Sometime in March my middle son, who is 16 years old came to me and said, “Why haven’t you made us matching outfits yet?” I thought, is this guy for real?! All I have ever wanted is make all the people I love wear matching outfits with me. At Easter and Christmas all my boys get ties to match my dresses. I send my friends handmade birthday and Christmas gifts that secretly match me. So I asked him what he meant. Then he reminded me how I made matching overalls with his older brother and matching raglan tees with his younger brother. I didn’t do that with him though. Shoot, I felt really bad.

Now, before you start to think I have failed my son, let me just say I have made him several shirts, pants, cardigans and a Cal Kestus Poncho. I also made him a shoe shirt to match his older brother and I made him and his younger brother matching superhero shirts too. Several times. He was right though. I haven’t made the two of us, matching outfits. Say, no more my son. Time to twin and May the 4th is the perfect day to do so.

I wanted to be clever though and be totally matchy with the pattern too. So I chose my favorite TNT pattern, the Allegro Bottoms by Love Notions. I just had to make a few modifications for them to work with my strapping young lad. I’ll show you what I did. Oh, and I paid way too much for this Return of the Jedi Fabric from Joann. It’s super Rad though and my boy is worth it. 

Let me be clear, I am not a pattern drafter. I’m a pattern “winger.” Basically I “wing it” and somehow it all works out. The thing that helps me be successful is that I’m always experimenting and sewing for my kids’ growing bodies. They borrow my handmade clothes occasionally and when they do I make note of how they fit them and changes I could make to the fit. My son has worn some of my Allegro shorts and I knew they were too curvy for his athletic build. He has a long torso like his dad, with no hips and butt.

The Pattern Back…

I layed the pattern piece down with tracing paper over it so I could make the revised pattern for my son. The crotch stayed the same but I widened the leg  by ½ inch on the inside and 1.5 inches on the outside of the leg. I straighten out the waist curve by taking a line straight across from the back seam to the side, which raises it by 1.5 inches. Then I drew a line straight down from the top of the waist to the bottom of the shorts where I had widened it 1.5 inches. That took the curve of the hip off a little and made the back legs wider. The picture illustrates what was done. I also marked the pocket notches.

The Front…

For the front I did pretty much the same thing; straighten the waist and  widen the legs. I just brought the rise up more and didn’t widen the front leg as much which you can see from the picture. I also made more room in the crotch cuz, He’s a boy… Then I measured the front and back pieces to make sure it would fit together. 

The Pockets…

Now since I lengthened the rise and straightened the sides I needed to change the pockets. My son likes big pockets too so this was going to make him very happy. To make the new pocket pattern I laid the pocket lining pattern on the new front shorts piece I had just made, making sure to match the pocket notches. Then I traced the shorts waist top and side, around the lining curve and back to the top. Then I drew the slash on so I could trace the lining to make the bag. 

Don’t Forget the Waistband…

 For the waistband I only had to change the back piece. I just lined the waistband up at the waist with the shorts back  and traced on that little triangle at the top. The front piece was going to work without any adjustments.

The Finale!

I sewed it together just like any other pair of Allegro shorts and made myself a pair to match. Let me tell you, when I say this guy was excited, I mean it. This guy WAS excited! He put them on and said he was going to wear them all weekend. He was totally pumped to do a little photoshoot to show them off. He even had me get on his back so he could squat me 4 times. 

This was awesome. Glad it worked out and glad I finally made us matching outfits. May the fourth be with you!!