The Little Shorts Set That Could

This, my friends.. is a post of mourning. I mean, HOW CUTE is this shorts set!!?? It’s such a shame however, that it no longer exists. But before I get into that sad tale lets talk about the good times we’ve had.

You may recognize the shorts from my tap shorts post a few weeks ago. Well this vintage floral fabric (repurposed from old drapes) was so fun, and I had the tiniest bit leftover, so I just HAD to make myself a little top to go with it. Y’all.. I have had dreams about a vintage inspired matching shorts set for ages. Imagine my excitement when I actually made it a reality. Basically, It looked something like this:

The demise of this shorts set story starts with the fabric. As I said, it is a vintage floral rescued from some old drapes the Gentleman and I took from a house we were rehabbing. We were originally going to dye them darker and put them back up in the house, but the dye disintegrated the first set of curtains. So as I was rinsing out the first set and realizing that they were coming out of the dye bath all tattered, I realized it wasn’t going to work. So I RAN to the second set which was now in the dye bath and pulled it out immediately. Seemingly, it was unscathed. I kinda liked the fabric anyway so I happily decided to keep it for myself to use in a project (you may remember seeing it in my insta story).

I’m going to take a pause from the sad story to talk about this adorable self drafted top. I’ve been loving the peek-a-boo back trend lately and decided to draft myself a simple boxy crop top with a slivered-out back. I added a little overlapped button closure for an extra fun detail. I love how fun but simple this top is and the beautiful print really brings the minimalistic shape to life.

As I was sewing the shorts I noticed some spots of the fabric were very thread bare and delicate. There were even some spots near seams that started to rip apart. One spot near a side seam I even had to sew a little patch over. I knew that I wasn’t going to get much wear out of these shorts but I figured I’d at least get one or two  good wears out of this outfit before they shredded entirely. I even did some tugging around the crotch and center back seams just to be sure.

My plan was to wear the full shorts set to a family crawfish boil the Saturday before Easter. I put on my outfit, oh so excited about how cute and comfortable it was. And as we were walking up to the shindig my sister (who was walking behind me) yells “Oh my god Amy!! You have a HUGE HOLE in your shorts!!” It’s true folks. Surely enough I felt around and right near my center back seam at the widest point of my bottom there were two huge rips.

Thankfully, I had a skirt to change into (similar in color to the one pictured above) so I didn’t have to attend our party with my blaring wardrobe malfunction. But guys, I was SO BUMMED. I was so excited about this little set and I didn’t even get one wear out of it. And no, they are in no way salvageable.  

Really, this post is about my self drafted top. But thank you for letting me bend your ear about the tragedy that was the adorable vintage shorts set. Let’s end on a positive note though! The top is still mostly fine – it suffered a minor tear from little Banjo’s paws. So I will definitely get more wears out of it. What do y’all think of the shape? Something you would wear? A pattern I should offer? wink*wink!

Have you ever had a major sewing malfunction like this? Please share so I don’t feel so sad!