Good morning, friends – today is the last stop of the DoGuincho Bubble Shorts blog tour, and it’s my turn! Before I dive in to describe the shorts, let’s take a moment to pretend that it’s summer. Instead of torrential rain we’ve been experiencing here in Seattle, in blogland K is enjoying a balmy day fit for tank tops and shorts.
Now that we’ve established the virtual weather, I want to gush about this pattern. When Marta of DoGuincho contacted me to test her sweet bubble shorts, I was very, very excited. Have you seen her creations and photography? Amazing.
The digital pattern showed up in my in-box, and it didn’t disappoint. Marta’s pattern pieces and instructions are excellent. I love that she used black-and-white illustrations throughout for the construction methods (you know how I feel about illustrations), and for a visual person like me, it was perfect. I love that the shorts require so little fabric but pack a stylistic punch. I used a little bit of my favorite knit fabric leftover from my modified Washi and sewed up a size 7. The shorts are lovely, but I thought the length might be a smidge on the short side and because of the knit, it didn’t pouf out quite as much. I whipped up that pale pink jersey knit tank too, and it’s a variation on the light red tank I made here.
Because I felt that they were a touch on the short side for K, I decided to make another pair one size up. But I had a bit of decision paralysis and laid out about seventeen fabric choices and couldn’t make up my mind. Then I spotted this:
It’s a cute dress, no? I bought it a couple of years ago and have worn it a few times, but I’ve always felt that it made me look too top heavy and dumpy. The fabric is so cool though and I’ve refrained from tossing it into my donate pile.
So snip snip, and voila! Rockin’ bubble shorts. And way more autumn appropriate too.
I didn’t line up the tye-dye sections along the seams very well, but hey what else is new, right? The fabric is 100% cotton and whisper thin – it’s fabulous.
My indecision about fabric selection left me little time to make more tops, so I opted to use some of her RTW clothes to style the shorts. You haven’t seen much of her store-bought clothes to date and she has very little RTW in her wardrobe left so I thought I’d change things up a bit. I like to live dangerously on the edge, as you can tell. These are from about a year and a half ago, and still fit her (the cowl neck sweater was originally mine that I altered a little).
These shorts are easy to make, incredibly comfortable and K loves ’em. It doesn’t get any better than that. I received a free pattern for testing, but all opinions are, of course, my own. I feel so lucky to have been part of the awesome blog tour – thank you, Marta! And make sure to check out the other adorable versions:
Thank you so much Sanae for sharing your adorable bubble shorts!
I’m glad you liked the pattern!
Thank YOU for the opportunity to test your wonderful pattern, Marta!
HI Sanae!
I so adore these shorts. I think pairing it with tights are the cutest and the sweater…LOOOOVE!
Hi Venus! So happy to see your comment! I loved your version too but as usual I was foiled by my ipad and couldn’t leave a comment. :-/
Wow, that dress material really makes for fabulous shorts! Looks so good with the sweater and tights.
Thank you Nicole! I had the perfect amount of fabric for the shorts so I think it was meant to be!
Oh my stars! I love those tie dyed bubble shorts – and they look so cute with the tights underneath. What a great idea.
The tights are extra warm, which was perfect because K wore the last outfit to an outdoor event involving bicycles in freezing weather! Thanks for your comment Rhonda!
love the purple tie dye and tights for fall! so stylish!
Thanks Ashley! It was the fall-ish colors of the dress that gave me the idea to cut into it…now I’m raiding my closet to see what else can be repurposed!
Oh, I love the tie dye ones with the sweater! You always create outfits that I really want to wear but still are appropriate for K´s age! That is not easy I think. I usually don´t like stuff for kids that looks exactly like stylish grown-up clothing. But your creations are wonderful!
Oh, thank you Ute – such a compliment! I actually love the idea of shrunken down grown up clothing, but you’re right: I do think about kid appropriateness with all the clothes I make for K 🙂
What an adaptable pattern – you made both a fabulous summer outfit (which, sadly, may have to wait to be worn) and a great autumnal outfit with the leggings and sweater. The styling for the second outfit especially is so fantastic! And fun to see some RTW clothes thrown into the mix . . . those few pieces that still exist!
Thanks Lucinda! RTW clothing is definitely becoming more scarce in her closet and dresser these days 🙂 A lot of her coats and winter wear were store-bought so I need to get cracking on sewing up a thick coat or two!
Love these! I also looked back at the red top. So great. They went right to my pin board for my daughter for next spring.
Thanks Amber! It’s a great top to have for spring/summer!
Beautiful outfits. We’re about to head into summer and so your first outfit looked very inspiring. And then the styling of the cold weather version is great. You’ve showed off the pattern really well here, congratulations.
Fantastic versions! I like lots the autumn outfit, the shorts matched brilliantly with that sweater!
I like both versions. Wish I had money to spend on patters, sigh. Oh well for now I can live vicariously through the awesome sewing blogger community 🙂 Two thumbs up to you from me for upcycling a dress you hardly ever wore. I love when people do that.
Beautiful short Sanae, and that daughter of yours keeps getting more gorgeous in every photo!
..oops I didn’t mean to be rude..not “Short Sanae” but “shorts, Sanae”…duh.