Llama Boxer Shorts

Yes, this post is about boxer shorts. Keep reading, friend!

Last week I sewed up this shirt out of llama printed flannel using a self-drafted pattern.  When I showed it to my husband and mentioned I had fabric leftover, he said, "I'd totally wear a shirt out of that fabric!"  But there wasn't enough leftover to make a shirt, and I was trying to think up an alternate project. 

I wore the shirt a few days later to my quilting bee and told the story to my friends, and they said, "Make him boxer shorts instead!"  Hah!  What a good idea.  

I don't have a pant block drafted to my husband's measurements, and didn't have time to make one, so I decided to just go search for a boxer short pattern.  I found 400 Oak Street by Green Style Creations.

They sewed up pretty quickly and I'm pleased with how they came out.  Whether they fit or not remains to be seen; these are a Valentine's Day present. 

​I didn't see many reviews for this pattern, so I'll give you a short summary of the pros and cons.

Pros

The pattern was super quick to cut out (just two fronts and a back on the fold) and also sewed together very quickly.  If you need to make a quick present for your special man, this is a good way to go.  

The size range was good (in my book, at least), with waist sizes 28-50".  

Cons

I know I'm in the minority here, but I'm not a fan of photos in the instructions.  I feel that they don't usually illustrate the instructions well, and I really felt it with this pattern.  I'm not very experienced with sewing fly openings, so when it was time to topstitch, the instructions didn't indicate well where the stitching should go, and I could see in the photo it wasn't even all around the shape of the fly.  The stitching seemed to be about 1/4" away from the sides of the raw edge but maybe 1" from the bottom.  Did it end at the bottom of the opening?  Further down?  I couldn't tell.  

Later on when it was time to sew in the waist elastic, the project in the photos changed from a printed fabric to a yarn dye stripe, and the instructions didn't indicate if the elastic was to be sewn to the RS or WS of the waist.  Since the stripe looked the same on both sides I really couldn't tell.  Eventually, I figured it out myself, but I wish the instructions had been a little more specific.

My last complaint is that I wish the pattern had a few more markings.  The inseam didn't match up for me (the back was about 3/8" longer than the front unit) and I wish I had some notches for matching things up.  Also I wish there had been more markings on the pattern about stitching the fly opening.  There were directions in the pattern to measure x" from here, and y" from there, but I would expect the pattern pieces themselves to have those markings so I didn't have to go find my ruler.

But all that said, every designer has their own style for writing patterns.  For my own, I tend to be very wordy and detailed, and I'm sure that some sewists find that excessive.  To each their own.

​To conclude, this is a nice pattern and I'm happy with how my project came out.  After I find out how well they fit, I'm sure I'll be making more of these boxers in the future.

​Happy Sewing!