BREVIS means short

My son needed shorts ... he needed them bad. And I was not ready to face stores with him again. My son is what I call the "butt-less" type. Buying pants usually goes like this: "too wide", "too short", "ugly color" and "do you really expect me to wear that"? He's growing like crazy. His pants last one season if I'm lucky. After that they are too short. I had allready chopped off the legs of a few joggers to help him get through the first days of a heat wave, but that will only get you so far. Time to get in to sewing mode. The universe decided to lend this mom a hand and sent a pattern test for shorts my way: BREVIS by Sofilantjes. That's actually Latin for short, so what name could be better?

I showed him the picture and his response was " that looks kind of ok". That is teenage speak for: "That's great mom, you can make one for me."

I registered for the pretest and Yvette let me help. Usually it's Anne pulling the strings at Sofilantjes  but Yvette from the Droomstoffen webshop teamed up with Sofilantjes as a designer. Her first test, her first release and she was nervous. Who wouldn't be? I think she did an awesome job.

The pattern comes in 2 versions: version B hits above the knee with nice biker shorts knee pieces.
We went for version A: a tad longer without the colorblocking. 

Step two in the testing proces is hitting the fabric stash, especially for a pretest. I stumbled upon a few scraps of Wild Shadows panels and just enough black See You At Six french terry.
I had little to lose with the wolves panel, as the scrap was not wide enough for another sweater anyway. My son helped my to position the wolf just were he wanted it and he was very pleased with the results.

I got assigned to blend the 9y hip with 14y length. Remember the butt-less comment? The pocket were a tad to narrow when blended over 4 sizes in length. That's what tests are for: the blending instructions now clearly state which width to stick to in that case.

My son immediately agreed to make another pair in the full test of the pattern. He even wanted to go to the fabric store to get more black fabric. (You read that part about my son and shops right? That is nothing short of a miracle) Plain black was his plan. And then we passed Wild Shadows remnants: lions? monkeys? We picked up some of both, because you don't argue with shop-allergic teens when they suggest a fabric. You just enjoy the moment they get excited about fabric.

When we got home I saw this print did not have a french terry base, but T-shirt weight knit. The difference in weight was not that big, so I gave it a go. He loved the result. Both the Wolf and the Monkey shorts went from his body to the laundry and back all summer. They did not see the inside of the wardrobe. Definitely a winner!

This story sounds like nothing ever goes wrong with sewing over here. But let me show you that Murphy also walks into this house.
The green shorts were supposed to feature a gorilla. Those little monkeys sure aren't gorilla's, right?
Well, that's because this happened when I put the gorilla where my son wanted it. I should have known. That is one very unlucky pattern placement, right. The bird flying into the fly looking like something else coming out. I could not send my son out into the world with that on his crotch, right? Time for some seam ripping and a new leg front.

I tried to salvage the "oops-leg" by making shorts for my nephew. He's only 5, so the bird did not cause any issues. I made a picture of them twinning on our holiday in Switzerland. They do look cute together, right?

Do you want to make one (or ten) for the boys in your life? Check out the Sofilantjes page for your copy (€7 without VAT)

disclaimer: If you buy it with one of the links, I get a small affiliate commission. You don't have to pay a cent more.