third piece, the shoes and the bag? And if you think that wearing the same thing 4 days in a row is gross, read this post.
Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram to see other ways that I’ll be styling these shorts.
Until next time,
