Pattern Making: Boyshorts

When I was a teenager, boyshorts were the popular style of knickers to wear. They usually had a thick elastic waistband printed with a fun slogan or brand name. As I got older, I moved away from this style of knicker into styles with a more Brazilian or bikini cut leg. I have to admit that because if this, I was pretty unfamiliar with this style and so to begin with I researched different types of shorts and the various ways they are constructed.

I looked at a range of brands from high street to designer so that I could get a broad picture of boyshort designs. Some styles were less of a traditional 'shorts' shape and more just a fuller coverage knicker with a wider gusset and low hip.

To begin, I took my French knickers pattern, removed the side seam and shrunk this down so that it could be made in stretch fabric. I then tried this on. The fit was by no means perfect, but this gave me a good base to work from. Using my purple pen, I marked out where I wanted the leg length and the front and back gusset seams. I then cut out the shapes I had marked (I only cut up one side incase I needed to come back to the original pattern).

The next step was to trace off the cut out shapes. I could see from my initial drawing that some areas of the pattern were a bit off and impractical, especially the gusset shape! I tweaked and altered the lines using my patternmaster until I was happy. Then I cut out my gusset pattern and 'walked' this around the gusset seams on the upper panel to check the fit. Next, I added my seam allowance and I was ready to make my first toile!

Overall, this first toile was a great success! It was very wearable as it was, with only a few tweaks required to steam line the fit. However, one thing I noticed while wearing the toile was that the front was longer than the back; I liked the idea of a more full coverage short but I also loved the cheeky shape on the bum. And so I decided to create three versions of the boxer style; skimpy boyshorts, classic boyshorts and long shorts. This meant I had a lot more work to do than if I was just tweaking the fit! Undeterred, I pinned and marked the alterations for the skimpy and classic styles, making notes as I went a long.

I finalised the classic boyshort first as I felt this was a good mid point to build the next to styles on. I am really happy with the outcome and while this is not a style I normally wear, it is very comfortable and looks very cute! I will make a few tweaks to perfect the pattern then I will move on to the skimpy and long versions.

Stay tuned for the final skimpy boyshort and long shorts looks!