The seersucker gingham shorts I made last spring have gotten a lot of wear. So it was an obvious decision to make shorts for the second item sewn with my chambray fabric.
[If you’re bored by minutia about zipper flies, skip to the bottom and take my poll.]
Since the time I made my first pair I learned that the mock fly zipper is used for women’s patterns sold by the big 4 pattern companies. It’s not a faux zipper, but is a simplified zipper that doesn’t have a fly shield forming the underlap.
I wanted to try to sew the full-fledged fly!
Which side should it open on? According to my Readers Digest Complete Guide to Sewing book, published in 1976, the placket should lap in opposite directions depending if the pants are to be worn by a gent or a lady. The men’s version is zipped with the right hand.
When women first started wearing pants in the 1940s and 1950s, they zipped at the side or the back. In the 1970s, after the dress code was changed to allow girls to wear pants to school, we often wore boys’ Levi cords. They were the cool pants to wear. We became used to a front zip fly. Then pants started to be sold to women to fit our proportions and with the front zip fly we had gotten used to.
I looked through my closet and I found that it has become very common for women’s pants to have the fly open in the same direction as men’s pants. This is especially the case with sporty pants like jeans. Dress slacks are more likely to open in the opposite direction as in the traditional women’s fly. But there is no standardization for women’s pants. (Oh, the things that occupy my mind!)
I used the instructions from the Reader’s Digest manual to sew my zip fly. I cut off the extensions from the original pattern piece, and made my own fly shield and extension. The instructions include much more hand basting than is common today. I found the basting helpful and will be doing more of that in the future.
A comparison of the mock fly and the full fly that we are used to seeing in our ready-to-wear pants:
And the wrong side:
I made large front patch pockets, back pockets, and an interfaced waistband with elastic sewn to the back. The waistband is then folded in half so the stitching doesn’t show. I used bright pink bias tape to bind the edge of the waistband.
I practiced flat fell seams, and intended to use that technique for the shorts, but I ended up sewing mock flat fell seams on the crotch (with two additional lines of stitching) and on the outer side seams (with one additional line of stitching).
I’ll tear the fabric before I split that seam!
I used two new techniques, and more importantly, I have another new pair of shorts I love to wear.
Now to the corny question: I mean that literally!
This summer I’ve been eating a lot of fresh corn on the cob. I was eating corn on the cob at a neighbor’s house, and he commented on the way I was eating it. I eat it around, rotary style. He eats it across, like a typewriter. I just assumed everyone did it my way. I thought maybe I eat corn rotary style because I learned to eat it that way from my parents. I asked my stepmother how my dad ate it and she said across. Hmm.
So I took to Google to try to find out which way is more common. I didn’t find that out, but I did find the way you eat corn is linked to personality traits.
The across the cob eaters are said to live neat, orderly, methodical lives, and the around the cob method is favored by creative, artistic right-brained people. There is also a third, less common group who take random bites; they’re chaotic, impulsive sorts.
Does this fit you? Is there a kernel of truth to this theory? Do you get into discussions about strange little things like this?
I’ve been asking everyone this question. Oh, the things that occupy my mind!
Please take my poll:
Stitch It Again 