During my trip to Denver, I discovered Indie Sew – a one stop shop for new and fresh patterns from independent designers. Browsing the site, I found this cute pattern for shorts, called “Coachella” shorts. I instantly added to my cart and started shopping for a suitable challis on Fabric.com. The exact print was on Fabric.com, but out of stock 🙁 (it’s back in stock now). I picked another navy challis with a floral pattern (among other things) and went shopping at JoAnn for the trim. In this case, I picked some small baby pom pom trim (hey, why not? They’re COACHELLA SHORTS!!).
The pattern was a snap to trace and cut out. The pattern comes in three rise options and two inseam options. I cut my size with a high rise & 2″ inseam according to the charts (SMALL), but made my usual alterations for my big butt … add 1/2″ to the rear inseam, which was the “MEDIUM” line for the inseam. I also graded into the medium at the top waistband, which is a typical alteration I would have made, as well.
The assembly was a snap, and the instructions were EXTREMELY GOOD. I was a little annoyed that I couldn’t tell where the front overlap was supposed to end exactly, so I would mark that carefully on your pattern and fabric before starting … otherwise, I can’t point to a single issue with the instructions and drafting.
There is ONE PROBLEM with this pattern: the waistband. It seems to run TOO small if you are using regular waistband elastic. It MIGHT be OK for pajama elastic, but my elastic gives me a muffin top. Also, the wide waistband is not anchored into the waistband, so it flips and twists easily. I would recommend finding a way to tack it. In my version, I ran two parallel rows of top-stitching to keep it in place.
And so, BAM!! Here are the Coachella Shorts on me … they took only about 1 hr to put together!

First pair of Coachella Shorts by Striped Swallow Designs (pictured with Union St Tee by Hey June)
While I think it would be fun to have another pair, I would probably only reuse this pattern for scraps and do the longer inseam (like the model photo). It uses only 1/2 yard. It’s a very distinct look and I don’t need a wardrobe of them!!
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