Gym shorts! more work out/hang out attire

The “Me Made” gym clothes trend continues. I made a pair of gym shorts to wear around the house, for working out and sleeping in. Some all-purpose shorts, just for me. I used an adorable, 80’s inspired shorts pattern from Purl Soho. I made the Women’s version, obviously. Since I didn’t know if the design would fit well or not, I didn’t want to sacrifice the tiny bit of Liberty Fabric I have until I knew for certain the gym short pattern was cute on me.

The fabric was purchased at the Michael Levine’s $2.50 a pound shop. I have many, many yards of this bright, pink and red skeleton fabric for making muslins. It is a basic cotton, a little heavier than quilting weight. It makes up easily and my sewing machine likes it. For the thread, I used some basic polyester, all-purpose in white to go with the background. I do want to be able to wear them, even if this draft wasn’t perfect.

I usually finish all the edges of my fabric with a zigzag stitch. DO NOT do that with this pattern. You are sealing almost all of the edges in some fashion in the process of making these gym shorts. I already stitched up the edges before I read the instructions… It was quite a tedious task to pull all the thread out again.

The directions were really easy to follow, but I opted to buy bias tape instead of making tape to match the fabric. I probably will make the tape to match on a pair to wear in public but for these that might not fit, I decided to expedite the work. I found a red that pretty closely matched my skeletons and go to work.

After my zigzag mishap, the sewing went really quickly. It took a total of 3 hours to make them, going slowly to make sure I was following the directions correctly.

finished gym shorts on me

Please excuse all the extra threads! I was super excited to try them on once I got done and did not have the patience to pick the threads off before I took some pictures. Here is the final result:

gym shorts finished

The fit perfectly!! I made the 38-40″ hip measurement and did not have to make any mods to fit. I will make them about an inch longer on the next batch. This length is fine for home and pajamas, but not so much for out side the house. I think they also need a slightly draping fabric to look best.

Have you made this pattern up? What did you like or not about it?