Tired of making scrunchies, pouches, and little panties with your scraps? Me too 😂!
I often include them in yokes or use them as pocket linings for pants and jeans... but I also save them for other small projects: tops and shorts!
This time, I’m making the Deauville shorts from Vestiaire Eponyme using my canvas scraps from the ironing board cover! (see article from 15 days ago). It would have been a waste not to reuse this beautiful Japanese canvas. Since hiking is on the agenda for my next vacation, I wanted to sew myself some nice shorts.
Since saving your scraps is also about being creative... you’ll see I had a little mishap but don’t worry, there’s always a solution!
Alright, let’s get started with recycling!
The Deauville model
Deauville is a pair of pants, but not only that. It’s also shorts, but not only that. It’s also culotte shorts! Deauville is a versatile pattern that lets you create lots of fun variations!
With Deauville you can go elegant, sporty, pin-up… You’re ready for summer and winter by playing with styles, lengths, and fabrics!
For example, you can make shorts in linen for summer, one in canvas for autumn, wool or in gabardine for winter to wear with tights, and why not one in corduroy for spring?
In short, at the shop, we love Deauville because it is a pattern you can reuse as much as you want!
Information to sew this pattern
Deauville is a Vestiaire Eponyme pattern and is available in PDF version on our website.
It is graded from size 34 to 48 for a waist measurement between 62 and 90cm.
It is possible to grade it to larger sizes for those with some pattern-making experience.
Seam allowances are included and are 1cm.
In the sewist's basket
Since Deauville is shorts or pants, it is necessary to choose a relatively sturdy fabric such as linen, canvas, gabardine, cotton twill, chambray, linen/viscose, corduroy...
To sew Deauville, you will need:
- fabric see chart above
- fusible interfacing
- buttons up to 25mm
- an invisible zipper from 22 to 40cm
Don't forget to add a spool of coordinated thread of good quality and if you serge your seams, cones.
Difficulty level and technical points
Deauville is aimed at advanced beginners or intermediate sewists who are comfortable with inserting invisible zippers and sewing fluid fabrics.
The technical points are:
- sew a crotch
- sew Italian pockets
- attach a waistband
- sew chevrons
- insert an invisible zipper
- create a buttonhole
My version and sewing experience
I chose to sew the short version with wide legs, that is to say the palazzo version.
Looking at the size chart, I knew I had to select size 38 with a widening to 40 at the hips. So I copied my pattern and made my adjustments.
So I needed to sew a size 38 to make my shorts but... my canvas scrap was quite narrow since it came from a 110cm fabric of which I had taken about half the width. When placing my pieces, I realized I was missing 4 cm in total in the overall width of the shorts 😅
No matter, let’s be creative! I chose to add a strip of black canvas to widen the side and embroider it in sashiko; you know, the Japanese embroidery!
Adversity encourages creativity!
I chose a white sashiko thread to create a small floral motif echoing the floral theme of the canvas.
Note: given the size of my fabric scrap, it wasn’t possible to match the flower patterns... oh well!
I didn’t encounter any difficulties assembling my shorts. The assembly guide instructions are very clear.
I chose to sew the inner waistband by hand so that no stitching would be visible on the front of the shorts.
I lengthened my shorts a bit with strips of black canvas. One goal was to echo the black side stripe.
I chose to sew the belt chevrons also in black canvas for better visual consistency.
I enjoyed sewing my shorts and especially reusing scraps from my previous projects.
I also really enjoyed finding a way to widen my shorts despite the narrowness of my scrap. It was fun mixing my passion for sewing and embroidery to create my project.
My shorts are ready to join my suitcase for my upcoming hikes!
And you, do you like to reuse your scraps? I love it, especially when it adds a bit of a challenge!
If you want to start sewing or sashiko embroidery, we offer beginner sessions as well as more advanced courses.
Feel free to check out our schedule.
Alright, I'll leave you now... Grab your sewing and embroidery needles!
