Walking Shorts

In August I am going to Denver for 10 days, and need some shorts/shin-length pants that fit.  This is the first of them.  I love the ease in these shorts, although I'll have to get used to that, because I don't usually wear clothes that fit this loosely.  I think they will be perfect for taking those long walks with my sis!                                                      

      

I saw my first Marfy pattern around 2000, when I bought a couple of catalogs to drool over.  Keep in mind that Marfy is Italian and comes with no - absolutely none - instruction.  You don't even get seam allowances.   But I'm a brave soul, and over the years, I've tried a few of them and I like them.  They do things a little differently; their collars, for instance, seem to be put together in a little different way than we do it over here, although the end result is the same.

Anyway, I just finished a Marfy jacket, and here I will be showing pics and talking about how the process went.

This is the pattern I used.  I love the pleats and the side opening.  Surprisingly, the fabric I used looks almost like the fabric in this drawing!

The first thing I changed was that I added a ribbon as binding for the collar.  The fabric has a light blue in it, so I used a very pale blue ribbon.   I didn't realize until I was finished adding the collar that I left a piece out, but no one will ever know. :-)

  I finished the seams in a very simple way, by just turning them under and zigzagging.  Keeps the fabric from fraying too much.  I don't usually finish seams this way, but it worked out well for this fabric.

I love the pleats in the shoulder area and on the upper back!

I was going to add detailing to the sleeves, since they're 3/4 length, and after I sewed them and allowed for the opening, I discovered that I didn't have enough of the buttons I chose.  So, I left them open anyway, using that pale blue ribbon again, as binding.

I also added little pockets, because I love having places to put things, especially in a jacket.  What I especially love about the pockets is that they aren't obvious.

Here is the side detailing:

Altogether, the jacket took about 11 working hours.