Made with Moxie Prefontaine Shorts

 

More activewear sewing! Several weeks ago I began using a Couch to 5k running app to help build up my endurance for some big upcoming hikes. Now, don’t get me wrong – I’m no runner. Really, I’m extra slow. And I have no intention of signing up for a half marathon or anything. For me, running is mainly a good excuse to be outdoors. I work from home so I’m stuck inside most of the time.

I tried this same app a few years ago and stalled out on week 6 of 8 so this time around I’m hoping to do better…

With all this extra activity I figured I could use more gear so I sewed up some Made with Moxie Prefontaine Shorts.

About halfway through sewing these I realized the Prefontaines are essentially the same as my Movies in the Park Shorts but with an elastic waist and felt a little silly about buying a whole new pattern when I could have simply adapted one I already had but oh, well.

 

 

Turns out, I’m glad I got this pattern as it’s quite good. I appreciated the little tips here and there in addition to the full FAQ section. The full instructions on making your own bias tape would be helpful for a newbie. There are two options for attaching the waistband, which is nice (I went with a simple casing).

I liked the option for making the inseam shorter (which I did – my shorts are about halfway between the 5″ and the 1.5″ length variations).

I didn’t add the back welt pockets to my shorts but the pattern included some of the better welt instructions that I’ve seen (yay for one piece pockets!).

While the text instructions were clear, I would have preferred the sample fabric in the photos to be a solid rather than a busy print. Sometimes I found it difficult to understand the pictures as the stitching blended into the fabric.

I also enjoyed the little mini bio on the pattern’s famous namesake.

The main fabric is a taslan nylon from Rockywoods.com, leftover from a yet-to-be-blogged project. I had just enough to eek out these shorts. I used a fine mesh fabric that I originally bought for swimsuit material from some spandex warehouse in Dallas. I liked the contrast of the hot pink on gray.

I used a fine mesh fabric that I originally bought for swimsuit material from some spandex warehouse in Dallas. I liked the contrast of the hot pink on gray.

 

 

The shorts themselves came together in just a short afternoon – and that includes the time I took to run to the fabric store to buy thread and elastic!

The pockets are stitched to the front layer of fabric so they stay in place permanently and don’t flop around – good for running.

(btw you might recognize this shirt as my SJ Tee from a few weeks ago – the sunlight helps see the details and seam lines better in these pics)

Now if only I could force myself to wake up earlier in the morning. It’s getting way to hot now during the day to be out running!