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Made by hand · 2026

Organic cotton shorts

Brief

Most yoga shorts are made of plastic. I wanted a pair to move in that isn't: organic cotton jersey, sewn by me.

Scope

  • Pattern, adapted from a bought one
  • Cutting by hand
  • Sewing on my machine

Solution

One day, one length of fabric: a pair of yoga shorts in organic cotton instead of plastic. Less buying, more making.

01 / Pattern

Adapted,
then drawn on.

I started from a bought pattern and adapted it to my own measurements, then drew it straight onto the organic cotton jersey in chalk. The yellow line is the correction.

Shorts pattern drawn in white chalk on blue cotton jersey
Fig. 01 — The pattern, drawn in chalk on the jersey
Close-up of the chalk pattern with one line corrected in yellow
Fig. 02 — The corrected line
Made to move in
02 / Cut

Cut by
hand.

Cut along the chalk with scissors, piece by piece, keeping the jersey flat so it wouldn't stretch.

Hands cutting blue cotton jersey along chalk lines with scissors
Fig. 03 — Cutting along the chalk
The cut pattern pieces laid on the remaining fabric
Fig. 04 — The pieces
03 / Sew

Stitched on
my machine.

Seams held with clips instead of pins, then stitched. A few hours after the first chalk line, they were shorts.

Sewing machine stitching the blue jersey, seam held with blue clips
Fig. 05 — The seam, held with clips
The assembled shorts from above, clipped and not yet hemmed
Fig. 06 — Taking shape
04 / Worn

Made to
move in.

Then out to the sea to see if they move the way I do.

Paula in a yoga pose by the sea, one leg raised high, wearing the cotton shorts

Less buying, more making.