Are you ready for summer?

I liked Bella Sunshine Designs before I became a tester. But since they gave me the chance to test, the love has only grown. I love to help out wherever I can. So if I see a shout out to make new pieces to promote a sale, I try to schedule it in. The Tess Tulip Shorts call came at just the right time. 

Yes you read that right: there is a sale for this pattern. (edit: This particular sale has ended)

I have never made shorts before.
My daughter does not like anything resembling pants. Pants are for boys and the girls get to wear twirly dresses. Can't really blame her: dresses are so much fun!

I thought she would not agree to the shorts. And would you look at that: she said it was ok. they do look a little like a skirt so I was "allowed" to make her some.

As you may have guessed: my daughter is my boss when it comes to testing. She has to be willing to wear whatever I make for pictures.

The Tess Tulip Shorts sew up pretty fast. The instructions are so clear you don't have to think about what you are doing. The only exception is adding a trim. There are a lot of different kinds of trim out there, so it's hard to add instructions for every kind. But the instructions do tell you when to add it. 

The Tess Tulip Shorts come with a short inseam and a long inseam version.

I tried the longer version with pockets first.

There are not zippers involved, which makes it a top notch pattern in my daughter's book. "Easy to put on" is a big plus for her. The shorts only have elastic in the back of the waist band, so the front stays nice and flat. The fit is great on the first try.

Fabric by Timeless Treasures:
Tonal Fern (Royal Blue) from the Suffolk collection by Chong-A Hwang.
I bought it at fabric fair and found a little extra in a shop in Sint-Niklaas. It's not a recent print, so it's  probably hard to find it.

I used the fabric before in this Jaanu dress. I found golden piping to match the little golden specks in the print at my favorite fabric store. A nice match, but the trim is a bit scratchy with the metallic threads in it. I'm gonna have to add a tiny band to cover them up on the inside. 

For the green one, we used the short version with pockets. The frogs (Timeless Treasures) are a leftover from a lunchbag I made for my sister. I had about half a meter of this fabric left and it was enough for the shorts. Did anyone say stash busting??

I used another fabric for the pocket lining. Those frogs are too pretty to hide them on the inside! We picked out a bias tape with a crochet trim at the store. While I was waiting at the cashier, the frog iron-on applique jumped at me. I'm almost gratefull there was a line and I had time to flip through the appliques. Almost ;-)

I love how the outfit turned out. This is my daughter's favorite. She seems to have forgotten all about her dislike for shorts. I love that, because there is just one more step until she's willing to try out the jeans I live in. A mom can hope, right?

This was my first try with the Tess Tulip Shorts so the blue one counts for my GUTA-challenge. I have set a goal to use more fabric from my stash. Since both fabrics are leftover from another project:  a double win :-)

The tiny frogs are so very cute, I just had to make a close -up picture to show them. The frogs were purchased more than 2 years ago, so I doubt they are still easy to find.

Let me know which one is your favorite: the blue or the green one?

Do you want to make your own pair? 

You can get you copy at Bella Sunshine Designs. 

Sorry, you missed the 24hour sunshinesale, but there are sales popping up quite often, so if you want to keep an eye out for those, join the BSD-FBgroup.

Here's a final (pretty blurry) picture of my girl showing how comfortable the shorts are :

Would you like to join the testing team? Just set up a Sewingportfolios.com profile to showcase your sewing and apply to join the BSDtester group. Fill out the form and request to join the FBgroups: Technical Goddesses or Photography Rockstars. With a Sewingportfolios.com profile, other companies can contact you too.