"Why, yes, those ARE John Weitz drawstring shorts I'm wearing!"

I love to squeeze extra garments out of fabric remnants, don't you?

I had about a yard of dark blue linen left from this blazer I made two summers ago.





I decided to use it to make a pair of drawstring shorts using my new-to-me, mid-Seventies McCall's John Weitz pattern, which arrived last week. 



One weird thing about the pattern is that whoever owned it had cut out (very yucky) fabric for the tunic cuffs, along with lining for the pockets, and stuck it in the envelope.  There were a ton of rusty straight pins in there too.







Also inside was an unrelated, vintage Butterick men's shorts pattern, size Medium.  You never know what you're going to find in these vintage pattern envelopes, not that I've ever found anything good.  Have you?

The only adjustments I made was to add 1/2" to each outside seam (it's a 30" waist pattern) and to take 1" off the rise.  Standard for me.



And voila!  I really like these shorts.  The drawstring means you don't need a belt, which is much appreciated in the hot weather.  The two side pockets are very wide and very deep.







These shorts have a separate casing that gets added on top, as opposed to just folding over the edge.  The drawstring is made from the same fashion fabric.



This wasn't an exciting project, but it's always nice to make something with leftover fabric and the results are extremely practical.  A win!

BTW, if you've never heard of John Weitz, you can read more about him here.  (Sort of a precursor to the Ralph Lauren type designer-who-doesn't-really-design phenomenon.)

Ever find treasure(s) in a vintage pattern envelope?  

Have a great day, everybody!

Another John Weitz pattern is on its way...